Kaplan Practice Tests

[afaque_khan]

Hi,

Is there anyone who has recently taken up kaplan practice tests ?
I feel that these tests though quite close to actual tests, give a higher score than normal.

Moreover, is there any way to know individual section scores.
It gives just %correct, which has no significance.

Thanks

[[email protected]]

Hi afaque_khan,

These sorts of "conspiracies" tend to cycle in and out of popularity, but they aren't true.

Now, you COULD see an "inflated" score under any of the following conditions:

1) You skip the essay and/or IR sections of a test
2) You retake a test that you've previously taken (or see questions that you've previously answered)
3) You take a linear test that doesn't adapt.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[afaque_khan]

Hi afaque_khan,

These sorts of "conspiracies" tend to cycle in and out of popularity, but they aren't true.

Now, you COULD see an "inflated" score under any of the following conditions:

1) You skip the essay and/or IR sections of a test
2) You retake a test that you've previously taken (or see questions that you've previously answered)
3) You take a linear test that doesn't adapt.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Naa

It's real, no conspiracy.
Just said, what I felt.

I am 200% sure that it gives you a higher score than normal.
No questions already seen.
Forced myself to write the essay and took the IR.

Got a 760 score. I know my level, its good but not that good.

[[email protected]]

Hi afaque_khan,

I have a couple of follow-up questions:

1) Was this test part of a course that you're enrolled in or a free "marketing" test?
2) Are you sure that it was adaptive? If you know anyone else who took that test, then you can compare questions and see if your test adapted or not.
3) Were you able to review the test? It's mathematically possible that you got most (if not all) or your "guesses" correct. While that's not something that's likely to repeat on Test Day, it does occasionally happen.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[dabral]

@afaque_khan

In my opinion, it is a complete waste of time to analyze the accuracy of non-Official GMAT tests. They are rarely accurate and the reasons are simple:

1) The Computer adaptive testing algorithm is not the same as the Official GMAT algorithm.
2) Quality of questions is below par when compared to Official GMAT questions. It is very costly to write proper GMAT questions.
3) Questions have not been rigorously tested for ambiguity and other parameters on a large pool of student population taking GMAT under test conditions.

There are a lot of subtleties when it comes to creating an accurate Computer adaptive tests.

Your best bet is to use the four official CATs available from GMAC, the two free ones that come with the GMATPrep and the two recent ones that they released in the form of GMATPrep Exam Pack 1.

Cheers,
Dabral