Taking timed practice tests is an integral part of preparing for the GMAT. Fortunately, there’s a lot of free material online that will give you the full test-taking experience.

This guide features the top 12 resources for free GMAT practice tests, along with a full review of each test’s strengths and weaknesses. Plus, you’ll find some tips on how to use GMAT practice tests in the most effective way possible.

Before getting to the free GMAT practice tests, let’s consider what you should look for in a practice test.

What Makes a Good GMAT Practice Test?

The best GMAT practice tests look the same as the real GMAT. They are computer-based and adaptive. They share the same structure, instructions, and question types as the real test. They are also timed in the same way, with two 30-minute sections and two 75-minute sections.

The best GMAT practice tests come directly from the test makers, the Graduate Management Admission Council, or GMAC. Official practice tests are the most realistic version of the real test, plus they’re the only ones that use GMAC’s top secret algorithm for scoring and adaptive testing.

Makers of unofficial GMAT practice tests can only guess at the algorithm, so none can give you a perfect sense of your current scoring level. That being said, there are several realistic unofficial practice tests that can be very useful for your prep (click here to go straight to them!). A few even come with video explanations, an online tutor, or the option to attend a live event with other prospective students at a university.

You should note that no free GMAT test offers essay-scoring. You can get a prompt and write the 30-minute essay, but you’ll have to evaluate it on your own using the AWA rubric.

When you take a practice test, make sure that it has the same computerized format, structure, and question types as the real GMAT. Below you’ll find suggestions for the top 11 unofficial free GMAT practice tests, but first, let’s look at the official GMAT practice tests that you can access for free at MBA.com.

Official Free GMAT Practice Tests

GMAC offers two full-length GMAT practice tests on its free GMAT Prep Software. After creating an account and downloading the software, you can access the two tests. You’ll also get 90 free GMAT practice questions — 30 Quantitative, 45 Verbal, and 15 Integrated Reasoning.

The two free GMAT practice tests are almost identical to what you’ll see on test day. They feature all four sections of the test — Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA), Integrated Reasoning (IR), Quantitative, and Verbal — and have realistic instruction screens between each section.

Because the questions are made by the test makers themselves, they are the most realistic representation of GMAT questions. Your exam will also be scored in the same way that the real GMAT will be.

Just keep in mind that there’s a certain margin of error. Total scores within 30 to 40 points of each other are considered to fall in the same range.

There are a few differences between the free GMAT practice tests and the real exam. The practice tests allow you to pause time and take as much time as you want reading instructions. On the real GMAT, you’ll have 10 minutes to read the AWA tutorial and only one minute for all of the other instruction screens.

You can also pause the practice tests at any time, flag questions that you’re not sure about, and reveal a question’s answer whenever you like. None of these options, of course, will be available to you when you take the real test, but they’re helpful study tools.

There’s one other useful feature of these two official GMAT practice tests. Because they draw on a huge pool of practice questions, you can actually take each one more than once. You might see a few repeat questions, but most will be new the second and even third time. In essence, you have four to six free practice tests at your disposal thanks to the GMAT Prep Software.

So, how can you use these practice tests in the most effective way to get ready for the GMAT? Read on for some tips for taking official GMAT practice tests.

Tips for Taking Official GMAT Practice Tests

How can you use the official GMAT practice tests in the most effective way? When should you take them, and how can they inform your study plan? Consider the following five tips as you move forward.

#1: Take One Near the Beginning, One Near the End

Since there are just two free official practice tests, you should be strategic about when you take them. We recommend taking the first near the beginning of your prep and the second near the end. You can take some time to familiarize yourself with the format and structure of the GMAT and then review key concepts.

After learning about the test, you could take the first official free GMAT practice test to get a sense of the testing experience and establish your baseline scoring level. This practice test helps you diagnose your current scoring level and identify your strengths and weaknesses.

You can retake this test as you continue to study, but you’ll likely see some repeat questions, so it won’t be as realistic as the actual GMAT. We recommend saving the second official practice test for somewhere near the end of your prep. Once you’ve done a lot of review and answered sample questions, you can take this test to measure all the progress you’ve made.

In between these official GMAT practice tests, you can also take unofficial practice tests to measure your progress. Since the official ones are the most realistic version of the GMAT, it can be useful to use one as a diagnostic practice test and the second after you’ve spent a significant amount of time studying.

#2: Simulate Real Testing Conditions

Official practice tests give you a very realistic experience of taking the GMAT. The only thing you’re missing is the test center.

To make the experience as real as possible, you should find a quiet space free of distractions. Follow the same timing as the test, and take the optional eight-minute breaks after the Integrated Reasoning (IR) and Quantitative sections. Don’t use your own calculator, but rather get used to using the on-screen calculator (this only applies to the Integrated Reasoning section).

Essentially, you should do everything you can to make the testing experience as close to the real thing as possible.

#3: Use Them to Practice Test Taking, Not to Learn Concepts

Practice tests help you become a better test taker. You can practice your time management, develop a rhythm, and apply your understanding to practice problems.

Full-length practice tests are not so useful for concept review. You shouldn’t rely just on practice tests to learn all of the math, grammar, or data interpretation skills you need for the GMAT.

Instead, you can use the tests to figure out what you don’t know, and then consult other prep materials to fill in any gaps in knowledge.

#4: Keep an Error Log

To help you figure out what you don’t know, you should keep an error log and write down any questions that you got wrong or felt confused about. Go over the answer explanations, and figure out what it was that tripped you up.

Did you read the question wrong? Do you not understand the concept? Did you run out of time? By rooting out the source of your mistake, you can take specific steps to fix it. Practice tests help you discover your weak spots, so you can build them up for next time.

