Practice GRE scores vs. real GRE scores

[Siarhei]

I am not a native speaker (I come from Belarus), where the level of English is not very high. So I was very surprised at my real GRE score.

Quant Verbal Total date taken The Economist GRE Test 19/40 146 15/40 142 288 10.01.2016 ETS book test #1, #2 38/50 160     160 03.02.2016 ETS PowerPrep I 24/40 153 15/40 146 299 09.07.2016 Kaplan practice test 1 8/20 148     148 07.08.2017 Kaplan practice test 2 12/20 152     152 07.08.2017 Kaplan practice test 3 13/20 153     153 08.08.2017 Kaplan practice test 4 15/20 155     155 08.08.2017 Kaplan practice test 5 13/20 153     153 10.08.2017 Kaplan practice test 6 12/20 152     152 12.08.2017 Kaplan practice test 7 17/20 157 10/20 150 307 12.08.2017 Kaplan practice test 8 14/20 154     154 12.08.2017 Kaplan practice test 9 14/20 154     154 13.08.2017 Kaplan practice test 10 17/20 157     157 13.08.2017 Crunch Prep   140   141 281 17.08.2017 Kaplan online free test 25/40 149 19/40 148 297 19.08.2017 ETS PowerPrep I 24/40 154     154 26.08.2017 ETS PowerPrep II 22/40 149 19/40 151 300 11.09.2017               Actual GRE   161   145 306 18.09.2017

Time studying: 2 years (with interruptions)

As you can see, none of the mock test, even PowerPrep, predicted the score. I recommend you not to be concerned about any mock test result and just try to do your best at the exam. For that, you need a good rest and clear head during the exam.

Some motivation: only 100 Belorussians took this test, this test is unbelievably challenging for us. I even had to travel to Hungary from Belarus to take this test, since we don't have GRE test centers. Despite all the adversities I had to overcome, I showed a very nice result, so, American people, do not complain, international students have to work thrice as hard as you have. Good luck, have fun  

 

 

[dr.strange]

I am not a native speaker (Asian). Took the GRE in 2015 and completely bombed it. Thanks to the absence of any form of prepping , got a V152 Q148 A4.0. Retook it this Sep, here's how it went:
-1.5 months ETS Book Test 1 V159 Q153

-1 month Magoosh practice test V147 Q154

-3 weeks ETS Book Test 2 V156 Q155

-2 weeks Powerprep 1 V156 Q163

-1 week Powerprep 2 V154 Q156

-1 day ETS Book Test 1 V163 Q161

Actual: V160 Q155 A5.0

Hours studied: ~25 days * 8 hours/day = 200 hours

The "revision" i did a day before is the biggest mistake in this process. You thought you would forget the content after 1.5 months but you would not.

I have a magoosh subscription but I would not recommend using the practice test function. Their adaptive algorithm might work, but given the vast amount of "Hard" and "Very Hard" questions in their question bank, what you would get in their practice tests is a mix of the most difficult questions. In the real test, you will receive much easier questions in the first section. 

Powerprep is quite accurate in estimating my Q score. But to be fair, after Powerprep 2 I spent a lot of extra hours beefing up my vocabulary so my V score turned out to be better than expected.

 

[Abdul Moiz]

First of All, I am really grateful to everyone who has shared his or her experience on this forum. The advises and suggestions I received were paramount during my three weeks GRE preparation. Having said that, I believe it is incumbent upon me to share my personal experience as well. 

I spent around 70% of my time studying for the Quant section as I intended to apply for a math intensive field and therefore couldn't dedicate much time towards the verbal section. I started out with Manhattan 5 lb book (completing the math section in one week - all ~30 chapters). I also purchased the Magoosh subscription and solved 80% of their math problems (with only 75% accuracy). 

For Verbal, I did RC section from 5lb Book (~100 questions) and 300 questions from Magoosh (with 57% accuracy). 

