Hello @westgz13

Princeton GRE is in general, for starters.

Same goes for books as well for their mocks, obviously.

It is not that bad but will not get you far in terms of high score and diligent prep.

ETS mocks are the best there is, books also.

After that I can recommend only Manhattan mocks as tool for practice and their books for prep.

Magoosh also is fair choice.



Good Luck with prep

Hi westgz23,

Are you just starting out with your prep? If so, consider first taking an ETS practice exam to get a baseline score. If you have already taken one, feel free to respond with your score breakdown, and I can provide some further advice.

Also, you may find it helpful to read this article about [How to Incorporate Practice Tests into GRE Prep](https://gre.blog.targettestprep.com/gre ... -strategy/).

Good luck!

I did a Princeton practice test today and ended up with Q161, V152 compared to Q164, V158 on Kaplan.

Have to admit, I wasn't as attentive to the test today compared to when I took the Kaplan test. The Princeton Review questions contain errors though.

EDIT: Forgot to add, but it also seems their software is glitchy or not compatible with Chrome on Mac. It did not record a couple of my answers on Verbal, which might have skewed my score.

these are good to understand ur weaknesses and strengths, time management and strategies.
The results are not very accurate and I feel they boost the grades compared to the ETS ones.
But give you a light sense were your grade lies. For example: for q it is in the 160+ and V 150+
Tomorrow my test, I will tell you if I changed my mind.

I did some analysis of my scores and it seems the boosting of scores does happen on Kaplan and Manhattan. Though scores are boosted on the actual GRE too, it seems slightly higher on Manhattan and Kaplan.

My raw scores on Manhattan:


Verbal section 1: 10/20
Verbal section 2: 10/20

Expected verbal score: 150, Actual score: 156 (Too much boost)

Math section 1: 13/20
Math section 2: 15/20

Expected quant score: 158, Actual score: 158 (Accurate)

My raw scores on Kaplan:

Verbal section 1: 12/20
Verbal section 2: 13/20

Expected verbal score: 155, Actual score: 158 (Should be 156-157)

Math section 1: 18/20
Math section 2: 13/20

Expected quant score: 161, Actual score: 164 (Close to accurate, boost of +3 due to hard 2nd section)


Now, let's look at Princeton Review, which has a poor calculation of GRE scores (I'd say worse)

My raw scores on Princeton Review:

Verbal section 1: 13/20
Verbal section 2: 11/20

Expected verbal score: 154 (should get maybe +1 boost due to medium section), Actual score: 152

Math section 1: 14/20
Math section 2: 17/20

Expected quant score: 161 (should get atleast +1 or +2 boost due to HARD 2nd section), Actual score: 161 (Did not include boost)


As you can see, there are varying degrees of mistakes made by test prep companies in calculation of GRE scores. This makes me believe the scoring algorithm of ETS is difficult to replicate, and hence, scores of their practice tests are closest to being accurate measure of one's performance.

Thanks for the link! I'm guessing the non free tests stack up about the same then?

Do you wanna I be honest ??

I'm not sure what you mean? Or is that a shot at the errors on the test?

Right.

My strategy, my goal: study hard, ask here on the board...all the rest of it. Do only the powerprep.

All the tests, even the most reliable such as MGRE or our test have some flaw. The original test is the only one that gives you exactly where you stand in term of preparation and score.

However, if you wanna a mock test go for MGRE or Kaplan or our test. No more than these

regards

I assume that princeton has something wrong because whrn i took the test on kaplan i was 161 quant
Princeton gave me 151 which i doubt this result. If someone correct me.

Posted from my mobile device

The tests from prep companies are reliable to some extent.

the real barometer is the official software: powerprep and powerprep plus online

Here a comparison of the free tests on our website https://gre.myprepclub.com/forum/the-offic ... tml#p14371

Also princeton is notorious for having lots of errors.

regards

I feel kaplan results sometimes boost the grades
Also manhattan
But they are good practice questions.

Posted from my mobile device