Comparing ETS questions with Kaplan Questions

[dakini]

Hi Everybody,

I'm new here and this is my first post ... so a big hello to everyone studying hard over the summer break.

I'm going to be taking the GRE at the end of this month by which time I'll have studied for 2 months. At first I took a Kaplan course and found it really didn't help too much. I then hired a tutor (whose methods are really great) who told me that Kaplan mock exams, especially their mock CATs should be taken with a grain of salt because they are nothing like what you would actually get on the GRE.

So this is my experience. I have been doing the ETS workbook and have gotten over 700 each time for verbal (math is not so important for my field but I get in the 600s each time). However, I did a Kaplan CAT today and only scored 630 in the verbal. My question is, then, has anyone done both Kaplan and ETS' tests, and, if so, do you find your score to be different? Do you think the questions are really similar or not? My personal feeling is that there is indeed something a little different about the Kaplan ones but I'd love to hear what you think!

Thanks in advance and of course, good luck studying!

[sleepy_sentinel]

Hey dakini.thanks for replying.This is in response to your post:

I do not want to criticize Kaplan's tests as many people have benefited from it. However, I felt that the questions on the tests were not really of the GRE level. I gave three tests before my GRE:two PowerPrep and one Kaplan.
My verbal scores were, in that order, 800,750 and 630.My actual verbal score was 790.
Therefore IMHO if you get anything in the 650-700 range on Kaplan's tests, you should probably get a 750+ on your actual exam.

Cheers

[dakini]

Hiya, thanks so much, Sleepy Sentinel! It's good to know that someone out there feels the same as me. I don't know if you would agree, but it seems like the Kaplan is sometimes too difficult or overly obscure in their answer choices. When I did the ETS questions it was obvious to me what the answer is, but Kaplan seems to just want to confuse you deliberately. Its good in the sense that it makes you sharper perhaps, but awfully demoralizing.
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[BILL684]

The kaplan questions are a little easier. When I was doing the kaplan practice gre's my verbal scores were 550-590 and quantitative were 650-690. On ets practice tests my verbal scores were usually 430-550 and quantitative were from 530-650. I believe they are designed that way to allow you to work your way up to the more difficult ets tests. When I took my actual gre I ended up with 500/620 and a 5.5 analytical writing. I even found that the actual gre was a little more difficult than the actual ets practice tests. If your like me and your not going to harvard all you need is 50%tile in each section and I got 50% for verbal 55% quantitative and 87% writing.

[dakini]

Bill, that's funny ... I'm at Harvard ... I'm not staying though but still need 700 for verbal =(
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[dakini]

Anyways, Bill, thx for your input; I wonder why I think the exact opposite though; i.e. I think ETS is easier and Kaplan harder?!? Are you going to Grad school this fall then? I'm going to go fall 2008, hopefully.
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[BILL684]

yeah Im going fall '07. One thing I should point out is that I started getting lower scores on the kaplan stuff until I started to get used to all of their tricks and I knew what to expect. By the time I took the practice kaplan gre's I knew exactly what they would do in most of the answer choices and questions. I did think the ets tests were different and I believe I got a lower score on those since I was more used to kaplan's format. Its all about luck on this test really. You are better off getting all of the "harder" questions right in the beginning and getting a lot of questions wrong at the end than getting all the "easy" questions wrong in the beginning and getting everything right at the end. Thats why this test is so worthless. Whats easy for one person may be difficult for another so the "increasing difficulty" when you get questions right is total bull. So if you happen to get lucky and get all the questions right in the beginning you will get a higher score. I remember when I was studying for my test I wondered if someone mentally challenged ever tried to randomly select choices and got a perfect score. I am sure it has happened at least once. lol.

[dakini]

Bill, thx for your post. I think it is a matter of getting used to the format so which is why my tutor told me to do the ETS questions so I wouldn't get confused when approaching the real test. This GRE thing is a real pain and I can't wait to get it over and done with. The sad thing is that I also have to do the GRE literature subject test since that's my field. The subject test is fun to study for but memorizing all the info I need is going to be a different question altogether. Well, I am really happy for you that you are going to grad school in the fall! Congrats! Hopefully this time next year I will have gotten in too! Wish me luck and thx again!
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Nerd in Disguise