I, then, spent the third and last week of my preparation using timed practice tests:

Magoosh Estimated Math Score: (158-163)

Magoosh Estimated Verbal Score: (151-156)

Manhattan 1: (156 V, 159 Q)

Manhattan 2: (156 V, 161 Q)

Manhattan 3: (158 V, 163 Q)

Manhattan 4: (155 V, 161 Q)

Manhattan 5: (160 Q) - Skipped Verbal 

Manhattan 6: (163 Q) - Skipped Verbal

ETS PowerPrep II: (153 V, 164 Q)

Real GRE: (152 V, 168 Q) = 320

My Quant score was actually higher than any of those gotten during the practice tests. The case is, however, opposite for the verbal side. I studied around 6-8 hours everyday for three weeks (147 hours approx:). Needless to say, 100 of those hours were spent practicing the Quant section because it's not as easy as people seem to believe. I have a really good mathematical background but still GRE has so many tricks in the bag that you can't find your way around without a lot of practice.

In my opinion, Magoosh and Manhattan provide the best test prep material for GRE (after ETS of course). I think they provided me with sufficient material to ace the GRE (Well, atleast the Quant Section). Good Luck

[Yep]

I am Reading this forum and I'm impressed with everyone's abilities. I did really poor in comparison to my practice scores. Does anyone have specific advice to improve verbal skills? I really struggle with critical thinking aspect of the fill in the blank answers and feel like most of the word options are out of my range. 

[treble_maker]

All of these are Q/V, in chronological order,

 

Kaplan in-book: 157/156

Kaplan Test 1: 158/155

Kaplan Test 2: 153/149

Kaplan Test 3: 154/158

Real Thing 1: 159/157/4.0

*Did a bunch of Manhattan 5lb practice questions*

PowerPrep 1: 166/160  

*feeling confident*

Real Thing 2: 162/156/pending 

 

I'm looking to get into a reputable CS program, so I'm going to give it one more try in three weeks and aiming for a 165+/160.

Magoosh's GRE plan seems appealing, but if any of you have other recommendations, I'd love to hear from you.

[mfafiction2019]

Haven't taken the real test yet (I do in a week, yikes!!) but I scored far better on the Manhattan practice test (the free one) than on any PowerPrep test. I don't know what this should tell me about the real test, but I guess I hope it's more similar to Manhattan than to whatever's on PowerPrep.

PowerPrep 1: 159V/149Q

PowerPrep 2: 160V/147Q

Manhattan: 162V/153Q

I'm applying for Sociology programs in the top 20 or so and I hope to get over 160V and over 150Q

[Cal1gula]

Gave the GRE today.

Powerprep I Q166 V164

Powerprep II Q166 V167

I also took all the Manhattan Prep mock tests, which I found significantly more difficult than the Powerprep tests but they helped me with my pacing and got me comfortable with different types of questions. I averaged 161-162Q 165V on the Manhattan tests.

Actual GRE Q166 V166 AWA: Official scores not out yet

The difficulty level was similar to that of PowerPrep tests except for 2-3 questions on the second quant section which were quite tricky and time consuming.

[takos]

Took it today as well. Not a native english speaker

Revised GRE 6     Completed 10/15/2017     Math Score: 163     Verbal Score: 153
Revised GRE 5     Completed 10/13/2017     Math Score: 159     Verbal Score: 148
Revised GRE 4     Completed 10/07/2017     Math Score: 163     Verbal Score: 156
Revised GRE 3     Completed 10/05/2017     Math Score: 159     Verbal Score: 157
Revised GRE 2     Completed 09/27/2017     Math Score: 161     Verbal Score: 156
Free Practice GRE Test     Completed 08/09/2017     Math Score: 157     Verbal Score: 155

ETS 2 Completed somewhere in September : Math Score 167       Verbal Score 154

 

Real Test : Math 166, Verbal 151

 

I ran out of concetration for the last Verbal part (had a Verbal experimental), but I am very happy because I was only targeting a good score at Quant. Manhattan math seems harder than the real test, so I guess it's a good prep

 

 

[mfafiction2019]

DId the PowerPrep practice exam (the "paper" version in PDF) today and this is what I got:

165V/154Q

that's more what I'm talking about....

[glialstar]

Honestly, signed up 3 weeks before the exam, got incredibly busy with classes/research/other exams, so I didn't study at all. The night before the exam I took a practice exam on Kaplan. I feel awful for not studying though, so I plan to retake in December after studying for a couple months. Im going to consider this a cold run, hope studying will bring it up a good bit. 

