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Re: November 2012 scores

Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 10:32 am
by Legendre
sharapov wrote:Wow congrats Legendre!

Having taken the exam thrice, were there any questions that were recycled?
I cannot refer to specific questions partly because it is illegal to discuss the content of the test, and because I have already thrown away and forgotten all my materials. :P

I actually tried the test a few years ago during my undergrad. Then this year, I took the April, Oct, Nov battery of tests. Thank goodness for Score Select. :wink: Each time, I remembered 55+ questions and so had the advantage of 3 sets of tests to practice on for the Nov test. That probably explains why I got 900/97% lol.

Observations:

1) The 2009 test is extremely similar to the latest practice test. I don't think any questions in the practice test was repeated in the real test. However, some Princeton Review questions (different parameters, and maybe modified slightly) were in the test! I think Princeton Review modified questions from the old test

2) The 2011 tests were completely different in "flavor/style" from the 2009 and practice test. I think every few years they come up with a new pool of questions and release the part of the old one in a practice test.

3) Unfortunately for me, as far as I can recall, there weren't any repeat questions among my April-Oct-Nov tests. However, the style of the questions were extremely similar. That is, they tend to ask for similar things and techniques phrased differently. This was the key reason why I did so well in the Nov test.

4) Some of the fringe topics (e.g. Graph Theory) appeared in some tests but not others.

5) The 4 official practice tests + 1 Princeton Review test were extremely useful for practice. I did each tests 4-5 times under timed conditions. Also, the exercises in Princeton Review, and the 6 REA book tests were very good practice. Overall I had A LOT of speed practice: 4 official test + 1 Princeton Review + 3 sets of old test = 8 sets of test. Did all of them 4-5 times = 32-40 times. Plus all PR/REA book exercises.

I hope that helps.

Re: November 2012 scores

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 2:53 pm
by Gelor
This time my score is 780 (78%) vs 740 (70%) in Oct. Not super but pretty nice considering that i didn't learn anything extra during the gap between the tests. I answered 52-54 questions and the Nov test seemed a bit simpler than the Oct test to me.
It also seems that "% below" is about the same in both tests.

Good luck with ypu applications!