The
GMAT is now only available as a computerized test. This is how
it works: instead of having a pre-determined mixture of easy,
medium, and hard questions, the computer will select questions
for you based on how well you are doing. The first question will
be of medium difficulty; if you get it right, the second question
will be selected from a large pool of questions that are a little
harder. If you get the first question wrong, the second will
be a little easier. The result is that the test automatically
adjusts to your skill level.
Fig.
1.1-This graph shows how the test keeps a running score of your
performance as you take the test. The student's running score
goes up when he gets the first three questions right (blue) and the score goes down when the test taker gets
questions wrong (red) (questions 4 & 5 on lower axis).
As the test progresses, the swings caused by getting a question
right or wrong progressively decrease.
Harder Questions
Count More
A result of the CAT format
is that the harder problems count more than easier ones. If one
student does twenty easy questions, half of which he gets
right and half of which he gets wrong, and one then another student
does ten very difficult questions, half of which she gets
right and half of which she gets wrong, the second student will
get a higher score.
The
student who answered five out of ten very difficult questions
incorrectly could still get a very high score on the GMAT CAT
because the harder questions are more heavily weighted. Simpler
questions might be easier to answer, but they count less. Your
goal should be to get as many of the harder questions right as
possible because that will get you your highest possible score.
Start
Off Strong
The CAT puts more value on earlier
questions than on later ones. The computer has to make large
jumps in the estimation of your score for each of the first few
questions. The later questions are used to fine tune your score.
To get the best possible score, focus more time on the earlier
questions than the later questions.
Fig 1.2-Get those first
questions right! The blue graph
shows a student who got the first eight questions right and the
remainder wrong, and the red graph show
a student who got the first eight questions wrong and the remainder
right. The blue student scores much higher, despite answering
fewer questions correctly.
.
A skilled GMAT test-taker focuses his efforts on getting early
hard questions correct. Therefore, as we'll see in the next section,
the optimal strategy for the CAT is to go extremely slowly and
carefully at the beginning of the test.
>>>continue to Pacing
Strategies for the CAT (page 4 of 5 of chapter 1)
