My first Manhattan GMAT CAT

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My first Manhattan GMAT CAT

by scoutkb » Sun Mar 25, 2007 12:46 pm
Wow...all i can say is i am glad i signed up for the online course coming up. I definately need help to improve. I just finished the required online exam. My brain is fried...the math section seemed much more involved then the majority of problems in OG. I probably guessed on 50-60% of the quant questions.

Either way, this is the first time i finished an actual test. I scored a 590 (37 M, 34 V). I am actually excited about my verbal score since the only effort i put in was towards SC. I cant wait to see my verbal after the class and i actually study RC & CR. Math is another story, but regardless I feel motivated to study harder. :)

As feedback on the tests, i think the explanations are outstanding. I didnt actually do the AWA. Does the class instructor provide feedback on the AWA?

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Re: My first Manhattan GMAT CAT

by guynoor » Sun Apr 01, 2007 10:13 am
scoutkb wrote:Wow...all i can say is i am glad i signed up for the online course coming up. I definately need help to improve. I just finished the required online exam. My brain is fried...the math section seemed much more involved then the majority of problems in OG. I probably guessed on 50-60% of the quant questions.

Either way, this is the first time i finished an actual test. I scored a 590 (37 M, 34 V). I am actually excited about my verbal score since the only effort i put in was towards SC. I cant wait to see my verbal after the class and i actually study RC & CR. Math is another story, but regardless I feel motivated to study harder. :)

As feedback on the tests, i think the explanations are outstanding. I didnt actually do the AWA. Does the class instructor provide feedback on the AWA?
Do you think the CAT you gave was somewhat similar to the actual GMAT? I gave their CAT yesterday and i got a 610 but i am not sure if this really reflects my true score at this time ? What do you think?

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by scoutkb » Mon Apr 02, 2007 4:00 am
Hi,

I have never taken the actual GMAT, but i took a quick peek at the GMATPrep software from MBA.com. Just based on feedback i have read on beatthemat and gmatclub, there is an overwhelming consensus to not trust the MGMAT CAT test scores. The math apparently is much harder than the real GMAT and the verbal is about the same, maybe a little easier. If you want a true indicator of your current performance, GMATprep is the closest thing to the real test. But, I do like the explanations from the MGMAT CATs, and they are good practice. Just dont put too much faith in the scores.

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by guynoor » Mon Apr 02, 2007 5:13 am
scoutkb wrote:Hi,

I have never taken the actual GMAT, but i took a quick peek at the GMATPrep software from MBA.com. Just based on feedback i have read on beatthemat and gmatclub, there is an overwhelming consensus to not trust the MGMAT CAT test scores. The math apparently is much harder than the real GMAT and the verbal is about the same, maybe a little easier. If you want a true indicator of your current performance, GMATprep is the closest thing to the real test. But, I do like the explanations from the MGMAT CATs, and they are good practice. Just dont put too much faith in the scores.
That helps...thanks a lot. I'll try to give the GMATPrep ... i just went to MGMAT because i am just not structured enough to give the whole test at home. I'll try to do that, lets see how it goes :)

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by Stacey Koprince » Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:59 pm
You will have an opportunity during class to write essays and turn them in for feedback (after class 6, which is the class in which the essays are covered).

Re: our tests, I will copy and paste something I just posted in another thread:
Our scores are neither inflated nor deflated, but they do have a wider standard deviation than the actual test. (This is true of any practice test - any simulated test is going to have a broader deviation as compared to the real thing.)

The real test has a st.dev of about 30, which means if you score a 650, you can expect to score between 620 and 680 if you keep taking the test. Our test has a st.dev of about 50, which means if you score a 650, you can expect to score between 600 and 700 if you keep taking the test. So we're fairly close, but not as accurate as the real thing (and, frankly, I think a st.dev of 30 is too wide for a test on which the schools place such importance... but we've got to live with it). We continuously work on the test to try to narrow the gap, but I'd guess the closest it's even possible to get is about 40.

So, we're pretty close to the real test... but no one (including the real test) is close to an "exact" score b/c even the real thing has a range of 60 points.
To summarize: just be aware that, though we'd all like to have a practice test that gives us the exact score we'd get on the real thing... not even the real thing would do that for you. So, certainly, no practice test will do it for you either. But I do agree that GMATPrep is the best practice test (except for the fact that there are no explanations!!) and I also agree that our math section is probably harder than the real thing. A higher percentage of our math questions are more computation-intensive than the real test - we tend to try to hit you guys hard so you'll be better prepared for the real thing. :)
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by scoutkb » Mon Apr 02, 2007 4:23 pm
Thanks Stacey...i agree about the tests. They are great for practice and to learn concepts. The explinations are great.

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by Mission700+ » Mon Apr 02, 2007 5:28 pm
About how long does it take to complete a MGMAT practice test?

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by Stacey Koprince » Mon Apr 02, 2007 7:11 pm
Same as the real thing - about 4 hours with breaks.
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by Mission700+ » Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:03 pm
How realistic is it to improve Quant score significantly? I have about 3 or so months to study and just took my first MGMAT test and scored 31Q and 37V. Granted, I have not really taken any math classes that deal with the types of problems on the GMAT in 3+ years. I was constantly telling myself that I knew how to solve this type of problem 4 years ago in high school, but could not remember now. I am signed up for the MGMAT classes and just began studying yesterday when I received my materials.

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by Stacey Koprince » Wed Apr 04, 2007 3:11 pm
If you took it "cold" (that is, didn't review all the stuff that is tested) then you have a good chance at improving significantly if you were able to handle the math the first time around in high school or college. A big part of an initial cold math score will be that you have just forgotten the concepts. (If you struggled with math in school, though, then it will obviously be harder to re-learn than if you did well.)
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