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How good an indicator is GMATPrep CATs?

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How good an indicator is GMATPrep CATs?

by victory2g » Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:58 am
I took my second GMATPrep CAT last night and scored 750. This represents a much higher score than any of the previous CATs i had taken. The following is my summary:

GMATPrep1 V39 Q45 680
VeritasPrep1 35 45 650
VeritasPrep2 34 45 640
VeritasPrep3 34 43 630
Princeton Review1 41 48 710
Princeton Review2 37 48 690
VeritasPrep4 36 52 690
GMATPrep2 42 50 750

How good an indicator do you all think the final GMATPrep exam is? I would think its difficulty and scoring algorithm should be exactly like the actual GMAT. is this accurate?

IN fact, i've heard in many cases, the GMATPrep exam predicted people's actual GMAT score within 10 points. Anyone have a similar experience?
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by Stacey Koprince » Mon Apr 28, 2008 9:41 am
GMATPrep's standard deviation hasn't been published but the official GMAT has a standard deviation of 30 points, so GMATPrep's SD will not be smaller than that. It's likely to be either the same or slightly larger, depending upon what differences there are between GMATPrep and the real test.

We do know both use the same algorithm, but we don't know whether GMATPrep uses a wide enough pool of problems to maintain the same standard deviation. I always think of it as 30-40 points myself.

So, congrats! That's a great score to get. You did do the essays also, right? I ask because you wanted to know how great of a predictor it is, and the answer depends upon whether you took the test under exact test conditions - essays first, no more than 10 min. breaks between sections, etc.

So, assuming you took it under normal test conditions, the SD tells us that you have a 2/3 chance of scoring within 30-40 points of your score (750) and a 1/3 chance of scoring outside of that range. (This is also what the scores on the official test tell us - although, there, the SD is about 30 points. Most people are surprised to find that the test is not anywhere near as precise as most assume it is - it is NOT precise to within 10 points, even though that's how small they make their scoring increments.)
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