Kaplan CATs

[CAREY33]

Could anyone anyone let me know how comparable the Kaplan CAT exams are to the actual GMAT exam? If I have been getting a pretty consistent score on my CAT exams, can I generally expect my GMAT score to be lower, higher, or about the same?

Thanks!

[[email protected]]

Hi CAREY33,

Practice CAT scores are only as realistic as YOU make the process of taking the CAT. The more the 'CAT-taking event' deviates from what you'll face on Test Day, the more likely the score is to be inaccurate (and in most cases, that means "inflated").

Here are some details to consider when you took each of your CATs...
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take it at home?
3) Did you take it at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you do ANYTHING during this CAT that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, listen to music, etc.)?

All things being equal, the Kaplan CATs (when used correctly), will provide you with a reasonably accurate assessment of your skills.

1) Have you taken any of the GMAC CATs yet? If you have, then how did you score?
2) What is your goal score?
3) When are you planning to take the GMAT?

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

[CAREY33]

1) Yes
2) Library
3) Yes
4) No

1) Not yet
2) 650
3) April 18th

[MartyMurray]

Hi Carey.

I have gotten the impression that the Kaplan CAT's are reasonably accurate if maybe generating slightly higher scores than the actual test does.

Whatever the case may be, do yourself a favor and download the official GMAT Prep software and take one or both of the tests it contains.

In doing that you will accomplish multiple things, among them the following.

You will get an accurate sense of how you are likely to score on the actual test, as the GMAT Prep tests are close to the real thing.

Possibly even more importantly, you will get a sense of what the actual test feels like. This is super important. One thing that can happen is that a person uses the tests from a particular test prep company for his preparation. He gets accustomed to the feel of those tests and to that of the questions created by that company, tests and questions that are similar to but not exactly like the actual GMAT tests and questions. Then he gets to the actual test and gets thrown off by the feel of it. Don't let that happen to you. Use at least one or two official tests in your training.

[DavidG@VeritasPrep]

Could anyone anyone let me know how comparable the Kaplan CAT exams are to the actual GMAT exam? If I have been getting a pretty consistent score on my CAT exams, can I generally expect my GMAT score to be lower, higher, or about the same?

Thanks!

As a general rule, if you take the average of your last 3 practice test scores, you'll have a decent notion of the neighborhood in which you're likely to score. Of course, some do significantly better on test day. Some do worse. Given a large enough population of test-takers, this is inevitable. So don't read too much into any single result. Make sure that you're using the tests to identify problem areas and to cultivate strategic tweaks in your approach. And if you want the best benchmark, as Marty wrote, you've got plenty of tests from mba.com to choose from. (Two are free. And you can buy four more.)

[[email protected]]

Hi CAREY33,

The extra information that you've provided doesn't point to any obvious 'red flags' in how you took your CATs, so unless there's any additional information to the contrary, we should assume that your CAT scores are reasonably accurate.

Now that you've defined your score goal, how did you score on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?

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

[CAREY33]

CAT 1- Q:38 V:35 610
CAT 2- Q:40 V:34 610
CAT 3- Q:37 V:32 580
CAT 4- Q:40 V:33 610

[[email protected]]

Hi CAREY33,

While there are some slight variations in the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores, these practice CAT scores are remarkably consistent. This means that you do certain things consistently well, but you also make certain consistent mistakes. You're actually closer to a 650+ score than you probably realize, but you're going to have to make some fundamental changes to how you "see" (and respond to) the GMAT to earn that score.

I suggest that you take a FULL GMAC CAT (with the Essay and IR sections) in as realistic and test-like a fashion as possible and then report back here with your score results. It could be that you can make the necessary adjustments to hit your goals by your planned April 18th Test Date, but you might need to consider pushing back your Exam so that you can hone your skills a bit more.

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

[CAREY33]

I just competed a FULL GMAC CAT:

Q:35
V:40

Total:620

[MartyMurray]

Ok perfect.

So now, to break 650 with some margin for error you need about 5 or 6 more section points, which means about 6 more right answers. No big deal. You have more than two weeks to get better at 6 to 8 things so that you lock up those 5 - 6 section points.

One way to achieve that would be to work on 6 to 8 quant areas that you are not that strong in. Alternatively you could work on improving accuracy and get a couple more right that way and also work on 4 or 5 quant areas. Also you could work on seeing the details and logic of verbal questions more clearly.

To figure out what to work on you could go over this last test along with some of your other more recent CATs and see what you need to be better at in order to score higher.

If you do decide to do some topic by topic quant practice and don't have many questions left to work on, you could get some categorized quant questions by going to the GMAT area here, https://bellcurves.com, and setting up a free practice account.

[[email protected]]

Hi CAREY33,

With a 620, you're remarkably close to a 650+ score. I have a few questions about how you took this CAT:

1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take it at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
3) Have you taken this CAT before?

After reviewing the Test, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math that you just didn't know how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?

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

[CAREY33]

Ok perfect.

So now, to break 650 with some margin for error you need about 5 or 6 more section points, which means about 6 more right answers. No big deal. You have more than two weeks to get better at 6 to 8 things so that you lock up those 5 - 6 section points.

One way to achieve that would be to work on 6 to 8 quant areas that you are not that strong in. Alternatively you could work on improving accuracy and get a couple more right that way and also work on 4 or 5 quant areas. Also you could work on seeing the details and logic of verbal questions more clearly.

To figure out what to work on you could go over this last test along with some of your other more recent CATs and see what you need to be better at in order to score higher.

If you do decide to do some topic by topic quant practice and don't have many questions left to work on, you could get some categorized quant questions by going to the GMAT area here, https://bellcurves.com, and setting up a free practice account.

Thanks for the response. When you say about 6 more right answers, does that mean 6 more right answers between quant and verbal?

[MartyMurray]

When you say about 6 more right answers, does that mean 6 more right answers between quant and verbal?

Yes, six more between quant and verbal. That is a rough estimate, and should the order of your right answers on another test be significantly different from what it was on this more recent practice test, then your score on that other test could be increased or decreased by the order of the answers.

Also, if you are getting more right, then the questions will get a little, but not much, more difficult.

In any case, roughly six more right answers would probably get you to your score goal or a little higher. Really maybe three or four more right answers would do the trick, but shooting for six more would be much safer, especially as 620 could be the high end of your current range for all we know.

[CAREY33]

Just completed another Kaplan Cat:

Q: 41
V: 35
Total: 630

I haven't reviewed it yet but I was dissapointed with my Verbal score, I did notice however that had lots of extra time left for the last 4 or so verbal questions.

[MartyMurray]

Just completed another Kaplan Cat:

Q: 41
V: 35
Total: 630

I haven't reviewed it yet but I was dissapointed with my Verbal score, I did notice however that had lots of extra time left for the last 4 or so verbal questions.

When reviewing verbal questions that you didn't get, the key question to ask yourself is "How could I have gotten this one right?"

Also, it is often useful to go back and see whether you can get them right before looking at the explanations. Reading explanations is generally not sufficient for learning how to score higher on verbal. You need to develop effective processes for getting to right answers.

Regarding the extra time left, scoring high on verbal is to a large degree about the level of care you use when doing the questions. Even sheer determination to get right answers and not get tricked can make a HUGE difference. So being way ahead of the clock when you get to the end of the verbal section indicates that you could have been more careful and taken more time in choosing answers. Had you done that, likely in taking this test you would have exceeded your score goal.

The verbal section is the last section of the test. So you can be intense in handling it and totally drained by the end. Try being wicked careful and intense when doing the verbal section of the next practice test you take and see whether you can break V40. Even Q41 V39 probably gives you a total score of 660.