Practice GRE scores vs. real GRE scores

[Avenger]

PowerPrep I: 161V/167Q

PowerPrep II: 160V/168Q

Real Test: 161V/162Q 5.5

I really tired out and couldn't focus my mind on the last section which was quant II. My mind kept wandering during the last half hour. This explains my lower than expected quant score. 

Time studying: approximately 100 hours.

Edited October 4, 2016 by Avenger

[migellba]

I only did the Quant Section of the test since required by my institution:

Manhattan 1: 160

Manhattan 2: 163

Manhattan 3: 161

Manhattan 4: 160

Manhattan 5: 161

ETS paper 1: 162

ETS paper 2: 165

Powerprep 1: 167

Powerprep 2: 162

real score: 164

~ 80 h

I had a really bad feeling while taking the real test and didn't feel very comfortable that day. Still quite happy with the score since that is exactly the score I wanted
However I think the Manhattan tests are defenitely harder than the real thing. So do not give up if you're disappointed with the scores you get in the Manhattan tests. Reading trough all the posts here I think that (at leas in quant section) your scores on the real test will be 3 points higher on average than the ones you got from Manhattan.

 

[vag13]

Magoosh Q168 V154

Magoosh score predictor 164-168Q 151-156V

Powerprep I 168Q 153V
Powerprep II  168Q 153V

Manhattan prep free test: 164Q 159V

ACTUAL SCORE: 170Q 155V

I found magoosh similar to the real gre in terms of quant. I watched all the magoosh gre math videos and I did the exercises.
Magoosh math videos and exercises are second to none!

Edited October 7, 2016 by vag13

[TK2]

Has anyone tried crunchpreps free practice exam? I just tried it and it shorted out on me halfway when the internet went and didn't count my quant sections, but gave me a score on verbal, which is inline with  Manhattan and PowerPrep.

So, so far...

V/Q

165/156 Manhattan (3 weeks or so ago)

166/159 Power Prep (1-2 weeks or so)

167/??? CrunchPrep (today) 

[TK2]

Oh god finally done never again ever what a waste of brain cells. For anyone to whom it may be useful:

V/Q:

165/156 Manhattan (1 month before)

166/159 Poer Prep (2-3 weeks before.)

167/??? Crunch Prep (1 week before)

166/160** Kaplan (four days before) (**probably about 160 quant, didn't have time to do the 5th section which was quant, and it was the wrong one. Extrapolating from my number of correct answers on the experimental section.

169/161 Power Prep (two days before)

170/163 Actual Goddamned thing. 

Time studied: Not sure. bits and pieces for a few months, then about 2-3 weeks of an average of about an hour day. 

 

My sense of scrolling through this thread is that there tends to be very little improvement over time, and people pretty much stay where they start out, which was pretty demoralizing in terms of studying, often enough. So doing what I can to contribute to the evidence that studying can help raise scores more than a point or two. I'd pretty much accepted that there was no way I'd get past 160 quant, and was sort of noodling away just trying to make sure I could get in the high 150s, so pretty happy with the 163 Q. (The verbal honestly felt like the difference between 166-7 and 170 was purely a matter of luck.) 

[The Dark knight]

I think this will be more helpful than just listing my scores. I am attaching a spreadsheet, and it has the data from all my practice exams and my real GRE scores. It also has information about my feelings about the scores, The time between tests, etc. Preparing for the GRE was an enervating experience for me. I was aiming for a very high score, and so, I had to push myself to study and practice every day. I still think I could have done at least 3-4 points better, but I do not want to complain and beat myself up for this. I am reasonably happy with my score, and I am confident that it is above the 90th percentile point. So, no university should have a problem with my GRE score.

P.S. My AWA score is not out yet.   

Practice Spreadsheet.xlsx

[TK2]

I can't see the spreadsheet link, but I approve of tracking life in spreadsheets in general, so I commend you, sir. 

[Wizardandwitch]

This post helped me a lot. Made an account especially to post my experience. Alas it's not a very positive one. Just gave the gre yesterday and these were my practice scores. I had read somewhere that you should leave all your practice tests till the last few days of prep.  And that is what I did. So my first test starts from 6 days before the test till the final day. 

