Customer Queries: GMAT and GRE Simulator Software

Azli R. wrote:

I have a couple of quick queries regarding your Simulator software:

1. Will I need to download the Java Runtime software every time I want
to take a test?

2. Do I need a different access code everytime I want to take a test? Once I
enter an access code and choose to disconnect from the internet, do
I need to immediately go online again to get the results or can I wait
for a couple of hours / days to go online and get it?

3. Can I take and re-take the tests again or can these tests be taken
only once? If I can re-take, will I come across similar questions?

4. If I start doing a test, what happens if I have to stop mid-way?
Will it continue to score me based on where I stop or can I pause and
continue the test at a later time? If it continue to score me, can I
re-take the test again?

5. Will there be any explanation to the answers or will I simply get
the scores at the end of the online tests?

Azli, thanks for the queries! I've attempted to answer them all by number here:

1. No, the Java installation is a one-time requirement.

2. You need one access code for each simulated exam session and your results will be available indefinitely. You can review them at anytime.

3. If you retake an exam using the same question pool then you will most likely see several repeat questions. Each simulated session will require a new access code.

4. If you stop mid-way, just like during the real exam, you will not receive a score and your progress will not be saved. However, your access code will not be "used" and you will be able to reuse that code.

5. Yes, the scoring and review screens will provide answers as well as explanations.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,
Rick Jones

Customer Queries: Can GMAX students buy your other GMAT exams?

"I am currently enrolled in a GMAX course and therefore have access to your first three exams. I understand the exams each utilize a different question pool, so I am inquiring about the following:

• Is it possible to purchase just the last 2 exams?
• If I purchase the first 3 exams over again will the essay questions change?

Cheers,
Ron L."

Thanks for your interest Ron.
Yes, it is quite simple to purchase access to our other 2 GMAT exams. Just select the Double-pack from our registration page. You'll receive two access codes that can be used for any GMAT exam. Be sure to use the 4th and 5th question pools since GMAX students already use the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd during their course.
Each question pool contains multiple essay questions, so it is likely (but there is no guarantee) that your essay questions will change if you retake the first 3 exams. Good luck with your studies!

Cheers,
-Rick Jones

Customer Queries: What are your recommendations for using the five exams you offer?

"I'm really interested in your product and have three questions:

1. What is the approximately ratio of above 80 percentile level questions in each of your question pools?

2. I scheduled my GMAT test a month and a half from now. How would you recommend I use your 5 simulated GMAT exams?

3. I'm weak in permutation/combination, statistics, inequalities and sets. What can I purchase to address this weakness?

Regards" -V. Chornyy

Thanks for the interest in our Simulator software V. Chornyy, I'll do my best to answer your queries:

1) There are approximately 150 questions in each question set that are arranged on a Bell Curve to insure that the question selection algorithm has enough questions of each difficulty to accurately isolate your performance level.

2) Our exams are best used when the student treats our simulated exam as if it were the real exam and completes every part under realistic conditions with no breaks or distractions. Our exams are not designed for practicing specific question types or for drills. Instead, they offer students the opportunity to simulate the real exam and practice handling the rigors of the exam experience in combination with the challenges of the questions themselves.

Tutors typically offer one of our exams to a student to find a baseline performance level, then they design a course of study for the student. Some offer a second exam mid-way through the course, but others save the remaining four until the end of the course. Your preference will depend on your current performance level and your goals.

We typically recommend that you complete all the study and drills you intend to perform for GMAT preparation Afterwards schedule time to complete our exam as if it were the real thing. If you score in your desired range on two of our exams, you should feel confident that you have met your goal and sit for the real GMAT asap. If not, then address your weaknesses with more drilling or professional assistance.

In other words, you may only need two or three of our exams. In fact, we originally only sold three for this reason. However, as competition for higher scores grew, many of our customers felt three was insufficient and demanded additional simulations so we released two more exams bringing our total to five we offer today.


3) We have found that the best resource for specific problem-type drilling is the
Official Guide for GMAT Review. We highly recommend it as a core study aid for all our prospective MBA students.

