GMAT Strategy

Hello all. I've been using this site in preparation for my GMAT and I have to say, it's been very helpful. Alas, the day has come. I take the GMAT tomorrow. I've been scoring relatively well on my practices tests (Manhattan GMAT), averaging around a 680/690. I took the practice test last week from mba.com (the one they send you once you sign up for the test) and scored a 730.

The question I have is this: To all of you who have actually taken the GMAT, how comparable are these practice tests to the real thing? I have my doubts of my ability to score a 730, but I don't think a 690 or even a 700 is too far fetched. With the scores above that I've been receiving above, how far/close would you expect to score on the real thing?

Thanks for your help.

There's a +/- 30 points standard deviation between your scores for the GMAT, so if you usually score around 700, depending on your "day", you might score between 670 and 730. In my experience, the closest thing to the GMAT itself is GMATprep from mba.com. I think I took the test something like the day before and scored 760; the next day, I scored 770.

I think it varies, honestly, from person to person. The first time I took the GMAT, I scored a 700 and a 710 (or thereabouts, I don't remember exactly) on GMAT Prep a couple days before my exam. Scores a 620 on the real thing. On the other hand, the second time I took it I scored a 770 on GMATPrep 2 days before, and a 760 on the real thing. I think it's fairly person-dependent.