Are the real GMAT test harder than OG?

[GMAT Eater]

I have just taken my first GMATprep test and I FELT it was significantly harder than the OG questions. I have completed all 1400 OG questions in both OG and Reviews, and went over every question I had wrong.

Is it just me or are the real GMAT tests harder than the OG questions?

It would make sense for the real GMAT questions to be harder than the OG since GMAT is adapative, and therefore, will only give me questions which I would find challenging.

[RonPurewal]

i like when posters answer their own questions; it makes my job a lot easier. the last line of your post pretty much sums up the line on this issue.

it depends entirely on your ability level, because, as you've correctly stated, the test is adaptive. the OG, a printed book, isn't adaptive, and therefore contains a rather even selection of problems of disparate difficulty levels.
so:
if you're a low-scoring student, you'll likely find the majority of OG problems more difficult than gmatprep problems, because your gmatprep problems will be easier than the difficulty level of the average problem.
if you're a high-scoring student, on the other hand, you'll likely find that the majority of OG problems are easier than your gmatprep problems, because gmatprep will select more difficult problems for you.

hth

[Guest]

I took the GMAT about two months ago.

The quant was much more difficult then the OG problems. I can remember thinking to myself, "Wow. They really expect me to solve this in two minutes?" on about 75% of the questions.

The RC's on the verbal we're longer and more boring then I expected. The CR's we're manageable except there were about 3 or 4 that were fuzzy and debatable. The SC's were actually the only thing that was on par with the OG.

[Guest]

the real test is harder than the gmat prep and definitely much harder than the og questions

[StaceyKoprince]

As Ron said, it's pretty much entirely based on your own scoring level and your personal perception while you're in there. You get a few more things that are in your areas of weakness and you're going to think the whole thing was impossible. You get a few more things that are in your areas of strength and you're going to think it wasn't so bad. It's amazing how swayed we humans are by just a few data points that capture our attention. (I've said it many times and will say it again - when's the last time you noticed you were in the fast lane of bumper-to-bumper traffic? Vs. the number of times you remember thinking, "Why am I always in the slow lane?" We mostly only notice the stuff that annoys us / stresses us out... :)