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quedo1
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PP Practice Test Scores Correlation with Actual Gmat Scores 16 Apr 2004, 03:22
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can anybody relate their experiences to me regarding how well their scores correlated between the PowerPrep Practice tests from gmat.com and their actual scores on the real Gmat tests.

i don't know if I'm wasting time with studying for the gmat since i've been doing it hardcore for the last 2.5 months and i'm not working or studying so it's Gmat all day long. I've got 700 on both tests (49Q, 36V). I feel that they could have been higher because i took the tests in a busy coffeshop with people bothering me on several occasions. I'm shooting for >750 since i need a high score to offset my low GPA of 3.2. i know >750 is high but a guy can dream... can't he???

so let me know how well the scores correlate between the different test, please.

thanks, and best of luck to everyone out there,
quedo1
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JackDaniel19
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PP Practice Test Scores Correlation with Actual Gmat Scores 16 Apr 2004, 17:53
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There is a lot of information about this. Try searching/reading through the website.

In my case, here are the stats:
PP1 = 710 (50Q, 36V)
PP2 = 700 (49Q, 37V)
REAL GMAT = 710 (49Q, 38V)
I would say it is a pretty darn good indicator of how you would do. Ofcourse some have different experiences. I would say that there was some amount of distraction when I took the tests as my environment was fairly noisy though not as bad as your's sounds. I would be careful in estimating a 50 point jump mainly because its extremely hard to go from 700 to 750. At that level everything counts and unless you're scoring in the mid 700's in practice fairly consistently, you should'nt expect it on the real thing. However, I think a 700 is more than enough to offset any GPA. It proves you are intellectually competent to handle any course load.

Good Luck
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quedo1
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PP Practice Test Scores Correlation with Actual Gmat Scores 16 Apr 2004, 21:51
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JackDaniel19
There is a lot of information about this. Try searching/reading through the website.

In my case, here are the stats:
PP1 = 710 (50Q, 36V)
PP2 = 700 (49Q, 37V)
REAL GMAT = 710 (49Q, 38V)
I would say it is a pretty darn good indicator of how you would do. Ofcourse some have different experiences. I would say that there was some amount of distraction when I took the tests as my environment was fairly noisy though not as bad as your's sounds. I would be careful in estimating a 50 point jump mainly because its extremely hard to go from 700 to 750. At that level everything counts and unless you're scoring in the mid 700's in practice fairly consistently, you should'nt expect it on the real thing. However, I think a 700 is more than enough to offset any GPA. It proves you are intellectually competent to handle any course load.

Good Luck
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congratulation,

yeah, there were a lot lo postings about the correlation, but i'm a newbie so i didn't get a chance to read through most of the postings. but on the ones's i've read it's a bit scary hearing that the REAL GMAT sounds so much harder than any of the practice test.

i've read the reviews of the OG on amazon and most of the people there claimed that the PP is a fairly good indicator so i've bought into that idea but after reading a lot of the postings here i'm having second doubts. i thought the quant. in the PP was fairly easy but some of the math problems i saw on this site is A LOT harder than any i've seen on the PP.

anyways, this is a great site and i will definately be hearing more about all the GMATers' progress here.

good luck to all,
q
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sunniboy007
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PP Practice Test Scores Correlation with Actual Gmat Scores 17 Apr 2004, 09:40
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q,

When is your test date?

Usually, it's a good strategy to take the powerprep cats a day or two prior to the actual test, because it can tend to boost your ego, and calm the nerves. I hope you did not take the PP exams to early.

If you had taken the PP tests without studying the OG, your PP score may well be an excellent indicator of your scoring capability on test day. If in fact you studied the OG prior to taking the PP cats, your score may be scewed.

It's a rather controversial issue when it comes to the correlation between PP scores and actual exam scores. Unfortunately, there isn't a guarantee that you will score near, above or below your PP scores. Experiences vary.

If your scoring 700 on PP, your actual might be a little lower (high 600s).
The actual tends to be a little harder than the PP cats, and when you factor in nerves, and such it can affect performance.
Again, experiences vary. There are people that score 700 in PP, and score higher in the actual.
Since you took the PP cat under noisey conditions, try taking the second PP under simulated testing conditions. Make sure you do the essay first, don't skip it, and only take the 5 minute break after the math part. Do not exceed the break limits.
See how u do.
Keep us posted.
Best of luck to you.
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quedo1
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PP Practice Test Scores Correlation with Actual Gmat Scores 17 Apr 2004, 11:01
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sunniboy007
q,

When is your test date?

Usually, it's a good strategy to take the powerprep cats a day or two prior to the actual test, because it can tend to boost your ego, and calm the nerves. I hope you did not take the PP exams to early.

If you had taken the PP tests without studying the OG, your PP score may well be an excellent indicator of your scoring capability on test day. If in fact you studied the OG prior to taking the PP cats, your score may be scewed.

It's a rather controversial issue when it comes to the correlation between PP scores and actual exam scores. Unfortunately, there isn't a guarantee that you will score near, above or below your PP scores. Experiences vary.

If your scoring 700 on PP, your actual might be a little lower (high 600s).
The actual tends to be a little harder than the PP cats, and when you factor in nerves, and such it can affect performance.
Again, experiences vary. There are people that score 700 in PP, and score higher in the actual.
Since you took the PP cat under noisey conditions, try taking the second PP under simulated testing conditions. Make sure you do the essay first, don't skip it, and only take the 5 minute break after the math part. Do not exceed the break limits.
See how u do.
Keep us posted.


i haven't set a test date yet because i don't plan to apply for business school for another 2 years but i just wanted to get the GMAT out of the way first.

i took both the PP prior to studying the OG so all the questions were new to me but i did finished the ARCO and Barron GMAT book first so that helped a bit. Unfortunately, after reading some of the sample questions here and from the other postings i think the real GMAT will be a lot harder. The quant. questions i see here are a LOT harder than the ones in the PP, but sure about the verbal questions.

best of luck,
quedo
Best of luck to you.
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Paul
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PP Practice Test Scores Correlation with Actual Gmat Scores 17 Apr 2004, 11:06
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I would say that many problems on this board are of slightly tougher difficulty level than the actual GMAT. The thing is that it will force you to think and stretch your intellectual capacity. Once you can do the tougher problems on this board, you will be in better shape to answer those real GMAT problems within the 2 min. time frame. If you mastered the basics, you will do fine on the math section because all it really asks you is to answer "college" math problems but under time constraints. So do not worry too much if you find some problems here excessively difficult but do try them out. Maybe you can start with average difficulty ones but progressively, you should be able to do the tougher ones.
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