Gap between tests from different sources

[AmitM20]

Hi
I see a significant gap in my tests results here and on the official prep tests by GMAC. 60-70 points difference. I know the algorithems are a bit different but was wondering if the Manhattan prep CATs are intentionally more demanding.

Thanks

[AmitM20]

Just for context, I usually get ~700 in the official prep tests and I got 640 in all 3 CATs I took here

[StaceyKoprince]

Some people find that to be the case. And I've had people who've had that happen and have gone on to have official test scores that more closely resemble either group—ie, some people have (happily) had an official test score in the official practice test range...but others have had their official test score in the MPrep test range. :/

I tend to hear more from people who are in the second grouping, but that's likely because they were hoping for the higher score. So I don't know what the frequency is on the two outcomes. But here's what I *think* is going on.

The pool of questions for the official practice tests is shallower than the pool on the real test (or our tests) and so it appears to be somewhat easier to get a higher score on the official practice test. (I've found this true even personally. I have no problem scoring 800 on the official practice test but have topped out at 780 on the official test. My limitation is on the Quant side and I've found that the official practice test quant questions just can't throw me as much as what I've seen on official tests. I'd guess the same is true for those whose upper limit is more on the Verbal side.)

So that's one possible factor. And the other related factor has to do with time management—or, really, with screwing up time management. For both types of practice test, you know it's practice so it doesn't have the same pressure as the real thing does. And that can lead people to get into big trouble with respect to time management / decision making when they get to the real thing.

We took this into account when building our tests. We would rather that you feel your practice tests were harder than the real thing, not easier—and so we try to push you harder. If you do have any kind of time management, decision-making, or mental fatigue issues going on, that's going to show up more heavily on our practice tests. And those are the kinds of things that have the possibility to really derail your score on Official Test Day...so you want to know (and fix!) before you get in there.

So analyze your practice tests from that point of view. Are you showing issues with time management, decision making, mental fatigue? Do you see that your score lifts higher in the middle of the section but drops by the end of the section? (The GMAT is a where-you-end-is-what-you-get test, so it doesn't matter that you lift to, say, 90th percentile by mid-test. If you've dropped to 70th percentile by the end...then that's your score.)

Do you have problems that are going more than 1 minute above whatever the average time is for that question type (regardless of whether you get them right or wrong)? Do you have a lot of problems that go 30 to 60 seconds above the average and then a lot that are faster? How often are you making careless mistakes or misreading something because you're rushing, especially later in each section?

Any of those things indicate potential issues in this overall exec reasoning area that we're discussing—and these are things that you'd ideally want to resolve before taking the official test. It's entirely possible that you will hit the top end of your range if everything goes perfectly on test day. But those issues could also cause a big score drop.

It's also fine, by the way, to decide that you're going to try the official test first* just to see where you fall on this spectrum. If you get your score, great! Carry on. If you don't, then you know what you need to do before you take the official test again. (*This assumes that the test fee and time it takes won't be a hardship for you.)