 

Kaplan Test Prep Practice Exam: 10/19/17  Verbal: 151, Quant: 150

Real GRE: 10/20/17    Verbal: 159, Quant: 156

 

Ran out of time on math and bubbled, switched some answers to the wrong ones before verbal ran out.

 

[Hamb]

Magoosh Test 1: 161 V, 152 Q

Magoosh Test 2: 158 V, 160 Q

ETS Test 1: 156 V, 161 Q

Magoosh Test 3: 162 V, 154 Q

Magoosh Test 4: 162 V, 156 Q

ETS Test 2 : 158 V, 159 Q

Expected Score Range on Magoosh (on test date with roughly 75% of practice questions completed) : 157-162 Verbal, 152-157 Quantitative

 

Actual Test: 164 V, 161 Q

 

Unlike others I didn't think the exam was much easier than Magoosh prep. I found that my attention to detail and dedication to actually getting the correct answer was much higher on test day, where in practice exams I was far quicker to move on from a challenging problem. The only test prep that I thought was off was ETS quant practice. The questions were loaded with easy ones both times I took it, but punished me hard for the few challenging ones it gave me.

It could be that Magoosh gives you lower scores than the actual test in order to incentive you to continue using their products to then get you a higher score, but as far as actually difficulty of problems it seemed spot on. 

Also, since a lot of people reading this are about to take the test: I promise you that you will run out of time quicker than on your practice tests. I think I could have done better on the quant section if I had moved along quicker on my first section. On my practice verbal sections I was regularly finishing with 10+ minutes left. Due to being careful and reviewing answers before moving on, I finished each verbal with little time left. Watch the clock!

Edited October 23, 2017 by Hamb

[PsychPotato]

Hey everyone! Looking at this forum was so helpful for me during my GRE studying frenzy, so I thought I would share my scores/experience to help other folks out. 

Magoosh Estimated Math Score: 152-157

Magoosh Estimated Verbal Score: 157-162

ETS Prep Book Test 1: 155 Q, 164 V (October 6th, 2017)

Magoosh 1: 153 Q, didn't do verbal section (October 7th, 2017)

Magoosh 2: 155 Q, 163 V (October 11th, 2017)

PowerPrep 1 (untimed): 32/40 Q, 32/40 V (October 12, 2017) - I didn't realize it, but the untimed test does not give you an actual score. 

PowerPrep 2: 151 Q, 166 V (October 13, 2017) - This test had me FREAKING out about my quantitative score! And I took it the night before my official test - eek!

Real GRE: 157 Q, 163 V, 5 AW (October 14, 2017)

As ya'll can see, my scores were a bit all over the place! I somewhat chalk this up to not giving each practice test the same level of effort. Some days I was more tired than others... However, my best score was definitely on my official exam! That being said, I felt quite unconfident as I was taking the official test. I was honestly shocked when I got my results.

I began studying for the test around May/June but I didn't study too often. At the time I was finishing undergrad, working full time, and doing research so I didn't have the time/energy to study every day. I started buckling down a bit more in July and decided to purchase Magoosh. In August and September I would spend a few hours studying during the week (2-5) and then do the bulk of my studying on the weekends (about 4-ish hours a day). However, I didn't even study that much every week or weekend. I took a lot of time off! Especially if I was feeling stressed. For the two weeks leading up the the exam I studied a lot more, about 2-3 hours after work M-F and then 6 hours each weekend day. The whole time I also fest guilty for not studying more, since it seems like a lot of people consistently studied 20+ hours a week! This was totally not possible with my schedule (or sanity!) and I think I did JUST FINE on the exam - so if you're in a similar boat don't freak out like me!

