GMAT Hacks: What is a Realistic GMAT Score?
When you’re deciding what score to aim for, it’s important to remember that the population of test-takers writing the GMAT is smarter and better-prepared than (probably) any other population you’ve been graded against before.
If you got a 95th percentile score on the SAT, or a 3.9 GPA at a good university, those numbers don’t mean that you “should” do just as well on the GMAT: many of your fellow test-takers are thinking the exact same thing, with the exact same background!
It’s the nature of a test on a curve: if a 680 is a 90th percentile score, that means 89 percent of test takers won’t reach a 680. Yes, that’s obvious, but it’s important to recognize just how good at this test you have to be in order to secure one of those spots in the top 5-10 percent.
This is an excerpt from a longer article by Jeff Sackmann, originally published at GMAT Hacks. Jeff has created several valuable GMAT-preparation resources, including Total GMAT Math and Total GMAT Verbal.
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