Practice GRE scores vs. real GRE scores

[SharathChandra]

ETS PowerPrep-1 Q170/V156
ETS PowerPrep-2 Q170/V157
Barron Assessment- Q170/V157-163

Actual GRE Q170/V160

Preparation time- 35-40h

[wonhok]

I pulled off a straight up miracle in 1 month. So I started studying for the GRE rather late, thinking I was gonna take the GMAT, but then changing my mind to go get my masters in international relations rather than business school. Shortly thereafter, I changed my mind again but I stayed the course when I found out the business school I wanted to go to also accepted the GRE. For the real test, I recommend 1) use the mark buttons if you can't figure out the question right away. 2) I had a hard time with verbal, but reading it several times and using process of elimination really helped me out. 3) practice tests. Do them.

Princeton Review #1: 162V 160Q

Princeton Review #2: 153V 164Q

Princeton Review #3: 159V, skipped quant, focus was on verbal

Princeton Review #4: 164V, skipped quant, focus was on verbal
Powerprep #1: 159V 164Q

Powerprep #2: 156V 166Q

 

Real GRE: 162V 167Q
I almost flipped out in the testing room when the score screen flashed. Good luck!

Also the portions in the Princeton Review book where they go in depth to each of the sections and explain how to tackle the questions helped.

Edited September 20, 2014 by wonhok

[grad_wannabe]

Magoosh: 148-153Q/160-165V

 

Actual GRE: 151Q/165V

 

Didn't study enough, less than 100 hours total over 4 months. Re-taking in November.

Edited September 23, 2014 by grad_wannabe

[Nastasya_Filippovna]

I studied for about 6 months. I regularly performed substantially better on the practice tests than the real GRE. And I took it twice.

you and me both. Nearly everybody I have seen on this site and others perform better on the real GRE, and I even took several practice tests on Magoosh which I hear is the best. I really can't figure it out but I can't take it again - can't afford it and obviously this is my trend. So disappointing.

[jujubea]

I pulled off a straight up miracle in 1 month. So I started studying for the GRE rather late, thinking I was gonna take the GMAT, but then changing my mind to go get my masters in international relations rather than business school. Shortly thereafter, I changed my mind again but I stayed the course when I found out the business school I wanted to go to also accepted the GRE. For the real test, I recommend 1) use the mark buttons if you can't figure out the question right away. 2) I had a hard time with verbal, but reading it several times and using process of elimination really helped me out. 3) practice tests. Do them.

Princeton Review #1: 162V 160Q

Princeton Review #2: 153V 164Q

Princeton Review #3: 159V, skipped quant, focus was on verbal

Princeton Review #4: 164V, skipped quant, focus was on verbal

Powerprep #1: 159V 164Q

Powerprep #2: 156V 166Q

 

Real GRE: 162V 167Q

I almost flipped out in the testing room when the score screen flashed. Good luck!

Also the portions in the Princeton Review book where they go in depth to each of the sections and explain how to tackle the questions helped.

 

Wow, good for you!

 

I'm getting really frustrated as my scores are WORSENing or stagnating despite serious studying.

 

Actual GRE in 2009: 161 V / 152 Q   AWA 4.5

 

(5 years later, after one month of study)

1st Kaplan MST: 160 V / 154 Q

 

(With two more months of study)

2nd Kaplan MST: 160 V / 151 Q

 

What the heck!  And I know my math is better than it was in 2009.

Edited September 28, 2014 by jujubea

[Guvut]

Magoosh: 154-159Q, 160-165V

 

Actual: 161Q, 166V.

 

Can't believe I managed to crack 160 on the Quant, there are no words for how happy I was. Didn't do anything too radical study-wise, just plugged away for a few weeks to relearn all the math I had forgotten since high school.

[jujubea]

Haha Guvut. Congrats on cracking 160, on both counts!

[Gvh]

Wow, good for you!

 

I'm getting really frustrated as my scores are WORSENing or stagnating despite serious studying.

 

Actual GRE in 2009: 161 V / 152 Q   AWA 4.5

 

(5 years later, after one month of study)

1st Kaplan MST: 160 V / 154 Q

 

(With two more months of study)

2nd Kaplan MST: 160 V / 151 Q

 

What the heck!  And I know my math is better than it was in 2009.

 

Jujubea, I hear you. I took it 4 years ago and my math score is still pretty much the same as it is now (~152Q on the practice tests) after months of studying. :/ I'm obviously not studying correctly so I'm trying a few others things before my test at the end of the month. It's pretty frustrating :/

[AmandaLeigh]

PowerPrep Test: 158V/154Q

Actual GRE: 158V/154Q/5.5AW

 

Literally the exact same scores. I spent 0 hours studying, because I was an idiot and took it the week after final exams. I'll be trying again to raise both my scores into the 160s.

[jujubea]

PowerPrep Test: 158V/154Q

Actual GRE: 158V/154Q/5.5AW

 

Literally the exact same scores. I spent 0 hours studying, because I was an idiot and took it the week after final exams. I'll be trying again to raise both my scores into the 160s.

 

Ho-lee COW!  Congratulations on that stellar writing score!!!