Day 1: Q-164 V-152. 316. ETS-1(satisfied with want but not with verbal)

Day 2:Q-168 V-157.  325. kaplan(very happy with quant and satisfied with verbal-but read everywhere that the Kaplan test was easy so didn't get my hopes up too high) 

Day 3: Q-159 V-158.  317. Manhattan prep(shocked and disappointed by quant but satisfied with verbal) 

Day 4: Q-161 V-151. 312. ETS-2(the lowest combined score so was a little disappointed) 

Day 5: Q-161 V-158. 319. Manhattan prep(got higher than the previous day so felt better but not happy with my quant score) 

Day 6:Was very tensed about math because I'm applying to engineering programs. And my target was around 164. So thought would only concentrate on math for the next 2  days. 

Q-164 Princeton review

Day 7- Q-159 Manhattan prep( but know that Manhattan quant is pretty hard so wasn't too disappointed) 

Actual gre: Q-158!!! V-157 

Was very angry with my math score. I got less than even the Manhattan prep tests. The first section I got was quant but was weirdly difficult and not expected for the first section. The second and third sections of quant were much easier.  And the programs I am applying to will definitely not accept this quant score. So writing it again after my semester exams :/.

 

 

 

 

[shur42]

PowerPrep I: 155V, 160Q

PowerPrep II: 160V, 162Q

Manhattan: 161V, 159Q

Actual: 162V, 162Q, 4.5

Magoosh and Manhattan 5 lbs were my main resources. Kinda disappointed in my quant, but I hope other parts of my applications will make up for that. The experimental quant was the first quant section I got and I almost cried - very few problems were familiar and I wasn't entirely sure if it was experimental or real and I'm just terribly stupid. 

[wrackani]

Since y'all helped to keep me sane while studying, I thought I'd share my scores to keep others sane as well. 

149 Q / 148 V - Kaplan - before I started studying

153 Q / 153 V - Princeton - 10 days into studying

156 Q / 159 V - Princeton 

157 Q / 158 V - PowerPrep I 

164 Q / 157 V - Princeton - I believe the Quant score was an outlier 

156 Q / 156 V - Princeton - two days before the real thing urghhhh

155 Q / 156 V - PowerPrep II - one day before the real thing urghhhhhh 

158 Q / 159 V / 4.5 AWA - The real thing

I am a non-native speaker, so I am ecstatic about the verbal and the analytical writing score. Quant could have been slightly higher, but since I plan to do a PhD in psychology, Quant seems slightly less important, and my scores are competitive for most PhD programs. 

I studied probably 15-20 days, for the majorities of these days, and I practiced a lot with practice tests and reviewing the mistakes I made. 

My impression was that overall, Princetons tests seem to fluctuate in terms of difficulty. Some people say they are easier, but I think that just some happen to be easier, others are slightly harder than the real thing. 

[dreamchaser]

Quick question if I may: a couple of recent posts after the real test make comments about how the "experimental section" was - are you guys just guessing or does something at the end indicate to you which one was experimental?

The posts talk about experimental section so matter of factly I thought I'd ask.

Edit: which specific section, not whether quant or verbal

Edited October 22, 2016 by dreamchaser
clarifying

[ramennoodlecats]

Here is my contribution. I'm feeling pretty down about it. I spent approximately three months (>100 hours of study time) while working a full time job. I was able to increase my original GRE scores, but I did not score nearly as well as I had intended. I felt like I was doing really well on the AWA section during the real exam, but my score does not reflect that. I do not have the time or money to take it again. Hopefully things work out.

Type: Verbal | Quant | AWA

• 1st Official GRE: 146 | 141 | 4.5
• 2nd Official GRE: 145 | 148 | 3
• Practice ETS 1: 149 | 148 | --
• Crunch Prep 1: 154 | 148 | 5.5
• Crunch Prep 2: 157 | 145 | 5.5
• Crunch Prep 3: 151 | 152 | 5.5
• Crunch Prep 4: 151 | 151 | 5.5
• Crunch Prep 5: 152 | 147 | 5.5
• Crunch Prep 6: 155 | 151 | 5.5
• Practice ETS 1: 153 | 156 | --
• Practice ETS 2: 155 | 157 | --
• 3rd Official GRE: 152 | 152 | 4.5

[Robbentheking]

On 10/18/2016 at 4:13 PM, Wizardandwitch said:

This post helped me a lot. Made an account especially to post my experience. Alas it's not a very positive one. Just gave the gre yesterday and these were my practice scores. I had read somewhere that you should leave all your practice tests till the last few days of prep.  And that is what I did. So my first test starts from 6 days before the test till the final day. 

