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Home::Reference & Education

How do GMAT scoring algorithms affect you?

Author : Cindy Anderson

In my two decades of experience as an educator, I have worked
with hundreds of prospective business school applicants during
their preparation for the Graduate Management Admission Test
(GMAT). Recently, I used my extensive experience in this arena
to help design the
GMAT Exam Simulator software distributed by Upstart Raising
to GMAT Preparation providers and tutors worldwide. Since we
began offering this educators' software direct to students
through the CAT Prep.com
website, I have received many inquiries from MBA candidates
interested in the finer points of how we successfully emulate
GMAT scoring within our software. In the next few paragraphs, I
will attempt to shed some light on this subject.

The actual calculations for raw, scaled sectional, and
cumulative scores are not published by Educational Testing
Service (ETS), the current publisher of the actual GMAT exam,
and the goal of the GMAT is to produce scores that are
consistent year to year. In other words, a 650 from several
years ago is supposed to be equivalent to a 650 today. To meet
that goal, the scaled sectional scores continually fluctuate
with regard to the associated percentile. For example, average
quantitative scores have been rising for several years and it
now takes a scaled score of 51 to reach the 99th percentile
while a 48 now represents only the 87th percentile. By
comparison, in the verbal section, there is a 7 point difference
between the 99th (a score of around 45) and the 87th percentile
(around 38).

Since these types of scoring adjustments are not announced
publicly, the only reliable way to monitor these scoring
fluctuations is to use observations of actual test scores. So
clearly software algorithms must be continually monitored and
adjusted to provide accurate scoring assessment. At Upstart
Raising we devote the large majority of our effort towards the
reliable reproduction of the total cumulative score with regard
to test taker performance. We continually adjust our formula for
cumulative score generation along with question pool content to
reflect the observations and feedback of actual test takers. In
stark contrast, many inferior GMAT preparation software products
use static formulas and question pools that bear no resemblance
to the current exam.

It is important to note that there is no simple relationship
between the number of questions answered correctly during a
single GMAT session and the associated cumulative score. Each
question in each section of the GMAT is assigned a unique weight
and earlier questions in the section are worth more than later
questions while quantitative questions are generally worth more
than verbal ones. Students should be aware that the cumulative
score on the GMAT is calculated in increments of 10 points. So,
the difference between a 690 and a 700 is only one "tick". This
difference could be attributable to a difference in the number
of correct responses, but that is not necessarily the case. 10
points is so narrow a margin in the cumulative GMAT score that
the order of your incorrect responses could be the determining
factor in whether you receive a 690 or 700.

For example, if you miss 3 verbal questions towards the end of
the section during one GMAT session, but miss the same 3
questions in the middle during another session, your second
session could easily be scored 10 points lower. This is one
reason why we coach students to give more attention to the
earlier questions on each section. Quite simply, the earlier
questions are worth more.

I hope this information helps resolve some of the questions
pertaining to the mysterious GMAT scoring algorithms. If you
have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate
to contact us.
If you haven't already, we suggest you read our instructions on
how to "
Verify Your Preparation Level" using our simulator. The
instructions are available on our
main GMAT Exam Simulator webpage.

-Cindy Anderson CATPrep.com a>

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