kaplan score, what does it mean?

Question

Hi guys. I just finished my first cat test.

I got a 590 from a Kaplan free test from their site (trying not to burn out the good CATs). I've read plenty that kaplan's scores are flawed and that it underrepresents (sp?) your true score. Nevertheless, is that a true and well known fact?

What can I expect from this, where am I standing? Can I consider this score to be my starting point?

I'm optimistic. I know a lot of thing I need to improve and I'm working hard on a daily basis to improve. I couldn't even answer all the questions in verbal. So the best is yet to come

Thanks a lot!

emoryhopeful · Answer

Yes, Kaplan scores are generally lower than what you will get on the real GMAT. They are good practice for working on timing and being able to solve problems that have tricky wording, not just tricky problems. I would say that's a good starting point for where you are at, but you could probably estimate your score to be between 50 and 70 points higher for the real thing.

rajpdsouza · Answer

Just remember, they want you to suck. That way you will think "Hey, I need the tutoring!"

asdert · Answer

but I do suck

Is there a difference between Kaplan CATs on a cd than the one I did?

Calamity Jane · Answer

Ignore your Kaplan scores altogether. Do a search on Kaplan and you'll see why! Although if you're referring to saving the "good" CATs for later, you probably have a feel about that already. ;-)

GMATPrep and Princeton Review are much better indicators of how you're doing. GMATPrep is free and PR has a free test on their site too. Don't worry about burning through good tests early. You only want to do good tests! I'd do maybe one -- different -- practice test now to get a better feel for your weaknesses, then start on practice questions. Plow through at least two weeks of just practice questions before you take another test. Or are you taking it soon?

asdert · Answer

Thanks for your responses.

I'm about to schedule for Dec. 10. So I still have about 4 more weeks to go. I know a weakness of mine is SC, so I've spent the last 2 days going through MGMAT's SC. Does anyone knows how much time it takes to develop the much-seeked-patern-detecting ability? I think the free PR CAT is a good idea. I'll do that one Tuesday or Wednesday, then I'll try MGMAT's CATs. After that, in a couple weeks, I think I'll be ready for the first GMATprep. Any ideas?

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kaplan score, what does it mean?

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