Practice GRE scores vs. real GRE scores

[laminator]

Power Prep II: 167 Q/ 163 V

Actual Test: 170 Q / 170 V / 5 AW

 

Studying Time: ~10 hours

 

I am almost certain I answered at least one question in verbal incorrectly, because I wasn't really sure about it and the questions seemed to drop in difficulty right thereafter, so I think you don't have to answer them all correct to get a 170. I was shocked that my scores were that much better on the real thing.

Edited December 22, 2014 by laminator

[L13]

Power Prep II: 167 Q/ 163 V

Actual Test: 170 Q / 170 V / 5 AW

 

Studying Time: ~10 hours

 

I am almost certain I answered at least one question in verbal incorrectly, because I wasn't really sure about it and the questions seemed to drop in difficulty right thereafter, so I think you don't have to answer them all correct to get a 170. I was shocked that my scores were that much better on the real thing.

You're actually graded on your performance on the last (second) section. You can have mistakes on the first one, but as long as you do well enough to get the hard second section and ace it, you'll get a 170. Also, the test is no longer adaptable between questions but only from section to section.

 

You can see how many mistakes you made and where if you look up the GRE Diagnostic Service, which is a free ETS tool, and log in with your test details.

Edited December 27, 2014 by L13

[SSCCATAGAPP]

ETS practice test: 167-169V; 148-153Q; did not study for the W.

Actual: 168V; 157Q; 4W (lol maybe I should have studied).

 

I took a free two day course offered at my university the weekend before and studied the night before the test. I didn't really study for the Q or W because I was told they didn't really matter for anthro programs. I promise I'm not negligent, I just didn't have much time to study before apps were due. I think if I had more time, I would have studied a bit more, although I don't think my score's a deal breaker.

[pyar23]

GRE Powerprep #1:     163V, 166Q

GRE Powerprep #2:     163V, 164Q

 

Actual: 164V, 168Q

 

Studied about 4 hours total the day before the exam. I'm so happy with my score, just hope it is good enough.

[hollabackgirl]

ETS Book 1: 164V/165Q

ETS Book 2: 164V/165Q

PowerPrep 1: 162V/169Q

 

Actual: 169V/168Q [Might have been reversed, can't remember]

 

Practice:

 

Princeton Review Cracking the GRE 2015 

Magoosh - Free Trial Questions

Peterson's Master the GRE 2014

Practicing to take the General Test - 10th Edition

ETS GRE Quantitative Workbook

Official ETS Guide.

 

1 Month Prep - Roughly 2-3 Hours a Day.

 

The real GRE is about in line with the practice tests in terms of difficulty (although I would say additional difficulty simply because of the experimental section) - it's much more discouraging because you feel as if every question wrong counts twice as much. Don't underestimate tiredness and sheer instinct in picking choices after a while!

I did find the real GRE to be generally much more forgiving score wise relative to the practice tests. I was dropping much faster in Quantitative after a few practice tests. So that's definitely encouraging because I was anticipating a ten point drop given how unsure I was of many of the questions. But I guess the adapted difficulty does help some people out!

[bbobear]

Here's mine in roughly the order I took them in

 

Princeton Review #6 : 161V 156Q  2.5AW 

Princeton Review #3 : 163V 165Q  3.0AW

Princeton Review #7 : 161V 166Q  4.0AW

 

Magoosh: 163V 158Q

Magoosh: 164V 158Q

 

PowerPrep #1: 165V 158Q

 

Magoosh: 163V 158Q

 

Princeton Review #8: 162V 161Q 5.0AW

 

ETS Book Test #1: 170V 161Q

ETS Book Test #2: 170V 165Q

 

PowerPrep #2: 166V 161Q

 

Actual test: 168V 158Q ?AW

 

You can see the Magoosh quant estimate is on target, though I will say that I kinda messed up one of the math portions (and most likely not the experimental section) by losing track of time, so I think if I took it again I might be closer to my PP#2 score of 161. You can clearly see though that Princeton Review vastly overestimates my quant scores. So does the ETS book score to an extent...perhaps I should take the paper-based exam if I do it again. I would say Magoosh was pretty helpful in preparing for the quant section.

