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GMATPrep difficulty vs the real thing.

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GMATPrep difficulty vs the real thing.

by wesleywillis » Wed Nov 18, 2009 8:35 am
For those who have taken the test, how does the difficulty of the verbal and quantitative sections of the GMATPrep differ from the real test?

I'm asking this because I just took my first test with GMATPrep, and I ended up with a 780 (50Q, 48V). However, it seemed that the questions were too easy.

So, what gives?
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by beatthegmat » Wed Nov 18, 2009 9:41 am
GMATPrep is the most accurate indicator of your actual GMAT performance on the market. Unlike practice tests prepared by GMAT prep companies, GMATPrep features real but retired GMAT questions.

If you got a 780 cold, then you may be in the 0.001% of GMAT test takers who are simply naturals. I'd still spend some time prepping, perhaps minimally in your case, and take the second GMATPrep. If you get a similar score again, then take the real GMAT ASAP.

By the way, I'm super jealous. :)
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by wesleywillis » Fri Nov 20, 2009 10:16 pm
beatthegmat wrote:GMATPrep is the most accurate indicator of your actual GMAT performance on the market. Unlike practice tests prepared by GMAT prep companies, GMATPrep features real but retired GMAT questions.

If you got a 780 cold, then you may be in the 0.001% of GMAT test takers who are simply naturals. I'd still spend some time prepping, perhaps minimally in your case, and take the second GMATPrep. If you get a similar score again, then take the real GMAT ASAP.

By the way, I'm super jealous. :)
Well, it's not purely cold. I had studied very hard (i.e. crammed) for a week before taking the practice test, during which I took a few Manhattan GMAT tests before the GMATPrep, getting a 710, 690, 700 respectively. So, getting a 780 was totally unexpected.

I guess I'm trying to figure out if I should study for the RC and CR sections. I took the free practice test from Kaplan, the one linked on this site, and I got all the RC/CR questions correct.. Although, I don't think that test is computer adaptive. On the GMATPrep test, I got all the RC/CR questions correct, except one RC that was simple. However, on the MGMAT, I was getting only around 50% of the CR, and only 80% of the RC. So, I am a little confused on which test is more reflective of the true difficulty of the actual GMAT. The worst thing that could happen is to be shellshocked during the test, and then screw up the things I do know.

I am scheduled to take the test in 2 weeks. And, yea, 3 weeks is probably not enough to prepare, but oh well.

Anyway, I apologize my atrocious grammar. I am a little tired.
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by beatthegmat » Sat Nov 21, 2009 9:24 am
Thanks for clarifying. Given the practice tests you've taken, I think you're in awesome shape for your actual GMAT. Since you have about two weeks left, I would spend some time reviewing the MGMAT Sentence Correction guide and PowerScore Critical Reasoning Bible. These two books should help sharpen up these verbal areas for you.

I really look forward to hearing your debrief! :)
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by wesleywillis » Tue Nov 24, 2009 2:58 pm
So, 10 days to go....

I took your advice and got the CR Bible, but I've only had time to go through the first few chapters. I'm feeling pretty good about the SC section. I went through the OG SC section, and had a hit rate of around 96%. Laugh at me all you want, but I have a horrible time with the "much" vs "many" concept. I seem to always choose the wrong one. Perhaps in the real test, I will decide on the one I think is correct, and then put the wrong one as my answer.

I've got a beard going right now. Perhaps I should shave everything but the mustache. It will be my lucky mustache.
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by beatthegmat » Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:04 pm
Hahaha, like the fact that you're growing a lucky mustache. :)

Sounds like you are making some good progress. Check out the GMAT Flashcards if you haven't already: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/free-gma ... flashcards

There is some coverage of much vs many that could help.

Good luck!
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by wesleywillis » Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:19 pm
beatthegmat wrote:Hahaha, like the fact that you're growing a lucky mustache. :)

Sounds like you are making some good progress. Check out the GMAT Flashcards if you haven't already: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/free-gma ... flashcards

There is some coverage of much vs many that could help.

Good luck!
Nice. I will definitely check those out.

I think I've decided on a strategy for much vs many. I'm thinking that perhaps rephrasing the sentence in the form of a question will help. See which one works better, "How much X?" or "How many X?" We shall see...
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by beatthegmat » Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:24 pm
I think this concept has been discussed several times in the community in the past. Try doing a search using the Google search box at the top right of this page too. You might find some answers.

Good luck!
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by wesleywillis » Thu Nov 26, 2009 12:52 pm
Just a quick question for those out there who have taken the GMATPrep tests, Manhattan CATs, and the actual test.

So far I've taken two GMATPrep tests, and I haven't got a CR question wrong, along with only missing 1 RC.

However, on the Manhattan tests, I'm only at around 60% on the CR and 70% on the RC.

So, is this discrepancy merely because Manhattan cannot replicate true GMAT style questions, or is the difficulty of the GMATPrep questions not indicative of the difficulty of the actual test?
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by shadowsjc » Thu Nov 26, 2009 3:36 pm
wesleywillis wrote:Just a quick question for those out there who have taken the GMATPrep tests, Manhattan CATs, and the actual test.

So far I've taken two GMATPrep tests, and I haven't got a CR question wrong, along with only missing 1 RC.

However, on the Manhattan tests, I'm only at around 60% on the CR and 70% on the RC.

So, is this discrepancy merely because Manhattan cannot replicate true GMAT style questions, or is the difficulty of the GMATPrep questions not indicative of the difficulty of the actual test?
This was answered in the 2nd post of the thread. The GMAT Preptest is the most accurate representation of your score. All others have a larger variation, and could contain either harder or easier questions. It's commonly thought that the Quant on MGMAT, for example, is more difficult than the real thing.
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by wesleywillis » Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:13 pm
shadowsjc wrote:This was answered in the 2nd post of the thread. The GMAT Preptest is the most accurate representation of your score. All others have a larger variation, and could contain either harder or easier questions. It's commonly thought that the Quant on MGMAT, for example, is more difficult than the real thing.
Haha. I realize I left out the main part of what I was asking.

What I meant to ask was if the Critical Reasoning questions on the Manhattan CAT's were actually reflective of the real test.

I only have 7 days left to study, and I'm trying to decide on which sections to study. So, should my 100% hit rate on the GMATPrep CR questions and ~95% hit rate on the OG12 CR mean that I should study elsewhere? Or, does the ~65% hit rate on the MGMAT CAT CR's mean that I do need to study CR more?
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by gmat_pallavi » Mon Nov 30, 2009 1:45 am
I have been taking a series of CATs over the past 10 days.Till now I have taken the Power Prep 1&2, Princeton Review online test , KAplan CAT 1, 2 and 4 and GMAT Prep 1. Whereas in all the tests except fro the Kaplan ones I scored in 600s and 650 in GMAT prep.But my scores in Kaplan CATS are utterly depressing, ranging from 510 - 540.
I am unable to gauge my performance and the Kaplan scores are confusing me.

Please help!!!!
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by Giorgio » Mon Nov 30, 2009 2:47 am
gmat_pallavi

Kaplan scores are normally lower than any other test scores, so do not take it as an indicator , just use em as the practice tool.
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by gmat_pallavi » Mon Nov 30, 2009 6:38 am
Thanks Giorgio, that was a consolation. I was quite low after seeing my scores.
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