how close is ETS GRE practice test to their real test?

[summer2016]

I'm about to take GRE in 2 days.

I took ETS online test yesterday. My question is:

Is the real test harder than the practice one?

I'm really stressed now. Could anyone tell me this? Thanks. 

Edited June 21, 2016 by summer2016

[LadyLingua]

I just took the GRE yesterday - the ETS GRE practice examination is a basic outline of what could be asked on the test. The verbal and quantitative sections are going to be much more detailed on the actual test, and it will take much longer. My suggestion is to go to mygretutor.com. They have example vocabulary words to study, math examples, and present basic test prep strategies. They also illustrate the different levels of vocab and math (i.e. basic, moderate, and advanced). They also allow you to take practice exams that will challenge you a little more than the ETS GRE exam through the GRE website.

My suggestion is to not worry so much - most programs just want to know that you're capable of critical thought. Oftentimes when universities say there is a "minimum score" requirement, that is to weed out people who don't get the score and think they shouldn't apply. I got into my current program despite scoring below their minimum requirement, and I know plenty of people who have done the same with other programs. Prep yourself, but don't stress yourself out - they will try to trick you on the test, so the more you overthink the more likely you are to overcompensate.

Good luck!

[fuzzylogician]

See here: 

 

[Apogeee]

They are pretty similar, in my experience. Take a little more time answering your first questions in each section because the questions vary depending on how you are doing. Don't panic, just power your way through it. Make sure you get a good night's sleep, dress comfortably, and don't eat anything unusual for breakfast - just what you usually eat. At this point, you want to be running on all cylinders. 

[summer2016]

6 minutes ago, LadyLingua said:

I just took the GRE yesterday - the ETS GRE practice examination is a basic outline of what could be asked on the test. The verbal and quantitative sections are going to be much more detailed on the actual test, and it will take much longer. My suggestion is to go to mygretutor.com. They have example vocabulary words to study, math examples, and present basic test prep strategies. They also illustrate the different levels of vocab and math (i.e. basic, moderate, and advanced). They also allow you to take practice exams that will challenge you a little more than the ETS GRE exam through the GRE website.

My suggestion is to not worry so much - most programs just want to know that you're capable of critical thought. Oftentimes when universities say there is a "minimum score" requirement, that is to weed out people who don't get the score and think they shouldn't apply. I got into my current program despite scoring below their minimum requirement, and I know plenty of people who have done the same with other programs. Prep yourself, but don't stress yourself out - they will try to trick you on the test, so the more you overthink the more likely you are to overcompensate.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for your reply, your answer is so helpful. 

[summer2016]

25 minutes ago, fuzzylogician said:

See here: 

 

Thanks a lot, wished I found this forum earlier. 

[Derpster0]

I thought they were pretty similar. I did about as well on the actual GRE (166v, 152q, 5AW) as I would have expected to based on the practice tests.

[summer2016]

3 hours ago, BFreeman03 said:

I thought they were pretty similar. I did about as well on the actual GRE (166v, 152q, 5AW) as I would have expected to based on the practice tests.

 Thanks for answering. I finished both practice yesterday and today, and got 149v on both tests. I'm really nervous now.... 

[summer2016]

50 minutes ago, Apogeee said:

They are pretty similar, in my experience. Take a little more time answering your first questions in each section because the questions vary depending on how you are doing. Don't panic, just power your way through it. Make sure you get a good night's sleep, dress comfortably, and don't eat anything unusual for breakfast - just what you usually eat. At this point, you want to be running on all cylinders. 

Oh, really? Thank you for letting me know that. 

[Apogeee]

Actually, that's the way they used present the adaptive test in the old system. Now it's still adaptive, but not the way I described. 

Here's a more accurate answer, from their site, "The Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning measures are section-level adaptive. This means the computer selects the second operational section of a measure based on your performance on the first section. Within each section, all questions contribute equally to the final score. For each of the two measures, a raw score is computed. The raw score is the number of questions you answered correctly. The raw score is converted to a scaled score through a process known as equating. The equating process accounts for minor variations in difficulty among the different test editions as well as the differences in difficulty introduced by the section-level adaptation. Thus a given scaled score for a particular measure reflects the same level of performance regardless of which second section was selected and when the test was taken."

[summer2016]

2 hours ago, Apogeee said:

Actually, that's the way they used present the adaptive test in the old system. Now it's still adaptive, but not the way I described. 

Here's a more accurate answer, from their site, "The Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning measures are section-level adaptive. This means the computer selects the second operational section of a measure based on your performance on the first section. Within each section, all questions contribute equally to the final score. For each of the two measures, a raw score is computed. The raw score is the number of questions you answered correctly. The raw score is converted to a scaled score through a process known as equating. The equating process accounts for minor variations in difficulty among the different test editions as well as the differences in difficulty introduced by the section-level adaptation. Thus a given scaled score for a particular measure reflects the same level of performance regardless of which second section was selected and when the test was taken."

Thank you so much for your post, It's good to know it. I usually rush on the first few questions, so that i would have enough time for the statistics and chart, which require more time.