An incredibly common trap that test takers fall into on GMAT Critical Reasoning problems is answering the wrong question. Like how Reading Comprehension wrong answer traps are designed to mimic the wrong part of the passage (check out our #1 Reading Comprehension Trick video for more on this), GMAT Critical Reasoning wrong answer traps are designed to answer good questions about the passage and its topics — just not the question that is actually being asked.

This is further complicated by the fact that many Critical Reasoning GMAT questions are written using confusing or vague language that require interpretation to figure out exactly what you’re supposed to be looking for. So how can we be sure to answer the right question on GMAT Critical Reasoning problems?

In “#1 GMAT Critical Reasoning Trick: What’s the Question?”, we walk through the top trick for avoiding classic wrong answer traps on Critical Reasoning GMAT questions: putting the question into your own words, making sure to clarify any vague language.

Watch the video to see how we use this trick to solve a real GMAT Critical Reasoning problem!

For more quick Verbal tips, check out the videos for our #1 Reading Comprehension Trick and our #1 Sentence Correction Trick!

To stay updated on our latest GMAT videos, you can subscribe to our new PrepScholar GMAT YouTube channel — we’ll have three new free videos every month.

Happy GMAT Critical Reasoning studies!

The post #1 GMAT Critical Reasoning Trick: What’s the Question? [Video] appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.

Wrong answer choices on Reading Comprehension GMAT questions are designed to include words, phrases, and ideas from the passage the question is tied to. This means that many wrong answer choices look right, since we can find “evidence” for them in the text. We can only successfully prove that the answer choice is wrong if we carefully read and understand the context of the related portion of the passage, which is both easy to mess up and tremendously time consuming when applied to every single wrong answer choice.

So how can we avoid getting confused by and wasting time on these wrong answer traps? In “#1 GMAT Reading Comprehension Trick: How to Avoid Trap Answers”, we explain one of the most valuable GMAT Reading Comprehension tips: making predictions.

Before even looking at the answer choices on Reading Comprehension questions, we should spend time attempting to answer the question in our own words based on information from the passage — in other words, we should make a prediction for what the correct answer will be. Only after we’re confident in our prediction should we look at our answer choices.

If we make a solid prediction, the correct answer choice will often be immediately apparent, as it will match our prediction perfectly. This allows us to bypass the wrong answers altogether, meaning there’s no way for us to get caught in their traps! In the case that the correct answer isn’t immediately obvious, we’ll still be able to quickly eliminate most (if not all) of the wrong answer traps for not matching our prediction, increasing our accuracy and saving us time.

Watch the video to see how this strategy is applied on a real Reading Comprehension GMAT question!

Used in conjunction with the GMAT Reading Comprehension tips from our GMAT Reading Comprehension Question Types video, making predictions can transform your performance on the Reading Comprehension section. Making predictions is also a valuable strategy on the Critical Reasoning section, where wrong answer choices are often closely related to the wrong part of the passage.

To stay updated on our latest GMAT videos, you can subscribe to our new PrepScholar GMAT YouTube channel — we’ll have three new free videos every month.

Happy GMAT Reading Comprehension studies!

The post #1 GMAT Reading Comprehension Trick: How to Avoid Trap Answers [Video] appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.

I spend a lot of time on online GMAT forums, and one thing I see all the time is test takers ruling out their first few wrong answer choices based on something relatively unimportant like an ambiguous pronoun. Nobody ever told them that some GMAT Sentence Correction rules matter more than others! In fact, some GMAT Sentence Correction “rules”, are more like “suggestions” — some things that test takers consider “errors” are only wrong if there aren’t any worse errors in the other answer choices.

So how do we ensure that we’re eliminating the most egregious errors first and saving the less important errors for last? In “Grammar Order of Operations: Prioritizing GMAT Sentence Correction Rules”, we walk through which GMAT grammar rules are most important and how to ensure you’re not ruling out a correct answer for an unimportant reason.

When solving a complex math equation, we use the concept of order of operations to determine when to look at each part of the equation. We start by evaluating anything that’s in parentheses, then we apply exponents. Next, we multiply and divide, and finally we add and subtract. If we do these steps in the wrong order, we often end up with the wrong answer for our equation. 

Just like math has PEMDAS, there is an order of operations for GMAT grammar rules. We can use this grammar order of operations to eliminate answer choices in order from most important to least important. So when we evaluate answer choices using our GMAT Sentence Correction rules, we should look for errors in in the following order:

1. Meaning Errors
2. Hard Grammar Errors
3. Rhetoric Errors

This means that if we notice a rhetorical issue (like an ambiguous pronoun), we should wait to eliminate the answer until we are sure that there are no more meaning or hard grammar errors in any of the other answer choices.

In the video, we walk through the different kinds of errors in GMAT Sentence Correction rules that fall into each category, such as misplaced modifiers, parallelism, concision, etc. We also discuss how Idiom and Diction Errors can sometimes fall into either the Hard Grammar category of GMAT grammar rules or the Rhetoric category, and how test takers need to be especially careful with them — watch the video to find out why!

To stay updated on our latest GMAT videos, you can subscribe to our new PrepScholar GMAT YouTube channel — we’ll have three new free videos every month.

Happy GMAT Sentence Correction studies!

The post Grammar Order of Operations: Prioritizing GMAT Sentence Correction Rules [Video] appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.

The Verbal section of the GMAT often gets the short end of the stick when it comes to discussion, and there’s very little free information out there focusing solely on this oft-neglected part of your Total score. So if you’ve navigated to this article, you’re probably wondering: how high of a score do you need to do “well” on the GMAT Verbal? How do business schools assess Verbal scores and percentiles, and what’s a good score for your target schools? You might be wondering exactly how much your Verbal score affects your Total score as well. 

Luckily, you’ve come to the right place! The below guide will give you all the important context for understanding the Verbal score on the GMAT. We’ll give you the entire GMAT Verbal score range, the general parameters for a “good” score and a “great” score, and all the guidelines for setting a target Verbal score for yourself.

How Is the GMAT Verbal Section Scored?

First, let’s quickly review how the Verbal section is scored. Just like Quantitative scores, Verbal scores on the GMAT reach from 0 to 60 in single-digit increments. However, in practice, the top of  the GMAT Verbal score range is 51—so a 51 is considered a perfect score on either section. 

Along with your scaled score, you will also be given a percentile ranking. This corresponds to the percentage of test-takers whom you scored higher than. For example, if you scored in the 75th percentile on the Verbal section, this means you did better on that section than 75% of people who took the exam. This percentile is based on the last three years of GMAT scores, so if you took the test in 2014, your 75th percentile score would encompass all GMAT-takers from 2012 through 2014.

Thus, while scaled scores are static, percentiles can (and do) change over time. Percentiles help contextualize your scores by comparing them with those of other applicants, and they are assessed by business schools along with the scaled score to see how you measure up.

What’s a Good GMAT Verbal Score Overall?

Now that we know how scoring works, we can get right into what constitutes a good GMAT Verbal score. At a basic level, a good GMAT Verbal score is one that gets you into the program of your choice, which means it can vary quite a lot depending on where you plan to apply.

However, we can still draw some rough conclusions about what generally qualifies as a good score. To see the full GMAT Verbal score range and get a sense of how your score stacks up, check out the GMAT Verbal percentile table below.

(Data used is from 2013 through 2015, the most current available data from GMAC.)

As you can see, it is very, very challenging to score highly on the Verbal section. Scores above 44 are rare; anywhere in the 45 to 51 range puts you in the top 1% of test-takers. A score of 40 or above puts you in the top 10%. A score of 36 puts you in the top 20%. A score of 28 or above puts you in the top 50%. The mean (average) score on the Verbal is a 28.6, up one point from 27.8 ten years ago.

So a 36 or above would generally be considered a “good” score on the Verbal section. This puts you in the top 20% of test-takers and, even outside of percentile rankings, demonstrates to business schools that you can safely handle all the reading and writing required of you in an MBA curriculum (more on this below).

But the Verbal score doesn’t just stand on its own: understanding how the Verbal score raises or lowers the Total score is just as important for assessing what a “good” GMAT Verbal score means in context.

How Does the GMAT Verbal Score Influence the Total Score?

As stated above, it’s important to know that your Verbal score will both stand on its own and factor into your Total score. The Total score is a scaled score encompassing the Verbal and Quantitative sections: it reflects a combination of your performance on both for a more holistic measurement of your aptitude. It is the score referred to most often and is the most important part of your GMAT score for your business school application.

The good news: This two-section combination means that there are multiple ways to get the same Total score on the GMAT. The exact way in which the Quant and Verbal scores are mediated is proprietary to the GMAC, but from data from years past, you can roughly say that one point up on one section and one point down on the other will yield about the same Total score. For example, a 51 on the Verbal and a 35 on the Quant would yield about a 700 Total score, as would a 50 and a 36, as would a 49 and a 37, and so on all the way through a 35 on the Verbal and a 51 on the Quant.

Now, the bad news: GMAT Quant scores have skyrocketed in recent years—in turn raising Total scores. This is largely due to the changing demographics of test-takers worldwide: according to the Wall Street Journal, “Asia-Pacific students have shown a mastery of the quantitative portion” of the GMAT, and these students now “comprise 44% of current GMAT test-takers, up from a decade ago, when they represented 22%.”

