What does Score Curve means?

[cool_vkb]

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hey, i took my MCAT yesterday. I read in other thread that MCAT people curve the score or something with other test takers. What does this mean. Can anyone explain it briefly.PLZZZZ

i thought we get our scaled score based on our rough score which inturn is equal to the number of answers we got right. What in the earth this has to do with other applicants.

And if they curve, does this goes to benifit of applicants or against them And does this helps the guys who did badly on the tests as it brings the scores up or it goes againts them

Iam confused. can anyone plzz help out.

 

[dutchman]

hey, i took my MCAT yesterday. I read in other thread that MCAT people curve the score or something with other test takers. What does this mean. Can anyone explain it briefly.PLZZZZ

i thought we get our scaled score based on our rough score which inturn is equal to the number of answers we got right. What in the earth this has to do with other applicants.

And if they curve, does this goes to benifit of applicants or against them And does this helps the guys who did badly on the tests as it brings the scores up or it goes againts them

Iam confused. can anyone plzz help out.

You are garded in relation to others. If everyone does good, you better do good.

 

[cool_vkb]

You are garded in relation to others. If everyone does good, you better do good.

Can you plzz explain how exactly it is done. My verbal part sucked. So iam kind of worried. suppose if my raw score was 29 in Verbal. So if i just compare this raw score with the score key provided by kaplan or emcat. I guess it will be around 7-8. Does MCAT also has an already fixed established Raw Score-Scaled score conversion key. Or is that what you guys call a Curve. (i.e comparing the raw scores of all applicants and then determine the scaled score key).

So since most people screwed up in Verbal. And suppose all of them had a raw score like me, then does this mean that my rough score cud be converted to like 11-12. or if everyone did their best and got around 37. Then does that mean that i may get only 3-4 in my scaled score.

Plzz help me out. Iam gettin too confused.

 

[DiverDoc]

Correct me anybody if I am wrong, but statistically speaking a standard bell curve will place the highest percentage of test takers (in population number) at approx 24-25.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

For the multiple-choice sections, raw scores are calculated by summing the number of operational questions answered correctly, with no penalty for incorrect answers. The raw scores are converted to scaled scores through a process called equipercentile equating. Although all forms of the MCAT measure the same basic skills and concepts, each form contains different questions. Since one form may be slightly easier or more difficult than another, it is necessary to perform analyses to equate the various test forms. The result of such analyses is a set of conversions that allows translation of the raw scores to the scaled scores, taking into account differences in the difficulty of test questions. Therefore, regardless of the particular form used or the particular administration at which the test is taken, equal scaled scores will represent the same level of skill mastery.

-- From The MCAT Interpretive Manual, 2005

 

[deleted103644]

Basically it means they try to fix the percentiles achieving each scaled score. So the 50th percentile should always be around an 8 for each section. On tests like the verbal, many people will get every single question right, which is why in past years a perfect score was sometimes a 13 instead of 15 on verbal. Test-takers tend to $uck at physics, so there you can get several questions wrong and still get a 15. With the new computer-based test, the normalization process will probably be different since they will have only a few thousand rather than tens of thousands of test-takers per sitting.

 

[oxeye]

Correct me anybody if I am wrong, but statistically speaking a standard bell curve will place the highest percentage of test takers (in population number) at approx 24-25.

Yup - you're right.

 

[cool_vkb]

Correct me anybody if I am wrong, but statistically speaking a standard bell curve will place the highest percentage of test takers (in population number) at approx 24-25.

What does these numbers mean?

 

[cool_vkb]

Basically it means they try to fix the percentiles achieving each scaled score. So the 50th percentile should always be around an 8 for each section. On tests like the verbal, many people will get every single question right, which is why in past years a perfect score was sometimes a 13 instead of 15 on verbal. Test-takers tend to $uck at physics, so there you can get several questions wrong and still get a 15. With the new computer-based test, the normalization process will probably be different since they will have only a few thousand rather than tens of thousands of test-takers per sitting.

So what does this mean for a guy who has performed very badly on the entire test and all other applicants have done great.

And what does this mean for a guy who has done excellent but all other applicants screwed up.

And finally, what does this mean for a guy who has screwed up but all other applicants have also screwed up.

 

[drizzt3117]

So what does this mean for a guy who has performed very badly on the entire test and all other applicants have done great.

And what does this mean for a guy who has done excellent but all other applicants screwed up.

And finally, what does this mean for a guy who has screwed up but all other applicants have also screwed up.[/QUOTE]

In the first case, you'd be below average and then you'd be below 24-25, in the second you'd be above it, and in the third case you'd be right around the average (24-25) assuming you screwed up as much as the average test taker did.

 

[jash0624]

Basically it means they try to fix the percentiles achieving each scaled score. So the 50th percentile should always be around an 8 for each section. On tests like the verbal, many people will get every single question right, which is why in past years a perfect score was sometimes a 13 instead of 15 on verbal. Test-takers tend to $uck at physics, so there you can get several questions wrong and still get a 15. With the new computer-based test, the normalization process will probably be different since they will have only a few thousand rather than tens of thousands of test-takers per sitting.

So you are saying that someone could get every verbal question right and end up with a 13? That sounds wrong..

 

[drizzt3117]

So you are saying that someone could get every verbal question right and end up with a 13? That sounds wrong..

I remember them saying something like if 0.1% of test takers got a perfect score on a given section then the cap would be 14, and if 0.2% got a perfect score the cap would then be 13, but I could be wrong about this. It may have been 1% and 2% but I don't think it was.

 

[Schaden Freud]

Judging by the quality of your posts, you won't do too well on the MCAT.

hey, i took my MCAT yesterday. I read in other thread that MCAT people curve the score or something with other test takers. What does this mean. Can anyone explain it briefly.PLZZZZ

i thought we get our scaled score based on our rough score which inturn is equal to the number of answers we got right. What in the earth this has to do with other applicants.

And if they curve, does this goes to benifit of applicants or against them And does this helps the guys who did badly on the tests as it brings the scores up or it goes againts them

Iam confused. can anyone plzz help out.

 

[jash0624]

I remember them saying something like if 0.1% of test takers got a perfect score on a given section then the cap would be 14, and if 0.2% got a perfect score the cap would then be 13, but I could be wrong about this. It may have been 1% and 2% but I don't think it was.

Wow I can't imagine that to be true, what a gyp!

 

[Schaden Freud]

A few years back the highest score on VR was 13-15, since AAMC didn't have enough questions that could distinguish between the highest scoring people. It's not really a big deal, since they gave everyone in that range the benefit of the doubt, and since the difference between a 13 and a 15 on any given section really can't matter much in the admissions process anyway.

Wow I can't imagine that to be true, what a gyp!