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Can a GRE taker answer questions incorrectly and still get 800Q ?

roni

Cornell FE
Joined
3/19/09
Messages
608
Points
38
My exam is on the 30th and I was wondering if I can get 800 for the quantitative part even if I make a mistake or two ?
If so, does anybody know how many mistakes I am allowed to make ? or it depends on the level of the questions?

I couldn't find the answer on ets.org.


Thanks,
Roni.
 
if you are taking the computer test then I think you are allowed to make a mistake at the very last question of the exam... but you definitely cannot make a mistake on the first question... The first several questions determine your ball park score, and the latter questions fine tunes it..
 
if you are taking the computer test then I think you are allowed to make a mistake at the very last question of the exam... but you definitely cannot make a mistake on the first question... The first several questions determine your ball park score, and the latter questions fine tunes it..
Oh I see... and yea, the first few questions are very important. gotta make sure I get them :\

thanks for your help.
 
Yes. But not after they start using the new format. THe current format does not allow you to go back to change answers, but the new format allows you to go back to change answers.... this means that current format can adjust difficulty as you take the exam thus allowing you to have 1 or 2 wrong at the end (assuming you get all questions right for teh frist 25 questions) and still get 800.... new format won't allow you to do so.
 
I actually ran out of time on the last question and still got an 800. At the time, I thought "Aww CRAP, no perfect score." Then a few minutes later I got my 800.
 
if you are taking the computer test then I think you are allowed to make a mistake at the very last question of the exam... but you definitely cannot make a mistake on the first question... The first several questions determine your ball park score, and the latter questions fine tunes it..

I don't have empirical evidence that this is not exactly right, but I do know how adaptive engines work, and depending upon the implementation ETS uses (I know the GMAT's implementation pretty well, but the GRE's has some oddities), it ought to be possible to miss the first question and still get an 800.

Similarly, it is not exactly right--although it is often said--that concentrating to get some initial number of questions right and then rushing through later ones with low accuracy will necessarily help you. It is possible to undo good work you've done earlier in the test.

An adaptive testing engine is essentially just an iterative method of finding the score that maximizes the likelihood of the sequence of right/wrong answers you have given. Each succeessive question is served based on the running estimate of your score and certain constraints imposed by the test writers in terms of the collection of question formats and topics that must eventually be served. Within these constraints, the question is selected to maximize the information gain based on your answer, which usually means serving a question slightly below your current score estimate.

An initial miss may be hard to overcome, but a long string of right answers on hard questions down the line eventually causes the amount of information determined by the engine to be contained in that initial miss to go to zero. In essence, the algorithm assigns greater weight to questions whose difficulty is near its current estimate of your score.

So, conversely, a string of early right answers, even on difficult questions, will not help you if you begin steadily missing questions in the middle and later parts of the test. As your score estimate drops, the amount of "credit" you get for those early right answers steadily drops until they have little bearing on the engine's estimate of your score. Consecutive misses in this scheme can actually cause your score to drop nearly exponentially for a while!
 
Given the explanation above posted by bob, how is the test scored if you do not complete the final questions?
 
I could not complete the last two questions..ran out of time..got a 800 94%
What if you rushed through these questions and guessed them ?
A friend of mine once told me of a strategy with the GRE Subject Test in Mathematics that you are better off leaving the questions blank than guessing or something like this.
curious to know if the same applies for the GRE General Test?
 
My exam is on the 30th and I was wondering if I can get 800 for the quantitative part even if I make a mistake or two ?
If so, does anybody know how many mistakes I am allowed to make ? or it depends on the level of the questions?
I couldn't find the answer on ets.org.

Come on Roni. You seem like a smart guy based on your messages. That's not a question you should be asking. Your question should be, what should I do to make sure I get a perfect score? Why would you even concern yourself with questions that have little to no practical consequence?

Good luck on your test!

P.S. I don't think there is a big difference for the schools between 780-800. In fact, I was even told by Columbia that they just look for you to get 780 or higher. Once you make the cut-off it makes no difference what you got.
 
Come on Roni. You seem like a smart guy based on your messages. That's not a question you should be asking. Your question should be, what should I do to make sure I get a perfect score? Why would you even concern yourself with questions that have little to no practical consequence?

Good luck on your test!
The question is a few months old. Already took the exam and didn't get 800 (I guess that's why I was on the edge for Columbia and Cornell). I know myself and I suck at taking standardized tests. Well... maybe I'll retake it and apply next year or will just kill myself
cool.png
 
dude chill..
gettin 800 in gre quant section is the simplest and easiest part of ur application process..lol..but its the other things that matter more..
u have time..practice..take some tests..work on things like imroving ur time and accuracy..
imo it works like this..if all ur initially answers are right the last few ones dont affect ur score so much..but if u screw up even a lill initially u better get the last ones right..
and greprep by ETS is usually is good indicator of what u'll finally get :)
 
How common is it to get 800 when taking the test for the first time? I haven't taken it yet so I wonder? Thanks
 
Given the explanation above posted by bob, how is the test scored if you do not complete the final questions?

I'm actually not certain how the GRE's engine handles this. As near as we could tell from the GMAT engine years ago, they would take the score estimate when time ran out and just prorate it (scale it down linearly) based on the percent of the section completed.

It is possible that they do this with the GRE and that nevertheless you might get an 800 math without finishing. Internal score estimates can, in some implementations of an adaptive engine, extend beyond the 3sd that are actually reported in the 200-800 final score. (That is, under the hood it may be possible to score better than 800.) So in that case if the score is high enough, even after applying the penalty for not finishing you may still wind up with a "perfect" score.

Edit to add:
It appears that the format of the general test is changing in August this year to one where you are able to move back and forth within the section. They are also introducing "new" question formats and eliminating some old ones. (I say "new" because they have been testing these formats in experimental sections for years now.) Evidently ETS is getting out of the CAT business and returning to something more in their comfort zone.
 
I can say that the experimental section on my particular test allowed me to use a crappy little built in calculator.
 
I can say that the experimental section on my particular test allowed me to use a crappy little built in calculator.

yes the new GRE test starting August will have that calculator along with other crappy features
 
How common is it to get 800 when taking the test for the first time? I haven't taken it yet so I wonder? Thanks

Very common. Usually someone who is capable of doing the mathematics that quickly can get perfect the first time. Someone who's not quick enough the first time is unlikely to become quick enough by simply taking it a second time.
 
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