By contrast, as stated above, scores on the Verbal section have risen by just 1% over the last 10 years. But the rise in Quant scores still means that it’s harder to land in the same Total score percentile as students from years past—you’d have to do extremely well on the Verbal to compensate for the increased Quant competitiveness.

But don’t get too demoralized! While understanding these percentile trends is important, it’s good to remember that the scaled scores themselves are static. Scaled scores are designed to be an absolute, timeless metric for judging how prepared you are for academic success in a graduate-level management program. Business schools absolutely expect that someone who scored a 40 on the Verbal in 2017 is just as likely to succeed in the classroom as someone who scored 40 on the Verbal in 1987, even though the corresponding percentile rankings have changed since then.

How Much Do GMAT Verbal Scores Actually Matter to Business Schools?

At this point, you understand what a good score on the Verbal section is and how this metric can raise or lower your Total score. But what do business schools think about all this? Do they care equally about the Quant and the Verbal, or is your Total score by itself the only thing that matters?

Unfortunately, schools don’t release statistics on Quant/Verbal score breakdowns—just the Total score itself—so it’s difficult to tell what qualifies as a high or low Verbal score at a given school. This omission also reflects the the general importance of the Total score.

However, surveys of and interviews with admissions personnel indicate that business schools generally give more weight to the Quant score, as graduate-level management courses are largely math-intensive. Moreover, schools do give some leeway to international ESL (English as a second language) students, who aren’t as likely to score highly on the Verbal section as native English speakers.

Ultimately, business schools definitely prefer a balanced score on both sections to one with a drastic difference between the two. As stated above, not all equal Total scores are created the same. Doing terribly on either the Quant or the Verbal, or having a drastic difference between scores, signals to admissions that you might lack the skills necessary to succeed in all parts of an MBA curriculum.

In general, because business schools care more about the Quant section and because it is extremely hard to score highly on the Verbal, your scores are far more likely to raise a red flag if Quant is the one on the low side.

For example, if you get a 720 Total score on the GMAT by getting an amazing 51 on the Verbal but a 37 on the Quant, that would put you in the bottom 40% of Quant scorers and would definitely call into question whether or not you could handle the math-intensive coursework in an MBA program. However, if you get a 720 by getting a 51 on the Quant and a 36 on the Verbal, that would still put you in the top 20% of Verbal scorers—which likely wouldn’t raise any red flags about your ability to succeed in class.

There’s also an element of personal variability to consider: If your professional or academic background is light on math, it will be more important for you to do well on the Quant section to demonstrate to admissions that you can handle the corresponding work in an MBA curriculum. On the other hand, If you’ve taken a ton of high-level math courses and have worked in a math-heavy field, you’ll likely be well prepared for the Quant anyway and may want to spend more of your study time on Verbal—to show your target schools that you’re just as capable of reading and writing at management level.

What’s a Good GMAT Verbal Score for Top Business Schools?

What are the best business schools looking for when it comes to your GMAT Verbal score?

Every year, the top-ranked business schools release the average or median GMAT Total scores for their incoming classes. Using this information and US News & World Report’s 2017 business school rankings, we have calculated that the average GMAT score for the top 10 business schools in America is currently about 722.4. This includes Harvard Business School, Stanford, University of Chicago (Booth), University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), Northwestern University (Kellogg), MIT (Sloan), Dartmouth (Tuck), Berkeley (Haas), Yale, and Columbia.

Note that to get a 720 Total score—which hits this average and places you in the top 10% of scorers worldwide—you’ll likely need at least a 36 on the Verbal. And that’s only if you get a perfect 51 on the Quant!

So, if, you’re targeting top business schools like these, a good, though ambitious, goal would be to aim for at least a 40 on the Verbal, which would put you in the top 10% of test-takers (as you can see from the GMAT Verbal percentile table above). If your Quant scores are stellar, then it’s okay to dip into the high 30s on Verbal—but really nailing the Verbal section can’t hurt in your quest to stand out from the pool of high-scoring Quant applicants.

Now that you’re an expert on GMAT Verbal scores and how they are assessed by business schools, let’s discuss how to determine what a good one is for you personally.

How to Determine a Good GMAT Verbal Score for You

The first thing to do is to make a chart with the business schools you are targeting and their average (or median, if they don’t list the average) Total GMAT scores. You can use our handy GMAT score target worksheet to do so. The worksheet will help you figure out what your target Total score should be based on the highest score on the list.

However, it won’t help you set a goal for the section scores, which involves a bit more guesswork. Remember that a good verbal score for you is one that gets you to that goal Total score, so the trick is to estimate roughly where you need to score on the Verbal to reach your overall goal.

First, determine your baseline score (or starting point). Download the GMAT Prep Software and take a practice test. Do your best to simulate test-day conditions (a quiet room where you won’t be interrupted, no food or water except during timed breaks, and so on). After you’re done, the software will calculate your scaled scores, Total score, and percentile rankings for all five sections, including the Verbal.

Based on the difference between your Total score and your goal score, you can estimate how much you need to improve on Verbal and Math: a 2-3 point increase on Verbal or Quant corresponds to a 20 point increase of the Total score. (This estimate is based on crowdsourced data and is not 100% reliable, but it should give you at least a rough idea.) Then you can set Verbal and Quant score goals that will get you the Total score you’re aiming for, keeping in mind that your Quant score will ultimately be more important than your Verbal score.

For example, if my baseline is 650 Total, 33 Verbal, and 47 Quant and my goal is a 700, I’ll want to increase about six points across the two sections. I’m currently right around the 70th percentile on both sections, but I have a lot more room to improve on Verbal, so I’ll set my Verbal goal as 38 and my Quant goal as 48.

Ultimately, a good Verbal score for you is one that enables you to hit the Total GMAT score that would put you safely in the average for your target schools, without letting Quant dip too far below it.

What’s Next?

Check out our guide to what makes a good, excellent, and bad GMAT score for more on how business schools assess your performance on all sections of the GMAT. If you’re still feeling iffy on the basics, you should read our comprehensive breakdown of how GMAT scoring works first.

When you’re ready to get started, read through our 23 expert GMAT study tips to jumpstart your test prep. Do you find that you’re totally burned out by the time that you even get to the Verbal section? You’re not alone: read our nine tips for making it through the full GMAT length.

To increase your Verbal score specifically, study our GMAT Reading Strategies guide (coming soon).

Happy studying!

The post What’s a Good GMAT Verbal Score? appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.

When it comes to GMAT verbal practice materials, what should you look for? What official and unofficial GMAT prep materials are out there, and which ones will best fit your needs?

In this article, I’ll go over a list of the many GMAT verbal practice tests, questions, and workbooks that are available, how to know which materials will work for you, and tips for making the most of your preparation time for the GMAT verbal section.

GMAT Verbal Preparation: What Should You Look For?

Prep time is precious, so you don’t want to waste any of your GMAT verbal prep hours with subpar practice materials or ones that don’t fit your needs. Instead, you should learn to identify high-quality GMAT study resources and focus on using those.

Let’s go over the characteristics of ideal GMAT verbal practice questions.

Same Question Types and Format As the Real GMAT

The GMAT verbal section includes three types of questions: reading comprehension, sentence correction, and critical reasoning. Each of these question types should be included in your practice materials. Worthwhile GMAT verbal practice questions will also be written in the same style (in terms of length, content, topic, and structure) as those on the real GMAT. (I’ll go over which practice materials do the best job with this in the guide below).

Computerized Adaptive Format

The GMAT is always administered on a computer, and it’s an adaptive test, which means it uses an algorithm to determine your score and the difficulty of the questions you receive as you go along. Using practice tests that are administered in a computerized adaptive format will help you get accustomed to and feel more comfortable with the unique circumstances you’ll face on the day of the exam. It will also help you get a better idea of what your score might be on the real GMAT and how you’re progressing in your preparation.

Range of Difficulties Reflective of the Actual GMAT

If you’re finding all of your GMAT verbal practice questions to be wildly difficult or shockingly easy, the issue may not be you, but your practice materials. Your practice tests should include a range of easy, medium, and difficult questions, because that’s what you’ll see on the test itself.

There’s one key exception to this rule: if you’re looking for a top score (700+) on the exam, you’ll need to practice more with especially difficult hard questions, and should look for resources with a larger proportion of difficult questions.

Organized by Concept and/or Difficulty

When you start practicing, you’ll likely notice that you tend to make the same kinds of errors over and over. For instance, you may have trouble recognizing subject-verb agreement errors in sentence correction questions, which means you might need a review of grammar concepts you may have forgotten, like parts of speech and sentence structure.

The best GMAT verbal practice materials will classify each question by its relevant parts, which will help you start to identify your weaknesses and choose skill-specific drills to work into your prep.

Fit Your Budget

Some quality GMAT verbal prep materials are free or low-cost, but many others aren’t. You’ll have to decide, based on your target score, your needs, and your budget, what you’re willing to pay.

Fit Your Learning Style

Are you more of a visual or audio learner? Bonus materials that accompany some verbal practice tests, like video explanations of answers, might be up your alley and reinforce the skills you’re building, as well as give you more bang for your buck.

Official GMAT Verbal Prep Materials

The Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) provides a variety of official resources with verbal practice questions and tests. For each one, I’ll go over what’s included and the pros and cons.

GMATPrep Software

The GMATPrep Software is the gold standard for GMAT verbal prep. It contains two full-length simulated computerized adaptive tests that are virtually identical to what you’ll see on exam day.

