Difficulty level of sample tests

Forum for the GRE subject test in mathematics.
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gaucho85
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:58 pm

Difficulty level of sample tests

Post by gaucho85 » Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:50 am

Has anyone noticed much of a difference in the level of difficulty of the various sample tests out there?

I found the princeton review test to be harder than most, and the 8767 one to be easier.

In the princeton review, it says that the problems are meant to be a little harder than exam problems, is that meant to apply to their sample test as well?

As for 8767 being easier, I think I heard something about the test being rescaled. I think that 8767 is an older test. Was part of the rescaling making the test more difficult?

I'd really appreciate any info that anyone has, even if it is just their opinion. I have a certain score in mind as my goal, and I'm trying to figure out how close I am to that goal based on my performance on these practice tests.

Thanks!

EmLasker
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Oct 05, 2008 1:41 am

Post by EmLasker » Tue Oct 14, 2008 1:11 am

There are two versions of the 1997 test - one rescaled and one prior to the rescaling so I suppose they rescaled sometime around that time... From what I read (I think it was an earlier post in this forum) the two versions contain the same questions so I don't think the rescaling process affected the difficulty of the questions. Also, I found the 1993 practice test to be quite a bit more difficult than the 1997 and 2005 practice tests so I think the difficulty depends on the individual test. In the beginning of the practice tests there is an explanation of the scoring process in which it states that there are 3 different test difficulties, but there is no mention of which edition the practice tests are - I bet they decide the difficulty of the test after it is taken, based on the examinees performances, in order to engineer their sellable bell curve.



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