As far as material, I came into the test not having taken a math class in about 5 years so I knew quantitative would be my main focus. I initially thought that reviewing all of the Magoosh lesson videos would be the best way to learn, but I regret this decision now. I wasted hours and hours of time watching about 2/3 of all of the quantitative lessons and then started to realize that Magoosh gives you WAY more information than you truly need to do well (or at least as well as I hoped to do!). I actually found that the lessons gave me anxiety! I would be so freaked out about not knowing every component of the lesson that I would hesitate to do practice problems. Instead, I would watch the lessons over and over again. DO NOT DO THIS!!!! I realized (probably too late!) that the best way to learn the material using Magoosh is to take a stab at their practice questions and then review each question that you did not answer correctly. This made it a lot easier for me to learn how to approach a specific problem. I had a somewhat similar experience with verbal. I've always been stronger in verbal but I felt like I had a somewhat limited vocabulary, so I initially studied by memorizing words through flashcards. I also would not recommend this! It was hard for me to retain word definitions and I felt overwhelmed with the sheer amount of words I was trying to learn. Finally, I started doing verbal practice problems as a form of studying which worked SO much better. I would do a problem and then write the definition of the words I did not know so that I would be ready the next time.

My case might also be somewhat unique as I have pretty bad test anxiety in the sense that I freak out if I feel like I'm not getting everything right, even on practice tests/practice problems. I had to spend a lot of time reframing my mindset about the GRE and about practice problems. I think the hardest part about studying was realized that I would never get everything right! This anxiety is why I waited until October to try a full practice test. I was so scared of the score I might get that I didn't try until the last minute! If I could go back I would frame my studying around taking practice tests, I feel like I learned the most from reviewing the problems in that format.

I also purchased a good amount of study materials for the exam. Here they are along with my thoughts/rating:
Magoosh: 9/10 (would be a 10/10 but I think the instructional videos have some superfluous info)
ETS Official Guide: 10/10 (practice questions were very similar to the real GRE, which obviously makes sense!)
Manhattan 5lb book: 8/10 (I wish they had more mixed practice sets)
Kaplan GRE book: 5/10 (would not recommend, the questions and info is not super similar/relevant to the actual GRE)

I'm sorry for this insanely long post, but hopefully it will help some people out! If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me! I know that this is such a stressful process  

Edited October 31, 2017 by PsychPotato

[PokePsych]

Oct 9th 2017 Powerprep 1 -  V = 153 Q = 143

Then started studying - I mainly focused on quant and did flash cards here and there - although doubt if it increased my vocab beyond 20 words and none of them were on the actual test lol

Oct 25 2017 Powerprep 2  October V = 157 Q = 151

Studied more on Quant. Didn't want to bother too much with verbal as English is my second language and already got my LoRs covering my English abilities

Nov 2 2017 Actually test (unofficial scores) V = 161 Q = 159

 

I studied first using the GRE maths overview and their quant book - which was what caused the big increase from powerprep 1 to 2 (I forgot all formula's before I studied). ETS materials are certainly the best for what you need to know, although they won't help with learning strategies for the more advanced or trick questions. For the last 10 days I studied the Manhattan 5lb questions book quant section like crazy - I did some of the questions, for others I just went through and looked at the answers. I was able to recognize quite some of the questions and was able to use the strategies from this book. I don't know where my increase in verbal comes from, I basically ignored it since it was pretty OK from the start. English is also my second language so I'm feeling actually quite proud. I had my LoRs covering my ass for my English (native speakers) but not needed now. I do have a sort of feeling for some words I guess and I'm pretty good with the text questions. And my stats classes are all A's, so I'm feeling more confident in my application than 3.5 weeks ago with my 143 quant. 

Did not get my AW results yet, my first essay wasn't great (the statement was so weirdddd), but I think my second one is strong. 

Considering I studied approximately 3.5 weeks 6 days a week, I'm feeling pretty good with the scores I got. I don't plan on retaking it. This should do. 

 

Also ugh Experimental Verbal Section was so boring and annoying and I didn't really understand one of the texts so I was so afraid my score would get fucked. Until I got to the last Verbal section and was like hmm this seems more like it. 

[samman1994]

Update to my last post here. 

Practice Previously:

Test scores ranged around 154V/153Q to 156V/156Q

Actual Previously:

155V/149Q

Studied a bit, retook the GRE:

Practice

Test scores ranged (only worked on bringing my quant up): 154Q-158Q

Actual:

155V/156Q

My issue was speed, I practiced just trying to speed up taking the exam and learning which questions took too long and which I could skip. So my studying wasn't about learning how to do the problems, but rather than getting faster at them. 

