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Kaplan seems too difficult

Problem Solving — algebra and arithmetic (GMAT Focus Edition)
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Kaplan seems too difficult

by clawhammer » Tue Oct 26, 2010 2:03 am
Hi Guys,

I've solved all problems in OG11/12 - and apart from last10% my performance has been satisfying (5% mistakes), but as I'm going though the Kaplan CATs (2007 edition), I'm finding many of the questions way too difficult. I couldn't manage time for many of the questions and certain questions are not even clear for me. More importantly, even when I'm making mistakes, don't think I'm getting easier questions on this CAT . I scored only 40 on quant!!! and made as many as 13 errors!!! my average time per question in Kaplan has greatly increased compared to my timing in OG questions. Is this normal for Kaplan tests? I don't think person getting a 40 on quant would even face questions this hard; or am I just wrong? The Kaplan tests are frustrating me.

I've been solving problems in OG-11,12 books, but never felt that helpless with questions. Some of their quant questions involve calculations involving unusual figures. I've seen people saying the actual GMAT quant is much harder, should I be expecting similar situation in the actual test? Or should I just take the attitude of solving as many hard questions from Kaplan as possible, and not to care about the score?

i don't have the latest Kaplan CDs available in my country, so having to practice with this 2007 version. I don't want to waste the 2 official prep tests now. Is there an older version of pearson prep-test for gmat other than the one available on mba.com? How good is the free Princeton Review test?
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by odannyboi » Wed Oct 27, 2010 5:51 pm
Why not take one of the GMATprep exams? You aren't wasting it if gives you a more accurate result of where you stand. You will still have another one in reserve.. plus you can retake them a bunch of times since they give you new questions (although some repeat)

BTW: I actually like the Kaplan exams (better than the MGMAT exams).
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by clawhammer » Sat Oct 30, 2010 8:15 am
Thanks odannyboi. It's just that the kaplan version Im using, does nto change difficulty much if im doing bad, so the test goes from bad to worse. Another thing is, some questions im good at, but some how if i get a few questions wrong, my brain is losing the control in the test. Then Im not reading right, not thinking straight, and all that. Somedays those questions are piece of cake, and in days like this I end up not being able to solve them. Getting really frustrated, have about 4 week left for the test.
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by KapTeacherEli » Mon Nov 01, 2010 7:36 pm
Hi Clawhammer,

I spoke to you in the Ask a Kaplan Rep thread, and I hope I was able to answer your questions. But just in case, I'll post here: the 2007 CD is using an outdated algorithm. I'm sorry that it frustrated you, but I hope you felt that it remains a valuable tool, since it can tell you your relative strengths and weaknesses and give you a sense of your relative improvement. However, we at Kaplan constantly strive to improve the quality of our product, and our CATs have only gotten more and more accurate and test-like over the years. Hang on to your 2007 CD--it's good practice, and the Kaplan methods still work!--but you may find that 2011 Kaplan Premier edition, or the comprehensive GMAT On-Demand package, will give you an even more precise gauge of your progress.

Hope this helps!
Eli Meyer
Kaplan GMAT Teacher
Cambridge, MA
www.kaptest.com/gmat

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by 5abi » Wed Nov 03, 2010 9:32 am
KapTeacherEli wrote:Hi Clawhammer,

I spoke to you in the Ask a Kaplan Rep thread, and I hope I was able to answer your questions. But just in case, I'll post here: the 2007 CD is using an outdated algorithm. I'm sorry that it frustrated you, but I hope you felt that it remains a valuable tool, since it can tell you your relative strengths and weaknesses and give you a sense of your relative improvement. However, we at Kaplan constantly strive to improve the quality of our product, and our CATs have only gotten more and more accurate and test-like over the years. Hang on to your 2007 CD--it's good practice, and the Kaplan methods still work!--but you may find that 2011 Kaplan Premier edition, or the comprehensive GMAT On-Demand package, will give you an even more precise gauge of your progress.

Hope this helps!
hey your are right, i'm not to fond of the 2007 exams that came with my Kaplan Premier 2009 edition ( CD did'nt work accessed the exams online).

Could you please PM me and let me know how I can purchase the new set of GMAT cats, and the best way to obtain value from them.

Thank you
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by KapTeacherEli » Wed Nov 03, 2010 11:44 am
Hi 5abi,

If you want to get newer materials, pick up the 2011 Kaplan Premier book off the shelf of your local bookstore. You can find it at major booksellers such as Borders and Barnes and Noble, or purchase it through Amazon.com.

Alternately, you could upgrade to a more comprehensive package. Our GMAT On-Demand course, which will give you a larger pool of unique CATs as well as video lessons and content-specific workshops, is a great option for a self-motivated students. It can be purchased by calling 1-800-KAP-TEST and speaking with a customer care representative.

Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help!
Eli Meyer
Kaplan GMAT Teacher
Cambridge, MA
www.kaptest.com/gmat

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by aslan » Sun Nov 14, 2010 3:12 pm
o.k Iam REALLY confused here...which Kaplan CAT are you considering difficult here??..the CD one or the ones online?.

