GMAT Strategy

Could anyone anyone let me know how comparable the Kaplan CAT exams are to the actual GMAT exam? If I have been getting a pretty consistent score on my CAT exams, can I generally expect my GMAT score to be lower, higher, or about the same?

Thanks!

1) Yes
2) Library
3) Yes
4) No

1) Not yet
2) 650
3) April 18th

CAREY33 wrote:Could anyone anyone let me know how comparable the Kaplan CAT exams are to the actual GMAT exam? If I have been getting a pretty consistent score on my CAT exams, can I generally expect my GMAT score to be lower, higher, or about the same?

Thanks!

As a general rule, if you take the average of your last 3 practice test scores, you'll have a decent notion of the neighborhood in which you're likely to score. Of course, some do significantly better on test day. Some do worse. Given a large enough population of test-takers, this is inevitable. So don't read too much into any single result. Make sure that you're using the tests to identify problem areas and to cultivate strategic tweaks in your approach. And if you want the best benchmark, as Marty wrote, you've got plenty of tests from mba.com to choose from. (Two are free. And you can buy four more.)

CAT 1- Q:38 V:35 610
CAT 2- Q:40 V:34 610
CAT 3- Q:37 V:32 580
CAT 4- Q:40 V:33 610

I just competed a FULL GMAC CAT:

Q:35
V:40

Total:620

Ok perfect.

So now, to break 650 with some margin for error you need about 5 or 6 more section points, which means about 6 more right answers. No big deal. You have more than two weeks to get better at 6 to 8 things so that you lock up those 5 - 6 section points.

One way to achieve that would be to work on 6 to 8 quant areas that you are not that strong in. Alternatively you could work on improving accuracy and get a couple more right that way and also work on 4 or 5 quant areas. Also you could work on seeing the details and logic of verbal questions more clearly.

To figure out what to work on you could go over this last test along with some of your other more recent CATs and see what you need to be better at in order to score higher.

If you do decide to do some topic by topic quant practice and don't have many questions left to work on, you could get some categorized quant questions by going to the GMAT area here, https://bellcurves.com, and setting up a free practice account.

Marty Murray wrote:Ok perfect.

So now, to break 650 with some margin for error you need about 5 or 6 more section points, which means about 6 more right answers. No big deal. You have more than two weeks to get better at 6 to 8 things so that you lock up those 5 - 6 section points.

One way to achieve that would be to work on 6 to 8 quant areas that you are not that strong in. Alternatively you could work on improving accuracy and get a couple more right that way and also work on 4 or 5 quant areas. Also you could work on seeing the details and logic of verbal questions more clearly.

To figure out what to work on you could go over this last test along with some of your other more recent CATs and see what you need to be better at in order to score higher.

If you do decide to do some topic by topic quant practice and don't have many questions left to work on, you could get some categorized quant questions by going to the GMAT area here, https://bellcurves.com, and setting up a free practice account.

Thanks for the response. When you say about 6 more right answers, does that mean 6 more right answers between quant and verbal?

CAREY33 wrote:When you say about 6 more right answers, does that mean 6 more right answers between quant and verbal?

Yes, six more between quant and verbal. That is a rough estimate, and should the order of your right answers on another test be significantly different from what it was on this more recent practice test, then your score on that other test could be increased or decreased by the order of the answers.

Also, if you are getting more right, then the questions will get a little, but not much, more difficult.

In any case, roughly six more right answers would probably get you to your score goal or a little higher. Really maybe three or four more right answers would do the trick, but shooting for six more would be much safer, especially as 620 could be the high end of your current range for all we know.

Just completed another Kaplan Cat:

Q: 41
V: 35
Total: 630

I haven't reviewed it yet but I was dissapointed with my Verbal score, I did notice however that had lots of extra time left for the last 4 or so verbal questions.

CAREY33 wrote:Just completed another Kaplan Cat:

Q: 41
V: 35
Total: 630

I haven't reviewed it yet but I was dissapointed with my Verbal score, I did notice however that had lots of extra time left for the last 4 or so verbal questions.

When reviewing verbal questions that you didn't get, the key question to ask yourself is "How could I have gotten this one right?"

Also, it is often useful to go back and see whether you can get them right before looking at the explanations. Reading explanations is generally not sufficient for learning how to score higher on verbal. You need to develop effective processes for getting to right answers.

Regarding the extra time left, scoring high on verbal is to a large degree about the level of care you use when doing the questions. Even sheer determination to get right answers and not get tricked can make a HUGE difference. So being way ahead of the clock when you get to the end of the verbal section indicates that you could have been more careful and taken more time in choosing answers. Had you done that, likely in taking this test you would have exceeded your score goal.

The verbal section is the last section of the test. So you can be intense in handling it and totally drained by the end. Try being wicked careful and intense when doing the verbal section of the next practice test you take and see whether you can break V40. Even Q41 V39 probably gives you a total score of 660.