GMAT Prep vs MGMAT

[kyle.steiner123]

Hello,
I was wondering what other people's experiences were like using the GMAT Prep vs. MGMAT practice exams. I only ask because I took one of each within the span of a few weeks and had a 50 point difference. Seemed a little unusual to have that kind of change in that short of a period (I had been studying for a few months before taking either test).

Is one known to be easier or harder? Are they both CAT exams and do they score the same?

Thanks,
Kyle

[StaceyKoprince]

Actually, that's not a large difference at all. :)

The standard deviation on the real test is about 30 points - meaning, if you could somehow take the test twice in 2 days (that is, without any substantial study in between), your most likely outcome would be 2 scores within 30 points of each other.

Practice tests have higher standard deviations (because we don't have more then 200,000 people taking the test every year!) - the SD on our test is about 50 points.

Now, the bigger question is - what are the results and what do they tell you about how you can get better?

Read these two articles:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

Then, use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT(s):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Figure out what you think you should do based on that analysis. Then come back here and tell us; we'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)

(Oh, and to your last question - the tests are different in the sense that they're produced by different organizations... but they're basically testing the same things / constructed in the same way.)

[kyle.steiner123]

Thanks Stacy!

Here is some more information about where I've been and where I'm headed. (side note: I made a typo in my first post, the score difference was actually 80 points...my bad)

I am currently deployed to Afghanistan with the US Army and was not able to take one of your online courses due to poor internet connection. Instead, I purchased all the study guides and went through the 9-week syllabus on my own. I began studying for the GMAT in mid July but had to take a few short "breaks" due to the nature of my work here. I have a test date scheduled for 26OCT13.

First off, I am not concerned with my verbal at all so I won't really discuss that here. I am a native English speaker and have been consistently scoring over the 75th percentile on that portion of the test (except the diagnostic test I took after only 1 week of preparation). I mix in a few verbal questions each day just to keep my mind active but it is definitely not my focus at this point.

24JUL13 took MGMAT CAT 1 (Q-38/V-29/560)
**This was after just 1 week of study and was my baseline**

30AUG13 took MGMAT CAT 2 (Q-41/V-35/630)
Prob solving 10/22 avg correct time 1:44 avg wrong time 1:28
Data Suff 10/15 avg correct time 1:57 avg wrong time 1:28
# prop 5/8
word prob 3/8
geo 3/5
Had a major timing issue that caused me to not have time to answer the last question and guess on some that I should not have had to guess. I spent over 3 min on 10 different questions (more than 4:30 on 2 of them) and only got 4 of them correct. I read a lot of articles about timing and started to use the OG Archer exclusively while doing practice problems which has helped a lot with this issue.

As far as the categories from your article:
Correct w/in time: 13 (5-FDP, 5-Alg, 1-# prop, 1-Stat, 1-Geo)
Wrong w/in time: 4 (overlap set, combo, ex/root, inequality)
Wrong quickly: 6 but 2 were complete guesses (2-geo, 2-linear eq, 1- rate/work, 1 FDP)
Correct but over time: 7 (3-# prop, 2- geo, 1- prov, 1 linear eq)
Wrong but too long: 6 (2- exp/root, 3- alg, 1- rate/work, 1-set)

26SEP13 took MGMAT CAT 3 (Q-39/V-37/630)
Problem solving 12/22 avg correct time 1:47 avg wrong time 2:10
Data Suff 6/15 avg correct time 1:55 avg wrong time 2:08
Worst area is # properties (0/7)
Second worst Algebra (4/8)
Timing was improved (got to all questions with just under 90 seconds remaining at completion) but the bigger red flag to me was 0/7 on number properties. With that in mind, I re-read the number properties study guide and re-worked a lot of the questions from the guide/OG/Quant review books for a while.

As far as the categories from your article:
Correct w/in time: 13 (2-FDP, 2-linear eq, 2-ratio, 2-geo, 2-rate/work, 1-alg, 1-sequence, 1-stat)
Wrong w/in time: 11 (4-# prop, 4-FDP, 1-ex/root, 1-ineq, 1-quadratic)
Wrong too quick: 3 with 2 complete guesses (1-# prop, 1-geo, 1- ex/root)
Correct but too long: 5 (2-FDP, 1-ex/root, 1-quadratic, 1- rate/work)
Wrong but too long: 5 (2-stat, 1-overlap set, 1-combo, 1-coor plane)

6OCT13 took GMAT Prep first free exam (Q-45/V-41/IR-8/710)
GMAT Prep does not come close to giving the amount of feedback so please bear with me here. Had another timing issue (again did not get to last question) but it's harder to determine where it came from b/c GMAT Prep does not break the timing down by question. I was also able to quickly ID a few questions that I knew were weaknesses, guess and move on which did help some.
Data suff 8/15
# Prop 7/11
Work rate 0/3
It's not as easy to identify problem areas due to the GMAT Prep software's feedback being inferior but that that is my own analysis.

