Just took my GMAT today in San Francisco. Scored a 690. Not particularly thrilled about the score but at least it's not a terrible score. This is the second time I took this test and last time I scored a 660, which was below what I was getting in the practice tests. Anyway, here are some my practice test scores for reference:
Kaplan diagnostic (untimed as instructed): 680
Went through the 3 OGs, timed myself in sets of 10 questions, which were selected randomly from the book.
MGMAT CAT 2 (untimed): 690
MGMAT CAT 3 (untimed): 700
GMAT Prep 1: 720
I remember taking the GMAT Prep 2, but don't remember whether I got a 700 or 710. I took the MGMAT CATs untimed because I noticed that the problems were much harder. So I thought it would only be fair to give myself ample time to answer each question, in order to make sure that I actually understood the material.
After this I took the GMAT for the first time, which happened around a month ago, and got a 660. At the time I believed that 660 wasn't very indicative of my true abilities, so I decided to sign up for the test again. I was primarily motivated by the upward trend I saw in my practice test scores and thus did not want to settle with a 660.
Second time around, I forced myself to take a practice test each night of the week before the exam, after I got home from work. Here are the scores:
Kaplan CAT 2: 590
Kaplan CAT 3: 740
MGMAT 5: 690
MGMAT 6: 700
PowerPrep 1: 670
GMAT Prep 1: 740
Today I took the test and got a 690. I think my true range should be in the high 600s and low 700s. Scoring in the high 700s seemed quite difficult for me, as I would need to be nearly flawless in verbal. Of course I wanted to nudge myself into the 700 range, but seeing that I consistently score 40 to 50 points below my highest practice test score, I don't think I will be able to achieve a 760 on any practice test to secure a 700+ true score. So I guess I will have to settle with this 690. Here are some of my thoughts from embarking on this painstaking journey:
1) Take lots of practice tests!!! I think most high scorers on this forum would agree with me that this is very helpful in achieving a great score. I remember that after my first exam I was mentally very exhausted. This led me to think that my mental stamina at the time wasn't high enough to handle the surprises thrown at me. With this in mind I forced myself to take a practice test each night of the week before the test, even though I was at times thoroughly exhausted from a full day of work. I wasn't expecting great results under such conditions, but my MGMAT scores gave me confidence that I was doing the right thing so I persisted.
2) MGMAT tests: MGMAT questions are a bit more difficult, so you may be forced to think much harder or even guess. I think this helps you stay calm during the real test. If you are expecting to answer every question correctly (for all those math wiz), you may freak out when you encounter one that takes you too much time to answer. In such a scenario you may be better off making a guess and move on. MGMAT test should force you to do that.
3) Kaplan tests: Kaplan math questions are a bit easier than MGMAT's, but Kaplan's reading passages are almost always significantly longer. Real GMAT reading passages are kind of in between. Practicing with Kaplan tests forces you to read fast, or at least read at a steady pace without constant re-reading. I would throw a few of these tests in with the MGMATs, since neither test maker produces the same kind of test as the real GMAT, taking too many tests from the same test maker in a row may condition you to think one way.
4) GMAT Prep tests: This is in my opinion the closest to the real thing, in terms of question type and difficulty. However, I think the software tends to inflate your score a bit. You can read through other forum entries and see if this is true. Most people either score close to or below what they get with the GMAT Prep tests, rarely the other way around. With this in mind, you should expect a score a little bit lower than what you get from taking this test.
That's it. R1 is just around the corner so I don't think I will have time to retake it again. Besides, I am inclined to think that it's not worth it to spend weeks of time to make such marginal improvement.
happy gmat-ing
Kaplan diagnostic (untimed as instructed): 680
Went through the 3 OGs, timed myself in sets of 10 questions, which were selected randomly from the book.
MGMAT CAT 2 (untimed): 690
MGMAT CAT 3 (untimed): 700
GMAT Prep 1: 720
I remember taking the GMAT Prep 2, but don't remember whether I got a 700 or 710. I took the MGMAT CATs untimed because I noticed that the problems were much harder. So I thought it would only be fair to give myself ample time to answer each question, in order to make sure that I actually understood the material.
After this I took the GMAT for the first time, which happened around a month ago, and got a 660. At the time I believed that 660 wasn't very indicative of my true abilities, so I decided to sign up for the test again. I was primarily motivated by the upward trend I saw in my practice test scores and thus did not want to settle with a 660.
Second time around, I forced myself to take a practice test each night of the week before the exam, after I got home from work. Here are the scores:
Kaplan CAT 2: 590
Kaplan CAT 3: 740
MGMAT 5: 690
MGMAT 6: 700
PowerPrep 1: 670
GMAT Prep 1: 740
Today I took the test and got a 690. I think my true range should be in the high 600s and low 700s. Scoring in the high 700s seemed quite difficult for me, as I would need to be nearly flawless in verbal. Of course I wanted to nudge myself into the 700 range, but seeing that I consistently score 40 to 50 points below my highest practice test score, I don't think I will be able to achieve a 760 on any practice test to secure a 700+ true score. So I guess I will have to settle with this 690. Here are some of my thoughts from embarking on this painstaking journey:
1) Take lots of practice tests!!! I think most high scorers on this forum would agree with me that this is very helpful in achieving a great score. I remember that after my first exam I was mentally very exhausted. This led me to think that my mental stamina at the time wasn't high enough to handle the surprises thrown at me. With this in mind I forced myself to take a practice test each night of the week before the test, even though I was at times thoroughly exhausted from a full day of work. I wasn't expecting great results under such conditions, but my MGMAT scores gave me confidence that I was doing the right thing so I persisted.
2) MGMAT tests: MGMAT questions are a bit more difficult, so you may be forced to think much harder or even guess. I think this helps you stay calm during the real test. If you are expecting to answer every question correctly (for all those math wiz), you may freak out when you encounter one that takes you too much time to answer. In such a scenario you may be better off making a guess and move on. MGMAT test should force you to do that.
3) Kaplan tests: Kaplan math questions are a bit easier than MGMAT's, but Kaplan's reading passages are almost always significantly longer. Real GMAT reading passages are kind of in between. Practicing with Kaplan tests forces you to read fast, or at least read at a steady pace without constant re-reading. I would throw a few of these tests in with the MGMATs, since neither test maker produces the same kind of test as the real GMAT, taking too many tests from the same test maker in a row may condition you to think one way.
4) GMAT Prep tests: This is in my opinion the closest to the real thing, in terms of question type and difficulty. However, I think the software tends to inflate your score a bit. You can read through other forum entries and see if this is true. Most people either score close to or below what they get with the GMAT Prep tests, rarely the other way around. With this in mind, you should expect a score a little bit lower than what you get from taking this test.
That's it. R1 is just around the corner so I don't think I will have time to retake it again. Besides, I am inclined to think that it's not worth it to spend weeks of time to make such marginal improvement.
happy gmat-ing
