Manhattan scores

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isisalaska: Community Manager; Posts: 363; Joined: Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:24 pm; Location: St. Louis; Thanked: 7 times; Followed by:3 members

Manhattan scores

by isisalaska » Mon Feb 12, 2007 6:04 am

Hi
How reliable are the Manhattan test scores?
On Saturday am I took a CAT prep (OG) and got only 510

Yesterday in the pm I took a CAT Manhattan and got 660

so, my question is, why is thre such a big difference? Have I improved so much in 1 day?

Also, I felt much more relaxed when I took the Manhattan test. My explanation to this is because I knew it was not like the "real" test, if you know what I mean. I felt I had enough time to finish both sections, and actually I finished about 10 minutes earlier both sections.

Did I get an easy Manhattan test?

Thanks for your comments.

Isis Alaska

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Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Mon Feb 12, 2007 6:04 am

GMAT/MBA Expert

Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pm; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; Followed by:694 members; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Tue Feb 13, 2007 1:28 pm

Hi,
If you took one of our adaptive tests, then you didn't get an "easy" test. They're fairly hard.

I'm not sure if you just purchased access to our adaptive tests or also to some older tests we have that are non-adaptive - and, yes, those non-adaptive tests are easier than adaptive tests.

I agree it is unusual to see such a large score change in one day - but it's difficult for me to say why without being able to look at the actual test results. If you were more nervous on the OG test, then that will obviously negatively impact your score, sometimes by a significant amount - but usually not this much.

Was the OG test one of the free GMATPRep tests you can download from mba.com? Or was it something else (and, if so, what and how old is it)? Also, go look at the results for both tests - did you run out of time on the OG test and leave some questions blank? That can have a huge downward impact on your score, depending on how many you leave blank.

Take a look at both and see what you can glean from the data - then post again and give me any additional detail you've found and I'll try to help you figure out what's going on.

Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

Stacey Koprince
GMAT Instructor
Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT

Contributor to Beat The GMAT!

Learn more about me

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isisalaska: Community Manager; Posts: 363; Joined: Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:24 pm; Location: St. Louis; Thanked: 7 times; Followed by:3 members

by isisalaska » Tue Feb 13, 2007 1:36 pm

Hi
The manhattan test was a CAT one, yes I have purchased 3 Manhattan books so I have access to the student center. The OG is the one you can download for free, so it is new. I still don't understand why such a big difference. No, I did not leave any question answered so I don't know. What I know is I feel I had plenty of time with Manhattan and I had to run a little in the quantitative part (CAT Prep). Oh well, if you say the Manahttan it is not an easy test, I feel much better

that means yes I did improved.

I also know I get nervous with the CAT Prep because I start thinking on the real test...

Isis Alaska

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kevch25: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 18; Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:20 pm; Followed by:1 members

by kevch25 » Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:08 pm

Hi Stacey,

I have a little more to add on to isisalaska's post.

I've been going through my own self study for about 2 1/2 months now (seems like so much longer). I've taken over 15 practice exams thus far, and the Manhattan Online CAT exams (purchased the SC book, and utilized the student center for the six free online cat tests) are at the high end of my scoring range. With Manhattan I've been scoring 690 - 750 while Kaplan 580-610 and GMAT Prep 580 - 640.

What I have been finding is that I am missing around the same number of questions on the Manhattan CAT as I am on the GMATPrep exams ... except I am coming out considerably higher. I guess my question is, has anyone else notice this trend with your online CAT tests? I'm not sure how much stock to put into these tests, and I would LOVE to score 700+ on the real thing ... but I feel as though it may be inflating my confidence level before I walk in and get shocked on the real thing.

The online tests are awesome with the detailed feedback, and it makes it 10 times easier to review. My real GMAT is only 2 days away, and I'm just getting anxious and nervous about the large range my scores have been falling in. Seems like I can score anywhere from a 580 - 750.

Thanks for your insight on this.

-Kevin

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GMAT/MBA Expert

Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pm; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; Followed by:694 members; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:22 pm

My students have generally told me that our tests are pretty accurate. I have had students score lower on the real thing, but I've also had students score higher on the real thing. Most of them score in the range they're getting on our tests, though. I can't guarantee that will happen for everyone of course.

The one big downward trend is for those who are very nervous on the real test - the nervousness hurts their performance on the real thing. But these students also generally know that's what happened - they know they're so nervous that they're underperforming and can't seem to think straight.

It does happen, on occasion, that a student will score lower than on practice tests even though they thought they did fine on test day - but I'd say I only hear that from one student out of maybe every 30 or 40 people. (And for half of those, on further questioning, we realize that they really did mess up their pacing or otherwise had a big problem that hurt their performance.)

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kevch25: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 18; Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:20 pm; Followed by:1 members

by kevch25 » Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:34 pm

I really appreciate the quick reply ... didn't think anyone would be on this late at night

My plans for my last two days are to take one more online Manhattan GMAT exam, and to go through it (usually takes me about one day to take the exam and review it) and then concentrate on the OG11 DS section since that has always been my weak point.

Thank you again for your responses. I've been a fairly quiet member thus far, but like I said, lately I've been getting anxious as the day comes closer, and I'm just trying to find some last minute advice/answers

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RachelAL: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 26; Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:57 am

MGMAT Tests?

by RachelAL » Wed Mar 07, 2007 9:55 am

I might have to agree with kevch25. I scored 740 and 700 Manhattan GMAT tests two weeks before my exam. The 700 seemed right, but not the 740 (maybe luck?) I wound up socring a 650 on the actual exam (680 and 710 on the GMATPrep exams.)

I guess MGMAT would be an "ok" predictor, but i don't know how I got a 740. My opinion is that the vebal on Manhattan GMAT is a bit obvious. The splits in the sentence correction make it too easy, and less like the real thing (it was much harder for me to find the splits on the real exam). I think the MGMAT math is more difficult than the real exam, so there is some give and take.

I would LOVE to score a 740 on the GMAT my second time around, so I hope that I am wrong the MGMAT exams are right on. Maybe something else went wrong test day.

-Rachel

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isisalaska: Community Manager; Posts: 363; Joined: Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:24 pm; Location: St. Louis; Thanked: 7 times; Followed by:3 members

by isisalaska » Wed Mar 07, 2007 10:16 am

Well I agree with you guys
I had a bad experience scoring 660 on a Manahttan CAt test and only 490 at teh real exam...

Isis Alaska

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kevch25: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 18; Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:20 pm; Followed by:1 members

Re: MGMAT Tests?

by kevch25 » Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:21 pm

RachelAL wrote:I might have to agree with kevch25. I scored 740 and 700 Manhattan GMAT tests two weeks before my exam. The 700 seemed right, but not the 740 (maybe luck?) I wound up socring a 650 on the actual exam (680 and 710 on the GMATPrep exams.)

I guess MGMAT would be an "ok" predictor, but i don't know how I got a 740. My opinion is that the vebal on Manhattan GMAT is a bit obvious. The splits in the sentence correction make it too easy, and less like the real thing (it was much harder for me to find the splits on the real exam). I think the MGMAT math is more difficult than the real exam, so there is some give and take.

I would LOVE to score a 740 on the GMAT my second time around, so I hope that I am wrong the MGMAT exams are right on. Maybe something else went wrong test day.

I would have to agree with the verbal observation ... I've found myself sometimes finishing the MGMAT verbal with 5-10 min to spare, whereas on the GMATPrep it normally takes me the full time. I think the RC was easier on MGMAT as well.