Reason for improved scores

[sangeetha.skmenon]

I have had an improvement in quant scores over the 5 manhattan tests I have taken. My quant score has gone from a 153 to a 164. When I look at the questions, I find that on the first test, my second section had a lot of 700-800 questions, but by the 5th test, the second section had questions mostly in the 500-600 range and even some in the 200-300 range. Is this because most of the 700-800 questions in the question pool have already been asked? I just want to know whether this is a real improvement, or is it because I'm getting relatively easier questions.

Thanks in advance.

[tommywallach]

Hey Sangeetha,

The pool definitely does not ever run out, as the sections are pre-built, just like the real tests (it's not question adaptive, like the GMAT).

As far as I can see, the difficult of your second and fifth tests were roughly comparable. You had 8 700-800 level questions on your fifth test, and 9 on your second test. This difference could be offset by a greater number of 600-700 relative to 500-600, or a greater number of 500-600 relative to 200-500.

In other words, your score improvement is real!

-t