Customer Query: How does your Simulator differ from the real exam?

"Are there any differences (besides a home vs classroom environment) between your Simulator and the actual GMAT exam? Also, what other fees (including tax) are incorporated into the final fee for your access codes." - M. Sigel

Thanks for the interest in our Simulator software M. Sigel, I'll answer your queries in order:

• From a test taker's point of view, the only significant difference between our Simulator software and the actual GMAT software is that our software will use your currently configured monitor resolution. During the real exam, your testing center's monitors will all be configured to the same low resolution. So, if you use a high resolution to run our Simulator, you may be able to fit more text on your screen during practice, possibly requiring you to scroll less than you will on test day. If your are concerned about this difference, simply call your testing center and inquire about their monitor resolution. Then, set your monitor at home to mirror their resolution settings.
• There are no additional fees at checkout for access codes. The price quotes on our website is the final total price.

Suggestions for improving your GMAT score

Students often ask us what they can do to improve their GMAT scores. Clearly, we are big proponents of studying under realistic conditions and recommend our GMAT Simulator software as an ideal means of reproducing realistic GMAT conditions.

However, before tackling a full simulated exam, most students benefit from a thorough review of the question types that will appear on the GMAT. We highly recommend the Official Guide for GMAT Review as a core study aid for all our prospective MBA students.

What is a Computer Adaptive Test?

A Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) is tailored to the individual exam taker based upon his or her performance. Thus, every examinee will receive a completely customized set of questions during a CAT. Each CAT session begins with a question of pre-calculated difficulty and the selection of each subsequent question is based upon the current performance of the examinee; a higher current score results in the selection of a more difficult question and vice versa. In order to accommodate both high and low performers, a CAT must construct each exam session from a pool of questions much larger than the minimal set required by the specific exam's format.

Our exclusive performance dependent question selection algorithm: Unlike other study-aids for computer adaptive tests, Our simulated exam sessions are generated using the same formula you will experience during an actual CAT. Our question pools consist of large sets of pre-ranked questions, enabling our simulators' to provide a truly adaptive test session that mirrors the actual exam's behavior by isolating a test taker's performance level through a gradual adjustment of question difficulty.

Customer Query: Can I save my progress mid-exam?

"If I interrupt my session and log out of the system without completing the entire exam, will I loose all my work or will it allow me to continue the exam at a later time from the same point?"
-W. Adjei

Our Response:
"Thanks for your interest in our GMAT exam simulator. Our software simulates your real exam conditions in every possible way. By imposing time constraints and disallowing arbitrary breaks our software maintains a realistic simulated exam experience. Anything less would reduce your simulated session to nothing more than a set of practice questions. Read why practicing under realistic conditions is so important here. While we do support alternative exam configurations through our "Disability Options", we would strongly encourage you to not use that feature of our software unless you have received approval for alternative testing conditions from the Graduate Management Admission Council. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,
Rick Jones
User Support
CATPrep.com

Customer Query: Can I give away my access codes?

"I used a number of other patent exam simulators for most of my review process, and only purchased a 2-pack of your access codes at the very end of my preparation process. I only used one, but it was great, and much, much superior than the ********* products. Honestly, it made a great deal of difference on the actual exam due to the similarity of MPEP searching...Thanks!

Anyway, I passed the USPTO registration exam, and would like to recommend your software to a friend. Since I have one unused access code, can I simply let them use it? Thanks again!"
-B. Golding

Our Response:
"Congratulations on your success with the USPTO registration exam and thanks so much for the kind words. We are pleased that our product assisted in your preparation. You are absolutely free to distribute any access codes you have purchased from us in any way you choose."

Kind Regards,
-Rick Jones, CATPrep

Customer Query: What is the Demo Exam for the GMAT?

