I don’t think the official ETS “GRE to predicted GMAT score” calculator is accurate. So instead, I created my own *proxy* tool (using score percentiles) instead. Explanations / other useful links / caveat emptors below, but if you’re in a hurry…
Click HERE to access the GRE to GMAT score converter sheet!
It will look something like this — use the drop-downs in the yellow cells to select your GRE Quantitative and Verbal scores:
If you’re new around here, you might be interested in reading my blog post about why I feel that students who are primarily concerned with getting accepted to business school (vs. getting “merit scholarships”, which are often based primarily on GMAT scores), should take the GRE instead of the GMAT to maximize their admissions chances.
But even then… how can you know if your GRE score is genuinely competitive for an MBA admissions committee, especially since the scoring scale is so different between the two tests?
While the Educational Testing Service (ETS) has its own public GRE to GMAT score conversion tool (download your own copy here), it was last updated several years ago, and seems to be… well, weird. And by “weird”, I mean, the results seem to make fairly strong GRE scores look like much lower GMAT scores. It doesn’t make any sense… UNLESS, the ETS is trying to discourage applicants from taking the GMAT, by making it seem like: “Whoa! Look at just HOW BADLY you’ll do on the GMAT! Better not take it!”. And sure, I realize that this is reaching into tinfoil-hat conspiracy theory territory, but… how else can an organization staffed by statisticians / psychometric experts create a tool that most people in the MBA admissions industry think is utter rubbish?
What I’ve done with this analysis is create a Google spreadsheet that attempts to create a somewhat “apples to apples” (to the extent that’s possible between two very different tests!) comparison based NOT on the ETS’ own tool, but rather by comparing the percentile performance levels between the two tests.
(Just in case the word “percentile” is new to you, “X percentile” means: “You did better on the test than X% of all other people taking the test”. Another way to think about it is to subtract your percentile from 100% to figure out that you’re in the top (100% – X percentile) of test takers. That is, a “99th percentile” score = “You did better than 99% of other people taking test, and thus are in the top (100% – 99 percentile) 1% of all test takers”.)
Here are the 3 steps used to calculate the GRE to GMAT conversion in this tool:
- That is, if your Quant score in the GRE is 160, that is about a 67% percentile score… so, when I look up “What is approximately a 67% percentile score for the GMAT Quant section?” the answer is about a 48 GMAT Q.
FAQs about the above:
Why are the scores in a drop-down?
Because it occurred to me that if I leave those cells open to being edited, someone’s bound to make either an innocent mistake (e.g. accidentally entering in their GMAT score, like a “47” , instead) OR someone might see this as a chance for MISCHIEF in a dark, cold world (so, hey — I get it!) and enter in something nonsensical / silly / inappropriate instead.
Why does the score MOST RECENTLY entered in the drop-down list appear at the TOP of the drop-down list, and from there it goes to the expected count-down of “170, 169, 168…”?
No clue. I created this in Google Spreadsheets and if there’s a way to get it to NOT do that, please let me know!
GRE scores in real life go much lower than the list provided in the drop-down; what gives?
At small enough percentiles, it started to become almost impossible to convert it to a relevant GMAT score — that is, I looked up what total scores some people were reporting based on much lower individual Quant and Verbal sections, and it started to get tough to calculate something I was comfortable with. My hope is that someone who’s competitive re: applying to a top graduate business school program is doing well enough on the tests so that it still calculates something 🙁 ? If you happen to find a reliable calculator for the lower GMAT Q and V raw scores, please let me know and I’ll happily update my LOOKUP table!
- That is, if your Quant score in the GRE is 160, that is about a 67% percentile score… so, when I look up “What is approximately a 67% percentile score for the GMAT Quant section?” the answer is about a 48 GMAT Q.
FAQs about the above:
Why are the scores in a drop-down?
Because it occurred to me that if I leave those cells open to being edited, someone’s bound to make either an innocent mistake (e.g. accidentally entering in their GMAT score, like a “47” , instead) OR someone might see this as a chance for MISCHIEF in a dark, cold world (so, hey — I get it!) and enter in something nonsensical / silly / inappropriate instead.
Why does the score MOST RECENTLY entered in the drop-down list appear at the TOP of the drop-down list, and from there it goes to the expected count-down of “170, 169, 168…”?
No clue. I created this in Google Spreadsheets and if there’s a way to get it to NOT do that, please let me know!
GRE scores in real life go much lower than the list provided in the drop-down; what gives?
At small enough percentiles, it started to become almost impossible to convert it to a relevant GMAT score — that is, I looked up what total scores some people were reporting based on much lower individual Quant and Verbal sections, and it started to get tough to calculate something I was comfortable with. My hope is that someone who’s competitive re: applying to a top graduate business school program is doing well enough on the tests so that it still calculates something 🙁 ? If you happen to find a reliable calculator for the lower GMAT Q and V raw scores, please let me know and I’ll happily update my LOOKUP table!
- Take the raw GRE score for both Quantitative and Verbal, and look up which percentile the Q and V scores are (per the ETS percentile chart)
- Use those percentiles to reverse-look-up which individual raw scores for Q and V for the GMAT test are at (roughly) the same percentile level
- That is, if your Quant score in the GRE is 160, that is about a 67% percentile score… so, when I look up “What is approximately a 67% percentile score for the GMAT Quant section?” the answer is about a 48 GMAT Q.
- Put those raw Quant and Verbal GMAT section scores into a table that looks up what the total score should be
FAQs about the above:
Why are the scores in a drop-down?
Because it occurred to me that if I leave those cells open to being edited, someone’s bound to make either an innocent mistake (e.g. accidentally entering in their GMAT score, like a “47” , instead) OR someone might see this as a chance for MISCHIEF in a dark, cold world (so, hey — I get it!) and enter in something nonsensical / silly / inappropriate instead.
Why does the score MOST RECENTLY entered in the drop-down list appear at the TOP of the drop-down list, and from there it goes to the expected count-down of “170, 169, 168…”?
No clue. I created this in Google Spreadsheets and if there’s a way to get it to NOT do that, please let me know!
GRE scores in real life go much lower than the list provided in the drop-down; what gives?
At small enough percentiles, it started to become almost impossible to convert it to a relevant GMAT score — that is, I looked up what total scores some people were reporting based on much lower individual Quant and Verbal sections, and it started to get tough to calculate something I was comfortable with. My hope is that someone who’s competitive re: applying to a top graduate business school program is doing well enough on the tests so that it still calculates something 🙁 ? If you happen to find a reliable calculator for the lower GMAT Q and V raw scores, please let me know and I’ll happily update my LOOKUP table!
