When to take GmatPrep practice tests

[ajafari]

I'm going into my 3rd week of Manhattan class instruction and have took the first Manhattan practice test.

I've heard that the GmatPrep test questions overlap the official guide questions. (Is that correct?) For this reason, I was planning on taking the first GmatPrep test this weekend before I see all the problems during my class HW.

Or, is it best to save the GmatPrep tests until right before I take the actual exam?

[StaceyKoprince]

Although you may see some OG questions in GMATPrep, I still think it's best to save GMATPrep for the end.

First, you should know that CAT exams are really good for (a) figuring out where you're scoring right now, (b) practicing stamina, and (c) analyzing your strengths and weaknesses. The actual act of just taking the exam is NOT so useful for improving. It's what you do with the test results / between tests that helps you to improve.

For the above reason, it's not worthwhile to take a practice test more frequently than once every 2-3 weeks at this point, and not more frequently than once a week even in the final few weeks before the official exam.

GMATPrep is the best test for accurately gauging your current scoring level right now. It does not, however, give you any data at all in terms of figuring out your strengths and weaknesses or how to improve - there aren't even any explanations for the test questions. So it's just not useful right now, when you're trying to learn and need all of that data that our practice tests give you.

I tell my students to take one GMATPrep sometime shortly after the course ends, just to gauge the current score, and then to take the final one in the week to two weeks before the official test, again to make sure that you are on track with your target score. I also HIGHLY recommend timing yourself per question (use your MGMAT stopwatch for this - use the lap button) so that you can review that data when you're done. That way you can get at least some of the same insight that you get from your MGMAT CAT score reports.