Hey Moe,
Good question, and, honestly, I've never seen the point of taking a practice test "to see where you stand" in terms of baseline score. The score of your initial test really isn't altogether relevant to your final score - if it's high, that's a pretty good indication that you're well on your way, but if it's low, I think people often infer limits upon themselves that just aren't true. Remember, the GMAT scoring system:
-Heavily penalizes you for not finishing either section
-Does not give partial credit
-Is adaptive
So if, on a first attempt, you take some time to figure out just what Data Sufficiency questions are asking, you'll:
-Do most of the math correctly, but probably miss some problems that you'd get right with not-much-more experience
-Spend more time than you should reading the answer choices and trying to click with the logic, and thereby penalize yourself by not finishing the section
-Get some easier questions wrong just based on format, and reduce your score through the adaptivity
All told, I hate the idea of getting a "Baseline Score" just because while you can't really fake a high score, you can (and I know people do) freak yourself out with a low score that's actually pretty justified.
So...instead of focusing on the score when you take the practice test, get a feel for:
-Which concepts do you need to brush up on?
-Which question types do you really need to break down?
-Which "careless" mistakes do you find yourself making under pressure?
-How do you want to budget your study time accordingly?
The GMAT isn't linear - you can do 90% of the work right and still get the question wrong based on systematic mistakes or careless errors. Some 450s are pretty darned close to 700s, while others are lightyears away. The key is to analyze how you can attack the test to get more questions right and finish on time.
If your aim is to take a test to analyze how you'd like to best use your study time, that's a fantastic strategy. And if your score turns out to be high, you should be very confident (but still go through the analysis). Just keep in mind that the only score that matters is your final score on test day, so don't put too much stock in a first-run score...focus on the process instead.
Brian Galvin
GMAT Instructor
Chief Academic Officer
Veritas Prep
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