I took a Free Kaplan Test

[NYC_Kid]

I took a paper and pen version of the test at my Uni and I found it pretty tough. Granted I've been studying for only a week, but I was surprised by the test's difficulty. Is it possible that these tests are made difficult to purposely get people to enroll in their program?

[Jayhawk]

I wouldn't feel that bad if you've only been studying for a week, unless you're scheduled to take the test in the immediate future. Although I didn't have much of a quant background before I started studying for the GMAT, I'm a really fast learner, but it still has taken me quite some time to understand some of the concepts. And the difficulty level of different GMAT resources varies. For instance, the other night I did problems from Manhattan Review Turbocharge, and the question seemed way different and more difficult than the OG.

[bobby_in]

I have been preparing for a month and half..
I took the test alst week.. and foudn it tough too..
My score was 650 (Q43, V39 )
But what surprised me was despite my less number of mistakes (6 in quant & 11 in verbal), I got only 650..

I heard that that actual GMAT score would be 80-100 plus that of Kaplan tests !!

[Jayhawk]

I don't think you can miss very many to be in the top percentiles. Still, a lot of people would kill for a 650. I've seen at least one link not too long ago on this forum that explains GMAT scoring. I've been studying for months and a lot of the problems are only now beginning to look familiar to me. I previously had not had a quant background though, and have been out of school for 10 years though, so I was very rusty. I don't think much of Kaplan to be honest with your, the books at least, and I study best on my own, so I haven't enrolled in any classroom setting type of thing.