I gave one CAT online (i.e free) and it was wayy easier than MGMAT (got 44 on V).While the CD looks old.. really old,.. I'm guessing it has test material from 2005 or something close by.CD tests were also not that unique but the layout was pathetic and it restarted the CAT some three time, afterwards I just gave up.

I have also heard from other people that Kaplan online CATS are very simple on quant...whats the deal here?....tell me where the difficult ones are and what name they go by!! :|

thx

Aslan
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by clawhammer » Sun Nov 14, 2010 7:11 pm
i was talking about the 2007 CD. the reason why kaplan seems difficult is it is not adapting well. So it keeps on giving you harder questions, regardless of your performance (in most cases). it makes the test harder and also gives you wrong sense of feeling you're getting questions right. i was only talking aout the quant section and of the questions from CATs. there are section based tests, like on ds, ps, etc - those are way too easy. some kaplan problems also didn't feel like something gmat would test, overall the questions are still good to practice. the scoring is ruthless.
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by aslan » Mon Nov 15, 2010 2:16 am
after MGMAT, which CAT would you suggest as better?..Kaplan 2007 CD or Veritas or Knewon maybe?

I heard the verbal in Kaplan i alo good..but I wont do questions on the online one...they seem to be repeating the book questions...and it did'nt look adapted test at all!..MGMAT is the closest to the GMAT feel, but Ive exhausted all CAT's :(
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by clawhammer » Mon Nov 15, 2010 2:54 am
Take the free tests from Veritas, Princeton Review, and Knewton. Then, if you need more practice, also take the older PowerPrep (although will be very easy, but it's not bad for practice and can work as a review of the OG.) I'd then suggest do as many GMATPrep tests as can, with whatever repeats you have.

These tests are all available for free and I think buying one company's package (which you already did) is more than enough.
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by aslan » Mon Nov 15, 2010 5:34 am
thanks ...i did one free test from each.But what I noticed was both Veritas and Knewton are sly customers.What they tend to do is take OG questions and duplicate them in their free CAT's...a person who has been doing OG can immediately find the logic behind them and hence inflates his scores.They do mostly in their CR and Quant sections...some are copied word to word with just values changed.Nonetheless good for timing.Kaplan i felt tend to give questions in a prettyyy straightforward manner..like 'here is a tank which works in this time and then this tank works in so and so time how much the end results' etc...GMAT rarely presents problem in such a manner, (maybe GRE tests do).You can immediately find if a problem is from GMAC.They are usually very succinct, with emphasis on a certain concept, or maybe mold it little in words.I rarely have seen any CAT doing the same except MGMAT, but they usually tend to go overboard with paragraph like Quant questions! :)...or maybe a puzzle whose steps they only had presented in of their guide books.
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by clawhammer » Mon Nov 15, 2010 9:19 am
i agree with you completely aslan.

but let's be fair to all, if any of the test prep companies could really be like gmac, well then they would've been gmac. i mean the resource, stats, and professionals GMAC has is very uncommon for any private test prep company. and regarding comparisons with the real test, i bet if you had (could) given the GMAT two times in a week, you might have found even the two experiences to be dissimilar. because of the CAT format, there's still a lot of uncertainty that you cant resolve. and those who are utilizing these test prep materials are still lucky to have access too such resources, just consider many who don't have the options to get such training/practice and still take the gmat.

yes, mgmat does go by far the closest, but one thing i did observe that by giving too many questions that have too many multiple steps, timing becomes and issue and they expect you to guess often. this doesn't greatly affect score much, which is very logical, but in real test there would be more solvable problems that look you could skip - so don't get into the habit of guessing too early. i've also noted some questions of MGMAT (just like any other test prep company) to be not as understandable. sometimes you are expected to know a certain subject that you might not be familiar with because of your background, when OG introduces something like this, they give a easy to understand explanation with such questions. all that being said, MGMAT is still a fantastic resource for testing. after gmat-prep, i think this is the best you could have.

i wish there were more solid materials available too, but oh well.
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by aslan » Mon Nov 15, 2010 1:19 pm
Exactly..i think we are on the same stand here.

But one credit for MGMAT is, that it does inculcate this habit of guessing and 'moving on'!..seriously speaking, getting one's ego in front of one own self, on the GMAT test, is one-big-hurdle!.MGMAT take cares of this somewhat, in people, who give these MGMAT CATS early to realize that they can still have big scores in spite of leaving some hard quant q's.(you can get a 46Q even if you answer 2-3, 700-800 level questions).I had this issue on actual GMAT where i spent too much time on one complex problem(that I had to crack it, damn with the test!), w/o noticing time, and pacing went out of the window.

Nevertheless, I entirely agree that OG series and all of GMAC questions are formatted in such a way that they introduce one concept before giving a hard question.Its partly due to the understanding that people from lots of different backgrounds will be attempting these and also partly because they are wary of any suit that they may be initiated against them in case of too random or non meaningful questions! :).....so a lot of thought from every angle goes into every verbal or quant question; with difficulty levels given from the previous testing populations scoring levels on each question.
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