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Accuracy of Manhattan GMAT Practice CATs?

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Accuracy of Manhattan GMAT Practice CATs?

by outsidethesidelines » Mon Jun 01, 2015 1:05 pm
Made a 680 and a 690, respectively, on my first two official practice tests from GMAT Prep. After a few more weeks of study, this past Friday I took the free CAT offered by Manhattan GMAT, in which I scored a 710 (I'm trying to save the final two GMAT Prep practice tests for later in my prep).

All good and well, I guess, but in general how accurate are the Manhattan GMAT CATs and how indicative are they are my current level of performance? Browsed several threads on this question, but most of them tended to be quite old at this point, and wanted to see something more recent.

My goal as of now is to score a 750, but I don't want to book an appointment until I feel reasonably certain that goal is attainable.
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by [email protected] » Mon Jun 01, 2015 4:28 pm
Hi outsidethesidelines,

When you took these 3 CATs, did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections) and take the CAT in a realistic and test-like fashion? If the answer is yes, then you're 'in range' of a 750 right now. You now have to figure out what you're getting wrong and WHY. At your current scoring level, the GMAT becomes really 'sensitive' to little mistakes, so it you make too many, then a 750+ is simply not possible.

Waiting to book your Test Date until you consistently score 750 on your CATs is NOT a practical idea. You could end up studying for a far lengthier period of time than is reasonable or necessary. The *real* goal is to get a GMAT score that makes you a competitive applicant at your first choice Business School - whether that score is a 750 or a 700 (or a score even lower than that) is open to debate.

When are you planning to apply to Business School?
Do you know which Schools you want to apply to?

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by outsidethesidelines » Mon Jun 01, 2015 7:26 pm
[email protected] wrote:When you took these 3 CATs, did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections) and take the CAT in a realistic and test-like fashion?

When are you planning to apply to Business School?
Do you know which Schools you want to apply to?
Rich
All three CATs included Essay and IR, and were taken in a fashion that was as realistic and test-like as I thought I could reasonably simulate without actually taking the exam.

My plan/hope is to apply to business school later this Fall, with the hope of matriculating in the Fall of 2016. I plan on applying to Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, NYU, and Cal-Berkeley as my choice schools, with applications to Texas and USC/UCLA (one of, most likely, but not both) to hopefully serve as fallback options in case one of my top five schools does not come through. GMAT isn't everything, of course, but trying to maximize my chances and know I will have to do quite well on the exam to get into those programs.

My tentative plan has/had been to take the exam in early July, and then give myself another couple of months to prepare if that doesn't work out as hoped. I've just been kind of hesitant to book an appointment without consistently and comfortably scoring in the 700s on multiple practice CATs. I would generally like to score in the 710-730 range two or three times before I book, but that may not be realistic/smart. Obviously don't claim to be an expert at any of this, just trying to reach my full potential and leave nothing on the table. I don't want to close down shop at, say, a 720 if a 740 or a 750 is reasonably attainable with more work.
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by ceilidh.erickson » Wed Jun 03, 2015 5:00 pm
In my experience with hundreds of students, most of them tend to score within 20 points of the MGMAT CATs, with most students scoring a little higher (maybe 10 pts on average) on the real thing. That said, here are some big caveats:

- Test anxiety can cause scores to be lower on test day than on practice exams. If you think this will be an issue for you, there's lots of great advice on this forum about managing test stress.

- Scores are much more predictive if there is a consistent upward trend (or if they're holding steady at your target score). I have a lot more confidence in thinking that a 680 -> 690 -> 710 will yield a 700+ score than if it had alternated 680 -> 710 -> 690.

- There is always a margin of error. A few bad guesses instead of good guesses could drop you to the lower end of your range.

But to answer your question more generally - I very rarely have students whose real scores are wildly different from their MGMAT CATs. But my recommendation for you would be to wait until you've seen at least 730 on 2 CATs before taking the real thing.
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by Rich@EconomistGMAT » Thu Jun 04, 2015 5:26 am
Hi outsidethesidelines,

Students enrolled in Economist GMAT Tutor often see practice scores fluctuate +/- 30 points between any given attempt. You seem to be well within striking distance of your target score, given that you've taken your practice exams under test-day conditions. If you wait until you're "consistently" scoring in the 750 range, you'll risk burning yourself out on your prep, which would of course have a negative affect on your performance come test-day, whenever that may be. Also remember that if this is your first attempt, business schools expect most students to take the GMAT at least twice, so try not to stress too much about scoring consistently in this range before scheduling.

Best,
Rich[/url]
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by outsidethesidelines » Thu Jun 04, 2015 10:15 am
Thanks for all of the feedback everyone.

Just so I'm clear, I don't plan on waiting until I "consistently" score 750 on practice CATs before I book an appointment. I realize that I'm at least reasonably close to my target score at right, but I just think achieving the jump from my last practice CAT score to my target score is perhaps a tad bit unrealistic right now. I'm thinking/hoping I can be ready in another 4-6 weeks.

Re: taking the test multiple times, do top schools such as those I indicated above look down upon someone taking the test 3 times?
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by [email protected] » Thu Jun 04, 2015 10:24 am
Hi outsidethesidelines,

You could certainly pick up some additional points with another 4-6 weeks of study; at this level, the 'precision' in your work is what will likely make the biggest difference.

As a general rule, Business Schools don't care how many times you take the GMAT, so taking the Test 3 times should not be a factor in how your application is viewed. Ultimately, you would want to show some measure of progress/improvement in your scores (as that's a pattern that you can 'spin' into a positive character trait in your essays/interviews).

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by outsidethesidelines » Thu Jun 04, 2015 11:16 am
ceilidh.erickson wrote:- Test anxiety can cause scores to be lower on test day than on practice exams. If you think this will be an issue for you, there's lots of great advice on this forum about managing test stress.

But to answer your question more generally - I very rarely have students whose real scores are wildly different from their MGMAT CATs. But my recommendation for you would be to wait until you've seen at least 730 on 2 CATs before taking the real thing.
Test anxiety has never been an issue for me before, and I have no real reason to believe that it will become one on the GMAT. Hopefully that will be a non-issue come test day, but I guess only time can tell.

Many thanks for all of your feedback. Hopefully I can be at the 730 level by the end of the month and then be ready to take the exam.
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by MartyMurray » Fri Jun 05, 2015 8:30 pm
I have a couple of things to add.

One is I am wondering what you are doing to increase your score. If you are not working specifically on question types that you tend to get wrong or tend to take forever to do, then there's an idea for you. Especially on quant, one can find things such that by working them one is are pretty much guaranteed to experience a score increase. In four to six weeks you could do some nice work on maybe a dozen or more such things, with an attendant score increase in each case. There's your 730 to 750, if not higher. Also, watch those details and calculations. Little things can add up to big differences in GMAT scores.

Another is that I agree with Ceilidh that people who take MGMAT CATs generally score a little higher on the actual test than they do on the MGMAT CATs.

Veritas has a nice CATs too. Check 'em out.

Rocking the GMAT is partly about learning to handle the test itself. So taking a bunch of CATs, like one a week or like every ten days, or whatever schedule you like, can be pretty profitable. Just be careful about taking one too close to the actual test and being zapped on test day. If you are really driving on a test, practice or real, the experience can be pretty intense and leave you a little affected for a couple of days.
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