 

Magoosh underestimated my verbal somewhat, in fact every test does except the ETS book tests. I attribute this to poor quality questions. Neither PR nor Magoosh have verbal questions that are as well-worded and clear as real GRE questions, though Magoosh was a little better than PR in this respect in my opinion. 

 

Princeton Review was therefore pretty useless EXCEPT with the Analytical Writing portion. You can see my first writing score was abysmal and that was simply because I didn't really know what to expect for my first try of the test. I go from 2.5 all the way up to 5, and I expect that my actual score will be around 5 (but I guess we'll see about that), despite the unusable and disgusting keyboard(!) at the testing centre. The feedback provided by the human graders was actually pretty helpful, and it might be worth it to buy a PR book just to get a few graded essays out of it. 

 

I was pretty surprised about how my ETS paper-based scores were significantly higher than both my PP and actual scores. Not sure why this is, especially considering I completed both of them timed. 

[pascal_barbots_wager]

I don't remember the exact numbers, but I took the two free official PowerPrep practice tests ETS offers a few days apart and got high 160s (165-168) in both sections both times, and I ended up getting 170/170/5.0 when I took the real thing a few days later. So I think the practice tests might be a bit harder.

[brokepocket27]

Got back from the test centre today and I'm totally gutted. I'm a retaker(Q159 August 2013) who overprepared for today's test, yet I fell miserably short of my expectations. Cancelled mid-way through the test because I felt there was no point continuing and ending up with what would be a subpar score. Power prep does not accurately reflect the difficulty level of the exam...

 

Below are my power prep scores that were simulated as close as possible to exam settings(All timed):

 

===================================

PP 2 Q 163 V 158 --- 12/12/2014 (Q35/40)

 

PP 1 Q 164 V 161 --- 12/15/2014 (Q36/40) Could have got a 169/170 in this test but made a few careless errors in the first Math section.

 

3 mixed practice set in the recent ETS Quant book( Untimed) --- 92% 69/75

 

Magoosh score predictor -- 159-164 ( 572 quant Qs answered)

 

Completed about half of 5lb GRE quant and had a fairly good hit rate there as well.

====================================

 

So after working my butt off for the past 3 weeks and really hoping for a 5 to 6 point improvement on my quant score from last year I was in for a rude shock at the test centre today. I saw some really convoluted geometry questions I'd never seen any where else. On the GRE last year I finished the first two quant sections with ten minutes to spare/review my mistakes. The third section was what killed me. On today's test in the first section I was already running out of time by the 16th question. I had to guess on three to four questions. Something that's never happened on any of my mock sessions this year or last year when I prepared. I chalked up my experience in the first quant section to it just being the experimental section. In the second quant section a similar thing happened, after ten mid level difficulty problems I was stumped by 2-3 geometry problems that were just subtler and trickier than anything I'd ever seen. For a 160 scorer i felt these sort of questions were supposed to be reserved for the last section if you've done really well in the first section. By the time I got to the DI section which was usually my forte in all my tests and saw a DI combined with overlapping sets and percentages that's when I knew I had just about had enough of ETS' b**sing. Why give us a deceptively easy mock test that does not accurately mimic the difficulty of the real exam? I have no issues with a challenging exam but please release mocks/ resources that accurately reflect the dificulty of what test takers would see test day. I came back home and looked at some of the problems on the power prep tests I took recently and noticed how those on the first and second quant portion of my exam had extra/subtle layers of difficulty. Verbal felt normal to the powerprep's difficulty in comparison, and I feel if I'm going to write the test again that's the only place I may accrue point gains as ETS is just screwing us over with quant right now. But it's really futile cos I'm applying to engineering programs and no one cares a jot about your verbal score.

 

I've also wondered what if i finished and still ended up with a 163 or 164. It may be that the GRE algorithm is now quite different from the algorithm on the Power Prep software and getting a 29-32/40 could still land you in a 164/165? I may resit for the test in January but I can't think of any resource that can prepare me adequately for the kind of problems I saw today. I've used virtually everything.

 

 

 

I fully agree here. My experience perfectly mirrors yours; I actually took the test one year before you but I felt that available resources (magoosh, powerprep, 5lb book and manhattan) were not adequate to prepare me for the difficulty of this test. The GRE is surely getting progressively harder (

My scores were 159V, 159Q, 5.5 AW but I expected to get far better in the quantitative section as I only prepared for that one ...ha ha

[Igrokassem]

my test scores were exactly as the power prep.

