First GMAT prep practice exam - realistic?

I am going to give some unsolicited advice here.



With a 770 on GMAT Prep 2, I would say that on the actual GMAT, at least 730 was entirely do-able. You definitely did not do justice to yourself with 670.

The 'rules' approach for SC is going to help less and less and smart, logical thinking will help more. GMAT SC questions, especially at higher scores, are trending toward meaning and reasoning based errors.



Two tests a week - too much. In my opinion, one test a week is maximum one should take. It will take one day to take a test, two days to analyze it and three days to hammer out the kinks in the preparation that you were able to spot because of that test. Of course, the 7th day is the 'holiday'.

That is a good thing for me then haha. The rules help a bit to understand what you could be looking for, but on 95% of questions I don't consider them.



I kind of wish I read this sooner, I booked the test for Oct 7th already. I could postpone, but I think 2 a week will be alright because I am doing it more for test-taking practice than for trying to learn new things from what I get wrong. I am expecting to only get a couple of questions wrong, and for these to be mostly silly mistakes, as opposed to not understanding how to get to the answer. I am writing my first practice test tonight, so we'll see how that goes.

So I came home from work today super burnt out, but attempted a practice test anyway.

I skipped the essays for my weekday practice. I started off feeling great but started really hurting around question 28-30. I get this thing where I just stare and can't even read what the question is asking, then I start panicking and it just gets worse, the same thing happened on the real test. I ran out of time and didn't answer the final question.

I finished with a Q49 which was what I got on each gmat prep last time I was preparing. I skipped verbal because I just didn't have it in me today.

Some interesting things about the test

I got 10 questions wrong, however when I spent over 2:30 on a question I went 5/7 right. My maximum time on one question was 5minutes.

The topics I got wrong were all different. It is crazy, I got 500-600 level questions for #1,3 and then 700-800 for 2,4-37. I got 6 of the final 10 questions wrong.

So I did a practice exam half at work/half at home. Obviously I didn't have full concentration at work so I expect that effected my score a bit. This is the first verbal practice test I've done in about 7 months so I didn't expect too much. I scored 710 (Q48,V39) which is reasonable for how much attention I was able to pay. I got 14 Qs wrong on each, and still got 710 which makes me wonder how the heck I got 670 on the real thing lol. I did not especially like Manhattans RC and CR questions, I felt like some were ambiguous in a way that I didn't see on OG/Gmatprep/Gmat.

I am continually finding myself getting a question and thinking "how hard is this question, how well am I doing?" instead of just solving the dam thing. It's driving me nuts how I am having so much trouble concentrating on the task at hand.

This Sunday I will do a full timed test with essays, so hopefully that goes okay.

My suggestion is that if you are simulating the GMAT to get over the trouble you had last time, take a test only when you can take it properly. One section at a time will actually give you better results (concentration is higher for shorter periods). Not doing essays will again give you better results. You spend a lot of energy in the first one hour of GMAT (writing the essays) even though they are not scored in the 800. By the time you start Quant, your mind and eyes are already a little tired. Since your aim is not to really 'learn' out of the tests but to get a good feel so that you are not frazzled on test day, try and simulate the actual test day conditions. Take the entire test in one go in the best conditions possible - at the time that you have taken for your test, with timed breaks etc. Try to utilize your holidays for the test, even if they are consecutive days.
If you find yourself wondering how hard the question is and how well you are doing, don't bother. We all do it subconsciously. The thought just flashes through your mind if the question is simple because you are not 100% involved. It doesn't harm you. But if you find yourself dwelling on it and feeling nervous, that's not good. Remember, you are not the judge of the level of questions - the software is. I remember when I took GMAT some years back, first 4-5 questions were a breeze, then there were some tricky ones and then last few were easy again and I was a little worried that how come I am getting such easy ones. I still did get a Q51 so there is no point second guessing the software. It knows what it has to do, you focus on what you have to do.

I completely agree that doing the tests in unrealistic conditions/without the essays is not a good indicator. That said though, I don't think it hurts as extra practice as long as I still get in the 3 full length, real condition practice tests that I have planned before my Oct 7th test date.

The part of your response that I bolded in good advice. Most of this test is just focus for me, so I will keep that in mind. Mentally, I have been feeling better about the whole thing these last fews days. Hopefully the positive thought continues.

In other news, I reviewed the 2 CATs I have taken and was pleasantly surprised. Last time I took GMATpreps before my real test I found that the questions I got wrong I often did not understand at all. This time, when I reviewed I could get all the questions I got wrong right, with unlimited time, meaning I understand the concepts. With more practice and concentration I expect to be able to improve.