You can tailor your sets of practice questions to include 1-15 questions of each type (critical reasoning, sentence correction, and reading comprehension, for verbal) and difficulty (easy, medium, or difficult). In addition to the questions on the two practice tests, there are 90 additional practice questions available on the software.

The Good:

• It’s free for registered users of mba.com.
• Answer explanations are step-by-step and in-depth, and you can go back and review or drill questions you previously got wrong as many times as you like.
• Detailed performance reviews break down what you’re getting wrong so you can hone in on your weak spots.

The Bad:

• Not much! There aren’t many resources that can beat official questions under simulated testing conditions, and it’s free.
• However, while the GMATPrep Software includes an in-depth review of math skills you’ll need for the quant section, it doesn’t have a review of grammar or reasoning skills for the verbal section.

GMATPrep Question Pack 1

An official addition to the GMATPrep Software, the GMATPrep Question Pack contains 404 additional official questions, including 180 verbal practice questions.

You can create your own sets of practice questions based on your strengths and weaknesses. Each set of questions can be completed in either ‘exam mode’ (timed, under simulated test conditions) or ‘study mode.’

The Question Pack will cost you $29.99 to download.

The Good:

• This resource contains a wealth of verbal practice questions that aren’t available in any other official prep materials.
• Your performance reviews for these practice questions will be integrated into your overall progress reports in the GMATPrep Software, allowing you to get an even more accurate picture of what your needs are in terms of prep.

The Bad:

• There aren’t quite as many verbal practice questions in the Question Pack as there are quant questions.

The GMAT Official Guide Verbal Review 2018

The GMAT Official Guide 2018 Verbal Review is a comprehensive resource for GMAT verbal prep. Included in your purchase ($19.95) are 300 official practice questions from retired GMATs, access to an accompanying site where you can customize sets of practice questions, reviews of grammar and reading comprehension fundamentals, and online videos with tips and strategies specific to the verbal section.

The Good:

• Answer explanations are detailed and in-depth, and the discussions of grammar fundamentals are thorough enough to be helpful for non-native English speakers.
• Practice questions are organized in order of difficulty, which makes it easy for you to gauge your progress.

The Bad:

• Only 15% of the content is brand new. If you own a previous version and are on a tight budget, it might not be worth the purchase.
• The verbal practice questions tend towards the slightly easier side, though there are some difficult questions included. If you’re shooting for an especially high score (700+), you will want to supplement with other resources.

GMATPrep Exam Packs 1 and 2

These are official additions to the GMATPrep Software. You can only get them once you’ve downloaded the original software.

Each Exam Pack contains 90 additional practice questions (30 quantitative, 45 verbal, and 15 integrated reasoning), as well as two full-length computerized adaptive GMATs.

Each Exam Pack costs $49.99.

The Good:

• In-depth diagnostics will let you know how you’re doing in comparison to your peers on every subsection of the test, as well as how your pacing could improve on each question type.

The Bad:

• Not much (official GMAC questions are always helpful), except that they’re a bit expensive.

GMAT Paper Tests Set I, II, and III

These are real retired GMAT tests, written by the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC). Each set (I, II, and III) contains three official GMAT tests, answer sheets, and a guide for converting your raw score into a scaled score. They’re available in downloadable PDF form.

Each set costs $29.99.

The Good:

• Over half of the questions in these tests aren’t available in any of the other official GMAT practice tests or resources.
• You may want to order these if 1) you’ve exhausted all the other options for official verbal practice questions and you want a LOT of practice, or 2) if you’re a test-taker with a disability that may require an accommodation and using paper tests at home is easier for you during prep time.

The Bad:

• It’s on paper! You’ll have to score it yourself using the answer sheet, and it’s not computerized (obviously) or adaptive, so it doesn’t simulate any of the testing conditions.
• There is some overlap with questions in the GMAT Focus Quantitative Diagnostic Tool.
• No answer explanations are included, just the answers themselves.

Unofficial GMAT Practice Tests

There are many resources for unofficial GMAT verbal practice tests. Let’s take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the major ones.

Veritas Prep

You’ll need to register with your name, email, and password to take the free Veritas Prep practice GMAT, which is a computerized adaptive test. At the end of the practice exam, you’ll get an in-depth analysis of your score, including your average time on questions you answered correctly vs. your average time on questions you answered incorrectly.

The verbal questions here are on the tougher side, which is great if you’re looking for a challenge. But like all other unofficial resources, Veritas doesn’t perfectly simulate GMAT test conditions. The visuals are very different from what you’ll see on the actual test, and the reading comprehension passages are a bit different in content (less science-based and more literary) than those on the real GMAT.

You can also purchase six more practice tests for $49.

Kaplan

You’ll have to register and create an account to access this free GMAT (the ‘self-proctored’ option), which is computerized and adaptive.The Kaplan test also allows you to choose 50% additional time or 100% extra time if you’ll be receiving accommodations during the exam. The instructor-proctored version includes a live mini lesson with an instructor and a live chat box where you can ask questions.

The Kaplan verbal questions are realistic in terms of both content and visuals. When you’re finished, you’ll get an in-depth analysis of your score, including Kaplan strategies and detailed answer explanations. You’ll only get in-depth expert video explanations of up to 13 questions, however.

You can also purchase a question bank (Qbank) with over 1,500 practice questions for $99, or a Practice Pack with access to the same practice questions and four full-length CAT GMATs for $149.

Manhattan Prep

All you need to do is create an account to take the free Manhattan Prep GMAT; You can manually time yourself as you take the Manhattan Prep practice tests, which you won’t be able to do on the actual GMAT.

The verbal questions here are realistic, but the visuals and conditions are not. You can set a time limit for each question during your practice, which can help if you want to work on your pacing. However, every verbal question type takes a different amount of time (reading comprehension questions generally take about two minutes, for example, while sentence correction questions should only take one), so you shouldn’t get into the habit of spending the same amount of time on each one.

If you’d like, you can purchase a set of six more Manhattan Prep practice GMATs for $49.

Princeton Review

Creating an account at Princeton Review will give you access to a free self-proctored online GMAT. If you sign up for an in-person practice GMAT event at a local university instead, there will be some advertising for Princeton Review programs and events, but you will get a very realistic simulated GMAT experience.

Princeton Review verbal practice questions are high quality, but they do tend towards the easier side. The software can also be a bit temperamental: before taking the exam, make sure you have the right version of Java and that your pop-up blocking software is turned off.

800 Score Test

All you need to access the free GMAT practice test at 800 Score Test is a username and password (no initial registration required).  The 800 Score verbal practice test is timed, computerized, and adaptive, and even allows for extended time options of 50% and 100%, making this test especially helpful for students who will require extended time as an accommodation on the actual exam.

It also keeps track of how long you spend on each question and gives you an in-depth diagnostic analysis of your performance when you’re finished, much like the GMATPrep software.

The verbal questions on this test don’t look exactly like they do on the GMAT, but they are otherwise realistic. The reading comprehension questions in particular are quite similar in style and content to the official GMAT reading passages.

You can also purchase five full-length CATs for $24.95.

Babson, or London Business School, Practice Test

Create an account and you’ll have access to free, timed quantitative and verbal practice tests (both schools offer the same practice resources). You can also take a micro test (a 20-minute test with an analysis of your mistakes) and a mini test (100 minutes with a score estimate).

The Babson and LBS verbal practice questions are realistic, and the score analysis you’ll get after your test is top-notch. However, be careful about the timing on the LBS test: It gives you a 10-minute break between sections, while you actually only get eight-minute breaks on the GMAT, so try not to get used to the longer breaks. The mini and micro tests also obviously don’t have as many questions as the real GMAT.

GMAT Club Test Practice

GMAT Club has two free full-length GMAT sections available (one quantitative and one verbal). GMAT Club tests aren’t adaptive, but they do contain a similar combination of questions—in terms of question type and difficulty—as the real exam.

Also included on GMAT Club are some helpful verbal-specific drills and practice tests: a 30-question critical reasoning set, a 13-question reading comprehension set, a 21-question sentence correction set, and a 31-question idioms quiz.

You can also purchase three-month access to a 1,572-question bank for $79.95 or six-month access for $99.95.

McGraw-Hill Test

McGraw Hill Education has six free GMAT tests available. On the McGraw Hill tests, you can save your progress at any time, and the exams can be taken timed or untimed, making them ideal for extra practice. However, the score report will only tell you the percentage of questions you got right or wrong, so this isn’t a good resource for estimating your GMAT score.

The McGraw-Hill tests include all sections of the GMAT except the analytical writing assessment, and the verbal practice questions in particular (especially critical reasoning) are very close to what you’ll see on the exam.

Useful GMAT Verbal Prep Materials

Some GMAT verbal prep materials include practice questions as well as skill-specific lessons, drills, quizzes, and tips. Let’s go over a few of the best ones. For each resource, I’ll explain what’s included, the pros and cons, and who would benefit most from using it.

Kaplan GMAT Verbal Workbook

The Kaplan GMAT Verbal Workbook contains about 220 unofficial GMAT verbal questions, with nearly 100 of those questions devoted to sentence correction.

The workbook also details specific, three-to-four-step strategies for each question type in the verbal section. There’s also a section on the analytical writing assessment that includes strategies and practice essay questions.

The workbook is available for $12 on Amazon.