"What is the demo exam for the GMAT? What is the length of the test & the difference between this & the other 5 exams that you have?" - V. Agarwal

The demo GMAT exam we offer is a scaled-down version of our GMAT simulator that produces about 2/3 of a full GMAT exam. It showcases many of the features of our full simulator and comes complete with an independent question pool of realistic GMAT questions, answers, and explanations. You are given a link for downloading the demo when you signup for our GMAT newsletter.
In contrast, our other 5 exams are complete GMAT sessions generated from large question pools in a computer-adaptive manner and offer a realistic simulation of the actual GMAT exam complete with an accurate score assessment. You can read more about our comprehensive GMAT simulation software here.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Customer Query: Why do I need to connect to the Internet during the login process?

"I don't have Internet access at home, so I want to know if your software is available on CD-Rom like several other GMAT practice software packages" --Y. Chen.

Y. Chen is not the first customer to write us with this query, so we decided to post our response here in an effort to explain why you must connect to the Internet for the login process when beginning a new simulated GMAT session.

Our GMAT simulator is not intended for question drills or standard practice exercises. Instead, our software delivers an accurate reproduction of the actual exam. Our simulated sessions rely on large pools of questions that are continually updated to reflect changes in the real GMAT.

If your GMAT software is available on CD-ROM, you can be sure that it is at least several months (if not years!) old. Unlike these stale unadaptive exams, each of your simulated exams generated with our simulator is unique and the question pool used for your simulation is updated by our software engine when you login.

Therefore, you must login to the exam with Internet access. However, you can disconnect after the login page and continue the exam without an Internet connection if you prefer.

So, while it may be slightly inconvenient for some users to begin their simulated GMAT sessions while connected to the internet, it is a small price to pay for the ability to sit for a realistic GMAT session with current questions, answers, and explanations.

CAT Prep move to new servers, Newsletter upgrade

We are pleased to announce that CATPrep.com has moved to new higher capacity servers this weekend. We've also simultaneously upgraded our Newsletter software to support our enthusiastic user community. Both moves will allow us to continue to provide quality services through our unprecedented growth.

GMAT Success Story

Congratulations to Xia Qi Xing for his outstanding performance on the GMAT! As shown on his score report here, Xia raised his total score 110 points and earned an official GMAT score of 750 with a 6 month study regime built around our GMAT Simulator.

Customer Query: How can I review my unanswered questions?

"I completed a simulated session using question pool #1 but time expired during my quantitative section and I did not reach the final three questions. When I click on any of these questions during a review session I don't see a question or the answer. Please tell me how to review questions that I left unanswered." --S. V.

This is a point of confusion for many test takers and you must understand a little about adaptive examinations in order to appreciate the answer. Our simulator selects your next question from a pool of available questions in an adaptive manner, just like the actual GMAT. After you complete a GMAT session, there are still many questions remaining in the question pool that were never presented to you and that you will never see.

This is a fundamental principle of an adaptive exam and it is the reason there is nothing to review for "unanswered questions." If you do not complete a section due to time constraints, your "unanswered questions" are not only not answered, they are in fact not even selected from the pool.

--Rick

Announcing additional GMAT question pool release

Due to popular demand, we have committed ourselves to the release of two new GMAT question pools by July 1, 2005. Be sure to signup for our newsletter to receive timely notice of this and other new releases.

GMAT Simulator Updates

We are pleased to announce some recent upgrades to our GMAT Simulator software. The latest release includes a move to True Type Fonts, better cross-platform support, and interface improvements that benefit users with smaller screen resolutions. We will be making the same upgrades to our Patent Bar simulator this summer.

-Rick Jones

Windows Installer for GMAT Simulators

For the first time, Upstart Raising is offering a Microsoft Windows installer for our reknowned GMAT Simulator software. The new installer will allow Windows users to easily download and launch our latest offerings. Click here to download the latest copy.

GMAT Simulators Facelift Complete

We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 2.0 of Upstart Raising's GMAT Simulator software. This new release includes many performance and user-interface enhancements. We encourage all users and distributors to upgrade to our newest release immediately.

Customer Query: How does your software compare to Kaplan's, Barron's, etc...

