Took Kaplan's Practice GRE...Low Score, Please Help

[stefunny]

I took Kaplan's Practice GRE today and got a very low combined score of 950 (V: 430 Q: 520) I'm very surprised by this score because I got a significantly high score on my SATs. I thought maybe Kaplan puts much harder questions on their practice tests so you pay for their tutoring courses. But whatever! I want to attend Georgetown's School of Foreign Service (security studies). I will also be applying to GWU, American and FSU. What are my chances? My GPA is a 3.3, I have interned at the police station for 4 years, the mayor's office for 3 years and I'm currently an intern at the secret service. I have great letters of recommendation and I think I can pull off a pretty good SOP. Has anyone else taken one of these pracice tests and done better on their actual GRE test? Thank you all in advance!!!

Edited May 21, 2010 by stefunny

[Nibor6000]

Start practicing now. The GRE can be studied for. If you're applying for next year, you have plenty of time to hit the books. While the GRE might not be able to get you into a program, it can certainly keep you out. It looks like you've got a great application in the works. Don't let the GRE trip you up!

[joro]

My Kaplan Practice GRE score was about a combined 870. My GPA was a 3.1 and my actual GRE was a combined 1250. Don't worry too much about the Kaplan practice test. I studied maybe 3 weeks before the exam. I will be dedicating more time for my next round of applications.

[milestones13]

"I took Kaplan's Practice GRE today and got a very low combined score of 950 (V: 430 Q: 520) I'm very surprised by this score because I got a significantly high score on my SATs. I thought maybe Kaplan puts much harder questions on their practice tests so you pay for their tutoring courses. But whatever! I want to attend Georgetown's School of Foreign Service (security studies). I will also be applying to GWU, American and FSU. What are my chances? My GPA is a 3.3, I have interned at the police station for 4 years, the mayor's office for 3 years and I'm currently an intern at the secret service. I have great letters of recommendation and I think can pull off a pretty good SOP. Has anyone else taken one of these pracice tests and done better on their actual GRE test? Thank you all in advance"

The Kaplan Diagnostic test (I'm assuming you're referring to the one on their site, which is not an actual computer adaptive test) is much harder than the real test as well as the Powerprep tests (which reflect the real test very closely). I would not worry so much about your score on the Kaplan test, but it is in your best interest to review the solutions so you can learn from them. My opinion about Kaplan is that the techniques they teach are very useful for saving time, especially on the math section, but it's best to be solid on the basics without relying on the tricks before you learn them. This requires a lot of memorization and integrating that memorization into problem solving by practice. Generally, though, I find Kaplan's items very difficult in a way that's useful since they set a lot of traps and require you to be at your sharpest. But, none of this helps if you've forgotten what voluble means or if you can't figure out the area of a sector. If vocabulary is weak, work on memorizing the words out of Barrons (any edition) -- this is prerequisite for raising your verbal score. Math needs drilling, especially if you've been out of math land for a while.

My opinion is that you study the GRE quantitative section as if you were studying for the GMAT (which is said to be harder math than what's on the GRE). Also, the GRE Verbal is said to be quite a bit harder than the SAT verbal, so don't put too much stock in your SAT verbal score as a benchmark. You are going to need to learn new words of greater difficulty for the GRE. Because the test is computer adaptive, breadth and depth of vocabulary will make or break you. The antonyms analogies and sentence completions come first -- and if you get them all correct and even bomb the reading comprehension, you can still come out with a score in 90+ percentile; on the other hand, if your strength is reading comp but you've bombed the other parts of the test, then you are more or less toast. (Note bene: The structure of the GRE is said to be changing in 2011 and will be less vocabulary intensive).

The rest of your stuff looks good but then, as you know, your SOP will probably prove most pivotal. Good luck.

Edited May 22, 2010 by milestones13

[stefunny]

thanks everyone! Your responses were great! By the way, the Kaplan test I took was not online, I took it at the Kaplan Center and it was on paper.

[Bumblebee]

I also did the paper practice test by Kaplan and scored less than 1000. It was a horrible score. Then, when I took it for real I scored 1250. And I know from other people that this usually is the case: you score a lot less in the Kaplan test than in the real one. And I totally ran out of time for the quantitative section in the Kaplan test and had enough time to finish it in the real exam. Keep practicing and don't worry too much about the Kaplan test (I think they do it to sell you their courses). Good luck!

[meecat]

Hi,

Why am I not surprised people do poorly on the Kaplan Paper Test? Because Kaplan purposely makes it more difficult so that they can brag that their classes help improve their students' GRE scores by 100s of points when comparing your score on the initial paper test to the final paper test you take at the end of the course (which will be easier). It is bad business ethics, but I guess people don't care since they continue to happily spend $1200+ for these classes...

My suggestion? Use the free PowerPrep testing software off the GRE website as a solid gauge to see where you are at. It has a few full length tests and is the exact software that you will use when you actually take the test.

[natsteel]

My Kaplan Practice GRE score was about a combined 870. My GPA was a 3.1 and my actual GRE was a combined 1250. Don't worry too much about the Kaplan practice test. I studied maybe 3 weeks before the exam. I will be dedicating more time for my next round of applications.

I've had wildly varying practice test results when it comes to the verbal section. I'd say that I have a fairly higher-than-average vocabulary and should be able to score around 650 give or take. However, on my practice tests, I've scored anywhere from 680 all the way down to a 500 (on the Barron's diagnostic test). Has anyone else had such varying practice test results?

[TheDude]

It's probably not a shock to anyone here, but it is in the publisher's interest to keep their diagnostic tests harder than PowerPrep and the real test. Let's assume you used Barron's as a means for studying, take their diagnostic tests, and find yourself scoring low. When you write the actual GRE, which has been noted is adaptive and easier then the prep materials, you're shocked you scored way higher. Then you come on these forums months later replying to people about to take the GRE in regards to what the best preparation materials are and tout Barron's as the be all end all.

I've taken all the exercise questions (minus the 2 practice tests) with power prep and I have found every aspect of them to be easier then everything in my Barron and Kaplan books. For instance, with analogies and antonym questions I consistently received 60-70% correct. I wrote the first diagnostic verbal test in Barron's GRE book from 2 years ago. I nailed almost all the sentence completion and reading comprehension but missed almost all my antonym and analogy questions. I had never heard of most of the words.

*I will say that after just a week of studying Kaplan's 500 most common word flash cards I find my cursory review of GRE verbal sections in the Big Book to be ringing with a lot more mental "I know those words."

Don't freak just study.

Maybe I'm just hoping

Edited July 1, 2010 by musicforfun