[Mr. Impatiently Waiting]

I performed much better on the real GRE than on any of my practice exams. That isn't to say that I got great scores on the real GRE, but they were certainly better than my practice scores. 

[brown_eyed_girl]

My test scores did not change much from Powerprep, even after studying (I took PP before studying to gauge where I was). I went up 2 points on the math and down 1 point on the verbal. 

[ALou]

I just wanted to thank everyone for this post and all the info.  I am currently studying for the GRE and seeing that on average the ETS/PowerPrep and Magoosh practices typically score slightly lower than the actual GRE has given me a little bit more confidence to get through.  

 

I sit on the 6th of March so fingers crossed.  We don't really have standardised testing in Australia and it is 10 years since I graduated from high school and learned math....suffice to say GRE prep has been a long road-especially with being in a foreign country.  Hopefully I will have some decent scores to post after the 6th - and by decent I mean meeting the minimums of the school I am applying for

 

Best of luck to everyone else reading this post.

 

P.S after reading the recent post about the GRE getting harder...well I am just aiming to make the minimums I need (the school actually publishes these) - thankfully the rest of my application is very strong for my field.  Thanks again everyone and good luck.

Edited February 25, 2015 by ALou

[Vespasian]

Magoosh underestimated my verbal and pretty much hit my quantitative.  I feel as though the actual GRE verbal was much easier than what I prepped and the quantitative was much harder.

[Infinito]

I had been studying on and off since November 2014; mainly read the Revised GRE Math review, and in January began to use Magoosh to review math, and also the verbal section, so my first practice score could have been higher because I had prepped a bit. I had to condense my intensive studying time into about 2 weeks. As you can see, there was a bit of variability, but not by much. The Power Prep II, the day before the actual exam, is uncanny in how close it is to my actual score the day after. It's kind of funny because the areas tested on the math section didn't overlap between the two, so I guess you could say it's luck of the draw. Since I'm aiming for top 10 programs for next year, I'm probably going to retake it for the math section sometime over the summer, but otherwise I feel like the scores are enough to get my foot through the door.

 

Feb 1: Power Prep II Test 1: 161V 162Q

Feb 8: Revised GRE Paper Test 1: 165V 159Q

Feb 15: Revised GRE Paper Test 2: 164V 164Q

Feb 20: Power Prep II Test 2: 164V 160Q

 

Actual Test (Feb 21): 165V 160Q 5.5AW

[EMGagne]

I think I'm the minority here - I did much worse on the real GRE than on any of the practice tests I took.

Real scores: V 165, Q 153, AW 5.0

ETS powerprep 1 & 2

V 159, 167; Q 168, 165

Kaplan 2 tests from 2014 guide book

V 160, 168; Q 165, 170

Also did tons of other prep workbooks (ETS, Manhattan GRE prep), worked with tutor for 8 weeks. My intake score for tutoring was V 155, Q 148.

I didn't retake it, but am regretting that now.

[goldenstardust]

I took the princetonreview practice test back in may to check in, but started studying early in February and just recently got my actual scores. So the other practices were all within the last couple of months-

Princeton Review: 161V, 150Q, 4.5AW

Kaplan #1: 163V, 158Q

Kaplan #2: 155V, 149Q (wasn't in the mood that day)

PP #1: 166V, 154Q

PP #2: 166V, 157Q

 

Actual: 167V, 155Q, 5.5AW. 

 

So, like most others, power prep was definitely most predictive! 

[shinigamiasuka]

Forgot my powerprep scores, but they were higher than what I ended up getting on the actual GRE.

[ceuats]

I took the second power prep the night before the real thing

 

169Q 164V

 

real thing 

168Q 163V

 

Took a few before that and all were within a small range really from 167-170Q 159-164V

[eeee1923]

Practice Scores:

 

#1: 158Q 160V

#2: 160Q 162V

#3: 164Q 165V

 

Real Thing:

165Q 167V 4.5W

 

I tended to always score a bit higher on my verbal section than quantitative (which was weird since I'm coming from an engineering background) but I figured as long as I got within the 90 percentile range it literally didn't make any difference

[Sadat]

I have given the test  very recently.I studied for 3 months(while doing 45 hours/week job). The only material I followed was Magoosh and English is not my native language.

