MGMAT scores vs. the real thing

[nandia885]

Hi Moderator,

I took the took three of the MGMAT CAT online exams and my scores are as follows:

MGMAT 1 - 690 (39V, 44Q)
MGMAT II - 680 (39V, 43Q)
MGMAT III- 700 (39V, 46Q)

I am concerned that these scores are not representative since my average score on the GMAT Prep software is 670 (40v, 42Q). Could you please let me know the percentage of your students who score above the average of his/her MGMAT online score. Second, I think the MGMAT grading system is more lenient than that of the real GMAT Prep software. Unfortunately, GMAT Prep does not break down the level of difficulty of each question as MGMAT does, however, I seem to get more questions wrong on the MGMAT CAT exams when compared to the results from GMAT Prep. Am i looking too much into this? I am gunning for a 700, but I am not sure whether I am within that scoring range at this point. Finally, could you please give me a sense of the different combination of verbal and quantitative raw score that yields a 700.

Thanks in advance.

[StaceyKoprince]

All tests have standard deviations - that is, you aren't expected to get the exact same score every time. Rather, you are expected to score within a given range if you take the test again.

The official test has a standard deviation of 30 points. Our test has a standard deviation of 50 points. The SD for GMATPrep hasn't been published, but it is either 30 points or a little bit higher (maybe on the order of 40 points) depending upon how closely it mimics the official test software.

From a statistical standpoint, scores within one standard deviation are not statistically different from each other.

So, if you score a 700 on our test (your most recent score), you are most likely to score between 650 and 750 if you take our test again. If you score 670 on GMATPrep, you are most likely to score between 630-640 and 700-710 if you take GMATPrep again. Whatever you score on the official test, you are most likely to score plus/minus 30 points from that score if you take the official test again.

The nutshell: all four of your scores are, in fact, extremely close together - they are all well within one standard deviation.

Re: the test, you can expect to get a lot of questions wrong on the official test, so go into the test expecting that. If you aren't mentally prepared for that, it can cause you to second-guess / psyche yourself out in the middle of the test.

GMATPrep and the official test include experimental questions - questions that do not count towards your score. Approximately 25% of the questions are experimental. Our tests don't include experimental questions, so we have to adjust the algorithm accordingly, but it is still as close as we can make it to the real thing.

GMAC does not release information about the combination of verbal and quant scores that will yield a 700. We know from our own research that the verbal score is weighted a bit more heavily than the math score - you get more bang for your buck, so to speak, with a higher verbal score. At the same time, schools may be concerned by a large discrepancy in verbal vs. quant ability, so you don't want the two scores to be too far apart.

[info4bhawna]

Thanks Stacey, You actually replied my doubt regarding the MGMAT score. I got 650 only, 48 for Q and 32 for V. Gearing up hard to improve my verbal....aiming to get at least 45-48 in V. I have 20-25 days to go before test day.

Let's hope for the best !

Thanks,
Bhwna

[StaceyKoprince]

Good luck!

[nania885]

Stacey,

Over the past few days I have been analyzing my test result, focusing more on the quant portion of the exam. After looking at some of the quant questions, I must admit that some of the questions were beyond my understanding during the test; however, after looking at the explanation, it then begins to make sense. I have two questions:

1) I don't think my MGMAT quant results are representative of my true ability. Even though I have scored in the 43-46 range, I get the feeling that I am not that great in quant (I believe I should be in the 40 - 43 range). My assesment is based on the guessing that I have done while doing the test (which turn out to be right quite a bit of times) and the the uncertain feeling during the course of the test. Could you please let whether MGMAT algorithm skewed towards giving a higher than usual quant score? I asked this question because I have never scored higher than a 42 in quant for Power Prep or GMAT Prep.

2) My verbal score has been fairly solid thus far and I hoping that this will help me to get in the 700 range that I am shooting for; however on the three exams that I have done, my score was a 39. Could you please let me know how I should focus on my verbal so that I consistently score in the 41-44 range. Based on the assesment report, my weakness varies on the test. For example, on my second test, i scored very low in sc by getting 4/15 correct in the 710-750, but I did well in the scond test by getting 11/15 correct and bad in RC (6/6). I am all over the map and I am not sure where my weaknesses lie so that I can hone in on it. However, I will admit that I do feel a bit comfortable with verbal overall.

Sorry about the long post.

Thanksin advance. I look forward to any advice that youcan give me

[StaceyKoprince]

Re #1: Our tests are not skewed either up or down - but, again, any test has a standard deviation and the scores you're discussing are all within one standard deviation of each other. Your real takeaway should be: I'm always going to have questions on which I feel uncomfortable, but I still have to get good at making educated guesses on those questions. (And if you're actually seeing some good results when educated guessing - congrats! Keep up the good work!)

Re #2: are you in one of our courses or working with a private tutor? The kind of test review you're talking about comes with the course / tutor. If you're in a class, you can sign up for a review at the end of the course; if you're working with a tutor, you can review your test results at any time. In addition, you can also sign up for a free assessment after you take the official test (again, assuming you worked with us before the test).

It typically takes at least half an hour to do the kind of detailed review necessary to answer the question "what should I do to improve based on these results?" I'm sorry that I can't help you with that kind of review here on the forums but we only have one hour per day to answer questions from everyone - that would mean answering only two questions a day here!

We do sometimes have people sign up for just a few hours of private tutoring to get better direction on strengths and weaknesses, while continuing to do the bulk of their prep on their own. Just an idea...