 

And thanks for posting!

[L13]

I took it today, so I don't know my analytical writing score yet, but I thought that section went quite well, so I'm hoping for something above 5.0.

 

I took one of the PowerPrep practice tests several days ago and got 168 V | 164 Q on it.

 

On the real test today I got 170 V | 164 Q.

 

I think I could raise my quant score to 167+ if I studied for it, but I'm applying to grad programs in history, where the quant score is meaningless, and don't have the money or time for vanity retakes. Still, I wish I had studied more! My total prep time was probably around 30 hours spread over four months, mostly focused on refreshing my memory of high-school math and familiarizing myself with the test format. Oh well.

[jujubea]

I took it today, so I don't know my analytical writing score yet, but I thought that section went quite well, so I'm hoping for something above 5.0.

 

I took one of the PowerPrep practice tests several days ago and got 168 V | 164 Q on it.

 

On the real test today I got 170 V | 164 Q.

 

I think I could raise my quant score to 167+ if I studied for it, but I'm applying to grad programs in history, where the quant score is meaningless, and don't have the money or time for vanity retakes. Still, I wish I had studied more! My total prep time was probably around 30 hours spread over four months, mostly focused on refreshing my memory of high-school math and familiarizing myself with the test format. Oh well.

 

Wowwww! Excellent scores L13! Congratulations! 

[L13]

Thank you! And good luck to you on the test this week!

[jujubea]

Thank you! And good luck to you on the test this week!

 

...sigh.... I got a minor concussion yesterday.... what a freak accident.... I do hope my brain stays in tact and able to get its GRE on tomorrow....

[jujubea]

GRE in 2009: 620 (est.161) V / 690 (est.152) Q   AWA 4.5

 

Barron's 1: 156 V / 156 Q

Barron's 2: 160 V / 158 Q

 

Kaplan MST 1: 160 V / 154 Q

Kaplan MST 2: 160 V / 151 Q

 

PowerPrep 1: 164 V / 161 Q

PowerPrep 2: 167 V / 160 Q

 

(all practice tests were taken in the above order, also)

 

2014 Actual: 163 V / 158 Q

 

Suuuuuper disappointed - especially after seeing everyone's actuals consistently above their practice scores - and seeing how accurate PowerPrep seems to generally be. I definitely know I could have done better on both V and Q. There were several Q questions I knew I could get if I only had another minute or two. It's frustrating because I love to figure out problems, and to not be able to see them through to completion was irritating me!

 

Granted, if I look at the percentile-point improvements I made, I'm pretty happy (about 5 percentile point improvement on verbal, and about a 23 percentile point improvement on the quantitative).

 

I'll add my AWA in a couple weeks when it arrives.  How long did it take for some of yours to get to you?

Edited October 3, 2014 by jujubea

[kimchijajonshim]

These tests were taken over the course of roughly 3 weeks, starting on 9/12 and culminating in test today. I focused mostly on quant, knowing that I have a pretty strong knack for verbal.

 

Manhattan Adaptive Tests (Custom pulled from pool, adaptive)

9/12 (taken without prep, includes essays): Q 159, V 164

9/18 (Q): 159

9/19 (Q): 161

9/20 (Q): 161

9/24 (Q): 164

 

Magoosh Tests (Custom pulled from pool, adaptive)

9/15 (Q): 161

9/18 (Q): 162

9/20 (Q): 162

 

GRE Official Guide Paper Test 1 (9/20)

Q 165, V 167

 

GRE Official Guide Paper Test 2 (9/21)

Q 166, V 167

 

Power Prep Test 1 (9/23)

Q 169, V 168

 

Power Prep Test 2 (9/25)

Q 167, V 170

 

Actual Test (10/3)

Q 170, V 170, essay TBD.

 

Both Magoosh and Manhattan severely underestimated my score, to the point that I was starting to freak out after a week of little improvement and subpar (for my standards) scores. However, I calmed down significantly once I transitioned to the official GRE material, which I assumed was much more accurate. The official tests unsurprisingly turned out to be the most accurate gauge. That said, I don't think the Power Preps are adaptive, and they are set to follow a "medium" path. On the real test, I obviously got the "hard" question and had several questions in both quantitative and verbal which were MUCH harder than anything I saw on the Power Prep tests. Luckily I answered/guess those questions correctly, but my 2nd sections on both were harder than anything PowerPrep threw my way. If you get a medium or easy second section, I imagine it'd be right on the money.

[demonyob]

I wrote my GRE exam today.

I am writing to this forum because it helped me to clarify myself and what to expect from the real GRE test. All the scores presented in this forum had very high GRE scores. I got pretty bad score and it can be useful to students who are scoring pretty badly in the practice test to estimate how well they are going to fare in the real test. Following are my practice test and actual test scores.