#5: Set Goals for Where to Go Next

Once you’ve taken a practice test, reviewed your performance, and uncovered your weak areas, you should set specific goals for what to do next. The GMAT practice test gives insight into your current scoring level. It’s up to you to take this feedback and use it to inform a targeted, customized study plan that will help you improve.

Most of these tips are useful as you take unofficial practice tests, as well. Just keep in mind that these tests won’t be the best experience of the GMAT, and the scores don’t come from GMAC’s secret scoring algorithm.

Now that we’ve covered the official tests, read on for a full evaluation of the best unofficial free GMAT practice tests, ranked from best to worst.

11 Free GMAT Practice Tests, Ranked

Below are the 11 best free GMAT tests available online, ranked from most realistic to least.

#1: Kaplan

Kaplan’s free GMAT practice test tops the list for its realistic format and high-quality practice questions. Not only does the test closely resemble the real GMAT, but it also comes with detailed video answer explanations.

You can take the test online at any time, or you can sign up for a live, instructor-proctored test. If you go the proctored route, then you’ll see live explanations from Kaplan faculty, a mini lesson from an instructor, and a live chat window where you can ask questions.

Like the real GMAT, the Quantitative and Verbal sections are adaptive. You can also opt for 50% or 100% additional time if you’ll be getting accommodations. Just make sure that you don’t accidentally hit “End Test,” or you will exit the exam and won’t be able to restart it!

You can access the Kaplan practice test by creating an account on its website and then choosing the self-proctored or instructor-proctored practice test. If you don’t want promotional emails from Kaplan, then make sure to uncheck the appropriate box.

#2: Veritas

Veritas is a close second for best free GMAT practice test. The exam is realistic and presents high-quality practice questions. You can take the exam in full or just choose certain sections.

Like the official GMAT practice tests, you can pause the test at any time. It’s recommended, however, that you take the test in full and follow the real GMAT timing to build up your stamina for test day.

You can also choose 50% or 100% extra time if you need accommodations. To access the test, head to VeritasPrep.com and create an account. The company also offers six additional computer-adaptive GMAT practice tests for $49.

#3: Manhattan Prep

For your third unofficial free GMAT practice test, head to ManhattanPrep.com. You’ll just need to create an account to access the test.

The questions on the Manhattan Prep test are high quality, but the visuals of the test don’t match the real GMAT. While it’s recommended that you follow the same timing as the GMAT, you do have the option here of manually adjusting time settings.

You could extend the time limits by section, or take the test completely untimed. You also have the option of setting a time limit on yourself for each question. If you go with this option, then you’ll have to move on to the next question when time runs out whether you’ve answered the question or not.

Unanswered GMAT questions can really drag down your score, but this option can be useful as you develop a test taking rhythm. At the same time, it’s not always the best practice to spend the exact same amount of time on every question in a section.

For instance, problem solving questions may take longer than data sufficiency questions in math, and reading comprehension questions may take longer than sentence corrections in verbal. This option can be useful to solidify your time management skills, but it’s also not the most realistic experience of taking the GMAT.

#4: Princeton Review

When you create an account with Princeton Review, you can access one free GMAT practice test. You can either self-proctor the exam and take it online, or you can sign up for a practice test event.

The events in the Boston area, for example, take place at local colleges, like Northeastern and Brandeis University. These events give you a realistic, testing center experience, but they’re mostly offered to promote Princeton Review classes and tutoring.

The questions are realistic and match the format of the GMAT. Some users may have trouble accessing the practice test without the right version of Java. You also must make sure that any ad-blocking software is turned off.

#5: 800 Score Test

To take the 800 Score free GMAT test, all you have to do is enter a username and password and start testing. You’ll see five practice tests, but just the first one is free. The remaining four tests are available for $24.95.

The format and visuals of these practice tests don’t closely mirror the actual GMAT exam. That being said, the questions are relatively realistic and both the math and verbal sections have the adaptive format.

At the end of your 800 Score free GMAT test, you can look over your answers, read answer explanations, and see how much time you spent on each question. If you choose not to take the test all at once, you can also save your results, return to it later, and pick up where you left off.

#6: McGraw-Hill

Head to McGraw Hill Education for six free GMAT tests, each with three of the four GMAT sections. The tests are missing the AWA section, but otherwise include all of the question types you’ll get on the GMAT.

The visuals don’t closely resemble the real GMAT exam, but the questions are decent. The Verbal and Integrated Reasoning questions are especially strong, while the Quantitative questions seem easier than what you’ll get on the real test.

You can take McGraw-Hill’s free GMAT tests timed or untimed, and you can log out and save your progress at any time. The score reports will tell you how many questions you got right in each section, and you’ll be able to review answer explanations.

Since the score reports show you your percentage of correct answers, the tests are most useful as extra practice, rather than for getting a realistic sense of your GMAT scoring level.

#7: Prep Adviser Test

The Prep Adviser test includes the Integrated Reasoning, Quantitative, and Verbal sections. Since it added the IR section recently, you’ll need to take this section separately and then navigate to the Quantitative and Verbal sections, rather than getting all sections together.

The test features decent free GMAT practice questions, but they are easier overall than what you’ll get on the real GMAT. As you take the test, you’ll see a timer and question tracker. You can also exit the test and return back to it at a later time.

The Prep Adviser free GMAT exam does not include the AWA section. You would have to add this in on your own, which you could easily do by choosing one of the official AWA prompts and giving yourself 30 minutes to write an essay.

#8: Babson (or London Business School) Practice Test

Both Babson’s FW Olin Graduate School of Business and London Business School offer the same GMAT practice resources on their websites. The tests include realistic, timed math and verbal sections. However, they are missing AWA and Integrated Reasoning.