The Good:

• Bonus materials include a style and usage guide that reviews basic grammar concepts and a list of common idioms that appear on the GMAT. They’re great for a quick reference if you’re completing other practice questions and need to look up a rule or idiom.
• The “Reading the GMAT Way” chapter is a particularly effective guide to breaking down reading comprehension passages, what to look for, and what to disregard.
• Plenty of questions! Kaplan includes many more verbal practice questions than comparable books, in addition to strategies, so it’s a good deal.

The Bad:

• Since the grammar review is a bit thin, and the answer explanations aren’t particularly in-depth, the Kaplan Verbal Workbook wouldn’t be the best option for non-native English speakers.
• As with all unofficial resources, Kaplan questions aren’t exactly identical to official GMAT ones. This is especially evident in the critical reasoning questions.
• The questions aren’t organized in order of difficulty, so it’s nearly impossible to isolate difficult questions if you’re a 700+ scorer looking to target trickier questions.

Who Would Benefit?

• Students who are somewhat lacking in prep time would benefit from the Kaplan Verbal Workbook. It’s less in-depth than a more targeted guide (like the PowerScore question-specific Bibles), but still offers a comprehensive overview of the GMAT verbal section with plenty of quality answer explanations.
• Students who want a one-stop GMAT verbal shop should consider Kaplan: practice questions and strategies for both the verbal section and the analytical writing assessment are all right here.

Princeton Review Verbal Workout for the GMAT

The Princeton Review Verbal Workout includes a chapter each on content and strategy review for reading comprehension, sentence correction, critical reasoning, the analytical writing assessment, and integrated reasoning. There’s also a full practice verbal section and an answer key with detailed answer explanations.

Other chapters include general verbal test-taking tips and three appendixes: a glossary of grammar terms, a list of common GMAT idioms, and grammar ‘odds and ends’ (common grammar errors you’ll find on the GMAT).

The Verbal Workout is $14 on Kindle.

The Good:

• Answer explanations are high-quality, breaking down each question in a concise but comprehensive way.
• The grammar review here is heftier than in other GMAT verbal resources, such as Kaplan (though it’s still not enough for a non-native English speaker).

The Bad:

• A common complaint about Princeton Review materials is that they’re a bit easier than others: the Verbal Workout is no exception. While it offers a solid overview, in-depth analysis of very difficult questions won’t be found here.
• There aren’t quite as many practice questions in this text as in the Kaplan workbook.
• Princeton Review resources have a habit of overemphasizing ‘tricks’ rather than skill-building. While the strategies may work for you, it might be better to focus on truly understanding the concepts behind the questions rather than jumping right to strategy.

Who Would Benefit?

• Test-takers who like specific, actionable strategies tend to go for Princeton Review resources.
• Time management is also covered effectively, so if you have trouble with pacing, the Verbal Workout is a good go-to guide.

The PowerScore GMAT Bibles: Sentence Correction, Critical Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, and Verbal Bible Workbook

The PowerScore Bibles offer detailed explanations of each of the GMAT verbal question types.

The Sentence Correction Bible includes 140 sentence correction questions, all labeled by error type. Each chapter is devoted to a kind of error you’ll see on the exam (sentence construction, verbs, pronouns, nouns, and modifiers, for example) and contains both practice questions and skill-specific drills.

The Critical Reasoning Bible is a comprehensive guide to critical reasoning questions, including a chapter on each subsection of question types (‘weaken the argument,’ ‘strengthen the argument,’ ‘paradox questions,’ etc.) as well as specific strategies for how to tackle each one. The authors break down the fundamental skills you’ll need to develop to answer critical reasoning questions, including identifying premises, counter-premises, assumptions, and conclusions. Each skill you learn is accompanied by mini-drills that reinforce that skill.

The Reading Comprehension Bible contains chapters on deconstructing passages and finding their main ideas, strategies for identifying and approaching different reading comprehension question types, and common traps to avoid when answering reading comprehension questions on the GMAT. Like the other PowerScore Bibles, it includes a variety of drills and exercises to reinforce the skills presented, as well as GMAT-style practice questions.

The GMAT Verbal Bible Workbook is designed to offer extra practice and to be used in conjunction with the trilogy of question-specific Verbal Bibles (Sentence Correction, Reading Comprehension, and Critical Reasoning). Each section contains drills and exercises that reinforces the skills gleaned from each of the Bibles in the trilogy.

Each PowerScore GMAT Bible costs $24.99, but you can get the full trilogy of section-specific Verbal Bibles for $69.99.

The Good:

• The PowerScore Bibles offer highly in-depth breakdowns of GMAT verbal questions. Skill building and concept analysis are highlighted. They’ll also help you learn to identify question stems (the phrasing used in a particular question type) on sight, which helps you know how to approach a given question.
• Though they’re detailed, the books aren’t overly dense or tough to get through. They’re great resources for students with limited time to prep.

The Bad:

• There’s a lot of content overlap between the Bibles, but the GMAT Verbal Bible doesn’t include nearly as many practice questions as the other books. It’s particularly thin in the reading comprehension department (only two passages with four questions each). If you’re on a very tight budget, it might be best to select the question type-specific Bible that addresses your weakest area.
• In general, the PowerScore Bibles have fewer practice questions than other GMAT prep materials, averaging about 125-140 verbal practice questions per text. They focus more on skills, mini-drills, and strategy. So if you’re just looking to get more verbal practice questions under your belt, they’re not your best bet.

Who Would Benefit?

• The Sentence Correction Bible would be especially helpful for non-native English speakers, as it goes over the basic fundamentals of English grammar before going more in depth on each topic. In fact, all the PowerScore Bibles are some of the best GMAT verbal resources for non-native English speakers, as they address each topic in a lot of detail.
• Don’t be afraid to buy an entire book devoted to your particular weak spot (assuming you have one)! These are some of the most in-depth guides out there to specific verbal question types; no other resources delve this deeply into strategies for each subsection of questions.

Manhattan Prep GMAT Strategy Guides: Critical Reasoning, Sentence Correction, and Reading Comprehension

Each Manhattan Prep Strategy Guide is around 140 pages and contains a detailed guide to a particular question type. The Reading Comprehension Strategy Guide, for example, includes a detailed breakdown of how to approach a GMAT reading comprehension passage, the different question stems that one might encounter, and what to look for or avoid in answer choices, as well as broader strategies for both prep time and exam day. The last chapter of each strategy guide includes practice questions that allow you to reinforce what you’ve just learned (four passages in the Reading Comprehension guide, for example).

Purchasing a Manhattan Prep Strategy Guide (or a set of them) and setting up a student account gets you access to a companion website with online question banks (about 25 questions per guide), six Manhattan Prep computerized adaptive tests, and five online interactive GMAT Interact lessons.

Strategy Guides are $26 each or $32 in eBook form. Package deals are regularly available, depending on which you want to combine.

The Good:

• Manhattan Prep guides focus on a methodical approach to each question type and skill set, such as unpacking an argument into its components or finding the main idea of a passage. Magic tricks aren’t the focus here, which means you’ll build more effective and reliable skills that you can count on during the exam.

The Bad:

• Some of the answer explanations assume prior knowledge and are not detailed enough for non-native English speakers.
• The Manhattan Prep guides focus more on strategy building than practice questions, so if you’re looking for extensive question sets, they might not be your best option.

Who Would Benefit?

• The Manhattan Prep strategy guides, unlike some of the other GMAT verbal practice materials, help students learn what to expect visually on the exam (what you’ll see on the screen for each question type and how to interpret it). This is especially helpful for students who might feel uncomfortable with the computerized adaptive format or uncertain in unfamiliar test-taking circumstances.
• The Manhattan Prep guides also offer specific note-taking strategies for different verbal question types, which can help students with testing anxiety or who tend to lose focus while reading lengthy passages.

4 Top Tips for GMAT Verbal Practice

Of course, there are ways to prepare for the GMAT verbal section beyond completing practice tests or drills. Here are a few verbal prep strategies that go beyond the practice materials listed above:

Start Reading Early

GMAT reading comprehension and critical reasoning questions will require you to be able to read and synthesize high-level material. Sentence correction questions will require you to be familiar with a variety of frequently used English idioms (common phrases or sayings). Regularly reading newspapers and magazines that use fairly sophisticated language, like The New York Times, The Economist, and The New Yorker, will help you absorb the idioms and vocabulary that are sure to crop up in the GMAT verbal section. You’ll also get practice comprehending sophisticated arguments and absorbing information.

Review Grammar Concepts and Terms

Sentence correction questions on the GMAT verbal section will require you to understand grammar concepts that you may not know or have forgotten, like dangling modifiers, subject-verb agreement, and correct pronoun usage. Carve out some study time to review these concepts and make sure you fully understand the grammar rules you’ll see tested on the GMAT.

The PowerScore Verbal Bibles are the best sources for GMAT-specific grammar information. If you need a more in-depth review of the grammar basics, the Princeton Review’s Grammar Smart is an excellent resource. TOEFL books like Timothy Dickeson’s TOEFL Grammar Guide are also effective.

Focus on Your Weaknesses

When you review your GMAT verbal practice tests, identify the kinds of questions you tend to get wrong. Then drill those concepts in your focused study sessions. For example, if you find you’re missing a lot of sentence correction questions, you’ll want to spend extra time studying and practicing that question type. If you use a resource like the GMATPrep software that allows you to customize your practice question sets or quizzes, you can easily highlight the question types you struggle most with.