Since completing both test, I have been going through and completing then analyzing OG problems from the back of the algebra and number properties study guides and plan to keep progressing through word problems and geo. I have also been investing some time into the AWA (purchased the GMAT Write tool) and IR section since I pretty much neglected them thus far and my test is scheduled for 26OCT13.

I don't know if I should take another GMAT Practice exam just to see if the disparity between them might shrink some but also think my time would be better spent doing and subsequently analyzing OG problems to get to the second level of learning you mention in your article. Most likely I will end up doing both.

Any and all feedback on the results as well as a game plan for the next 2 weeks would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
Kyle

p.s. my target score for the GMAT is 690.

[kyle.steiner123]

Update:

I took another MGMAT practice test over the weekend with the following results:

Q-45, V-37, 680.
Prob Solv - 13/22 avg correct time 2:01, avg wrong time 2:00
Data Suf - 8/15 avg correct time 2:00, avg wrong time 2:05

Timing was good. Had a few times where I got behind, realized it, got to a question I knew was a weakness, guessed and moved on...finished the exam with 5 sec remaining.

This was the first exam that I got any 700-800 level questions correct and 29/37 questions I saw were 700-800 level. I feel like my ability to allocate time towards probablem I know how to do and making educated guesses on others made a big difference.

As far as the catagories from you article:
correct w/in time 13 (3FDP, 2# prop, 3ex/root, 2geo, 1quad, 1stat, and 1extra)
wrong w/in time 5 (2# prop, 1rate/work, 1alg, 1inequality)
wrong too fast 4 (3-geo, 1-inequality)
correct too slow 8 (3alg, 2geo, 1#prop, 1quadratic, 1overlap set)
wrong too slow 7 (2#prop, 1rate/work, 1stat, 1probability, 1FDP, 1geo)

My verbal did seem to slip a little and the IR was rough so I'm planning to spend some more time on that this week.

Kyle

[StaceyKoprince]

First and most important, good luck and keep safe.

Both your quant and verbal improved on that last test and you did do the IR (and the essay, yes?). So I'm inclined to believe that you actually earned that improvement. :)

You'll want to back that up by taking another practice test to make sure that you can do it again, but in general, this is good news - especially because the higher score came on GMATPrep (which is the most like the real thing, since it's the official practice test).

As you guessed, you don't want to take that practice test immediately. Use the data from the last test to study, then take another test when you feel you've made progress. It has now been about 8 days since that last test, so you may be ready to do so sometime in the next week.

Your choice whether to make that our test or GMATPrep, but I want to warn you about one thing. The IR section on the second free GMATPrep is identical to the IR section on the first one. If you take that test, either do an IR section on our test or pick out IR questions from the OG13 online question bank. You want to work on IR for 30 minutes before you get to Q and V, just like you will on the real test!

Now I'm reading your second post. Okay, you backed it up with another test - good.

Had a few times where I got behind, realized it, got to a question I knew was a weakness, guessed and moved on...finished the exam with 5 sec remaining.

Great. You can really use your military training here. You make the best decision given available information and sometimes the best decision is to disengage, even though you might be giving up some opportunity or position. Same deal here.

You still have a lot of questions in the "too slow" category. Read these two articles:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -to-do-it/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... nt-part-1/

Our IR section is harder than the real test's IR, so don't worry about that too much. Your verbal might have slipped due to fatigue issues. Or you might have had timing issues or careless mistakes. Go take a look to figure out what was going on - since that's your strength, you don't want to leave points on the table due to those kinds of issues.

For "wrong too fast" questions, that's always okay as long as you knew you didn't know how to do it. If any of those are careless mistakes, though... then that's part of the cost of spending too long on other questions.

Finally, here are some resources for the final couple of weeks of study:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... an-part-1/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ew-part-2/

Good luck - let me know how it goes!