Is the old GMAT PowerPrep still reliable?

[Gabriel Ignacio]

Dear friends,

I am looking for more free full length practice exam of the GMAT. Currently, MBA.com only offers the GMAT Prep which only contains two full length practice tests. I also have 6 more from Kaplan. However, I want practice exams that are closest to the actual GMAT in terms of predicting scores. In this regard, is PowerPrep still reliable in terms of giving you the “closest” measure of your GMAT score before test day given that it is manufactured by ETS several years ago and not by Pearson VUE?

Thank you very much!

[ken3233]

My understanding is that the old Powerprep GMAT tests are identical to actual paper-and-pencil GMATs, except that they are computerized. I don't know.

I plan to take the two Powerprep tests next week, along with all nine of the old paper-and-pencil GMATs that are widely circulated. I expect the Powerprep scores to be comparable to the paper-and-pencil scores.

I'll let you know what my impressions are.

[ken3233]

I took the two PowerPrep exams this weekend, and they seem to be in line with how I've been performing in general. I would guess that PowerPrep is just as good an indicator of test taking ability as any other actual GMAT prep test published by ETS.

Here's my study log:

1/30/09 - GMATCAT1: 640
V: 40 (34-7)
Q: 36 (17-20)

1/31/09 - GMATCAT2: 660
V: 41 (35-6)
Q: 39 (21-16)

4/17/09 - PowerPrep1: 700
V: 41 (31-10)
Q: 45 (30-7)

4/18/09 - PowerPrep2: 680
V: 41 (32-9)
Q: 42

4/19/09 - GMATCAT1: 700
V: 41 (36-5)
Q: 44 (22-15)

Between January and now, the only test-taking skills I've worked on are SC and learning to control my math anxiety (which wrecked my concentration in the January test runs).