You can also take a micro test and a mini test for shorter experiences of GMAT testing. To access the test, you’ll need to create an account.

You should note a discrepancy in the LBS instructions. It says you’re entitled to a 10-minute break between the Quantitative and Verbal sections, but on the actual GMAT, your break can only go up to eight minutes.

#9: GMAT Club Test Practice

GMAT Club offers two GMAT sections, one computer-adaptive Quantitative section and one computer-adaptive Verbal section. Both are 75 minutes long and feature realistic questions and visuals. You’ll also have access to independent sets of critical reasoning, reading comprehension, sentence correction, and math questions.

To access these free GMAT practice questions, you need to sign up for an account and respond to the activation email. When you sign up, you’ll also get to choose a few nice perks, like access to two free practice tests from Veritas Prep or one month of free trial access to a Magoosh GMAT lesson.

#10: Manhattan Review Practice Test

After you sign up for an account with Manhattan Review, check your email for your account password. Once you’ve signed in, you can access a free diagnostic practice GMAT test.

The test is timed and features AWA, Integrated Reasoning, Quantitative, and Verbal sections. The AWA section is outdated, featuring two prompts instead of one.

The questions aren’t especially high-quality, with many appearing easier than what you’ll get on the actual test. While this test is OK if you need some extra free practice, it won’t do as much to help you prepare or get an accurate understanding of your scoring level.

#11: Test Prep Practice

Your final option for free GMAT practice tests comes from Test Prep Practice. Rather than full practice tests, it offers practice sections by question type for the Quantitative and Verbal section.

You’ll find sample GMAT questions for reading comprehension, sentence correction, critical reasoning, data sufficiency, and problem solving questions. None of these sections appear to be adaptive, and they don’t resemble the format of the test.

These questions are most useful for drilling skills and getting extra practice answering GMAT-type questions. However, they won’t help much in the way of pacing or getting a realistic experience of the test.

As you can see, there are some great full-length, computer-adaptive GMAT practice tests available for free, and then there are some that, while still useful, are not quite as high quality.

While you read some tips for using official GMAT practice tests above, what do you need to know about making the most of these unofficial GMAT practice tests?

How to Make the Most of Unofficial Free GMAT Practice Tests

How can you use these practice tests effectively to get ready for the GMAT? When should you take them, and how can they inform your study plan? Consider these five tips below as you design your approach to GMAT prep.

#1: Use Practice Tests to Measure Progress

Practice tests are a great way to check in and measure your progress. After you use an official GMAT test to diagnose your beginning scoring level, you can stagger unofficial practice tests throughout the weeks to gauge your score improvement.

You’ll see whether you’re meeting your goals and if not, what you can do to make your studying more effective. If you’ve stalled in a particular section, then you know you need to pay more attention there.

There’s no magic number of practice tests to take before the real exam, but many test takers swear by taking a practice test every two to three weeks. You don’t want to take so many that you burn out, but they can be very useful to see how you’re improving and gain experience taking the test.

Maybe you’ll get so familiar with the exam that the actual GMAT will seem like just one more practice test!

#2: Take Time to Reflect on Your Performance

You won’t get a ton out of a practice test if you just take it and move on. As discussed above, you should take time to note any mistakes, figure out the source of your mistakes, and figure out what you need to do to fix them.

Think carefully about your performance in each section and on each question type. Consider your pacing and whether you need to speed up or slow down. Be thoughtful about your strengths and weaknesses, and use this feedback to adjust your study plan as needed.

#3: If Missing, Add and Score Your Own AWA Section

As you saw, some of the free GMAT tests don’t include the AWA section. None of the practice tests score this section. To get the most realistic experience of the test, you should add in your own AWA section before Integrated Reasoning.

Choose a prompt from the full list, and give yourself 30 minutes to plan and type your response. You may also try to grade your essay with the AWA rubric, or perhaps you can swap essays with a fellow test taker and grade each other’s.

#4: Focus on Pacing and Time Management

Practice tests can help reinforce skills and concepts, but they’re also hugely useful for improving your time management. To do well on the GMAT, you need to get to all of the questions before time is up. On average, you have just two minutes per question.

Some of the practice GMAT exams allow you to set a time limit per question if you need to get really strict with your timing. Many also show you how much time you spent per question at the end.

You might set certain benchmarks, like you’ll have a little over half of the questions answered in a section when you’re halfway through the time. As you take practice tests, see if you’re meeting those benchmarks throughout the section, not just when you reach the end.

#5: Consider Supplementing Tests With Purchased Material

Finally, you might consider supplementing these free GMAT practice tests with purchased material. You can buy two more full-length practice tests from GMAC for $49.99, as well as 404 additional GMAT questions and answer explanations for $29.99.

As you know, official tests and questions are the most realistic, plus they get scored in the same way as the GMAT. Above any other free practice test, official GMAT questions most closely resemble what you’ll see on test day.

Many of the test prep companies mentioned above also offer additional computer-adaptive practice tests for a fee. If you want to stick to a certain format, rather than jumping between websites, you might consider purchasing these practice tests.

Overall, you want to make sure you get enough testing experience to drill skills, find a test taking rhythm, and feel confident for test day. As we close up, let’s go over some final thoughts about free GMAT practice tests.

Free GMAT Practice Tests: Final Thoughts

The GMAT is expensive, but GMAT practice tests don’t have to be. In fact, there are a bunch of high-quality, free options for computer-adaptive free GMAT practice tests scattered around the internet.

Your first stop should be GMAC’s free GMAT Prep Software, which features two practice tests and 90 practice questions. You can even take these tests several times, though you may see a few repeat questions.