Moreover, the more specific you can be in your analysis, the better. It’s helpful to know that you’re struggling with sentence corrections, but you’ll be able to target your prep more carefully if you can determine which sentence corrections concepts are tripping you up: are you missing mostly questions on concision or pronoun agreement? The more exactly you can break down what types of questions you’re missing, the more focused and effective your prep will be.

Use Practice Tests to Improve Your Stamina and Time Management

You have 65 minutes to complete 36 verbal questions on the GMAT. On average, you have about a minute and a half per question, though some question types (reading comprehension) take longer than others (sentence correction). That’s not a ton of time, so pacing is key to getting through all of the questions. 

When you complete sets of practice questions, challenge yourself to spend a little less time on each question, without sacrificing accuracy. Then, when you review practice tests, think about where you took more time and where you took less. Resources like the GMATPrep software can help, since they’ll tell you how long you spent on each question.

What’s Next?

Looking for more in-depth explanations of the different GMAT verbal question types? Check out our top tips for sentence corrections, reading comprehension, and critical reasoning.

For a similar guide to prep resources for the quant section, check out our GMAT quant practice article.

Need an overall guide to all the best free GMAT prep materials? Look no further than our list of the best free GMAT practice tests.

The post The Best GMAT Verbal Practice: 500+ Questions and Tests appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.

The GMAT verbal section presents a unique challenge. While many test-takers spend hours and hours mastering the strategies and formulas necessary to do well on the quant section, the verbal section can often seem more opaque and intimidating. In this guide, I’ll give you concrete, actionable strategies that you can use to demystify and master the GMAT verbal section.

First, I’ll talk about what’s on the GMAT verbal. Next, I’ll talk about the three question types on the GMAT verbal section, and give sample questions for each. Finally, I’ll give you some strategies for preparing for the GMAT verbal and for acing the verbal section on test day.

What’s on the GMAT Verbal Section?

The GMAT is designed to show your skills to prospective business schools. The verbal section is an important part of evaluating your capabilities as a candidate because it shows how well you’ll be able to understand and communicate ideas. The GMAT verbal section tests your ability to read and understand written material, to evaluate arguments, and to correct sentences so that they conform to standard written English.

The verbal section is the fourth section on the GMAT. You’ll take the verbal section right after your second 8-minute break. You have 65 minutes to complete the 36 multiple-choice GMAT verbal questions.

The GMAT verbal test is computerized and adaptive. What that means is that you’ll take the test on a computer (as you will with the rest of the GMAT) and that the difficulty of the questions you get will be adjusted as you get questions right or wrong. If you’re struggling, you’ll receive easier questions. If you’re doing well, you’ll receive more difficult questions. The questions you get right or wrong on the GMAT verbal section contribute to your GMAT total score.

Verbal scores range from 0 to 60. Your verbal score contributes to your GMAT total score, which ranges from 200 to 800, and is made up of your scaled verbal and scaled quantitative scores.

The 3 Types of GMAT Verbal Questions

The GMAT verbal section has three question types: reading comprehension, critical reasoning, and sentence correction. I’ll explain what skills each question type tests and walk you through a sample question for each type.

Reading Comprehension

The reading comprehension questions test your ability to understand, analyze, and apply information and concepts presented in written form.

What does this mean? Basically, you’ll be reading passages and answering questions based on what’s directly stated or implied within the passage. These questions are designed to show business schools how well you are able to understand written material.

Sample Question

Directions: After reading the passage, choose the best answer to each question. Answer the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.

Transnational cooperation among corporations is experiencing a modest renaissance among United States firms, even though projects undertaken by two or more corporations under a collaborative agreement are less profitable than projects undertaken by a single corporation. The advantage of transnational cooperation is that such joint international projects may allow United States firms to win foreign contracts that they would not otherwise be able to win.

Which of the following is information provided by the passage?

1. Transnational cooperation involves projects too big for a single corporation to handle.
2. Transnational cooperation results in a pooling of resources leading to high-quality performance.
3. Transnational cooperation has in the past been both more common and less common than it is now among United States firms.
4. Joint projects between United States and foreign corporations are not profitable enough to be worth undertaking.
5. Joint projects between United States and foreign corporations benefit only those who commission the projects.

Correct Answer: C

Explanation

The question asks us to determine which information is provided in the passage. For this question, we’ll need to find textual evidence that supports our answer, because the question stipulates that the information is “provided in the passage.” For each of the answer choices, ask yourself whether or not you can find textual support.

Answer A is incorrect because the passage doesn’t directly discuss or imply anything about the size of the projects the companies are working on. Make sure that you only focus on answers that are supported by the text.

Answer B is incorrect because the passage directly states that the value of transnational cooperation is in winning foreign contracts. The passage doesn’t talk about any results regarding high-quality performance.

Answer D is incorrect because while the passage does state that transnational projects are less profitable than single projects, it doesn’t imply that they aren’t profitable.

Answer E is incorrect because the passage suggests that joint projects benefit the United States firms, since they are awarded new contracts (“may allow United States firms to win foreign contracts that they would not otherwise be able to win”).

Answer C is correct because the phrase “experiencing a modest renaissance” implies that the transnational projects are coming back into favor after being out of style for a while.

Critical Reasoning

Critical reasoning questions focus on arguments. Critical reasoning questions measure your skills in crafting and evaluating arguments, as well as making or evaluating a plan of action based on an argument. These questions are designed to show business schools how well you’re able to present and defend information.

Sample Question

Directions: Select the best of the answer choices given.

The interview is an essential part of a successful hiring program because, with it job applicants who have personalities that are unsuited to the requirements of the job will be eliminated from consideration.

This argument logically depends on which of the following assumptions?

1. A hiring program will be successful if it includes interviews.
2. The interview is a more important part of a successful hiring program than is the development of a job description.
3. Interviewers can accurately identify applicants whose personalities are unsuited to the requirements of the job.
4. The only purpose of an interview is to evaluate whether job applicants’ personalities are suited to the requirements of the job.
5. The fit of job applicants’ personalities to the requirements of the job was once the most important factor in making hiring decisions.

Correct Answer: C

Explanation

Start by considering the argument. The argument of this passage statements that the interview is an essential part of the hiring program. That means that we are looking for the answer that a.) focuses on the interview, and b.) focuses on what or how the interview is made successful.

Answer A is incorrect because the passage states that the interview is “an essential part” of a successful hiring program. The word “part” indicates that the hiring program is only one piece of a successful hiring program, which means that the hiring program must contain other pieces in order to be successful.

Answer B is incorrect because the passage doesn’t discuss developing a job description. In fact, the passage doesn’t even imply anything about a job description. You can rule out this answer because it talks about something that’s not part of the passage. Always stick to the information that’s actually contained or implied in the passage, rather than extrapolating.

Answer D is incorrect because, while the argument does state that the interview evaluates applicants’ personalities, it doesn’t suggest that that’s the only purpose of the interview. Note the word “only” in the answer choice. Be careful of categorical words like “only,” “all,” “always,” “never,” and “exclusively.”

Answer E is incorrect because the argument focuses on how to find people who don’t fit to the program, not how to find people who fit with the program. It doesn’t imply that an applicant’s personality is the most important part of the hiring process, either.

Answer C is correct because the argument focuses on eliminating candidates whose personalities are unsuited to the job. The ability to eliminate unsuited candidates assumes that interviewers are able to determine what makes a candidate’s personality suited or unsuited.

Sentence Correction

Finally, sentence correction questions test you on conventions of standard written English. In these questions, you’ll be asked to correct sentences that may contain grammar or word usage errors in order to show your ability to present a clear, concise, and grammatically correct argument.

Sample Question

Directions: This question presents a sentence, part of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other four are different. If you think the original is best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose one of the others.

Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers, significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of more than $100 billion a year.

1. significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of
2. significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost business
3. significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, already with business costs of
4. significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costing business
5. significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business

Correct Answer: B

Explanation

Answer A is incorrect because the phrase “are a cost to business” is in the passive voice. The conventions of standard written English consider the passive voice to be unclear and inexact.

Answer C is incorrect because the phrase “already with business costs of” is awkward and wordy. The GMAT prefers sentences to use clear, simple language that is logical and easy to understand.

Answer D is incorrect because the phrase “significant in compounding should modify effects of drug and alcohol abuse” is unclear and wordy. The use of the word “and” incorrectly suggests that the sentence is referring to the “drug and alcohol abuse,” instead of the “effects.”

Answer E is incorrect because the phrase “significant in compounding should modify effects of drug and alcohol abuse” is unclear and wordy. The use of the word “and” incorrectly suggests that the sentence is referring to the “drug and alcohol abuse,” instead of the “effects.”

Answer B is correct because the word “which” correctly correlates to the subject (“effects”) and the phrase “already cost business” simplifies and clarifies the language in the original sentence.

GMAT Verbal Tips

In this section, I’ll take you through some tried-and-true GMAT verbal tips for acing each question type.

Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension Strategies

The reading comprehension questions on the GMAT verbal section measure how well you understand a text. The critical reasoning questions measure how well you can analyze an argument. Though these GMAT verbal questions are fairly different form each other, I’ve grouped them together here because there are a lot of similarities in how you should approach them.

These questions might seem intimidating, but the GMAT verbal tips I’ve outlined below will help you read and understand more easily.

