Practice Tests vs. Real GMAT

[shreya.sharma]

just given gmat..
my score-700(q50 v35)

practice test scores-
Kaplan 1-640
kaplan 2-630
kaplan 3-630
PR1-700
PR2-720
PR3-700
PR4-740
CrackGMAT-735
Cambrig1-670-690
Cambrig2- 700-740
cambrige3 700-740
cambridge4 700-740
Manhattan GMAT free online test- 670
GMAT prep1-700
GMAT prep2-720

[eddyh]

great job!

[donewiththegmat]

Since I found this thread incredibly useful, figure I should give back now that I just finished the gmat:
I had similar experiences and agree very much with gmoney's post from 12/15/07 with regard to Manhattan GMAT materials, although I wouldn't necessarily say the practice tests were a waste of time. As I was scoring in the 600s on Manhattan GMAT tests but shooting for a score above 700, reading his post was very helpful and encouraging.

Here's what I thought of various prep materials:
- GMATPrep: as good as it gets in terms of the CAT-simulation, question-similarity, and score accuracy (relative to actual). Also pretty good to retake after reinstalling several weeks later as you'll likely see new questions and forget the repeats
- MBA.com paper tests: i haven't seen people discuss these much here and have seen some people say you shouldn't bother scoring them, but I found these very useful for both practice questions and scoring. obviously not good for practicing the CAT format, but if you stick to the 25 minute time limits I think it's a decent way to practice pacing through questions and the scores may be fairly accurate.
- Manhattan GMAT tests: good for practicing the CAT format and for practicing gmat-type questions, but found the tests to be much harder than the actual and the scoring to be basically irrelevant. The questions seem worded in a more confusing manner than on the official tests. I've seen Manhattan GMAT employees say the scores are accurate +/- 50 pts (which is a huge window to start with), but that wasn't the case for me at all. that said, I would believe that they're better than the other non-official practice tests out there
- Manhattan GMAT books: good for strategies and practice, though not a huge amount of practice problems
- EZ Solutions books: I think these books are pretty solid if you need to review specific math topics and want a lot of drill problems
- Princeton Review/Kaplan books: I didn't go in-depth into these but think they have some good overview review materials, but may be too basic for people scoring above 650

Scores
GMATprep 1: Q43/V45 - 720
GMATprep 2: Q42/V47 - 720

paper test 14: Q48 - 700-730 (estimate based on quant section only)
paper test 25: Q43/V47 - 690
paper test 52: Q45 - 740-770 (estimate based on quant section only)
paper test 28: Q49/V41 - 690

5/12 Manhattan GMAT free test: Q33/V41 - 620
5/13 Manhattan GMAT test 2: Q42/V39 - 670
5/14 Manhattan GMAT test 3: Q45/V38 - 690
5/26 Manhattan GMAT test 4: Q29/V42 - 590 (took very early in the morning with less than usual sleep which may've affected results. nonetheless, very discouraging a week before actual test)

5/28 GMATprep 1 retest: Q50/V45 - 770
5/30 GMATprep 2 retest: Q48/V42 - 730

6/2 actual: Q51/V48 - 780!!

One note on my test experience: I was really nervous on the math section and couldn't think straight for the first few questions, even guessing on one of the first 3. I struggled the rest of the test and was thinking seriously about cancelling the test. Somehow I ended up scoring better than on any of my practice tests, so no matter how badly you think you're doing stay calm and think twice about canceling!

[grad.mad]

Really impressive score Mr.donewiththegmat ...

i didn't know Quant can shoot past 50 .

[shyaml]

After I started preparing for the GMAT, someone pointed me to TestMagic & I am really happy that I am getting very good math strategies by going through the posts here.

I have the following other prep tools with me:
1. Official Guide plus the 2 free online tests given by those folks
2. Princeton Review (book)

I find that some of the strategies in PR are really useful, but not enough to score above 700.

I would really appreciate if anyone can point me to other prep tools which will help me go beyond 700. I want to be in the 750-800 range. I am currently scoring in the 600-650 range.

Thanks

[hi780]

awesome consistency

[hi780]

My scores were:

GMPREP1 : 700
800 SCORE C1: 710
Manhattan GMAT: 590

Everything was going smoothly till I appeared for the 3rd test i.e. Manhattan GMAT after inadequate sleep. The result was that my confidence level went down and I ended up postponing the exam.

I guess 'donewiththegmat' above is very correct when he says "Somehow I ended up scoring better than on any of my practice tests, so no matter how badly you think you're doing stay calm and think twice about canceling!"

Thanks to donewiththegmat

[mkx2000]

My scores were:

GMATprep 1: 770 (the one and only time I had 100% correct in quant)
GMATprep 2: 780 (verbal improved a lot after some training, quant worse)
Manhattan GMAT free online test: 710 (day before real test, extremely frustrating, paused the clock a lot)
Princeton online CAT: 730 (also day before test, outdated and basically useless)
GMATprep 1 second run: 760 (rushed on the day of the test, helped regaining some confidence)

GMAT: 770 / Q 50 / V 45

So, I'm very happy with the results
(though quant could have been better )


A word on the tests:
Manhattan GMAT gives you way too many hard and tedious math questions. Maybe its good training but don't take the score and the time limit too seriously. Where the real GMAT gives you 2-4 really long-winded questions (like DS with a lot of cases to consider), Manhattan GMAT gives you a dozen. The verbal questions seemed a tad more ambigous, but maybe thats just me.

Ignore the Princeton test. The math is too easy, some of the verbal stuff is really outdated (think Cold War-era), and the scoring is way off.

[Headcrab]

GMAT-760(q50 v42)

practice test scores( sorted according to difficulty)-

Kaplan Test: (not really helpful...DON'T give a KAPLAN test in the week prior to GMAT, it will demoralize you)
Kaplan 1-680
kaplan 2-660
kaplan 3-690


Princeton: (Probably the best indication of your GMAT scores)
PR1-750
PR2-760

GMAT Prep:
GMAT prep1-760

[hsg1986]

Hey...
Very useful Thread..

I want to know if Manhattan GMAT Test papers are available for download somewhere.. I've given 3 out of 5 800Score tests, and then I came across this page to learn that its not a good test to give.. Just wanted to make sure I don't do something no one else does and screw up in the actual..

Also, If anyone knows of a good counsellor? I'm still trying to balance work and studies, so If anyone can give some kind of advice on this, I'll save a lot of time

Cheers,
Harpreet

GMAT Date:13th July 2009