ETS' new practice test scores

[BrianM]

I just took my first new practice test on the ETS software and got 20/40 on math and 21/40 right on verbal.

But, it says I got a 153 on verbal and a 143 on math?

This doesn't make sense...unless the "easier" questions are worth .25 or so points.

Anyone have any insight?

This is really disheartening as if I got 150 on math I would be breaking 1000 for the first time on an official ETS practice test

[Khearts]

From what I understand (and I may be wrong on this) there is a curve in place for both of the sections. Overall, since verbal tends to be more challenging, the curve is lowered slightly. On the other hand, the standard for math is raised in comparision.

[edgirl]

The issue is that scaled scores (those on the 130-170 scale) don't exactly correspond to raw scores. Generally speaking, the "average" tester does better on math than on verbal, so you have to get a higher raw score in order to get the same scaled score as you can earn in verbal with a lower raw score. Hence your raw scores are really close, but if you put your scores in the larger context of percentiles, your verbal score is stronger than your math score.

Hope that makes sense!

Khearts, we posted at the same time! It's not a curve exactly (because the scaled score changes from test to test). Easier to think about it as a percentile rank, I think.

Edited July 22, 2012 by edgirl

[Khearts]

Thanks for the clarification.