Practice Exams v Real GMAT

ig83 wrote:I've been studying for three months now and my test scores on practice exams have been:

Princeton Review Software
exam 1: 650 August 19
exam 2: 720 Early october
exam 3: 720 Mid october
exam 4: 650 early november

GMAC CD
exam 1: 690 earlier today

I was wondering if someone who has taken these exams as well as the actual exam can give me some insight into how the scores compare with the real deal.

Also, with a week before the exam, what is the best preperation? I have one more practice exam to go (GMAC exam 2), and my weakest area is sentence correction. Should I focus exclusively on sentence correction and try to memorize as many idioms as I can and do many problems? Thanks in advance for help.

Hi ig83:

You can see a breakdown of my practice exam performances here: https://www.beatthegmat.com/viewtopic.php?t=13

In my experience, my performance on the Princeton Review tests fairly closely matched my actual GMAT performane. However, the best indicator of how you'll perform is still GMATPrep--I think that is the software you are referring to with 'GMAC exam'.

With one week left, I think that you have the right strategy in mind. If SC is your weakness--specifically questions around idioms--I would recommend doing a lot of those types of practice questions. You should be practicing out of the Official Guide book, since this book features actual but retired GMAT questions. If idioms are your weakness, I recommend reading through Spidey's Notes or Sahil's Notes, both of which contain a good overview of idioms. They are available for download in the Sentence Correction subforum.

Be sure to take your second GMAC test 2-3 days before your exam, to get your mind prepped for test taking and to set expectations for your performance. I would recommend giving yourself some rest and not studying the day prior to your test.

Best of luck! Please let us know how your test goes!

ig83 wrote:Just finished the exam this morning. Unofficial score is 710 (45 Quant, 42 Verbal). Thanks for all the help.

Congratulations on your GMAT!

Can you write about your experience in the "I just Beat The GMAT" forum area?

Best of luck to you!