Ask a Kaplan representative

Hello, I have posted before on a different section of the website but it may be more appropriate to post here

I have taken 2 of the 4 available online practice CATs that come with the Premier 2010-2011 ed; Practice Tests 1 and 2 are classified as "linear" tests and don't mix up the questions

CAT 1 aka Practice Test 3 -- 730; Q: 51 (6 wrong), V: 42 (11 wrong)
CAT 2 aka Practice Test 4 -- 750; Q: 55 (3 wrong), V: 41 (10 wrong)

1. How accurate are the scores given that they seem to be scoring out of 60 and not freezing the quant at max 51? Also, is it realistic to expect a score around the 40s on verbal with ~10 mistakes on the real test?

2. Can the first 2 tests be so calibrated as to provide questions in random order and not a defined sequence? SC, then CR, then RC etc.? Not sure how useful the 'linear' tests are.

3. How do the 4 CATs that the come with the book compare with the 8 CATs that come with the Kaplan course? Have the updates to the alogrithm etc been made to the 4 CATs that come with the book?

Thanks!

Hi gmat1011,

The linear tests are ballpark accurate; they're useful as full length practice, but their goal is to help you identify your relative strengths and weaknesses more than to give you a precise score. The other adaptive tests, however, use a more accurate algorithm. If you're using the 2010-2011 tests, you are a generation old, but the changes in scoring we've made on the most recent tests are quite minor.

Please let me know if you have any other questions. Hope this helps!

Hi Eli

Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated.

Do different editions of the book have
their own set of practice CATs? I am not using
the CD. I am doing the online CATs

I just bought this book 6 months ago

Thanks again!

Hi gmat1011,

Sorry for the delayed response--I'm still recovering from my honeymoon!

That said, the different editions of the book will more or less have the same tests with the same questions; only the numbers behind the scenes have changed, and even then, not by much.

Hope this helps!

Eli

Congrats Eli!

Would be great if the book owners can also get the the benefit of the updated alogrithm someday by corresponding updates made to the online CATs.. The changes may be minor but why not have all platforms at the same level? Thats what I feel, anyway...

Thanks again.

Hi gmat1011,

Sorry that you didn't get the most up-to-date tests with your course. Send an email to our customer care representatives at [email protected]. Hopefully they'll be able to do something for you, and at the very least you can be assured that they will forward your issue on to the appropriate people so we can look at the best way to help our customers beat the GMAT.

Let me know if there is anything else I can do for you!

KapTeacherEli wrote:Hi gmat1011,

Sorry that you didn't get the most up-to-date tests with your course. Send an email to our customer care representatives at [email protected]. Hopefully they'll be able to do something for you, and at the very least you can be assured that they will forward your issue on to the appropriate people so we can look at the best way to help our customers beat the GMAT.

Let me know if there is anything else I can do for you!

I took a Kaplan linear exam and wanted to know whether the questions are adaptive (i.e. increase or decrease w/ difficulty). Also, my scaled quant score was a 40 but the %tile was an 83. There seems to be a disconnect (verbal seemed to be in the ballpark). Trying to judge how accurate a score it was.

Thanks

Hi spain,

The linear test is not adaptive. We definitely need to look at the scoring for our linear test--the 200-800 score is accurate, but the raw section scores are off. However, as I've mentioned, it's not high on our priority list because it's not really that important. The liner test is intended to help students figure out what content areas they need help with, and how Kaplan can help them; our adaptive tests (and GMATprep) are both much more useful when it comes to predicting Test-Day results.

Sorry for the confusion, but I hope I was able to help!

Eli