GMATPrep and Kaplan/Manhat scores, i got huge differences???

[offthebeatenpath]

just took my first GMATPrep exam and now i am completely confused .......here are my scores from the practice tests i have done ...in this order

Kaplan #1 590 (34q/36v)
Kaplan #2 590 (38q/33v)

Manhattan #1 600 (36q/35v)

Kaplan #3 600 (38q/34v)
Kaplan #4 600 (36q/34v)

......so far no confusion -- the scores are very consistent ....with the last 3 tests take in the last 7 days

here is what makes me scratch my head in disbelief

I just took the first GMATPrep exam #1 and scored720

(48 on the quant and 41 on the verbal)

is this possible? reading this board i got the impression that the Kaplan tests are harder than the actual GMAT but you can expect about 50 points higher .....not 120 to 140 points higher

why is the huge inconsistency???????

[reachac]

Hi,

First of all, congrats on a good score in GMATPrep .

In general people do find kaps to be on the tougher side of the test spectrum, so what you see in your score is not a very unusual!

GMATPrep's are by far the most reliable indicators of your actual performance as they use the same scoring algorithm as the on used at actual GMAT.

[BlueRain]

I took the free Kaplan paper test and scored 610.

They scored me in the mid 40s in Quant. because I missed THREE questions. Going from 51 to mid 40s is a huge drop for 3 questions.

I also scored mid 40s in the Verbal on that test, if I compare the raw score to the scale provided by GMAC, I'd receive at least a 680.

I scored 770 on the actual GMAT which was pretty close to my GMATPrep scores. I'd say you are in a pretty good shape right now and do not need to worry about the Kaplan scores.

[offthebeatenpath]

thanks for the reply .....


bluerain (or anyone else that has taken the test) ..... i take the test this saturday morning ...realistically, i can find 10 - 20 hours of study time between now and than ......any suggestions on what i should be doing?

I still have 5 of the Manhattan tests i can do ....1 GMAT Prep test .....and can buy the quant package from GMAT people.

thanks in advance .....

[BlueRain]

If you have only that amount of limited time, my suggestion would be not do any practice questions but go through your past practice.

Are you still missing the questions that you missed the first time? Do you understand why you missed that TYPE of question in the first place?

That reflection exercise really helped me in the process, and if I still missed the question the same way as the first time, that means I did not drill into the solution/explanation and truly understand the issue.