Re-taking GMATPrep

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papgust: Community Manager; Posts: 1537; Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:10 pmFollowed by: 252 members; Thanked: 653 times

by papgust » Tue Mar 30, 2010 2:47 am

How would one retake GMATPrep and make sure that only very few qns get repeated?

Do i need to -
Uninstall and install GMATPrep and delete 'exams' folder in the installation path?
OR
Just retake already completed practice tests 1 and 2 without uninstallation?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Tue Mar 30, 2010 2:47 am

Osirus@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1578; Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 8:02 amFollowed by: 34 members; Thanked: 128 times; GMAT Score:760

by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:12 am

Reinstalling it won't do anything. The best way to do it is to just take the test normally, except when you get repeats, wait 2 minutes or so to select an answer so you don't gain a timing advantage during the test. Also, answer the repeat correctly if you are very confident you would get that question type right going forward, if you think you are still shaky with that question type then wait 2 minutes and answer it incorrectly. This is the best way to handle repeats. Good luck.

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tallazndood: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 24; Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 12:53 pm; Location: California; GMAT Score:670

by tallazndood » Tue Mar 30, 2010 10:37 am

I have done some data collections and comparisons after taking GMAT Prep tests more than 10 times. Depending on how many OG books have you gone through (OG 12, 11, V/Q supplements 1&2), I've experienced approximately +10% repeat in each of the two sections for every retake. Neither reinstalling nor resetting the exams can help you avoid seeing repeats.

Many users and experts have recommended to idle for full 2 mins when you see a repeat during a practice exam. However, this approach has its drawback: on a practice exam with many repeats, 40%+ in each of the sections (which you will reach at the 3rd retake of a particular test), these little 2-minute waits add up significantly and serve as mini-breaks during the exam. As a result, you don't experience the full mental demand that would be required the real test. However, if practice is the goal, I believe it's better to power through the repeats and work on the new questions. You might consider noting your time after you finish the last problem in each section so you can evaluate later in conjunction with the repeat % to determine if you took a reasonable amount of time to finish the section.

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papgust: Community Manager; Posts: 1537; Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:10 pmFollowed by: 252 members; Thanked: 653 times

by papgust » Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:43 pm

Thank you both for your insights.

But i'm not looking for ways to handle repeat questions. What i'm looking for is which of the following 2 approaches is the right method to re-take GMATPrep with majority of new questions.

Uninstall and install GMATPrep and delete 'exams' folder in the installation path?
OR
Just retake already completed practice tests 1 and 2 without uninstallation?

Like this post

analyst218: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 140; Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2010 2:43 pm; Thanked: 3 times; GMAT Score:720

by analyst218 » Wed Mar 31, 2010 1:16 pm

papgust wrote:How would one retake GMATPrep and make sure that only very few qns get repeated?

Do i need to -
Uninstall and install GMATPrep and delete 'exams' folder in the installation path?
OR
Just retake already completed practice tests 1 and 2 without uninstallation?

try both

Like this post

tallazndood: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 24; Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 12:53 pm; Location: California; GMAT Score:670

by tallazndood » Wed Mar 31, 2010 5:54 pm

papgust wrote:What i'm looking for is which of the following 2 approaches is the right method to re-take GMATPrep with majority of new questions.

The quick answer is: both methods will produce approximately the same % of repeats. I used to hypothesize that a reset would avoid the same questions repeated from a previous exams assuming that the software keeps track of the questions used and not used. However, that wasn't case. I have gotten some of the same questions that I experienced from the previous exam within the same test bank.

On a side note: it seems that Test 1 & 2 question banks share similar questions. In other words, the two banks are not 100% distinct. I haven't done a single test past 5 times, but after seeing how the two banks seem to share questions, I speculate that the % of repeats will increase rapidly after 5 attempts. Perhaps someone else with more experience w/ GMAT Prep can chime in.

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papgust: Community Manager; Posts: 1537; Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:10 pmFollowed by: 252 members; Thanked: 653 times

by papgust » Thu Apr 01, 2010 6:17 am

Thanks tallazndood!

So, you feel that re-installing the s/w is no different from retaking the completed practice tests. Am i right?

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tallazndood: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 24; Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 12:53 pm; Location: California; GMAT Score:670

by tallazndood » Fri Apr 02, 2010 1:58 am

papgust wrote:So, you feel that re-installing the s/w is no different from retaking the completed practice tests. Am i right?

You're right!

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