Ask Yourself Questions

Active reading is an important skill for achieving a good score on the GMAT verbal section. The passages on the GMAT aren’t designed to be particularly interesting. However, by continuously asking yourself questions, you can engage yourself in the passage and make sure you’re focusing on important ideas. Think about asking yourself the following questions:

• What’s the main focus of the passage? (What’s the passage mostly about?)

• What’s the purpose of this passage? (Why did the author write this passage? What’s the author trying to convince the reader of?)

• How is the passage organized? (Think about the introduction, body, and conclusion – what happens in each of those sections?)

• What evidence is used to support the main idea or argument in this passage? (Once you’ve figured out the main idea or main argument, think about what the author is saying to support those ideas).

Understand the Basic FormulaS

For both the critical reasoning and the reading comprehension, there are just a few basic question styles you’ll see again and again. Figuring out what kind of question you’re answering will help you determine what kind of answer to look for, because you’ll be able to hone in on the specific parts of the text that will help you find the answer.

There are three general types of reading comprehension questions:

• Questions about the main idea of the article, which require you to think about overall ideas.

• Questions about specific details, which ask you to find and paraphrase a specific claim.

• Questions about inferences, for which you’ll have to understand ideas not explicitly stated in the passage.

Similarly, there is a limited set of question styles you’ll see on the critical reasoning:

• Questions about strengthening or weakening the argument, which require you to determine the evidence that would bolster or undermine the passage’s main point.

• Questions about assumptions and paradoxes, which ask you to identify the ideas underlying the argument.

• Questions about inferences, which ask you draw logical conclusions from the argument.

Pick a Reading Strategy and Stick to It

It’s important to have a solid reading strategy when approaching the GMAT verbal. Reading on the GMAT is different from reading in your daily life. The texts on the GMAT verbal test are purposely dense and hard to read. It can be easy to get lost in these passages, or waste time focusing on insignificant details. Having a reading strategy will help you target your reading to find the most important information from the passage. You’ll also be able to better budget your time because you’ll have a specific way you’re approaching each text and question set. Having a reading strategy ensures that you’ll be able to immediately be able to dive in and dissect a passage, without wasting time trying to figure out your approach.

There are few different approaches to reading for the GMAT. Some ask you to read the passage in full first before turning to the GMAT verbal questions. Some ask you to read the questions first before searching for information in the passage. Some ask you to skim the passage first, then look at the questions, then go back to the passage. Each of these strategies has its own pros and cons. I’m not going to recommend a specific strategy here, because a lot of this recommendation depends on what you’re good at as a reader. During your practice, try out each of these strategies. Find the one that feels the best to you and yields the best results, and then stick to that. That way, you’ll get faster and better as you keep working.

Don’t Draw on Outside Knowledge

Everything you’ll need to know to answer the questions will be found in or directly inferred from the passage. You’re not required to know anything special, and you’ll find all the information you need to learn in the passage itself.

If the passage’s topic seems confusing or obscure, don’t worry! That’s the point. Even if you do know something about the topic, resist the temptation to rely on that knowledge to answer the question. Stick to what’s in the passage and you’ll have all the information you need.

Focus on the Argument

Critical Reasoning passages are all about the argument. The GMAT critical reasoning section tests your ability to analyze an argument. The arguments cover the types of topics that you’ll be likely to see during and after business school. You’ll be expected to be able to analyze the validity of the argument, even if you’re not at all familiar with the overall topic.

While you may be worried that you lack the background information to understand an argument, the GMAT doesn’t require you to have any prior knowledge. You’ll be able to learn everything you need to adequately answer critical reasoning questions by reading each passage. To make sure that you’re drawing the right conclusions, keep your focus on the argument itself, without getting distracted by extraneous information. What is the main argument of the passage? What details support or weaken the main argument? By finding the main argument of the passage, you’ll be able to clearly work through the details in the passage and decide whether or not each detail supports or detracts from the argument.

Sentence Correction Strategies

The sentence correction questions on the GMAT can be tricky, especially for non-native English speakers or those who don’t have a strong command of standard English grammar conventions. Check out my tips below to help you succeed in your prep.

Review Grammar Topics

The grammar tested on the GMAT is very different than grammar you use in everyday life. For instance, many people use the word “this” in everyday life to refer to a nebulous idea. For the GMAT, the word “this” needs to clearly refer to a noun in the text.

Most people don’t talk with the kind of formality tested on the GMAT, so review the rules tested on the exam to make sure you know what to look for.

Look for Multiple Grammatical Errors

On sentence completions questions, many answer choices have more than one grammatical error. Before you mark an answer as correct, make sure every part of the answer is actually correct.

Don’t “Rely on Your Ear”

Like I mentioned before, the GMAT follows esoteric grammar rules that we rarely use in day-to-day speaking. Don’t go on what “sounds right” for grammar questions (with the exception of idiom questions). Make sure you’re figuring out what actually follows the grammatical rules, not what you’d say when talking to your friends.

Overall GMAT Verbal Tips for Test Day

Even the most prepared test-takers can feel some anxiety on test day. Here are some GMAT verbal tips that you can use across the GMAT verbal test to help you succeed.

Find The Evidence

For the reading comprehension and critical reasoning questions, make sure you can find the evidence to back up your answer. You should be able to point to a direct part of the passage that explains why your answer is right. Even in the case of inferences, you’ll be able to find parts of the text that imply why your answer is correct. If you can’t find any evidence, then your answer is likely wrong.

Break Down the Questions

The questions on the GMAT verbal section follow specific question patterns, meaning that they often ask about the same kinds of things.

For instance, many critical reasoning questions ask you to “find an assumption” made in the text. To answer these questions, you’ll need to determine what assumptions strengthen the passage’s main argument. You’ll also be asked to find answers that either strengthen or weaken an article’s conclusion. For these questions, you want to make sure you know the article’s main argument so that you can figure out what will best support it or detract from it.

On the other hand, many reading comprehension questions may ask you to decide what an author would agree with. For these questions, you’ll want to find evidence in the text that supports a potential perspective. By spending some time figuring out what the question is actually asking you, you’ll know what to look for in the passage.

REPHRASE INTO YOUR OWN WORDS

The GMAT verbal uses long-winded phrases and esoteric language to try to intimidate test-takers. You’ll be asked to read passages about boring topics that you know and care little about. The GMAT verbal section purposely uses complex language and potentially dull topics to try to confuse you as a reader. One of the ways that you can combat the difficulty of the passages is by rephrasing into your own words. Find the parts that you understand and translate it into clear phrases that make sense to you.

Save Energy (and Take the Breaks)

The verbal section is the last section of the GMAT, and it’s a doozy, with the most questions of any section. It also requires a lot of reading. You’ll need to conserve some energy through the first three sections to ensure you aren’t totally burnt out when you get to the verbal.

Make the most of the eight-minute break you’ll get before this section. It’ll refresh you and help you get back in the swing of things after you’ve finished the quant section.

What’s Next?

Looking for GMAT quant tips? Check out our guide to the GMAT quant section.

Wondering what makes up your GMAT total score? Learn all about it in our comprehensive guide.

Find the best online practice materials using our guide to the best GMAT online practice materials.

The post GMAT Verbal: How to Master the 3 Question Types appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.

In “Online Lesson: GMAT Reading Comprehension Question Types”, we discuss the different types of Reading Comprehension GMAT questions you’ll see on test day, how to recognize them, and how to approach each one.

We can break down Reading Comprehension GMAT questions into “quick” and “not so quick” questions.

• The “quick” questions are ones we should be able to answer based on our initial skim of the passage — we often think of them as “general” questions. These include Main Idea, Logical Structure, and Perspective questions.
• “Not so quick” Reading Comprehension GMAT questions, on the other hand, require test takers to recall specific details from the text or to extrapolate information that isn’t explicitly stated in the passage. These questions should not be addressed by an initial skim and require us to take additional time to look back through the passage. They include Supporting Idea, Inference, and Application questions.

So how do we know which questions belong to which of the GMAT Reading Comprehension question types? Each question type asks for something specific, and typically asks for it using certain words and phrases exclusive to that question type. If we know which clues to look for in the question stem and answer choices, we can determine how to approach and how much time to spend on each of the GMAT Reading Comprehension questions we see on test day.

Watch the video to learn how to identify each of the GMAT Reading Comprehension question types!

To stay updated on our latest GMAT videos, you can subscribe to our new PrepScholar GMAT YouTube channel — we’ll have three new free videos every month.

Happy GMAT Reading Comprehension studies!

The post Online Lesson: GMAT Reading Comprehension Question Types [Video] appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.

You may have heard rumors that you need to know a lot of grammar for the GMAT. Unfortunately, it’s true that you’ll see GMAT grammar questions; however, the test focuses on just a few main concepts you need to know.

In this article, I’ll go over the six most important GMAT grammar rules, as well as offer tips for how to learn them so you can ace the sentence correction questions on test day.

Overview: GMAT Grammar

Grammar is tested on the GMAT primarily in sentence correction questions, which make up about a third of the verbal section (36 questions in total).

In sentence correction questions, you will be shown a sentence with an underlined portion, and five answer choices that give options for how to replace the underlined portion. The first answer choice is always exactly the same as the underlined portion of the sentence.

Sentence correction questions on the GMAT will ask you to select the answer choice that will make the sentence 1) grammatically correct, 2) concise, and 3) logical. Most questions will test you on more than one of these factors at a time.