Todays CAT3 was roughhhh.

I had a party at my house last night and was quite hungover for the test, but I needed to do it anyway because I don't have a ton of time left. I did all essays to make sure it was realistic.

On math I started out great, got the first 10 questions right. I was running ahead of time so I allowed myself some extra time for a tricky questions on number 11. I couldn't drop it though and ended up taking 6 minutes to solve it and put myself behind time. From there I panicked a bit and continued to lose time. Then came the last 9 questions. With 9 questions left I only had 12 minutes remaining. I proceeded to get all 9 wrong. With random guesses my probability of getting all 9 wrong is only 13%!!!!! What a break down.

I finished with Q45 and a 700 flat. Good news is I am pretty confident in verbal and probably won't practice it much more outside of practice exams. I am debating whether I take my next CAT with a 2min timer per question. This will probably hurt me really badly though because I often take 20seconds for a question and then 3 mins for a harder one.

On the GMAT is leaving questions unanswered worse than getting it wrong?

I am following this article for my final 14 days of prep:

what-to-do-for-the-last-14-days-before-the-real-test-120895.html


I wrote a test last night writing both full essays as I would on the test, it definitely scrambles my brain a little bit. I scored Q48,V40 which I am definitely satisfied with. I felt better about my timing and my ability to recognize my weaknesses, and which questions to drop early. I don't really feel like MGMAT's verbal is realistic so I just rushed through it and finished with 34 minutes to spare LOL.

so far my Q scores on manhattan have been

Q49
Q48
Q44 full test hungover
Q47
Q48 full test

V has been 38-41 every time I believe.

I am going to do 2-3 more full tests in the next 7 days and then it's GMAT time. 700+ will be fine.

I need to get some consistency in my answers. In my most recent test I got a few wrong early and was running at 7th percentile, I followed that with 10 straight right and up to 96th percentile, then I got 5 of 6 wrong. It seems like any time I get stumped on a question I follow it with really bad performance.

Hey good luck. What day are you taking it?

My test day is coming up Oct 8.

This is good stuff man... Keep it up and good luck to both of you guys!! Signed up for November 12th! Let me know how you guys do!

Thanks, good luck to you!


And for an update: Today is a fabulous day, CAT6 was taken and when the dust settled I got a Q51!!!!!!!!!! I actually got 7 questions wrong, but went 20/20 from question 18-37 bringing me up to 99th percentile :D I actually thought it seemed too easy and was worried I did poorly. This was a good confidence boost 10 days from my test.

Impressive considering manhattan quant is much harder than real gmat... You plan on taking GMATPrep this week??

Yeah, I just wrote one without essays, going to write the one with full essays on Sunday.

Considering I had taken the test about 9 months ago it is nice to see that I only recognized 2 questions, suggesting they do update that question bank. I scored Q50.

I find Q50 very odd because I only got two questions wrong and they were both in the first 10. I then went 27 straight correct. Last time on Manhattan I had 7 wrong and scored Q51. I also found gmatprep very very easy compared to Manhattan. I'm glad I have gotten over my panic when I see questions that look too easy. All these practice tests have also helped calm me down and relax my anxiety. I am feeling confident, but trying to keep my expectations on myself low.

I am about to take my first Manhattan CAT tomorrow... Hoping for at least a 50Q and a 40V... How's Manhattan's verbal compared to GMAT Prep?

IMHO Manhattan's verbal (other than SC) is a waste of time. Often the CR/RC questions are ambiguous where two+ answers are right in my mind and they want you to pick the most right. I never really came accross that on GMAT/GMATprep, there always is one right and four wrong answers on those.

I'm going to post two questions that used to be the kind of thing that would trip me up, but with my smoothed out approach and less panicking I catch the small and fairly easy intracacies. See how you do anyone.

1. Of the 1,400 college teachers surveyed, 42% said they considered engaging in research an essential goal. How many of the college teachers surveyed were women?

(1) In the survey, 36 percent of the men and 50 percent of the women said they considered engaging in research an essential goal.

(2) In the survey, 288 men said they considered engaging in research to be an essential goal.

2. At least 100 students at a highschool study Japanese. If 4% of the students that study French also study Japanese, do more students at the school study French than Japanese?

(1) 16 students study both French and Japanese.

(2) 10% of students who study Japanese also study french.

Just took my first MGMAT exam just now...

740 Overal 47Q 44V

Didn't have time to finish the quant and had to guess on the last 7 questions... The quant questions were too time consuming... Even the straightforward questions seemed to require more than 2 minutes of algebra...

Finished the verbal with 20 minutes to spare so that was good... Although I need to work on CR (haven't opened Powerscore yet)