kaplan CAT tests - accurate?

[inafuturelife]

for those that have already taken the GRE, did the kaplan CATs (through the kaptest.com book supplement) scores hit relatively close to your scores on the test day

Comments

[augustquail]

i haven't taken any kaplan tests, so I can't answer your question, but I'm just wondering: Is it commonly accepted that the ETS practice tests are the most accurate

[nobie]

there are 2 practice tests from ETS, did you do the 2nd one by accident? I took one of the test a second time to see if I answered differently, my score would change, and if there are more questions in the pool, but the questions were 98% the same.
The real test is, surprisingly, not that hard, or maybe i just had a lucky day. I think if you're doing ok with the practice tests and just make sure you are in your best condition (physically & mentally) on the test day, you'll be fine :)

[roseofjuly]

If I recall correctly, the PowerPrep program's two practice tests are computer-adaptive, just like the actual GRE. So your questions may have been completely different because you were answering more questions correctly, and therefore the program was giving you more difficult questions to answer. More difficult questions are worth more points, and given your higher scores on both sections the second time around I'm pretty sure that this is what probably happened.

[nobie]

the Kaplan test is very strange! The verbal part are unreasonably hard, and the math part is way too easy. I don't think it's a good predictor, or even a good test, in any way. You should really try powerprep :) I think those tests reflect the content of the real test most accurately (of course!).
and no, my Kaplan score was a lot lower than my real score.

[roseofjuly]

No. My score on the Kaplan tests was always lower than my actual score on the GRE or on the GRE PowerPrep modules. I've also found that the Kaplan test questions in their books and on their tests are often "off" from what normal GRE questions look like - like the GRE PowerPrep questions were pretty close to what the actual questions look like, but Kaplan used strange symbols that weren't on the test and their math questions in particular weren't that close.