Practice Tests vs. Real GMAT

[HJS]

Hi there,

being new in this forum I started to read a lot of the posts here. right now I am wondering if I prepared wrong for my GMAT on next saturday.

my preparation was based on the Princton Reviews "Cracking the GMAT" and the GMAC Official GMAT Review (11th edition). I did not make any preparation test, just the diagnostic tests (which resulted in being average in Q and a little above average in V)

the plan is to finish the big yellow book (GMAC) until Wednesday and starting than the online tests and the GMAT prep software to get used to the test situation.

all in all I believe there is now way of "pretesting" your real score. I don't think that there is a general rule...

Keeping in mind that

- some questions in my real test won't be added to my score because they are for “GMAC evaluation for future test”,
- no paper based test can be that realistic because of the fact that the software offers an easier question if you got a difficult question wrong
- for test takers who’s mothers tongues is not English some “easy” questions are more difficult because of vocabulary, so it depends also on a little luck getting questions you understand first linguistic before starting to find the right answer
- every testday can be different…being in a good mood, bad mood, having a headache…

So a tip from someone who maybe has not the experience to give to tips: relax! Noone can tell you how the real GMAT will be (I guess). Just prepare the basics (1x1=2) J, get to know how the situation will be on the test day and relax. Thinking in the way of Nike: JUST DO IT!

Maybe I’ll have a different opinion after taking my test next Saturday, but right now I can tell you only that I think this is a good way of not making myself insane. To help some of you: My scores of the example questions of the GMAC review are horrible. I always do 60 questions in one of “my sessions” and usually between 15 and 25 questions of 60 are wrong in all sections. So what? What would that mean on the real GMAT? Who knows…So: JUST DO IT!

The GMAT is not testing your ability to Q and V but to your ability to test the GMAT. Don’t make yourself crazy. There is always some kind of luck involved…I guess…and hope J

If there is someone who knows it better I would be very thankful for help and hints J

HJS

[HJS]

hey guys,

just another question: does anyone use the paper tests offerd by mba.com?
I'm working trough a test #48 frin 1996. are this tests meaningful and reliable?

thx for your answers in advance...

[thanmos]

Actual GMAT - 750 (Q-50, V-41)
GMATprep 2 - 710(48/40) 2 mths before GMAT
Kaplan 4 - 580
800score.com test 1 - 690 (46/39)
Manhattan GMAT free test - 700 (50/35)
Manhattan GMAT test 1 - 680(44/38)
800score.com - 720(42/46)
kaplan 3 - 590 (50/28)
cambridge - 660- 700(they give a range)
Manhattan GMAT test 2 - 670 (47/34)
kaplan 2 - 620 (50/31)
GMATprep 1 - 730(49/40) 1 week before GMAT.

[testtaker821]

Actual 480

kaplan 520
pp 430 420

[tushar84]

I want to do my bit here as I used to follow this thread quite regularly to see how I am faring.

Actual GMAT - 730 (Q49, V41)

Princeton CAT 1 - 700 (Q48, V39) (CD Tests)
Kaplan CAT1 - 570 (Q38, V30) (2004 CD)
Manhattan GMAT Online Test - 680 (Q47, V36)
GMAT Prep 1 (1 week before the exam) - 700 (Q49, V35)
GMAT Prep 2 (3 days before the exam) - 690 (Q49, V34 )
GMAT Prep 3 (2 days before the exam - Repeated test 1 of the software but got only 3-4 repeat questions in verbal - I marked them all wrong myself after spending two minutes on each) - 760 (Q49, V44)

[winna.7]

Took the GMAT today and got a 650(49, 31) . Math Section went pretty well , but the Verbal section some how turned out to be bad.Goofed it up big time!! A 31 on Verball!!

I usually got around 38-40 in my mock tests on the verbal section.Even yesterday , got a 740(49, 41) on GMAT prep 1 . Didn't expect to get anything below 700. Hope to do better the second time. i always thought my english was good.. Am wondering now..!!!

Here's a list of the marks i got in my mock exams:

GMAT Prep - took them many times- ranged from 630 to 740 .(u can get the software to give new questions each time, by deleting the practice test files - .actx and .txt- from C:/program files/GMAT )

Crack GMAT Diagnostic: 575

Kaplan - 560, 640,650

Princeton- 570, 640, 650, 690,

[vbalex]

Hello all. I'm a little disapointed because I didn't perform in the actual GMAT as well as in the PrepTests.

Actual: 590 (q-41, V-31)
Kaplan: 600, 620
GMATPrep 1&2: 700
Manhattan GMAT: 590, 620, 670
Princeton: 620

[dk2008]

Hello everyone!!

Can someone please let me know about the validity of the Free diagnostic crack-gmat test??

I got a 650.. it says that the test is made tougher compared to the real gmat!! is that so??

waiting eagerly for the reply...

[SINGSUB]

excuse my ignorance, but what is OG??


i have downloaded the 2 free tests from the GMAC site , but its not working on my computer. windows xp. can anyone suggest a solution??

also could someone tell me what sort of colleges would entertain a score of 600ish.

[aim730]

I had similar problem as people above reported:

- good grades on mocks and sucked big time on the real GMAT

And I found over and over that the real problem lies on the verbal section.

Everybody seems to be getting worse grades on the real GMAT than on the mock ones.

My impression is that only the OG has similar questions to the actual GMAT, all other materials lack in complexity thus most people (including me) did not get enough preparation on SC, reading comprehension and critical reasoning, but specially SC.

I don't have the OG verbal (the complementary one), I could not find it at esnsips..

Anyone can comment on the quality of this material?

PS: After getting 580 on the actual I bought the OG11 and Kaplan's GMAT Premier Program 2009.
The OG11 is really good and very important, but the Kaplan's Premier Program is very very very BAD, terrible, horrible!
I don't recommend to anyone, it is so basic that is not worth a penny! Also it is so thick, I feel bad that all those trees got cut to print this book!
OG11 is really good.