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demaroulis
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Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 11:30 pm
 

MGMAT Quant test #4 not as adaptive as the first 3...?

by demaroulis Wed Oct 07, 2009 3:06 am

Hello,

I took the GMAT 2 months ago and scored a 710 (Q49 - V37). After preparing for a few more weeks, using your Manhattan GMAT guides, I started taking the MGMAT online tests. In the first 3 tests I scored 720-730 (with 50s on the Quantitative part). Most of the questions the tests used to give me were of difficulty level 700-800.
However, in the 4th MGMAT online test something weird happened. I scored a 51, while I was left with the impression that this test was much easier than the previous 3 !!
After checking the difficulty level of the questions, I noticed that most of them were of difficulty level 600-700. While my answers in these questions were correct, the test did not increase the difficulty level to 700-800 as it used to do in the first 3 tests. For example, questions 20-21 were 700-800 D.L. and while I answered these correctly, (almost) all of the questions 22-37 were 600-700.....
I am wondering if this is supposed to happen in the real GMAT test given the adaptive nature of it, and why online test MGMAT 4 behaved in this way while the first three did not.

Thank you in advance !

Dimitrios
avinashsbajaj
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Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 7:12 am
Location: Bangalore, India
 

Re: MGMAT Quant test #4 not as adaptive as the first 3...?

by avinashsbajaj Thu Oct 08, 2009 4:18 am

That is a very good point raised by Dimitrios. I observed a similar pattern in my MGMAT test #5 today.

I felt I had done badly in the Quant part, because the difficulty level of the questions never seemed to increase, as compared to the previous tests. My Quant performance was below my usual standards today, but I ended up with a 47.

My overall score also has improved since I started with the MGMAT test series. With my actual GMAT just 2 days away, I hope this is because of better preparation and not because of easier MGMAT's towards the end (I would anyway like to believe the former ;))

Can someone from the staff please clarify this.

Thank you in advance :)

Best Regards,
Avinash
caitlin.clay
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Posts: 132
Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2009 4:35 am
 

Re: MGMAT Quant test #4 not as adaptive as the first 3...?

by caitlin.clay Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:52 pm

All of our practice GMATs follow the same algorithm, so they should all be at the same difficulty level. We have one big question pool out of which all of our questions are pulled for the tests. When a question is used in your exam, it is frozen out of the question pool until you reset your 6 exams, at which point all of the frozen questions reenter the pool.

Consequently, all of your GMATs should yield a similar result (and if they are getting easier and you are scoring higher, this is a good sign!) However, the best way to most closely approximate the score you would get on the actual GMAT is to take the two free tests offered at mba.com, since these use questions that have actually appeared on the GMAT.

If you think for some reason there was a problem with one of your tests, please feel free to contact our tech department: techsupport [at] manhattangmat [dot] com.