Day 1: Q-164 V-152. 316. ETS-1(satisfied with want but not with verbal)

Day 2:Q-168 V-157.  325. kaplan(very happy with quant and satisfied with verbal-but read everywhere that the Kaplan test was easy so didn't get my hopes up too high) 

Day 3: Q-159 V-158.  317. Manhattan prep(shocked and disappointed by quant but satisfied with verbal) 

Day 4: Q-161 V-151. 312. ETS-2(the lowest combined score so was a little disappointed) 

Day 5: Q-161 V-158. 319. Manhattan prep(got higher than the previous day so felt better but not happy with my quant score) 

Day 6:Was very tensed about math because I'm applying to engineering programs. And my target was around 164. So thought would only concentrate on math for the next 2  days. 

Q-164 Princeton review

Day 7- Q-159 Manhattan prep( but know that Manhattan quant is pretty hard so wasn't too disappointed) 

Actual gre: Q-158!!! V-157 

Was very angry with my math score. I got less than even the Manhattan prep tests. The first section I got was quant but was weirdly difficult and not expected for the first section. The second and third sections of quant were much easier.  And the programs I am applying to will definitely not accept this quant score. So writing it again after my semester exams :/.

 

 

 

 

next time don't study so much right before the test. I took like 5 practice tests in my prep and noticed that the single most important factor in determining my performance was being rested and alert

[YogurtCookie]

Masters in a Quant field 

Hours of study: 80 hours.

 

In order taken:

Manhattan 1: Q 161

Manhattan 2: Q 163

Manhattan 3 : Q 163

Manhattan 4: Q 166

Manhattan 5: Q 166

Manhattan 6: Q 164

ETS Book 2: Q 170

 

Took 10 day break from quant and studied a lil bit of verbal.. barely.. I couldn't concentrate cuz I broke up w/ my ex around this time lolll

Looking at my verbal scores, I really should have concentrated. Love doesn't aid your academics.

 

ETS Book 2: V 153 

ETS Book 1: V 158 Q 170

 

PowerPrep 1: V 161 Q 169 (Silly mistake thinking about my ex. couldn't concentrate at all but somehow my verbal turned out to be 161.)

PowerPrep 2: V 156 Q 167 (Two mistakes. One silly, and one I admit I didn't know.)

 

PowerPreps were taken just 2-3 days before the actual test.

 

Actual : V 158 Q 170 (VQVQV.. Which V is dummy..?)

I do not know what happened with my verbal score

The score itself is pretty consistent with my practice verbal scores, but the 'feelings'! 

I was at the exam constantly saying: oh my god I perfectly understand each passage I will definitely get 162+!! and yeah 158.

When doing practice verbal sections I was not confident and didn't understand fully, but the score didn't improve with better feels.

 

For quant, the difficulty was around the same as ETS, easier than Manhattan.

I had 10 min left for the first quant section, went over it again. The second section was more complicated.

I think I did better because I was actually concentrating.

Not the same with verbal. This is not because I was more concentrated. 

The passages and sentence completions.. they were all substantially easier. but why??? what did I do wrong .....

 

I am not sure whether I should retake the exam for verbal..

I am applying for top quant programs, and it seems like the average verbal percentile is above 90%.

Should I spend the next 3 weeks working on verbal? 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2016 by YogurtCookie

[The Dark knight]

On 10/13/2016 at 6:38 PM, The Dark knight said:

I think this will be more helpful than just listing my scores. I am attaching a spreadsheet, and it has the data from all my practice exams and my real GRE scores. It also has information about my feelings about the scores, The time between tests, etc. Preparing for the GRE was an enervating experience for me. I was aiming for a very high score, and so, I had to push myself to study and practice every day. I still think I could have done at least 3-4 points better, but I do not want to complain and beat myself up for this. I am reasonably happy with my score, and I am confident that it is above the 90th percentile point. So, no university should have a problem with my GRE score.

P.S. My AWA score is not out yet.   

Practice Spreadsheet.xlsx

 

 

Practice Spreadsheet.xlsx

[The Dark knight]

You guys can't see my spreadsheet? It works fine for me.........let me know.

[TK2]

It tells me 'This content is blocked for your account' or something to that effect.

I second not studying right in advance of the test - I took it easy - no studying, just a practice test - two days before, and the day before off completely. And nothing but maybe a half hour of warm up/sudden panic studying the morning of. I think it helped - I was both rested and able to look at problems with semi-fresh eyes, and also relatively, how to put this, un-annoyed by the thing. Taking the break helped to arrive at it and avoid, or at least effectively suppress, the active resentment the GRE inevitably inspired by then and focus properly and take it seriously. Rather than sit there gritting my teeth, breaking pencil tips and muttering 'oh this fucking thing' and 'another triangle problem. How original' under my breath like I'm a highschooler judging my worst enemy's shoes. That might just be me though. 

