Hi gcantre3,
When you take practice tests from companies other than GMAC, you may find some variation in algorithms used and thus variations in your score. That being said, I think there is a bigger issue at play here, which is that you seem to be taking practice tests before you are truly ready to do so. GMAT practice tests serve two main purposes: to provide diagnostic information and to get you accustomed to the test-taking experience. In other words, by taking a practice test, you can get a sense of what types of GMAT questions you are comfortable answering, arrive at a reasonable estimation of how you would score on the GMAT at that point in time, and practice taking the GMAT and handling its various challenges, such as time pressure and the varying difficulty of the questions presented.
Can practice tests be valuable tools for learning and continued score improvement? Yes, of course, if they are used properly and at optimal times in your preparation. However, you should not use practice tests as primary learning vehicles because they don’t really provide the kind of practice that you need to increase your score. To improve your score, you need to learn the basics of answering various types of GMAT questions, and then practice applying what you have learned by carefully answering practice questions in order to learn to answer them correctly. When you first learn how to answer a particular type of question, answering correctly can easily take way longer than the two minutes or so per question that you are allotted when you take the GMAT. So, to effectively prepare, you have to practice answering questions of each type without the constraints of the exam, and work up to the point at which you can answer questions of each type in around two minutes.
When taking a practice test, you don’t give yourself the kind of time you need to learn to answer questions. Two minutes per question flies by, and if you want to finish each section of the test on time, in many cases, regardless of whether you have figured out how to answer a question, you may have to pick an answer and move on. So, while taking a practice test can be a great way to work on your overall approach to taking the GMAT, taking a practice test is not a great way to learn how to get right answers to various types of questions. To hit your score goal, you likely need to focus on the latter type of prep. You certainly can benefit from taking one diagnostic practice test early in your preparation to gauge your current skill level (as you have done), but why spend three hours taking another practice test (and another, and another) to discover the same thing again and again: You have to learn more content and develop more skills to hit your score goal. Using practice tests in such a way wastes a valuable tool.
Once you have done substantial preparation and mastered much of the content tested on the GMAT, when you sit for practice tests, they will actually show, to some degree, lingering weak areas that require strengthening. I say “to some degree” because although practice tests provide a pretty good approximation of how you will score on the GMAT at a particular point in time, the sample size of the number of questions found on any practice test is rather small (31 quant questions and 36 verbal questions), so practice tests don’t do a very good job of showing specific areas of weakness. For example, let’s say that you encounter one Rate-Time-Distance question among the 31 quant questions on a practice test, and you get the question wrong. Should you conclude that you need extensive work on Rate-Time-Distance questions? Of course not. What if you correctly answered the Rate-Time-Distance question? Does that mean you’re good to go on such questions? Maybe. But maybe not. In fact, let’s say that out of six practice tests, you saw a total of six Rate-Time-Distance questions and correctly answered them all. Can you conclude that you’re solid on Rate-Time-Distance questions? Probably not. One thing that makes the GMAT challenging is the vast potential for variation in the questions. There are hundreds -- maybe thousands -- of variations of Rate-Time-Distance questions that can appear on any test. So, correctly answering five or six (or ten) Rate-Time-Distance questions doesn’t really tell you much. You must take care not to over-infer based on a handful of practice tests.
Since you are pretty far from your 700+ score goal, I’m glad to see that you are going to reschedule your GMAT for a later date. If you’d like some specific advice on how to study moving forward, feel free to reach out, and I’d be happy to help. Also, you may find it helpful to read this article about
how to score a 700+ on the GMAT.
Feel free to reach out with further questions.
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