[LookingforMM]

Taking the GRE on Thursday, took my first PowerPrep test today, and I got:

 

PowerPrep 1: 170V/160Q

 

I'd be satisfied with that, but hoping to brush up on a few more math concepts in the next few days.

[Ppkitty]

On 10/16/2017 at 4:27 PM, nywnorb120191 said:

DId the PowerPrep practice exam (the "paper" version in PDF) today and this is what I got:

165V/154Q

that's more what I'm talking about....

Those are my exact practice test scores lol

[LookingforMM]

Test is tomorrow, and so because I'm cramming (stupid, I know), I did the second PowerPrep test today, and got...

Powerprep 2: 169V/157Q

Powerprep 1: 170V/160Q

This time, I was blindsided by some of the harder math questions, and so got a lower score.  I got the same number of questions correct on each verbal section as last time, but my score is one point less, for some reason.

 

Still optimistic, at any rate.

Edited November 8, 2017 by LookingforMM

[Liv477]

Kaplan Diagnostic: 149Q/163V

Kaplan Practice Test 1 156Q/166V AWA 4

PowerPrep 1 157Q/164V AWA 5

PowerPrep II 159Q/169V AWA 5

Magoosh Range: 152-157Q/162-168V

Actual Test: 156Q/169V (awaiting AWA)

Pretty disappointed in my quant score, since the practice tests were steadily increasing. I thought the verbal was easier than the practice and the quant slightly more difficult. Magoosh is definitely harder than the actual exam, but it helped me the most. I got Kaplan because I was looking for online prep that would be more diagnostic, but save your  $$. magoosh is the way to go. Just make sure you have time to do all the videos and practice questions. I split my study time between kaplan and magoosh and i should have spent all of my time with magoosh.

 

[PerfidiousGerontion]

Test	Date	Verbal	Quant	AWA
Manhattan	mid-Jun 16	164	154
PowerPrep I	late Jun 16	164	157
Kaplan	early Jul 16	163	161
PowerPrep II	mid-Jul 16	165	160
Real 2016	mid-Jul 16	170	158	5.5
PowerPrep I	early Nov 17	168	161
Real 2017	early Nov 17	168	161	?

Also took ScoreItNow in early July, where I had 5.5. I scored 5 on all bonus essays there.

When I was starting to prepare in June 2016, I didn't know many of the formulae, because my degree is in the humanities. I had also forgotten the properties of geometric figures. V168-Q161 is better for my purposes than V170-Q158. No idea about the AWA, but I'd surmise it should be either 5 or 6. I think it's a respectable score, given that English is not my native language.

I'd say the Manhattan Prep book was probably the most useful tool, as well as the free GRE Math flashcards from Greenlight.

 

Edited November 14, 2017 by PerfidiousGerontion

[VelocityDown]

I don't quite remember my practice test scores (I took my GRE in 2015 Dec) but I think they were something like this:

ETS Prep 1 (before starting my prep): 160Q 155V 4.5 AW

ETS Prep 2 (after 1 month of intense prep): 164Q 158V 4.5 AW

Actual Test: 168Q 167V 5.5 AW

I think I was so shocked with my scores I stared at the com screen for a few seconds before realising one of the admin ladies at the test centre was standing behind me to usher me out of the room lol...with 1 month to practice I really spent bulk of my time (1-2h a day) memorising new vocab and 4-5h every weekend practicing essays. My math has always been my strongest subject so I mostly did some practice questions for time management purposes. I still think I might have gotten lucky with the test that day but I have no interest in trying it out again!

[Karo]

Thanks so much, all the people posting have been so helpful and inspirational.

PowerPrep I : 153V 163Q

Manhattan Test 1: 158V 160Q

I still have about 2 weeks to my test and I really need to boost my scores.

Any tips?

[LookingforMM]

31 minutes ago, Karo said:

Thanks so much, all the people posting have been so helpful and inspirational.

PowerPrep I : 153V 163Q

Manhattan Test 1: 158V 160Q

I still have about 2 weeks to my test and I really need to boost my scores.