To measure your progress as you study, you should take unofficial GMAT practice tests every few weeks. These tests can give you useful feedback, but just remember that they’re not using the same scoring algorithm as the official GMAT test. The scores can give you a sense of your current scoring range, but they’re not 100% accurate.

Taking practice GMAT tests is a great way to have the GMAT experience before you sit for the official test. By timing yourself and analyzing your results, you can work toward mastery of this challenging business school exam.

What’s Next?

What’s the best way to study for the GMAT? Check out these tips for designing your GMAT study plan on this full GMAT syllabus.

Are you familiar with the format and question types on the GMAT? This guide goes over the full GMAT exam pattern and has samples of each and every question type.

How is each section of the GMAT scored, and where do your section scores come from? Check out this guide to GMAT scoring for everything you need to know.

The post The 12 Best Free GMAT Practice Tests appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.

For many students, there’s an air of mystery surrounding the GMAT Integrated Reasoning section.  Designed to test real-world skills, the IR section can seem more complicated to study for than the other sections of the exam. In this guide, I’ll help you find the best tools for GMAT integrated reasoning practice.

First, I’ll talk about what the IR section tests and the types of questions you’ll see on it. Next, I’ll talk about what you need to prepare for the IR and what you should look for in your IR practice materials. Then, I’ll review both official and unofficial practice materials so that you have a good starting place to begin your practice. Finally, I’ll give you some tips for making the most out of your Integrated Reasoning GMAT practice.

What’s on the GMAT Integrated Reasoning Section?

The GMAT Integrated Reasoning section is non-adaptive (meaning the difficulty level of questions doesn’t vary depending on how you do), contains 12 questions, and lasts for 30 minutes. The IR section is scored from 1 to 8, in single-digit increments. Like the Analytical Writing Assessment, your IR score is separate from your Quantitative and Verbal scores and doesn’t factor into your total GMAT score.

IR questions a more open-ended than normal multiple choice questions. Instead of simply selecting the one right answer of five options, you may choose one, two, three, four, or even all five answers as correct. IR questions ask you to use both your Verbal and Quantitative skills together. You’ll have to analyze data in a number of forms (words, charts, tables, etc) and pull out insights from each.

There are four types of GMAT IR questions:

• Two-part analysis: these questions are often wordy and have small tables attached to them. You’ll be asked to choose two correct answers out of five or six options.

• Multi-source reasoning: these questions present information from, you guessed it, multiple sources. You’ll navigate through and analyze multiple sources of data.

• Graphic interpretation: these questions require you to analyze the information presented in a graph or a chart. You’ll have two questions, with answer choices presented in drop down menu format.

• Table analysis: data in these questions is presented in a sortable table along with three questions. To answer these questions correctly, you’ll need to differentiate between essential and nonessential information.

What Should I Look for in GMAT Integrated Reasoning Practice?

As a test-taker, it can be hard to figure out which GMAT integrated reasoning practice questions are right for you. Here are some questions to ask yourself when considering which materials to use.

#1: Do the Questions Have the Same Format as Real GMAT IR Questions?

GMAT IR questions have unique formats that are unfamiliar for most students and can be confusing. The only way to ensure you know how to approach the questions on test day is to practice with questions that look like those you’ll see on the real GMAT IR section until you’re comfortable with with their style. As such, it’s vital that your GMAT IR practice questions are the same four types and closely resemble those you’ll see on the test.

#2: Is the Resource Computerized?

You’ll take the GMAT on a computer, so it makes sense to practice on a computer as much as possible before test day. This is especially important for IR practice, since the questions require you manipulate data and interact with answers in ways that aren’t possible on paper.

#3: Does the Difficulty Level of the Practice Questions Match the Real GMAT?

While the Integrated Reasoning section isn’t adaptive, you will see questions at different difficulty levels (easy, medium, and hard). When practicing, you’ll want to make sure that your GMAT IR practice questions cover all difficulty levels so you’re prepared to solve whatever questions you see on test day.

You should also beware that unofficial questions can sometimes be much easier or harder than the questions you’ll actually see on the GMAT. If you notice that you’re doing much better or worse than usual on a specific set of practice questions, consider that they may not be very accurate.

#4: Are Practice Questions Grouped by Skill or Difficulty Level?

Targeted practice, when you focus your practice session on one specific skill or question type, is one of the most effective ways to prepare for the GMAT. If you decide to focus on solving only graphic interpretation questions for one hour-long session, you’ll learn more than if you break that same one-hour session into shorter, 15-minute sections for all four question types. You might also want target your practice by difficulty level, for instance working at solving easy questions in a shorter amount of time.

Resources that allow you to sort questions by difficulty level or skill are extremely valuable, since they make creating targeted practice sets much simpler.

Official GMAT Integrated Reasoning Practice

Using official GMAT integrated reasoning practice questions is a great way to ensure that you’re preparing with high-quality practice questions. The questions in GMAT official resources are actual, retired GMAT questions, written by the same people who write the real GMAT.

The Official Guide for GMAT Review 2017 ($28.89)

This print guide, written by GMAC, is an official study guide that covers all sections of the GMAT. The guide comes with a chapter dedicated to the Integrated Reasoning section, which reviews the question types and discusses strategies for solving problems. The guide also comes with access to an online Integrated Reasoning companion, which includes more information about the IR section as well as 50 online IR practice problems.

Overall, it’s a great place to start with your GMAT prep, including for IR.

GMATPrep (Free)

This online software gives you access to two full-length practice computer-based tests, with the option of purchasing up to six total CATs. Each of the practice tests includes one IR section, with 12 questions.

Beyond the CATs, GMATPrep includes an additional 15 free IR practice questions.

IR Prep Tool ($19.99)

This online software includes 48 IR questions, answer explanations, and customizable question sets. This resource is great because it lets you create your own sets of GMAT IR practice questions, sorting by question type and difficulty. It also lets you practice questions in either study mode (untimed) or exam mode (timed).

