Are GMAT Kaplan Tests really that hard ?

[Psychodementia]

To complete the title of the thread "are they really that hard as they are made out to be ?".

The reason being that I have taken both the Kaplan tests. In the first I got a 710. Last night I took the second one. Due to some "disturbances" I had to rush through the last 10 question in Quant - getting many wrong but more appallingly LEAVING OUT LAST 3 QUESTIONS !!!

Then my tryst with Verbal began. Went off Okay but again was pressed for time towards the end and had to rush through the last 10. AGAIN guessing through many.


I was so dejected that I was ruing myself for jumping into taking this test. Infact I did not want to click on "View my scores" but said to myself "Hell whats the big deal since I have already spent over 2.5hours". My score : 700 !!! With a 43Q and 43V.

I had around 8 mistakes in Quant with 3 unanswered. In Verbal I had 3 mistakes in the first 20 odd questions and the story repeated with about 8-9 more mistakes towards the end.

My question is I could have cracked a 750 in both the Kaplans on a good day (with proper frame of mind etc.) My question is why do people fret so much about Kaplan being so hard and them not being able to cross even 650.

I am talking about the "Higher score through Kaplan" (or something of that sort) which has this car coming up with the nice road map and stuff. I am not aware of any other Kaplan tests.

Arun

PS: For those who don't know me, I am not a stud. Infact a below average bloke

[pagalguy]

I have said it somewhere else .. but I found Kaplan to be tough..atleast for my taste ..On one test I remember scoring a 500 - 550 or so and that was the last Kap test i ever took. Plus almost never heard of someone scoring a 700 or so on the Kaplan ..if you got it right dude.. mebbe a 780 awaits

[zero_in_on_me]

710 in Kaplan !!!!!!! I want be surprised with a perfect 800 in GMAT. My scores in Kaplan where abt 580-600. I have heared that one should add abt a 100 to the Kaplan score. OMG, Do let me know ur actual Gmat score. BTW, when r u taking it????

[DesiGuru]

The newer Kaplan is supposed to give a more realistic score than before...
Maybe thats what you have... I think i read somewhere even if you crack all the questions it would still give you less than 700... the older Kaplan ie...

[Psychodementia]

I have a Kaplan CD that is positively ancient - dates back to the first time I took GMAT more than 3 years ago. That time my prep was so awful I dont think I even took the powerprep tests seriously I have asked my pal to get his CD where he got sub-600 a day before the test (cracked 690 eventually) so that I can get to have a go at it.

Anyways, the G-day is 22nd Novemeber.

Arun

[xyz]

I have a cd which I got with the kaplan book, kaplan Premier Program 2006 and then there is also a Kaplan Higher score CD.

Is there any overlap in the questions in the above two dcs ?

If not then I will have 8 tests from kaplan

Incase you know plz let me know so that I can plan accordingly.

Thx

[Psychodementia]

I think Kaplan has a favourite set of questions which it keeps juggling around a bit. So if you are a guy who is going to be in the same range (say around 700) then you can expect to see a few question. But nothing to swing your scores from a 600 to a 700. So I think for all practical purposes, you *do* have 8 different tests.

Arun