Practice tests

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Practice tests

by mahesh7 » Sat Feb 28, 2009 6:36 pm
hi

I have been practicing Kaplan Premier tests and scored 670 (Q46, V39) on two tests thus far. I got about 64 correct out of 78 (37+41)

I took GMAT Prep1 and got 690. Got only 56 correct out of a total of 78 questions (37+41)

Why is this discrepancy between number of incorrect answers and the scores? I also noticed that I am faring poorly in sentence correction and RC's. I did read Manhattan SC and understand it, but still scoring poorly in verbal.

I would like to get to 750 from here. What can I do to improve these scores?

Thanks
MBA
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by cramya » Sun Mar 01, 2009 12:44 pm
Mahesh,

The scoring algorithms eomployed by the prep companies vary. GMAT prep scoring algorithm is the closest to the real test.

Also its not the number of right/wrong answers that determine your score in a CAT. Its the weight each question carries i.e answering a difficult question increases the score more than answering an easy or moderate difficulty question.

Answering 5 difficult questions carries more weight than answering the same number of easy questions.

Also what part of SC are u having problems with . Is it related to specific topics for example pronoun usage/modifiers etc... Did u miss to recognize patterns etc..? These are the questions I would be asking myself.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
CR

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by karmayogi » Sun Mar 01, 2009 9:43 pm
Mahesh,

670 in Kaplan test is a very good score. There are two things about Kaplan. First, verbal in Kaplan is tougher than that of actual GMAT. Second, it’s not the perfect test to gauze your performance. Your GMAT score is GENERALLY 80 to 100 points higher than your Kaplan score. However, this is not a rule of thumb. I have seen guys getting high score in Kaplan but losing in actual GMAT. GMATPrep is the perfect test, closet to real GMAT.

To me it looks like you are good in verbal, and only thing you are missing is GMAT pattern. Try to learn GMAT pattern - go through OG, read each explanation carefully, especially for SC and CR. Here are some points from my side:

1. Read the full sentence first. Don’t start finding faults even before understanding the sentence.
2. Read the sentence from start to end, don’t skip any word or start finding fault while first time reading the sentence.
3. Read non-underlined part (NUP) of the sentence very carefully because your underlined part (UP) can change but NUP can’t.
4. Correctness of UP depends on NUP.
5.Point 1 to 4 are the most important points.
6. If some SC question and its options are very lengthy then read only once. Click the option that you found the best after first read. There is no point in repeated reading of the question or the option. Don’t waste time on such questions.
7. Look for signals.

Regards,
KY
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