If you really want to focus on GMAT IR practice, this is one of the best tools available, but it’s fairly expensive for just a few dozen questions, especially compared to the full official guide.

Unofficial GMAT Integrated Reasoning Practice

Because the Integrated Reasoning section is the newest section on the GMAT, there are relatively few resources out there, especially if you compare the few GMAT Integrated Reasoning practice questions to the numerous Quant or Verbal questions. Even so, there are some high-quality GMAT IR practice materials out there that you can use to supplement the official resources in your prep.

Veritas Prep Integrated Reasoning Sample Questions

Veritas Prep has developed a number of Integrated Reasoning practice questions, and offers 14 of them free-of-charge on their website. Veritas Prep is known for having high-quality practice questions and this resource gives you realistic examples of all four types of questions that you’ll find on the IR section. The questions are also accompanied by in-depth explanations that explain why each answer is correct or incorrect.

GMAT Club’s E-Book Bundle

GMAT Club, an online forum that provides support and advice for GMAT test takers, has compiled a list of all free e-books and practice question sets that address the IR section. This resource is great for test takers who are looking for materials that include both instruction and practice questions. Note that these downloadable resources are available as PDFs, so you won’t be able to solve questions online.

GMAT Pill’s Integrated Reasoning Sample Questions

GMATPill has compiled nearly 200 IR sample questions that you can practice online. These questions are broken down into question type, with specific information on skills tested and solve rate, so you can see how hard each question is.

The online format is useful, because you’ll get used to solving the questions on a computer, but the web-based interface doesn’t look anything at all like the interface on the real GMAT. Keep that in mind as you’re practicing.

800score.com’s Integrated Reasoning Sample Questions

800score.com offers demos of the four question types in an online format that has a very similar interface to the actual GMAT. The site also offers instructional videos and other resources you can use in your prep.

Unfortunately, there are only four GMAT integrated reasoning practice questions here, but they’re of high quality and worthwhile for their similarity to actual GMAT IR questions.

4 Tips for Making the Most of Your GMAT Integrated Reasoning Practice

It’s important to make sure that you’re making the most out of your GMAT test prep by practicing smart. Here are some tips for how to make sure you’re making your GMAT IR prep valuable.

#1: Practice Your Pacing

The GMAT IR section is short – only 30 minutes to solve 12 complex, multi-step questions. It’s important to consider timing when you’re practicing. You’ll want to pay attention to how long it takes you to solve problems, particularly during practice tests, when you’ll be answering all 12 questions in one sitting. As you practice, place time limits on yourself and work to see how quickly you can solve problems.

#2: Put Away the Calculator

The IR section doesn’t let you use your own calculator, though you’ll have access to an online calculator with basic functions. Practice using the online calculator with your sample questions, or using a simple four-function calculator on your phone that mimics the simple calculator you’ll use on the test. By only using the resources you’ll actually have on the GMAT, you’ll ensure you’re comfortable and prepared on test day.

#3: Dedicate Time to IR Practice

Many test takers skip preparing for the IR section in favor of spending more time on the Quant and Verbal sections, since they’re considered more important. But as the IR section becomes more seasoned, business schools are considering IR scores more. Especially since the IR section is designed to simulate skills you’ll need in the real world, it’s important to make sure you do well on it!

While you’ll likely spend more time prepping for the Quant and Verbal sections, build in time to focus on IR. Make sure you take the IR section on every practice test you do and spend a few dedicated study sessions on IR questions.

#4: Familiarize Yourself With the Questions

The IR questions look different from every other question type on the GMAT. Spend time with the practice questions so that you familiarize yourself with the visual nature of these questions, as well as with the practice of choosing multiple right answers. Doing so will help you feel more confident on test day. It will also save you time, as you’ll be able to easily recognize question types and know what to when you take the actual exam.

What’s Next?

Learn more about the other sections of that GMAT by reading our guides on GMAT Quant and GMAT Verbal.

Is the GMAT Total score the only one that matters? Read our guide to find out how the total score is calculated and how business schools weight the different scores.

Take a look at our massive collection of GMAT sample questions to start your prep with a huge selection of practice questions for all four sections,

The post The Best GMAT IR Practice: 200+ Questions for Your Prep appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.

If you don’t have regular access to a computer or another web-enabled device, or if you simply like using pen and paper, studying with a GMAT PDF can be another way to prepare on your GMAT preparation journey.

There aren’t many high quality GMAT PDF resources out there, but in this guide, I’ll give you links to some of the best ones across a number of categories. I’ll also talk about the pros and cons of using a GMAT PDF as you’re preparing to take the GMAT.

GMAT PDFs Overview

There aren’t many GMAT study guide PDF  resources out there, and for good reason. The GMAT is a computer-adaptive test, which means that you’ll take the official GMAT on a computer at a testing center. For this reason, most GMAT prep resources are found online or have heavy online components.

While there aren’t many GMAT PDF resources out there, there are a handful of good ones that you can use in your prep. Before I talk to you about what those are, let’s learn a little bit more about using GMAT PDFs.

What Are the Pros and Cons of Using a GMAT PDF?

I’ll be honest – the cons of using a GMAT PDF vastly outweigh the pros. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t use one, however. Just keep these pros and cons in mind as you’re thinking about whether or not to use a GMAT PDF. Here are a few of the pros and cons of using PDFs in your GMAT study plans.

Pros of Using a GMAT PDF

There aren’t many pros to using a PDF to study for the GMAT, as I discussed before. Here are a couple that may, however, convince you to use them in your prep.