Keep in mind as you prepare for this section of the GMAT that GMAT grammar is based on specific rules. Even if a sentence would sound correct in normal daily conversation or writing, it might not be correct by GMAT standards, so it’s important to learn each of the grammar rules tested by the exam.

The good news is that GMAT grammar rules are also repetitive: as you practice, you’ll see the same rules being tested over and over again, which means that if you prepare well and thoroughly, you’ll know exactly what to expect on sentence correction questions.

6 Key GMAT Sentence Correction Rules

Let’s go over six of the most common GMAT grammar rules, alongside examples (authored by the Graduate Management Admissions Council, GMAC, which also writes the GMAT itself) from the GMATPrep Software.

#1: Dangling Modifiers

The GMAT loves to test you on modifiers, which are clauses, words, or phrases that describe other parts of a sentence. In the sentence, “My sister, the psychologist, is coming to visit,” for example, “the psychologist” modifies “my sister,” which is the subject of the sentence.

Dangling modifiers are the most common modifier-related errors on the GMAT. In a dangling modifier, the modifying phrase is misplaced, describing the incorrect word or phrase so that the sentence is illogical. Take a look at the following sentence and see if you can tell why it’s illogical.

A beautiful red-haired mermaid, the president thought Ariel was highly intelligent.

This sentence contains a dangling modifier: The president is likely not a beautiful red-haired mermaid (though that would be cool). The modifier “A beautiful red-haired mermaid” belongs next to the noun it modifies, which is Ariel. Let’s rewrite it to remove the dangling modifier:

The president thought Ariel, a beautiful red-haired mermaid, was highly intelligent.

Now let’s take a look at an official GMAT example.

To spot dangling modifiers, look for introductory phrases followed by a comma. In this question, “architects and stonemasons” is the modifying phrase in question. The phrase needs to modify a noun, and one that is logical in the context of the sentence.

In answer choices B, D, and E, the modifying phrase is not following by a noun or noun phrase (answer choice E begins with a verb, ‘were,’ for example), so you can eliminate them.

In answer choice A, the phrase “architects and stonemasons” is modifying “huge palace and temple clusters.” It’s not logical for the palace and temple clusters to be architects and stonemasons, so you can eliminate this answer choice.

In answer choice C, “architects and stonemasons” is modifying “the Maya,” which makes sense in the context of the sentence. This is the correct answer.

#2: Proper Verb Tense

GMAT sentence correction questions often test students on proper verb tense usage. Remember that verb tenses (the basic ones are past, present, and future) give us information about when an action took place (or will take place, etc.). Verb tenses are generally supposed to remain consistent, unless there is a specific reason for the tense to shift within a sentence. For example:

By the time the police arrived, the robbers had fled.

Note the clue that the verb tense is supposed to change (in this case from past tense to past perfect): “By the time” lets us know that there was a sequence of events. In this sentence, the robbers fled before the police arrived, so that shift in time needs to be reflect by a shift in verb tense.

In the GMAT example below, the conditional construction of “if x happens, y will happen” requires the first half of the sentence to be in present tense and the second half of the sentence to be in the future tense. So we can immediately eliminate answer choices A and B.

Answer choices C and D are less concise and precise than answer choice E because of the extraneous clauses they include (‘as they already did’) and (‘as they have already’), making answer choice E the correct option.

#3: Illogical Comparison

In the sentence “Mark loves chips more than his mom,” what’s wrong?

Well, unless Mark really loves chips, it’s unlikely to be true. What the writer is probably trying to say is “Mark loves chips more than his mom does.” The original sentence is an example of an illogical comparison.

Illogical comparisons compare apples to oranges, meaning that the things being compared either don’t make sense in context or don’t match up with each other grammatically (nouns being compared to verbs, for example).

Clues of an illogical comparison question on the GMAT include phrasing like “more/less than,” “like/unlike,” and “as…as.”

In this example, you’re being asked to compare “a typical automobile loan” to something else (the word “unlike” clues you into this). So you need to look for 1) a noun, since “ban” is also a noun, and 2) a noun that’s logical in the sentence’s context.

Answer choices B and D can’t be correct, then, because they compare the “automobile loan” (a noun) to prepositions (“with” and “for”).

Answer choices A and C are incorrect because, while they start with nouns (“lease-loan buyer(s)”), they are illogical; a lease-loan buyer can’t be compared to a loan itself.

Answer choice E is correct. It compares “a typical automobile loan” to “a lease-loan.”  

#4: Pronoun Usage

GMAT sentence correction questions test you on proper pronoun usage. Correct pronouns match their antecedent (the word they stand in for). For example, in the sentence, “Sara took off her hat,” “Sara” is the antecedent for “her.” Plural pronouns (we, they, them, us) match with plural antecedents, and singular pronouns (I, he, she, her, him, it) match with singular antecedents.

Let’s look at one example of incorrect pronoun usage. What’s wrong with this sentence?

I never go to that restaurant because they have moldy cheese.

Who has moldy cheese? We can’t tell from the sentence. “They” is a plural pronoun, and its possible antecedents (“I” and “restaurant”) are both singular. We would rewrite it like this:

I never go to that restaurant because it has moldy cheese.

Now let’s take a look at a GMAT example of incorrect pronoun usage.

In this example, the antecedent of “it” is “crab.” “They” and “their” (both plural pronouns) are incorrect pronouns because they don’t match with their antecedent (singular), so you can eliminate answer choices B and E. Answer choices A and D have no pronoun, so they are illogical (“because of living at great depths”—who/what is living at great depths?).

Answer choice C includes the correct, singular pronoun (“it”) and the appropriate verb (“lives”), so it’s the right option. Notice that it is also more concise than answer choices A and B, which is often a clue that an answer choice is a good one.

#5: Subject-Verb Agreement

GMAT sentence correction questions often include subject-verb agreement errors. The subject of a sentence must match with its verb; a singular subject has to accompany a singular verb, and a plural subject has to accompany a verb in the plural form.

A common trap you’ll see in subject-verb agreement questions is a prepositional phrase (a phrase that starts with a preposition and ends with a noun) that is wedged between the subject and the verb to confuse you.

Let’s look at an example of the “distracting extra phrase” trap:

This box of decorations belong upstairs.

The prepositional phrase in this sentence is “of decorations,” which you should ignore when figuring out the correct verb form to accompany the subject. “Box” is the subject, and it’s singular, so the verb form should be too; the singular present tense form of the verb “to belong” is “belongs,” not “belong,” so the sentence should read, “This box of decorations belongs upstairs.”

Now let’s go through a GMAT example of a subject-verb agreement error.

The subject you’re dealing with in this example is “cost” or “costs.” Its verb is “are” (before “prohibitive”), which is plural, so the subject has to be plural as well. This allows you to eliminate choices A and D right off the bat.

We’ll go over how to select the correct answer choice for this question in the next example.

#6: Idioms

An idiom, or idiomatic expression, is a common phrase in English, often involving prepositions. For example, one graduates “from” college, not “of” college. One “belongs to a club,” not “belongs with a club.”

GMAT sentence correction questions generally test more than one grammar error at once, and you’ll often see wrong answer choices that fix the original error but contain an incorrect idiom. Correct answer choices will always be grammatically and idiomatically sound.

Let’s look at an example:

When two choices are being compared, “whether” is the idiomatically proper choice rather than “if.” That means that answer choices A and D can be eliminated immediately based on their incorrect use of “if.”

“Being” is redundant (and unnecessarily wordy) when used after “undergoing,” because “undergoing” already lets you know that the conversion is in process, so answer choices B and C can be eliminated as well.

Answer choice E is correct based on idiom usage, a lack of redundancy, and concision.

3 Tips for Learning GMAT Grammar Rules

There are a few key ways to target GMAT grammar to prep for the sentence correction questions. Let’s go over the three top tips for mastering the exam’s grammar questions, undertaking effective GMAT grammar practice, and learning GMAT sentence correction rules.

#1: Use Flashcards to Study Idioms

It’s important to learn about the most common idioms you’ll encounter on the test as part of your GMAT grammar practice routine so you can eliminate answer choices that use idioms incorrectly right away. Once you get familiar with them, answer options with incorrect idiomatic expressions speed up the process of elimination.

Particularly if you’re a non-native English speaker, learning idioms can be a tricky aspect of your GMAT grammar prep. Creating and studying with flashcards that include the meanings of idioms as well as examples of their proper usage can help you get comfortable with GMAT idioms. Check out our guide to GMAT idioms to familiarize yourself with the most common ones.

#2: Review the Underlying Grammar Concepts

Your GMAT grammar practice should include a review of the basics of grammar, including parts of speech, sentence structure, modifiers, verb tense, and pronoun usage. Princeton Review’s Grammar Smart includes an overview of many of the GMAT-relevant grammar rules, as well as drills to complete as part of your prep. I would recommend Grammar Smart as your primary GMAT grammar book over generic grammar guides because they aren’t likely to be specifically relevant to the GMAT.

#3: Learn How Grammar Rules Are Tested on the GMAT

When you practice with the GMATPrep Software or other study resources, target GMAT grammar rules by selecting sentence correction practice questions. As you learn to identify various question types, you’ll become more aware with the way each of the GMAT sentence correction rules are tested on the exam. This will help you learn how to approach each grammar concept as it is presented on the GMAT and how to work through each question type more efficiently, effectively, and accurately.

