GMAT official tests vs Manhattan

Question

Hello. I have the 1 free GMAT official CAT available. If I had to choose between buying 2 official tests vs buying 5 manhattan tests, what should I do? Can anyone let me know the quality of Manhattan CATs? How realistic are they? My main purpose for doing CATs is not preparation, rather a realistic estimation of where I stand, and how am I improving. 5 tests would give me good checkpoints during my 6 week preparation. Not sure what's the right way to go.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi UzairSohail,

Take as many official practice exams as you can.

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  UzairSohail ,

You should go for the official tests. Non-official tests can be useful, but they aren't as good as the official practice tests.

bb · Answer

Totally agree. 
Also, tomorrow is the last day to get 20% off for GMAT prep tests or 10% off to GMAT prep tests so you should make a decision faster…

PS. GMAT prep provides the most accurate score estimation, and the most realistic question experience… but there are only 23 tests and four paid tests. so use them wisely… Mike suggestion is to save one for the last week to do the final check. However, keep in mind that test six is a little bit funky, and appears not to have too many hard questions so it penalizes you for missing medium and easy questions and sometimes lowball your score so I would recommend not leaving the sixth test for the last week but fifth or third or fourth.

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bb · Answer

Having re-read your post, I think you may be miss stating your goals. While GMAT prep tests are indeed, the most accurate prediction of your score, you don’t need that for measuring your improvement. Imagine you had a ruler, and then a random stick of unknown size, ensure it is better to use a ruler but if you’re pointing to measure multiple times and you want to compare distances, a random stick would do just as fine. That is because your numbers would be consistent.

So what I would say is that you will probably end up buying both most people end up using at least 10 practice tests throughout the prep time and that’s totally my estimate in my guess. Some people go way beyond that but I feel most used 10 at least. This is because the score of the Manhattan test is consistent from test to test and while it may not be as perfect in estimating your real, GMAT score as GMAT prep, it serves an important purpose when you have a very limited number of official tests.

Posted from my mobile device

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Official Mocks are the best mocks out there. There are only 6 so using them carefully and simulating the exam as close as possible would be good to get the best value from them. If you plan to do around 6 mocks before your Official attempt, consider only using Official Mocks. Saving at least 1 Official Mock just in case you decide to retake for whatever reason may be a good choice. You may hit your target score but feel you could do better with a bit more prep, for example.

vv65 · Answer

UzairSohail , GMAT official tests vs Manhattan - the short answer is BOTH.
The official tests are the best and they are essential. There are only 6 of them, so they must be used carefully.

Non-official tests can never be like the real tests, despite the best efforts of the test-prep companies.  Yet, they are useful.  For many (or most) people, the six official tests are not enough. Non-official tests are useful for building test stamina and for learning how to manage time during the test.

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GMAT official tests vs Manhattan

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