#1: You Can Use a GMAT PDF Any Time, Any Place

GMAT PDFs are highly portable. Simply print them out, and you can pack them easily in your backpack or purse. It’s easier to pull out a few pages of paper than it is to lug around a computer, so if you’re often on the go and want some easy review materials, PDFs are a great supplement to carry with you.

#2: You Don’t Need a Computer to Use a GMAT PDF

If you don’t have reliable access to a computer or Internet, using a PDF will help you continue to practice without the web. If you’re a test-taker who can’t get to a computer while you’re studying, print out a few PDFs to work on. You’ll have access to practice questions and test strategies that will help you improve.

Cons of Using a GMAT PDF

There are many cons to using PDFs to study for the GMAT. Here are the three biggest.

#1: GMAT PDFs Don’t Prepare You for the Computerized Aspect of the GMAT

Perhaps the biggest con of using PDFs to prepare for the GMAT is that PDFs don’t prepare you for the computerized aspect of the GMAT. As I mentioned before, you’ll have to take the GMAT on a computer, so practicing on a computer is key to increasing your comfort and understanding of the test before test day. It’s a good idea to take at least a few practice tests on a computer before test day, or you’ll waste a lot of time trying to familiarize yourself with the mechanics of working the computer.

#2: There’s Not A Great Range of PDF Resources Available

While there are many different books and online resources available to help you prepare for the GMAT, there aren’t many GMAT PDF resources around. You’re mainly limited to short GMAT Ebook free downloads, brief content reviews (like math formula lists), or flashcards. It’s hard to find a comprehensive review for the GMAT available in PDF form and you certainly won’t get into a lot of depth on any single GMAT topic by only using PDFs.

#3: There Are Not Many High Quality GMAT PDF Resources Available

Building off of my previous point, while there aren’t many GMAT PDFs out there to begin with, there are even fewer high quality GMAT PDF resources available. Most of the reputable prep companies offer resources in print or online – not as PDFs. The vast majority of PDF resources that you’ll find from prep companies are mainly advertisements for their print or online services. A lot of other PDFs come from unknown sources, which mean it’s hard to assess their quality.

What Makes a Helpful GMAT PDF?

As with any GMAT prep resource, you want to make sure that you’re using a high quality resource so that you’re well-prepared for the test. A helpful GMAT PDF should have accurate, high quality questions, clear instructions, and should easily fit into your GMAT prep plans. In the next few sections, I’ll offer some recommendations for helpful GMAT PDFs you can use.

Best GMAT Practice Test PDFs

Taking full-length practice tests is an important part of your GMAT prep. It builds your endurance for test day and helps you get used to seeing all the content on the GMAT in one sitting. Unfortunately, there aren’t many high-quality GMAT sample questions PDF resources, especially full-length tests, out there.

GMATClub’s Full-Length GMAT Practice Test PDF Set

There aren’t many full length GMAT practice PDFs available, and for good reason. Taking a computerized adaptive test (CAT) is an important part of preparing you for the test. While a full length PDF may test the same content and be the same length as a computerized GMAT, it’s important to get the full experience of taking the GMAT online.

However, you can use GMATClub’s full length GMAT practice test PDF set to practice a full-length test if you don’t have access to a computer or to build a question bank of questions to practice using pen and paper. This resource has compiled 10 full-length GMAT practice test PDFs into one document. GMATClub is known for aggregating high quality resources that are often peer-reviewed by members of the forum.

Best GMAT Study Guide PDFs

Study guides can help you focus on one specific area of the GMAT, such as quantitative formulas. GMAT PDF study guides are a good way to work on one skill or skill area without having to purchase a book.

PrepScholar GMAT Quant Math Formulas

Our math formulas GMAT study guide PDF (link coming soon!) takes you through all of the most important formulas you should memorize for the GMAT. You won’t get an equation cheat sheet on the GMAT, so it’s important to memorize these formulas ahead of time.

This resource only gives you the formulas; it doesn’t show you how to use them in the context of GMAT quant questions. You’ll need to supplement this PDF with other quant practice in order to prepare for the GMAT.

GMATClub GMAT Math Book

The GMATClub GMAT Free Math Ebook covers every important math concept that you’ll see on the GMAT. You’ll find explanations of the major content concepts the GMAT quant section will cover, as well as sample questions for each.

This GMAT study guide PDF doesn’t go into huge depth and the questions aren’t adaptive, but as I mentioned before, GMATClub is known for its high quality resources. You can also find a huge community of users in their online forum, which means that if you have questions about this resource, you can ask questions and get answers from the people who wrote it.

GMAC’S GMAT Handbook

GMAC’s GMAT Handbook is a GMAT ebook free download that takes you through everything you need to know about getting ready for the exam. It has helpful checklists of items to remember before and after the test, including registering, making a study plan, and sending your scores to schools.

If you’re unfamiliar with the basics of registering for the GMAT, crafting a study plan, and sharing your scores, this e-book will help you get started and give you useful suggestions of other resources to check out. If you’re already familiar with the mechanics of the GMAT, you can skip this one.

Best GMAT Flashcard PDFs

Flashcards are a great tool to help your prep. You can use flashcards anytime, anywhere, to review quick concepts, like math formulas or idioms.

Beat the GMAT’s Downloadable GMAT Flashcards

Beat the GMAT offers free, downloadable flashcards in PDF form for both the GMAT quant and GMAT verbal sections. You’ll have to register for an account to download these flashcards.

GMAT Club’s Downloadable GMAT Flashcards

GMATClub offers free, downloadable flashcards in PDF form for both the GMAT quant and GMAT verbal sections. You’ll have to register for an account to download these flashcards.

