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Doing worse and worse on Kaplan CATs? Do they get harder?

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Doing worse and worse on Kaplan CATs? Do they get harder?

by willshu » Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:33 am
I don't really understand what's going wrong here. I have gotten progressively worse on the CATs with no consistency on the verbal side or quant side?

Diagnostic was 640, i don't have the scores but have the percentiles (62% quant / 88% verbal)

CAT 1 was 750 (99% quant / 99% verbal) (scores were 51V/49M)

CAT 2 was 720 (99% verbal / 61% quant) (55V/41Q)

CAT 3 was 680 (61% verbal / 89% quant) (34V/49Q)

What is going on here? Do the CATs get progressively harder or am I getting stupider? I have been practicing a lot of problem sets, so I would imagine I would get better, not worse. Any advice is appreciated.
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by Bryant@VeritasPrep » Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:58 am
I have heard that they do indeed get more difficult....good job on the prep--you are doing well.
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by kguo » Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:30 pm
kaplan tests are stupid difficult (especially their reading comprehension).. they are not an accurate reflection of your score. most people score anywhere from 50-100+ point lower on kaplan than the actual gmat.. so your doing very well.
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by DanaJ » Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:31 pm
kguo wrote:kaplan tests are stupid difficult (especially their reading comprehension).. they are not an accurate reflection of your score. most people score anywhere from 50-100+ point lower on kaplan than the actual gmat.. so your doing very well.
Not necessarily. I have this theory of mine about Kaplan tests: they appeal to some but not to the large majority of test takers. Their quant is much more academic than what you should expect to see on the real thing, i.e. focusing on straightforward math problems instead of word problems. If you're taking this test while in ugrad when your quant skills are fresh, then you'll likely score high. I personally thought it was a pity they did not include more challenging word problems, since on D-Day I had trouble with those, not straight math.

Their verbal needs more polishing. While SC is OK (it's not hard to come up with SC), their other two sections are not so good. As you've mentioned, their passages are waaaay to long for RC (about double or triple what you'd normally see), while I'm barely satisfied with their CR. This is because CR is a tough question type: it's about finesse, about testing different skills... When you get a question in GMATprep, you'll have no trouble seeing why the answer is right/wrong; that doesn't always happen with Kaplan, since some of their solutions are debatable (to me, at least). IMHO the only prep company to get the "GMAT-style" right in CR is PowerScore.
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by willshu » Fri Oct 09, 2009 2:10 am
Do you think the tests are consistent from CAT to CAT? Otherwise I don't really understand why I would be doing worse and worse?
DanaJ wrote:
kguo wrote:kaplan tests are stupid difficult (especially their reading comprehension).. they are not an accurate reflection of your score. most people score anywhere from 50-100+ point lower on kaplan than the actual gmat.. so your doing very well.
Not necessarily. I have this theory of mine about Kaplan tests: they appeal to some but not to the large majority of test takers. Their quant is much more academic than what you should expect to see on the real thing, i.e. focusing on straightforward math problems instead of word problems. If you're taking this test while in ugrad when your quant skills are fresh, then you'll likely score high. I personally thought it was a pity they did not include more challenging word problems, since on D-Day I had trouble with those, not straight math.

Their verbal needs more polishing. While SC is OK (it's not hard to come up with SC), their other two sections are not so good. As you've mentioned, their passages are waaaay to long for RC (about double or triple what you'd normally see), while I'm barely satisfied with their CR. This is because CR is a tough question type: it's about finesse, about testing different skills... When you get a question in GMATprep, you'll have no trouble seeing why the answer is right/wrong; that doesn't always happen with Kaplan, since some of their solutions are debatable (to me, at least). IMHO the only prep company to get the "GMAT-style" right in CR is PowerScore.
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by DanaJ » Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:02 am
In my case, they had a pretty consistent upward trend. I can't guarantee anything, though. However, there are other reasons for performing poorly on CATs than what you'd expect:
- did you do the AWA every time? This does not impact your score, but it affects your stamina. It's different going into verbal after 2 hours of concentration than after just one hour
- did you replicate test taking conditions every time? I.e. avoiding noisy environments, hitting the "pause" button...
-were you feeling sick in any of the days you took a test?
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by KapTeacherEli » Fri Oct 09, 2009 9:53 pm
willshu wrote:Do you think the tests are consistent from CAT to CAT? Otherwise I don't really understand why I would be doing worse and worse?
Hi Willshu,

We don't HAVE practice tests, in the sense you're referring to. Like the real GMAT, each of our CATs draws from a common pool of questions randomly assigned based on a distribution of difficulties and content areas. The same question you saw on CAT 1 might show up on another student's CAT 5.

If your scores are going down, there are a number of factors that could be playing a part. First, the most obvious culprit is exhaustion. Have you been resting in between study sections? Exercising? Sleep?

Another thing to analyze is your pacing. Especially with Kaplan techniques, your pacing can change over time. If you're applying Kaplan methods slowly, then you might simply be running out of time. The good news is, this is self correcting. A lot of the strategies to master the GMAT resemble riding a bike for the first time: you'll skin your knees a few times before you really get rolling.

Finally, are you doing an online-only course, or are you working with an instructor? Kaplan instructors are always available to help out our students, and someone who has been working with you for several weeks is likely to give much more specific and detailed advice than those of us who only know you from a message board. Send him or her an email, if that's an option.

In the mean time, the single most important thing is to stay positive. Everyone has their ups and downs when prepping for this test. The Kaplan course offers you another 6 CATs, and there are two more official tests, so you have plenty of opportunities to improve.

Best of luck!

KapTeacherEli
Eli Meyer
Kaplan GMAT Teacher
Cambridge, MA
www.kaptest.com/gmat

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