What’s Next?

For more information about the verbal section as a whole, check out our article on mastering all three GMAT verbal question types.

Our guide to the best GMAT verbal practice materials will help you prepare for the verbal section of the exam more effectively.

Trying to understand each of the GMAT sections in more depth? Our comprehensive overview of all four sections of the test will help you out.

The post 6 GMAT Grammar Rules You Must Know appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.

With so many idioms GMAT test writers love to use, idioms on the Sentence Correction section are already challenging. But what is even more difficult is when test writers intentionally use similar idioms in answer choices in the hopes of confusing test takers. In “The 8 Most Common GMAT Idioms Mistakes”, we go over the idioms that test takers most frequently mix up in GMAT Sentence Correction idioms problems.

While each GMAT idiom has a very specific use on the test itself, many these idioms are used interchangeably in real life. Some even have near identical definitions. For instance, “because of” and “due to” both indicate a cause and effect relationship, but we can never replace one with the other — watch the video to learn why! These words and phrases are incredibly easy to confuse, which is what makes these GMAT Sentence Correction idioms so difficult.

While memorizing every single idiom out there and how it’s used is impossible, we’re in luck: GMAT test writers tend to use the same few tricks over and over. If we memorize which idioms GMAT test writers like to mix up the most, we’ll be prepared when a few of these GMAT idioms tricks show up on test day.

In this video, we walk through each of the 8 GMAT idioms mix ups we’ve identified as being particularly common and particularly tricky. For each, we identify the differences between the mixed up idioms. Then, we look at an example or two of how these GMAT idioms should and should not be used so you can easily eliminate wrong answer choices on test day.

Watch the video to learn the 8 GMAT mix ups you need to avoid!

To stay updated on our latest GMAT videos, you can subscribe to our new PrepScholar GMAT YouTube channel — we’ll have three new free videos every month.

Happy GMAT Sentence Correction studies!

The post Learn the 8 Most Common GMAT Idioms Mistakes [Video] appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.

Does the GMAT test you on vocabulary? What vocab words or phrases will you need to know to succeed on the GMAT? In this article, I’ll give you a foundational GMAT vocabulary list and study strategies for learning the GMAT vocab that will help you excel on the exam.

How Does the GMAT Test Vocabulary?

First and foremost, the GMAT does not test you directly on vocabulary words. While you need strong reading, writing, and communication skills to succeed in business school, sophisticated vocabulary is not as much of a focus as it would be in an academic grad program (say, in the humanities). You won’t be asked to provide definitions, find synonyms, complete analogies, or demonstrate your knowledge of highly sophisticated vocab. So don’t worry about memorizing any vocabulary for the GMAT!

You will, of course, need to have a good grasp of high-school and college-level English vocabulary in order to succeed in the Verbal section. Sentence Correction questions (which require you to correct errors in grammar and sentence structure) don’t require much knowledge of high-level vocab, though it certainly doesn’t hurt. The Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning question types don’t usually include very complex vocab, but you do need to know some key terms in order to understand what’s being asked of you. Let me show you what I mean.

Your GMAT Vocabulary List: The GMAT Vocab You Need to Know

Below are some common words that you’ll see in instructions, questions, and answer choices on the GMAT, especially in the Verbal section.

You won’t need to know an exact definition of each of these words, but you do need to know how each of them will be used in the context of the exam. Even if you’re already familiar with the word itself, you may not know how it will be used on the GMAT. For each word, I’ve provided an explanation of how it’s used in the test and an example sentence. Use them as a starting point for your GMAT vocab prep.

Analyze: To examine something (usually a passage or argument, in the context of the GMAT) and break it down into its constituent parts; to inspect in detail. The Analytical Writing Assessment asks you to analyze and critique a given argument.

Assertion: A statement, usually backed up by some kind of solid proof or reasoning. Synonyms include ‘claim’ and ‘contention.’

Assumption: The underlying reasoning of an argument. ‘Premise’ is a synonym. You’ll be asked about the assumptions of various arguments frequently in Critical Reasoning questions in the Verbal section.

Cite: To refer back to your source or reasoning.

Claim: An assertion, argument, or statement.

Contention: Can mean a conflict or clash. In the context of the GMAT, usually refers to an argument or assertion, especially a controversial one. The verb form is ‘to contend.’

Corroborate: To support or validate an existing opinion, belief, or argument. Other synonyms include ‘verify’ and ‘confirm.’ Often used in the phrase ‘corroborating evidence.’

Faulty: Some Critical Reasoning questions may ask you if or how an argument is faulty. Faulty is a synonym for ‘flawed’ or ‘invalid.’ An argument is faulty if there’s a gap in its logic, or if the conclusion reaches doesn’t flow logically from its premise.

Imply: To imply is to suggest based on evidence (but not state explicitly). The adjective form is ‘implicit,’ which is the opposite of ‘explicit’ (overt or clear). Many students get confused between ‘imply’ and ‘infer.’ They are similar, but not exactly alike. An inference is a conclusion we can reasonably draw based on given evidence. An implication is a strong suggestion that is not directly stated.

Infer/Inference: To infer is to conclude based on given evidence/information. When a Critical Reasoning question asks you to draw a conclusion based on a passage, it is asking you to make an inference.

Maintain: In the context of the GMAT, ‘maintain’ means to argue, assert, or contend, particularly repeatedly or after opposition.

Mitigate: To lessen, diminish, or render less extreme or severe. Often used in the phrase ‘mitigating circumstances,’ which refers to circumstances that make a crime more understandable but don’t entirely exonerate someone of his/her crime.

Paradox: This is common in Critical Reasoning questions on the Verbal section. A paradox is something that is seemingly contradictory or doesn’t make sense, or two facts that don’t seem to coexist logically. Clues that a GMAT question may be asking you to identify a paradox are words like ‘discrepancy’ and ‘contradiction.’

Posit: To posit is to present an argument or hypothesis about something that is currently unknown or uncertain.

Premise: A premise is a statement upon which an argument or theory is based.

Redundancy: ‘Redundancy’ refers to something (a word, phrase, or piece of information) that’s repetitive and thus meaningless or unnecessary. It comes up most commonly in Sentence Correction questions, which ask you to eliminate redundancy in the answer choice you choose.

Sufficient: Data Sufficiency questions, on the Quant section, ask you if a given piece of information is ‘sufficient’ to solve a problem or complete an equation. ‘Sufficient,’ in the context of the GMAT, means ‘enough on its own.’ In other words, could you answer this question or solve this problem or equation with only that numerical value or piece of information?

Undermine: To weaken or invalidate (usually an argument, in the context of the GMAT).

Validate: Often used interchangeably with ‘corroborate.’ (See above entry).

Warranted: ‘Warranted’ means justified, deserved, or necessary.

How to Study GMAT Vocab: 4 Strategies

If you struggle with the GMAT Verbal section, you’ll want to develop some study strategies to improve your GMAT vocabulary.

#1: Do Some “Required Reading”

Particularly if you find in your prep that you find some of the vocabulary on your GMAT practice tests intimidating, it can be helpful to do some reading in similar styles to what you’ll see on the exam. The Economist, Popular Science, Psychology Today, and The New York Times can all be good resources for your GMAT prep. Reading magazines and newspapers like these will help you get familiar with the vocab you’ll see on the exam and allow you to practice your reading comprehension skills.

#2: Practice With Real Questions

You can use resources like GMATPrep free software to take official GMAT prep tests and practice with GMAT vocabulary in action. When you review questions, even ones you got right, try to break down the questions into their relevant parts and determine where you tripped up. What is being asked of you? How is “conclusion” being used different in one question than it was in another? How did you figure out what an author’s “assumption” was? Thinking backwards like this can help you to identify gaps and confusion in your GMAT-specific vocabulary.

#3: Make Your Own Unique GMAT Vocab List

When you go over your practice tests, it can be helpful to create a GMAT vocabulary list of all the words you’re unsure of in instructions, questions, passages, and answer choices. Use this personalized GMAT vocabulary list to create vocabulary flashcards and then study a few each day. This strategy won’t be necessary for everyone, but it can make a big difference if you’re a non-native English speaker or just struggling with understanding the GMAT questions.

#4: Practice Figuring Out Meanings From Context

You might encounter some unfamiliar words on the GMAT, but since you aren’t asked to provide direct definitions or synonyms, you can usually interpret their meaning from the overall passage. When you go over your practice tests, pick out a few unfamiliar words and try to discern their meanings from context. This is an important skill to build, as you can 1) start to learn the most commonly used vocab words on the GMAT and 2) begin to define vocab words in context more quickly and easily, which will be helpful on exam day.

Review: What You Need to Know About GMAT Vocabulary

• The GMAT doesn’t test you specifically on vocab words.

• However, you will need to know what questions are asking you, especially on the Verbal section.

• Use the GMAT vocab list I provided to begin your study of vocabulary and supplement it with your own words as you continue.

• To study GMAT vocabulary, read relevant high-level materials, practice with real GMAT questions, make your own GMAT vocab list and flashcards, and practice figuring out word meaning from context.

What’s Next?

For tips on the Verbal section, check out our guide to mastering the three types of GMAT verbal questions.

To master the Analytical Writing Assessment, head over to our guide to acing the Analytical Writing Assessment for some strategies.

If you’d like a further breakdown of the overall GMAT structure, our guide to the GMAT format will unpack it all for you by section and question type.

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