Review: Using GMAT PDFs for Your Prep

While PDFs aren’t a traditional resource to use when preparing for the GMAT, there are a handful of PDFs out there that can help supplement your prep if you don’t have easy access to a web-enabled device.

Make sure you’re using high quality PDFs when practicing, so that you’re well-prepared with accurate information.

What’s Next?

If PDFs aren’t your style, there are plenty of other resources out there to help you prepare for the GMAT, and we’ve reviewed them all! Check out our guides to the best GMAT books, the best free GMAT resources, and the best online GMAT resources (link coming soon!), just to name a few.

If the thought of using your GMAT flashcards PDF has you raring to go, make sure you check out our guide which explains the best way to use flashcards to boost your studying.

If cost is a concern, don’t worry. There are plenty of free GMAT prep resources that you can use as you prepare to take the test. Check out our guide to some of the best free GMAT prep resources for more information.

The post The 6 Best GMAT PDFs for Your Prep appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.

If you’ve looked at any GMAT study plan or enrolled in any GMAT prep classes, you’ve probably noticed that the first thing either one will have you do is take a full-length GMAT sample test. That’s because taking GMAT practice tests is a great way to establish your baseline skills and monitor your progress as you move towards test day. But where can you find sample tests to incorporate in your GMAT prep?

In this guide, I’ll talk about how to use sample GMAT tests to get started with your studying. First, I’ll discuss why it’s so important to take sample tests in the first place. Next, I’ll discuss what makes a good sample GMAT (all sample GMATs are not created equal). Then, I’ll give you links to free official and unofficial sample tests you can use. Finally, I’ll talk about how you can use GMAT sample tests to further your studying and get you closer to achieving your GMAT goal score.

Why Is it Important to Take GMAT Sample Tests?

Every single GMAT study plan recommends that you take sample tests at regular intervals during your GMAT prep. But why? Why go through the pain of taking this long and arduous test more than once? In this section, I’ll talk about why it’s so important to take GMAT sample papers.

#1: To Establish Your Baseline Score

It’s important to know where you’re starting before you begin studying for the GMAT.

First of all, knowing your baseline score will help you determine how many points you’ll need to grow to reach your goal score. Similarly, knowing your baseline score can also tell you whether or not your goal score is way off. For instance, if you take a practice test and are ten points away from your goal score, you may want to set a higher goal. On the other hand, if you’re 300 points away from your goal score, you may need to adjust your expectations.

Secondly, taking a sample test will help identify what you’re good at and what you’re bad at. While you may have an idea of your strengths and weaknesses before starting to prep, a sample test will make them super apparent because you’ll be practicing the correct number of questions and correct skills for each section. Maybe you’re doing really well on the quant section, but you missed every geometry section. Or, you thought you were all set on verbal, but totally bombed sentence corrections. Taking a sample test will help you see where you need to grow so you can make a solid study plan that assesses those weaknesses.

#2: To Monitor Your Progress

Taking regularly scheduled GMAT sample tests during your prep is an important way to monitor your progress. It will help you see if you’re on track to meet your goals and where you can make adjustments in your study plan. For instance, if you’ve prepped for four weeks, take a sample test, and see that you’ve already gone up 100 points, you might be able to adjust the amount of time you need to study. On the other hand, if you take a sample test and see that you’re still really far away from your goal, you might want to increase your studying hours.

You can also track your progress on specific skills. Say you missed a bunch of reading comprehension questions during your first practice test. On your second one, you can check and see how you’re doing so that you know if your practice is working.

#3: Learn the Format and Timing of the Exam

The GMAT is an intense exam. It’s long, rigorous, and intimidating. By taking full-length GMAT sample tests before test day, you can prepare for the length of the test and build up your stamina. You’ll also become familiar with the GMAT’s unique formatting, so it won’t be new or confusing to you on test day.

What Makes a Good GMAT Sample Test?

All practice tests aren’t created equal. When choosing the sample GMAT test you’re going to take, look for the following qualities.

#1: Utilizes Same Question Format and Types as the Real GMAT

You want to make sure that your GMAT sample test has questions that are as close to what you’ll see on the real GMAT as possible. Of course, the simplest way to ensure your GMAT sample tests are accurate is to use official practice tests from GMAC. However, if you do use unofficial practice materials, you should make sure that both the style and content of the test are very close to those of the real test.

GMAT questions are written in a very specific style. Practicing that style will help you understand what the questions are asking and how to answer them correctly.

The test you choose should also assess the same content as the GMAT. Why waste your time practicing something that won’t appear on the actual test? Any unofficial practice tests should have an accurate breakdown of content and question types (e.g., there’s a variety of skills tested for each section that mimics the breakdown of skills on the actual GMAT).

#2: Mimics the Difficulty Level of the Real GMAT

Taking a test that mimics the difficulty level of the real GMAT will help you get a clearer picture of your performance range. If you take a test that’s too easy or too hard, you might have an unrealistic idea of how well you’re doing. You won’t be able to make informed decisions about how to adjust your study plan accordingly and could get unnecessarily discouraged or dangerously overconfident.

#3: Is Computerized and Adaptive

The GMAT is given on a computer and is adaptive, which means that questions on the quant and verbal sections will get harder or easier as you answer questions correctly or incorrectly. When practicing, try to take computerized, adaptive tests when possible. Taking a computerized test will help you feel comfortable with testing on a computer for test day. Taking an adaptive test will help you get used to the changing difficulty level of questions and learn to avoid second guessing yourself.

Best GMAT Sample Tests

In this section, I’ll walk you through some of the best GMAT sample papers that you can find to practice with. For each, I’ll tell you where to find it and discuss some of the positives and negatives of the resource.

Official GMAT Sample Tests

Taking official GMAT sample tests is one of the best things you can do for your prep. Official GMAT sample tests contain real, retired GMAT questions, so the questions are always accurate and the content breakdown is appropriate.

