Are KAPLAN Tests Reliable?? giving high scores

[myside88]

Hello.

KAPLAN GMAT Diag(Free) --------> 640

GMAT Prep I ---------> 640

(bought kaplan live online premier with some hopes. did not study much though(first week) and after not even barely studying for next 15 days)


KAPLAN CAT I ----------> 770 (Q-54 V-48. Did 4 mistakes in Quant and 11 in Verbal !!)

KAPLAN CAT II ----------> 760(Q-55 V-44. Did 3 mistakes in Quant and 9 in Verbal.Yippe,some progress but alas not reflected in score.)


Now I am stuck. Obviously, these latest scores are not genuine.I had thought that if my level is around 720 I would go and schedule my test.But right now I am not able to gauge my present level. I even emailed KAPLAN regarding this issue saying that please resolve the technical difficulty which culminates in this exaggerated score.They replied back that it "should be a genuine score".(something like that.)

What is the way out?? How can I get to know my present level (which I believe cannot be more than 680) without wasting another precious Computer Adaptive Test ??

(Even after committing so many mistakes in Verbal I do not think I can get a score above 750. Can I?? )

Waiting for some suggestions regarding what to do next.
(Because if the level is even above 720 the next thing I would do is to schedule a Test as soon as possible.)


Abhinav

(P.S.-hope some body replies.) [/u][/i]

[rishab1988]

take mgmat cats

[KapTeacherEli]

Hi,

I've been asked to respond to this thread, and I hope to be able to reply shortly. However, I'm doing a little research to make sure I get my facts straight--the data and methods behind an adaptive test is quite complex, and I don't want to give you misinformation! I hope to be able to post more detail tomorrow.

Thanks for your patience!

Eli

[rishab1988]

Took the real test today and got 720.

My scores in MGMAT were :

710
690
730
750
730
730

You can see how reliable MGMAT CATs are.

[KapTeacherEli]

Hi everyone,

The algorithm for scoring the GMAT is not publicly available. Even if it were, test prep companies such as Kaplan and its competitors would be hard-pressed to reproduce the GMAT precisely, as the test-makers are literally spending thousands of dollars per question to test for statistical accuracy in a wide variety of fields.

With that in mind, we at Kaplan have done our best to make our tests as close to the real thing as possible. We're not perfect, but we do know that, on average, results on Kaplan tests do correlate strongly with results on the actual GMAT--and that's the single most important measure of our tests' accuracy.

But most of this is irrelevant to the issue at hand. A score on a practice test, even the GMATprep tests, will never be fully accurate. Due to the motivation and pressure to succeed on the real tests, I've had students score 100 points higher on test-day than they did on their official practice tests (and unfortunately, a rare few scored 100 points lower.) What is important when considering your practice tests is whether you are practicing test-like questions under timed conditions, and whether you can polish your techniques and learn from you mistakes. And we're 100% confident that our tests meet that standard.

Abhinav, we'll follow up on your specific inquiry (we'll have to get your enrollment info and investigate, so please PM me!). Everyone: please let me know if you have any specific questions about our testing and scores.

Best of luck preparing!

Eli

[myside88]

Just wanted all of you to know how KAPLAN follows up your queries.This was the response given to me after sharing my enrollment info.

"
Hi abhinav,

The investigation is long term; despite our own evidence that our scores correspond to actual test-day results, we've received enough anomalous reports through forums such as this one that we are investigating our results. Scores like yours will help us check specific tests that seem to be outliers, and seem if we can spot a pattern among the tests that people have issues with.

In all likelihood, the outcome of the investigation will be entirely behind the scenes. We'll either keep our algorithms the same or change them, depending on whether we discover a previously overlooked flaw or not. Sorry if you were hoping for something more; I'm convinced our tests are on the whole accurate, but even if you did stumble into a hole in our coding, I don't think we'd be able to correct it and re-score your tests in time for your test date.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you!

Eli
"