 

Magoosh Test1: Q:161, V:151, Total: 312 (16 days before Actual Test)

Powerprep T1  : Q:160, V:153, Total: 313 (10 days before Actual Test)

Powerprep T2  : Q:157, V:155, Total: 312 (03 days before Actual Test)

Real Test         : Q:159, V:147, Total: 306

 

I don't know why but Powerprep overestimated my Verbal Score so much, I was really shocked after the test.

I am not sure whether a retake will increase my scores.

[goal2016]

Though I've not taken the actual test, from what I have read and been told, the actual gre is pretty close to what we see on powerprep II. So I am hoping my scores on powerprep II will be reflective of my actual gre scores

[nathank22]

Posting because I found this thread very useful in gauging by own preparation for the GRE. Thanks everyone who has posted here!

 

My Practice Scores:

 

Before Studying

Powerprep II practice test 1: 160 V, 160 Q

 

Taken about once a week while doing practice problems

 

Manhattan Prep Practice Tests

157V 158Q

159V 161Q

160V 159Q

162V 160Q

160V 164Q

 

Princeton Free Practice Test (Q only)

166Q

 

Kaplan Free Practice Test

158V 170Q

 

One week before real GRE

PowerPrep II practice test 2: 162V 166Q

 

Real GRE (May 2, 2015): 166V 166Q

 

I was surprised by my verbal score. I am applying to economics programs so I did not study for the verbal section at all. I must have gotten very lucky on my guesses. The Quantitative score matched what I got on the powerprep I took a week before my exam. I found the Manhattan Prep exams very useful in that they pushed me to work faster and harder, but they were much harder than the real exam. Hope that helps you all who are studying for the exam! 

 

[The Reader]

Contemplating on either Kaplan mock tests or Manhattan mock tests. Any comments.

 

I understand that Manhattan does not have the experimental section.

 

Kaplan free test: Q164 V162

 

Manhattan free test: Q160 V164

[nathank22]

The Reader I suggest Manhattan. Although it is a personal preference I found Kaplan to be much too easy in terms of math. As you are a fellow economics person I highly suggest the Manhattan because of the more challenging math. Depending on the program you apply to you're going to need high quantitative scores so focus on the practice tests with harder quantitative sections.

Seems from your free tests that my experience was similar to yours in terms of difficulty of the Quant sections Manhattan vs. Kaplan.

 

You are right though Manhattan does not have an experimental section so that is a drawback I suppose.

[melfar]

You really don't know how this post was very helpful.

 

Long story short:

 

1 month of study, around 5 hrs/day, 5 days/week.

Sources: ETS official guide, Magoosh

 

PowerPrep II T1: V150 Q170 (2 days prior to exam)

PowerPrep II T2: V147 Q166 (1 day prior to exam)

 

Real exam: V149 Q167

 

I just want to share some lessons that I learned the hard way:

• Your ability to focus tremendously affects your score.
  In my first practice test, I had already slept for too long that I woke up without an alarm. However, I was already wake up for 7 hours studying prior to my second practice test. You can obviously see that my scores went three points down in each section. When I checked why I scored low in Q (166), I found that the 3 mistakes were merely due to inability to focus: Choosing the wrong answer (yes I calculated the right answer but I chose the wrong one!), adding instead of subtracting, and so on. This has nothing to do with how long or hard you are prepared.
  Lesson learned: Have a really good sleep at least two days before your exam.
• Please please please, please don't practice a complete test the day prior to your test day.
  The test is really tiring and exhausting to the extent that you may feel you don't want to solve the actual exam. This happened to me as the actual exam was the third one in a row. Believe me, disastrous!
• Don't drive yourself to the exam especially if you are going to drive through traffic. Take a taxi or ask a friend to give you a drive. You need every bit of you mind to be as clear as it could be.
• Magoosh is really a good source for practicing. Didn't try other sources so I can't compare. I just advise you to try video tutorials before reading endless lbs of printed materials. Save some time here. Also, timed exercises like what Magoosh offers is non-negotiable. Your time is valuable.

Good luck!