Practice Tests vs. Real GMAT

[gmatguy]

hi
pp1 670
pp2 700

pr 1 650

kap 1 570
kap 2 560
kap 3 560

rea 1 690
rea 2 670


actual gmat.... will give the exam in 2 days

[Frankie Satin]

Kaplan 1 (1999 version) - 530
Kaplan 2 (1999 version) - 570 (I couldn't finish either sections in time...actually left about 8-10 questions blank)

Princeton (free one online)- 700

800Score test 2 (paid $29.99 for it) - 780 (the math part is a waste of time. I got a 58 on the math and it took less than 50 minutes to finish...do not recommend)

PowerPrep 1 - 740

Actual GMAT - 690 (and still a little bitter but getting over it)

just a warning in case you didn't see it in the other threads. The math part on the actual GMAT was much harder than expected. I think to best prepare for the GMAT now is to get the most recent Official Guide. The old ones may give a false sense of security.

[Soummo1998]

I was wondering whether someone could give me some insight as far as how you were scoring in the practice questions in the Official Guide prior to taking your actual GMAT.


I'm taking the GMAT in a week's time and am scoring about 7 out of 10 on the SC under timed conditions and about 8 to 8.5 out of 10 on reading comprehension and critical reasoning. On Verbal, I generally can score about 9 out of 10 on PS and 8 out of 10 on DS. Just wondering if one really needs to be in the 9 out of 10 average for all question categories to be able to score above 700 on the GMAT.

Thanks in advance for your time to answer my question and offer any other advice that you may have based on your experience.

[nitinag]

Real GMAT - 720
Powerprep 1- 700
Powerprep 2 - 720
Kaplan (diagnostic) - 700
Kaplan 1 - 650
Kaplan 2 - 590
Princeton - 700
ARCO - 700-740 (2 tests - same range)

[haddock]

Real GMAT - 710
Powerprep 1- 710
Powerprep 2 - 750
Kaplan (diagnostic) - 700
Kaplan 1 - 580
Kaplan 2 - 640
Princeton - 670,710, 730

[I3aron]

I am a little relieved when I see most people's Kaplan scores are 60-100 points below their actual GMAT. Can't tell how frustrated I was after taking the first Kaplan CAT -- didn't finish all the questions and got 640. Got a little better in the next two Kaplan tests -- 680 and 710. But I suspect Kaplan gradually lowers the difficulty level in subsequent tests to artificially boast the scores, not sure if anyone else has the same feeling. I scored on two Powerprep tests 710 and 750. Will take GMAT on Columbus day and let you guys know my score.

[mschnab]

Real GMAT 45 math 33 verbal 640
practice tests in order that I took them

Kaplan diagnostic 610
kaplan CATS 580-640 range
Crack GMAT Tests
47 math 41 verbal 710
42 math 30 verbal 590
43 math 37 verbal 650
48 math 36 verbal 680
49 math 35 verbal 680
49 math 42 verbal 740 (took this test a month before so remembered some Qs)

I am a little discouraged since I was shooting for upper 600s and only wanted to take it once. I will take it again though. The only resource I haven't exhausted is the Official Guide which people seem to think is a good resource on this site. Knew my verbal would be kind of low and usually my math score makes up for it, but I found the math on the real GMAT harder than I was expecting.

[rajisiva]

Hi,

Did you take the GMAT...??

I am in the same state as you are. Have done a lot of practice but still score is not improving. ANy tips for me ?

Raji

[Tito]

Hi Chad,

Quick question. How did u get the 800 Math test (download) 90%?

Cheers T

[DEMON]

Kaplan CAT's 550-600
Princeton CAT's 670-690
Arco Gold CAT's 670-690

Actual GMAT 680 44Q 40V

Considering writing it again. Very unnerving experience. This forum has been very useful and has helped me strive towards 700 plus scores.
This is an actual question from the exam. It took me by surprise as there were alot of steps involved and I didn't understand what was required at first. After the exam I thought about it and figured it out.

(Not exact wording. Exact wording was more complicated)
There exists a cylinder with radius of 5 and height of 25. What is the ratio of the area of the two face of of the cylinder to it's entire surface area?

Answer: 25pi+25pi/250pi+50pi
=50pi/300pi
=1/6

I almost cancelled my score but learned that it is very difficult to tell where you stand and the only time you should ever cancel is if you miss more than 4 or five questions. I am very disappointed with the verbal score. In my panic after the quant section I forgot that there were 41 q's and not 37 on the verbal. I took 6 minutes on #37 thinking it was my last question and then realized that I had four questions to go and 2 minutes left. Had to guess at all four. Probably would have cracked 700 otherwise. I am applying to Canadian universities and the average gmat scores are 625-640 for our best schools. I don't think I need to rewrite.

Piece of advice think of it as a contest and challenge yourself against all the smart mothers who post their 700+ scores on this forum.

Peace and good luck. Erin I'd like to thank you fro starting this forum, it helped me challenge myself.