GMATPrep Tests

Sweetshel86 wrote:Just took GMAC's GMATPrep Test #1 and got a 710 with 45Q and 42V. I'm happy with the score, but thought the quant section was really difficult and the verbal pretty easy. Actually thought I aced the verbal and bombed the quant. How indicative are these test in terms of both how you'll score on the exams and level of difficulty? My test is in 10 days and if the math feels this hard I definitely have work to do! Btw, I've taken the PR class and last 3 Princeton Review tests got 610(40Q, 34V), then 670(39Q, 44V), then 640(39Q, 39V).

GMATPrep is about as close to the real GMAT as any CAT can get. However, I have read that many testers feel the quant section on the actual GMAT is harder than the quant questions from GMATPrep. You may want to focus heavily on studying the quant section for the next 10 days. It's pretty much a given that the actual GMAT's quant section will not be easier than that of GMATPrep. So for you, be prepare for the fact that the quant section is going to be quite difficult come actual test day.

Good luck!

Okay, thanks for the heads up. I was also confused as to how the quant felt so hard for me but I got the best score I've ever gotten. Did you feel this way on the GMAT where a section felt hard, but you ended up doing great?

Actually, felling like the test is hard is a good thing, I would say. Of course, if it's so hard you can't answer the questions, that's bad, but you want to feel challenged on the GMAT. Given that it's adaptive, feeling like the test is easy might not be the best thing.

Of course, when I took the test, I didn't think the verbal was very challenging, but I did quite well. It goes both ways -- if you know you're being careful and are "in a groove," then it might be relatively easy and result in a high score.

IF you're going to even draw a conclusion, it should be that you want difficult questions that you can answer. BUT, it can get dangerous because then you might try to guess how you're doing during the test and have a melt down if you get easy questions. In reality, the easy questions might be the sample questions that don't actually count. Questions might feel easier after you've warmed up, too.

In my experience, a GMAT feeling difficult results in a higher score, but by no means does this generalize. There are a lot of different things to take into account.

Tim