There are several software products available for GMAT training and preparation. Most are distributed by tutoring services or with preparation guides & books. While these products can be useful for practicing and tutoring specific question types, they tend to provide inferior comprehensive simulations of the GMAT. Many do not include the latest question types, do not account for scoring changes, and/or concentrate on specific question types or sections to the detriment of others.

On the otherhand, our software focuses on providing a realistic simulation of the actual exam and accurately predicting test takers' preparation levels. We are not providing instruction guides or tutoring and instead dedicate our efforts to accurately modeling the actual exam. Unlike the static software available elsewhere we collect realtime statistics and continually update our simulator to account for observed changes in the GMAT material and scoring engine.

Our lowest retail price for a simulated exam is $10 (approximately €7.5) and while cheaper software is certainly available, we are not significantly more expensive than most of our competitors and we clearly offer the highest quality service as evidenced by our customer feedback and growing popularity.

I hope this sufficiently answers your query. Please do not hesitate to inquire about further details.

Kind Regards,
-Rick Jones

How do GMAT scoring algorithms affect you?

Want to learn more about GMAT scoring algorithms and how they affect you on test day?

One of the important benefits of a GMAT preparation plan that includes simulated GMAT exam sessions with the Upstart Raising GMAT Simulator is the feedback offered by the incredibly accurate scoring engine included in the simulator software. Students and instructors worldwide depend on our simulator to determine when a prospective test taker is prepared to achieve his or her desired score on the GMAT exam. Testimonials like that of a recent customer who earned an identical score with our software and on the actual exam are one way that we monitor the performance of our software, but many users have expressed interest in the finer points of how we successfully emulate GMAT scoring. In the next few paragraphs, I will attempt to shed some light on this subject.

The actual calculations for raw, scaled sectional, and cumulative scores are not published by Educational Testing Service (ETS), the current publisher of the actual GMAT exam, and the goal of the GMAT is to produce scores that are consistent year to year. In other words, a 650 from several years ago is supposed to be equivalent to a 650 today. To meet that goal, the scaled sectional scores continually fluctuate with regard to the associated percentile. For example, average quantitative scores have been rising for several years and it now takes a scaled score of 51 to reach the 99th percentile while a 48 now represents only the 87th percentile. By comparison, in the verbal section, there is a 7 point difference between the 99th (a score of around 45) and the 87th percentile (around 38).

Since these types of scoring adjustments are not announced publicly, the only reliable way to monitor these scoring fluctuations is to use observations of actual test scores. So clearly software algorithms must be continually monitored and adjusted to provide accurate scoring assessment. At Upstart Raising we devote the large majority of our effort towards the reliable reproduction of the total cumulative score with regard to test taker performance. We continually adjust our formula for cumulative score generation along with question pool content to reflect the observations and feedback of actual test takers. In stark contrast, many inferior GMAT preparation software products use static formulas and question pools that bear no resemblance to the current exam.

It is important to note that there is no simple relationship between the number of questions answered correctly during a single GMAT session and the associated cumulative score. Each question in each section of the GMAT is assigned a unique weight and earlier questions in the section are worth more than later questions while quantitative questions are generally worth more than verbal ones. Students should be aware that the cumulative score on the GMAT is calculated in increments of 10 points. So, the difference between a 690 and a 700 is only one "tick". This difference may be attributable to a difference in the number of correct responses, but that is not necessarily the case. 10 points is so narrow a margin in the cumulative GMAT score that the order of your incorrect responses could be the determining factor in whether you receive a 690 or 700.

For example, if you miss 3 verbal questions towards the end of the section during one GMAT session, but miss the same 3 questions in the middle during another session, your second session could easily be scored 10 points lower. This is one reason why our recommended GMAT instructors suggest that you give more attention to the earlier questions on each section. Quite simply, the earlier questions are worth more.

I hope this information helps resolve some of your questions pertaining to the mysterious GMAT scoring algorithms. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. If you haven't already, we suggest you read our instructions on how to "Verify Your Preparation Level" using our simulator. The instructions are available on our main GMAT page.

-Cindy Anderson
Upstart Raising