 

Power Prep 1: V=144, Q=154, total=298  Date: 22 Sept 2014

Power prep 2: V=140, Q=154, total=294  Date: 29 Sept 2014

ETS Paper 1: V=145, Q=155, total=300  Date: 1 Oct 2014

ETS Paper 2: V=140, Q=155, total=295  Date: 3 Oct 2014

 

Actual Test: V=146, Q=148, total=294  Date: 7 Oct 2014

 

I followed Barron's test material and ETS official book only. I think i got 292 in the first barron's test and 306 in the second barron's test. I took those test 1 years before writing the exam. My verbal was very weak. I only followed  ETS practice test. I collected all the unknown vocabularies from the four test. I collected almost 100 from each test! Total was approx 400. I rounded them to around 300. Compared them with 300 Barron's high frequency words. They were almost 75 % similar! The vocab in the actual test were most of the words available in the practice test! i only did not know some 20-25 words. They were new.

 

I should have got 155 for maths part. I did not manage time well (hard lesson learnt today). Hard to believe on myself, i attempted only 12 maths questions from each section. I was left with 2 minutes. And had to tick all those damn 8 questions randomly! I am going to write the exam again sometimes later , maybe in 2015 starting months. 

 

My Conclusion: ETS Power Prep 2 predicted my score exactly. Despite the fact that i scored 6 more in verbal section, I also scored 6 marks less in the maths section. However the total score was exactly predicted by the Power Prep 2.

Edited October 7, 2014 by demonyob

[VulpesZerda]

Actual Test (10/3)

Q 170, V 170, essay TBD.

 

Congrats!! Awesome job on raising that Quant score!

[deep.19]

Took GRE today and here are some practice tests I took followed by actual score:

 

PowerPrep test 1 :  167Q/ (Didnt attempt verbal)

PowerPrep test 2:   164Q/154V

Official ETS guide practise test 1: 168Q/ (Didnt attempt verbal)

Official ETS guide practice test 2: 165Q/ (Didnt attempt verbal)

Manhattan 1: 160Q/ (Didnt attempt verbal)

Manhattan 2: 160Q/ (Didnt attempt verbal)

Princeton review test number 8: 162Q/152V

 

Actual score: 167Q / 156V

 

Actual score was close to average of all ETS tests (2 powerprep + 2 tests in book). Prepared for a month and used Manhattan 5 lb book. 

 

[jujubea]

Wow great job. Especially considering you didn't prep much for the verbal, and you still broke 155!

[FastBallooningHead]

Absolutely positively do not use Kaplan; particularly for the verbal. The reading comp sections are much shorter than those on the actual exam and the text completions are much easier. I took 3 kaplan tests and had an average of 168 on verbal and 159 on math... then on the actual test, I got 162 verbal, 157 math. Use Magoosh, Powerprep, and Manhattan Prep; they are must better predictors of how you'll do on the actual test.

[jujubea]

I kind of just generally agree not to use Kaplan. Not only is it incredibly expensive, but I also noticed some fishy things about their materials.

 

Specifically, the online course, which has 4 practice tests, and ten 20-question sets each of verbal and quant, appeared rigged to make it look like your score got better, because a majority of the questions in the LAST sets of problems (the last quant set, the last verbal set, and the last practice test) had a disproportionate majority of low-level and medium-level difficult questions.. especially low-level. This is in comparison with the numbers in the previous sets, which all have at least 3 or 4 hard-level questions each. Perhaps I'm looking too closely, and perhaps each course is ordered differently, but it seems like that would be a clever ploy to give you great scores on the last sets of the problems so that you feel you've really improved with Kaplan's course, whether or not you actually have. 

 

I think they do a good job of making you feel like you've gotten a lot from them - the stack of books you get with the course is enough to start a miniature library - and in some ways they do give you a lot: access to video tutorials, electronic versions of all material, virtual, scheduled practice tests in addition to the ones in the books and the online course. It is a lot of stuff. But I'm just not confident about the quality of it. It seemed to me you can get most of the same, of probably better quality, with less expensive and more tailored programs like Magoosh.

 

Anyone want to buy some Kaplan prep books off me...? 

Edited October 8, 2014 by jujubea

[VulpesZerda]

Aside from the first one, which I took freshman year because I was curious, these practice exams were taken between June 13 and October 9 of this year.

 

Princeton 1 -           V 145 Q 145

Princeton 2 -           V 153 Q 145

Kaplan -                  V 154 Q 148

ETS Paper -            V 159 Q 151

ETS Powerprep 1 - V 159 Q 151

ETS Powerprep 2 - V 154 Q 152

 

Actual test -             V 157 Q 149

 

Not what I was hoping for. Despite my friends telling me that this is a good score (???), I will be retaking the exam. Hard to say what was the most accurate. I bet if I took another Kaplan closer to my test date it wouldn't have been off by much.

Edited October 11, 2014 by VulpesZerda

[pterosaur]

Kaplan: 166 V / 164 Q (1 year ago)

Actual: 169 V / 166 Q (today)

 

I was kind of surprised by the verbal score. I did no prep for it, and spent a couple hours max on quant prep. When I was taking the test, the quant sections were definitely harder than the verbal. I was running out of time for quant but had loads extra for verbal. Also kind of surprised that verbal is higher, since I'm a neuroscience major and applying for engineering programs. I think skipping middle school math is catching up to me...

[smg]

161V/ 148Q  with the free Manhattan test.  I broke 300 which is all I wanted.   Anyone else having problems getting Power Prep to work on an older mac?