[Sujan]

9 hours ago, The Dark knight said:

 

Practice Spreadsheet.xlsx

 

 

You being the owner of the file you are able to access. we are unable to access the spreadsheet.Could you please upload the file in google drive and share us the link. it would be very helpful. thank you!

[The Dark knight]

13 hours ago, Sujan said:

You being the owner of the file you are able to access. we are unable to access the spreadsheet.Could you please upload the file in google drive and share us the link. it would be very helpful. thank you!

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17jUPU5tBF-XGdtOX0QXuMUq43ks5xvw90aGxHv7qU3M/edit?usp=sharing

[The Dark knight]

There guys; hope that helps. Let me know if you still have any problems.

[Sandmaster]

Power Prep:

1.) V-165 Q-167

2.) V-162 Q-166

 

Real: V-151, Q-154

[The Dark knight]

On 10/31/2016 at 2:19 PM, Sandmaster said:

Power Prep:

1.) V-165 Q-167

2.) V-162 Q-166

 

Real: V-151, Q-154

 

You really messed up on the test day or something? What happened here? I never saw such difference between Real scores and Power Prep scores.

[mora1995]

Finally writing my experience after months of work. The exam was surely one of the most painstaking things I've done since now. This post was really an help during my study period, since I'm not very confident and I was terribly afraid that my final score would be lower than my practice tests ones. Now it's done and I want to contribute to this post.

The exam is difficult. Surely mine was difficult. 5 sections in a row are manageable only if you are used to it, so i recommend to take at least one test with 5 sections (the Princeton Free GRE Test, for instance). I practiced on Barrons (very useful in the verbal part, approximative and cursory in the math part) and Manhattan (both 5lb Book and the 6 practice tests online: the math in the test is at the Manhattan level, maybe slightly easier but I'm not definitely sure). Obiouvsly I did the Powerprep 2 tests too.

Barrons Average (6 tests): Q167-168 V160

Manhattan Average (6 tests) : Q161 V160

Powerprep 1 (only Quant): 170 Q

Powerprep 2: 164Q 162V

Princeton: 164Q 161V

Actual GRE (unofficial scores): 164Q 162V (like Powerprep 2)

I'm really ecstatic about my Verbal score (non-native speaker), could have done slightly better in Quant but the pressure is really high and I was afraid of scoring below 163, which was my goal. Does anybody know if the official scores can be different from the unoffical?

Good luck to everybody and sincerely thanks to the people who wrote before me.

 

[The Dark knight]

On 11/3/2016 at 9:04 AM, Elia Moracci said:

Finally writing my experience after months of work. The exam was surely one of the most painstaking things I've done since now. This post was really an help during my study period, since I'm not very confident and I was terribly afraid that my final score would be lower than my practice tests ones. Now it's done and I want to contribute to this post.

The exam is difficult. Surely mine was difficult. 5 sections in a row are manageable only if you are used to it, so i recommend to take at least one test with 5 sections (the Princeton Free GRE Test, for instance). I practiced on Barrons (very useful in the verbal part, approximative and cursory in the math part) and Manhattan (both 5lb Book and the 6 practice tests online: the math in the test is at the Manhattan level, maybe slightly easier but I'm not definitely sure). Obiouvsly I did the Powerprep 2 tests too.

Barrons Average (6 tests): Q167-168 V160

Manhattan Average (6 tests) : Q161 V160

Powerprep 1 (only Quant): 170 Q

Powerprep 2: 164Q 162V

Princeton: 164Q 161V

Actual GRE (unofficial scores): 164Q 162V (like Powerprep 2)

I'm really ecstatic about my Verbal score (non-native speaker), could have done slightly better in Quant but the pressure is really high and I was afraid of scoring below 163, which was my goal. Does anybody know if the official scores can be different from the unoffical?

Good luck to everybody and sincerely thanks to the people who wrote before me.

 

 

Congratulations! I hear you. I had the same doubt when I came back from the test center. I was wondering if official scores are going to be exactly same. The answer is YES! 99% of the time the official scores are exactly equal to the scores you see at the end of the test. (I took my test on October 8th BTW and got the scores on the 19th of October)

[Sandmaster]

On 11/2/2016 at 7:32 PM, The Dark knight said:

You really messed up on the test day or something? What happened here? I never saw such difference between Real scores and Power Prep scores.

honestly the actual exam was much more difficult than the practice ones. Plus I don't test extremely well due to anxiety.

I am still projecting my writing score to be around 5.