Any tips?

Look at the answers for those tests (and explanations if available for the Manhattan), and try to see what types of questions you struggle the most with.  Were you tricked by a falsely appealing answer or did you second guess yourself because something seemed too easy (I did that often on my practice tests)?  Try to take those things into consideration when you take your next practice tests.

The other thing to consider is which section of the test is more important for the program you're going into.  For a humanities/arts guy like me, verbal is more heavily weighted, but STEM people should do really well on the quantitative side to be competitive.  Focus on the one that matters more, since you have a relatively limited amount of time left.

For an update to the above, I'm still waiting on my AW score, but my unofficial scores were in line with my practice tests:

Powerprep 1: 170V/160Q

Powerprep 2: 169V/157Q

GRE (unofficial): 169V/160Q

You still have more time to work on your skills than I did, though.  I took those tests two days and one day before the test respectively.

Edited November 20, 2017 by LookingforMM

[Karo]

23 hours ago, LookingforMM said:

Look at the answers for those tests (and explanations if available for the Manhattan), and try to see what types of questions you struggle the most with.  Were you tricked by a falsely appealing answer or did you second guess yourself because something seemed too easy (I did that often on my practice tests)?  Try to take those things into consideration when you take your next practice tests.

The other thing to consider is which section of the test is more important for the program you're going into.  For a humanities/arts guy like me, verbal is more heavily weighted, but STEM people should do really well on the quantitative side to be competitive.  Focus on the one that matters more, since you have a relatively limited amount of time left.

For an update to the above, I'm still waiting on my AW score, but my unofficial scores were in line with my practice tests:

Powerprep 1: 170V/160Q

Powerprep 2: 169V/157Q

GRE (unofficial): 169V/160Q

You still have more time to work on your skills than I did, though.  I took those tests two days and one day before the test respectively.

Thanks bro, great score by the way. Congrats

[BrometheusBob]

Love the concept for this thread. I think I'll edit in other practice tests as I go along. Don't know how many more there will be since I'm aiming to get the test over with soon. Took the test several years ago during college just before the format change (and ended up not going to grad school before it expired).

Actual GRE (2011) - 800Q / 640V / 4.0W

(Oct 22)  Manhattan 1 - 161Q  / 160V
(Nov 5)   Powerprep 1 - 167Q  / 165V
(Nov 24) Powerprep 2 - 169Q / 166V

So far maybe 5-10 hours of prep time outside those practice exams.

Of those, the Manhattan prep test felt inordinately difficult, so I'm glad I found this thread to see how people did on it compared to powerprep and actual exams etc.

I am skeptical about repeating those PP verbal performances on an actual test, but also I don't care about that section too much. Anything 160+ on the Verbal will probably be quite strong for the programs I have in mind. It would be nice to get a 4.5 or 5 on the W, but getting a 4 again would be fine. Mostly I'm focused on practicing math till I feel confident that I'd get 170 or just below. Seems silly maybe to be worried most about that section given my history on that section, but I feel it's the most important for the programs I have in mind and also the room for error on that section is very small (I got only 2 Q questions wrong on PP1 and 1 Q question wrong on PP2).

Edited November 24, 2017 by BrometheusBob

[fortsibut]

Posted a variation of this in another thread, but I'll post here as well. 

Nov 3: Powerprep 1 - V 156/Q 152

Nov 6: Powerprep 2 - V 164/Q 148

Nov 8: Took the GRE - V 167/Q 150/AW 4.5

I didn't bother with the AW section of those practice tests when I took them (although I did take photos of them to practice at a later point and get used to the process), but really felt that the ETS tests helped prepare me for the format on test day.  Outside of the Powerprep software, I used the Magoosh vocab app for the GRE for a couple of months pretty casually, worked some sections out of the Manhattan 5 pound book, and spent some time reviewing math concepts although that clearly didn't help me much given my quant outcome!  The only work I did on the AW was writing out answers to the Powerprep questions separately from taking the practice tests, and I'd highly recommend spending more time prepping on that than I did.

I probably spent between 40 and 50 hours of hardcore prep time the last 10 days before the exam.