I once had a student who came to me feeling disillusioned after failing to hit his GRE score goal on test day. He couldn’t understand what went wrong, since he had been hitting his score goal on practice tests.

As it turned out, in an effort to save some money, he had taken the 2 free official practice tests, and then 3 full-length practice tests from a couple of different test prep companies. In his mind, since he was hitting his score goal by the time he took the last couple of tests, he was ready to sit for his GRE. What he didn’t realize was that he was comparing apples to oranges.

When you take full-length practice tests that are not provided by ETS, you run the risk of getting inaccurate scores. After all, no one knows the “secret sauce” of the GRE scoring algorithm except for ETS. So, no one else is going to be able to replicate GRE scoring precisely.

Furthermore, there may be inherent (but not outwardly noticeable) differences between the practice tests of different companies. So, scoring 310 on Company A’s test and then 330 on Company B’s doesn’t necessarily indicate that your GRE score has improved.

In other words, mixing and matching practice tests from ETS and other companies may not give you an accurate view of your test readiness. To get the most accurate view of whether you’re prepared to hit your score goal, stick with official practice tests.

Happy Studying! ✨

Warmest regards,
Scott