Kaplan CAT's Really Harder?

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david2008: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 31; Joined: Sat May 09, 2009 7:45 pm; Location: Bay Area; Thanked: 4 times

by david2008 » Sat Jun 27, 2009 4:45 pm

So I have heard people on this forum saying that Kaplan CAT's are harder than the actual test/other practice tests. I've had the opposite experience: I scored a dismal 630 on my first Kaplan CAT but have been getting 740, 770, 740 on the next three. I distinctly feel the tests are getting easier which is a good thing I suppose but I haven't been able to get anything above 680 on Manhattan GMAT CATs (I've taken 5 of the 6 and one as recently as last week).

Any thoughts? I know the GMATPrep CATs are probably the best indicator of actual score but I'm saving those for another couple of weeks as I get closer to the test.

Thanks!

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Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Sat Jun 27, 2009 4:45 pm

DanaJ: Site Admin; Posts: 2567; Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2009 10:05 amFollowed by: 550 members; Thanked: 712 times; GMAT Score:770

by DanaJ » Sun Jun 28, 2009 8:13 am

I wrote this a while ago and still stand by my opinion:

I personally believe that Kaplan tests are not necessarily harder, but more academically oriented, so to speak. Kaplan focuses on the straightforward math problems, while the GMAT also hits hard with some pretty nasty word problems. It all depends on your general taste for different problems.

My own personal experience with test scores is as follows: the free test is greatly skewed in quant. I got only three mistakes but still scored way below what I was supposed to get (can't remember if it was 46 or 48), since something like three days later I took another Kaplan test, had three mistakes but scored 53... While most of my scores in Kaplan were around 740, I did also get 800 on one test, which kind of made my day... But again, it's a personal view.

As you can see, I had roughly the same experience as you did with the first test (the free one). The rest of my scores hovered around 750 or something like that, with the exception of that 800.

One final note: Kaplan CR is not quite GMAT-style, IMHO. I'd often find myself "in an argument" with the authors with regards to their answers. This almost never happened with the OG - their answers were crystal-clear and indisputable.

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crazy4gmat: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 160; Joined: Fri Aug 22, 2008 4:54 am; Thanked: 5 times; GMAT Score:660

by crazy4gmat » Sun Jun 28, 2009 11:44 am

Are you guys speaking about the CATS which come along with the kaplan Premier CD or the online one's?

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DanaJ: Site Admin; Posts: 2567; Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2009 10:05 amFollowed by: 550 members; Thanked: 712 times; GMAT Score:770

by DanaJ » Sun Jun 28, 2009 12:12 pm

There's a free online test plus another 4 tests on the CD. However, since the CD is not working on Vista, I asked them about what I should do. They told me that the 4 tests on the syllabus are the same as those on the CD.

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david2008: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 31; Joined: Sat May 09, 2009 7:45 pm; Location: Bay Area; Thanked: 4 times

by david2008 » Sun Jun 28, 2009 7:02 pm

I'm taking the Kaplan GMAT class so I was referring to the 9 CATs Kaplan offers online. I would assume these are similar to the ones in the book but not 100% sure

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