When I took practice exams from the Princeton Review, I finished the quantitative section with 20-30 minutes left and scored 100% or maximum 2 wrong consistently. On the real test, however, I scored a Q 50, so I obviously got a lot more than 2 questions wrong.
For the Verbal section, I consistently got 5-9 questions wrong on the Princeton Review. On the real exam, however, I received a Verbal 35(74%), so my marks definitely dropped significantly on the real verbal compared to the practice version.
Overall, I believe that the real test is tougher than the practice exams. The practice exam questions are geared towards the average GMAT practitioner who would like to improve their scores to 600s. I guess most GMAT prep books are designed that way so that people do not get discouraged by 700 level questions.
I suggest reviewing the toughest questions from OG edition 12 and other practice books in order to break the 700 range. You might only face 10 tough questions out of 37 quantitative questions on practice tests, but you might face 20, even 25 tough questions on the real exam based on your skill level. If you got 4 out of 10 tough questions wrong on practice tests, you would have gotten more than 8 wrong on the real test. Same goes for Verbal.
Conclusion? Focus on the questions you got wrong on the practice exams.Those questions are a skill level above yours! Make sure you can consistently get difficult questions right! I am aiming to receive a score of 800 on the GMAT on my second try(first try was 710). I am studying by repeating and reviewing the toughest questions in the practice tests. So far, I have improved my practice test score, especially in verbal, from 35 V (real test) to about 41(practice test). Once I bring my level up to 45-46(practice), I will attempt to write the GMAT again. You can do it!
Ed[/b]
Rollpound!
