<p>I apologize if this topic has been covered a hundred times before, but I'm taking the GRE later this month and am curious about what could be causing the big gap in results between the tests from various sources...</p>
<p>Basically, last night I took a practice exam from Kaplan, got about 8 of the 28 quantitative wrong, and scored in the 42nd percentile (I think it was a 570)--I paced myself terribly and so the last 7 were incorrect/blank, plus 1 I got incorrect earlier in the test.</p>
<p>Tonight I took a practice test from the ETS's PowerPrep and scored a 710, which put me in the 76th percentile. I was sure to answer every question, which I'm sure helped the score, but when I went back through the test I counted about 13 incorrect answers. </p>
<p>I know some questions are weighted more than others, but 8 wrong getting a 570 and 13 wrong getting a 710 seems like a big difference to me. Any ideas why that difference in scoring could be happening, or which to believe is a more accurate representation of where I'm really at?</p>
<p>The difference is in the way the test is scored. On GRE-type tests, the more questions you answer correctly, the harder they get. When you miss one, it readjusts to a lower level. These adjustments are greater early in the test. So if you miss one or two questions in, say, the first 7-10 questions, your score will be much lower than if you missed the same number of questions later in the test.</p>
<p>That being said, the PowerPrep is generally a better indicator. But I would take the other PowerPrep test (if I remember correctly, there's two on there) and a few more Kaplan to get the hang of the computer-adaptive system. It's important to get those first few questions correct.</p>
<p>I found the PowerPrep test pretty accurate</p>
<p>They were both computer-based exams (The Kaplan and obviously the PowerPrep), and I got the first 5 correct with the Kaplan but only 3/5 or 4/5 with the PP, so I guess that's why I was surprised by the difference. In any case, I got the higher score with PP anyway, so I guess that's a good sign.</p>