GMATPrep Software by GMAC

This free, downloadable software gives you access to two free practice tests that are built using actual, retired GMAT questions. If you’d like to purchase additional exam packs (each pack contains two extra CATs), you can do so for $50 from GMAC.

This software offers the best, most accurate GMAT sample tests you can get: these tests are almost indistinguishable from the real GMAT. Not only are the questions accurate, the interface and scoring algorithms are as well. If you’re only going to take one GMAT sample test, make it this one.

Unofficial GMAT Sample Tests

While sticking to official GMAT materials is the best way to make sure you’re taking an accurate GMAT sample test, there are a number of good unofficial resources out there that make solid sample tests as well.

Veritas Prep

Veritas Prep offers one free full-length GMAT practice test with explanations. You can take the full-length test with normal time, or you can add extra time. If you’d like, you can also purchase 6 more tests for $49.

Veritas Prep offers some of the best unofficial practice tests, with accurate GMAT-style questions and in-depth answer explanations that will help you decide what and how to study.

Manhattan Prep

Manhattan Prep offers access to one free full-length CAT, with the option of purchasing five additional CATs for $49. Alternatively, you can get access to all six CATs if you buy the bundle of Manhattan Prep guides.

Manhattan Prep’s tests have a good adaptive algorithm and solid, quality questions. However, the Manhattan Prep CATs are a bit harder than the actual test, so they’re not as helpful for students who are struggling or lack confidence.

GMAT CLUB

GMAT Club offers access to two free CATs, which include extensive analytics and detailed answer explanations to help you understand why you’re missing questions. You can also purchase a $79 subscription to access an additional 26 quant CATs and seven verbal CATs.

GMAT Club’ s questions are accurate but challenging, making them a helpful resource for those looking to really test their skills and practice with especially tricky problems. However, these tests are not full-length GMAT exams. None of GMAT Club’s CATs include the integrated reasoning or analytical writing assessment sections. Similarly, the tests are offered one section at a time, so you’ll take the verbal section and the quant section in isolation, not continuously.

Kaplan

Kaplan offers two types of free full-length online GMAT practice tests: self-proctored and instructor-proctored. For the self-proctored test, you’ll receive your scores and answer explanations to peruse at your leisure. For the instructor-proctored exam, you’ll get your scores, and then work with an instructor in real-time online to get answer explanations. Both the self-proctored and instructor-proctored exams are free, but you can purchase six additional CATs for $30.

Kaplan tests are generally fairly accurate, but they have some questions that are either a little different in format or content from the GMAT. For example, you may seem some questions that ask about math skills that aren’t tested on the real GMAT.

The Economist

The Economist offers one free full-length CAT if you sign up for a seven day free trial of the Economist’s GMAT tutoring.

This CAT has solid questions, accurate scoring, and adaptive questions. However, you can only access one CAT through the Economist, so you won’t be able to aggregate your test-taking data and analyze your improvement the way you can with many of the other options on this list.

How to Use GMAT Sample Tests to Further Your Prep

Now that you’ve learned where to take the best free GMAT sample tests, here are some tips for how to incorporate these practice tests into your studying.

#1: Take a Sample Test Before You Begin Studying

Taking a sample GMAT test before you start your prep will help you target the areas you need to work on and develop a baseline score from which you can grow. When you take your first sample test, you’ll see which kinds of questions you got wrong and which kinds of questions you got right. For instance, you may see that you do well on geometry questions, but struggle with algebra. Having a detailed analysis of your strengths and weaknesses will help you decide what to focus on when you start your prep.

#2: Schedule Sample Tests Into Your Prep

When creating your customized GMAT study plan, make time to schedule sample tests into your prep. You’ll want to take the tests regularly, but you don’t need to worry about taking them every single week. Depending on how long your study schedule is, you can take sample tests bi-weekly or monthly. Check out our GMAT study plan guide (coming soon) to learn more about how to build a study schedule.

#3: Mimic Test-Day Conditions

When you take a sample GMAT test, do your best to mimic test-day conditions. That means putting your phone away, finding a quiet place to work with no interruptions, and taking the test in one sitting, with only the scheduled breaks.

Mimicking test day conditions is important for a number of reasons. For one thing, it helps you feel prepared for test day. By working with no interruptions and taking the test in one sitting, you’ll be able to get a more accurate prediction of how you’ll do when you take the actual GMAT.

Taking the test in one sitting also helps you build your endurance. The GMAT is a long test, and you should practice paying attention and focusing for the duration of the exam, just the same way you would have practice long runs to build your strength before a marathon.

Finally, turning off your phone ensures that you’re not distracted and that you’re not tempted to look up tips or hints for anything that you’re struggling with. You won’t be able to look things up on test day, so don’t do so when you’re practicing.

#4: Supplement Practice Tests With Practice Question Sets and Drills

While taking practice tests is a great way to measure your skills, supplementing these practice tests with regular work on practice question sets and drills will help take your GMAT practice to the next level. By utilizing practice question sets and drills, you’ll be able to hone in on specific targeted practice areas that you can improve on.

#5: Familiarize Yourself With the GMAT’s Format

One of the best things about taking practice CATs is that you’ll be able to improve your familiarity with the GMAT. Make sure that you take time during and after each GMAT sample test to note different features on the test. What do you click to submit answers? Where can you find a calculator on the integrated reasoning section? What happens is you skip a question? Paying attention to these smaller details will help you feel prepared and comfortable on test day.

What’s Next?

Looking to make a killer GMAT study plan? Check out our in-depth guide to crafting your own GMAT study plan.

Want to learn more about the best online practice for the GMAT? Take a look at our review of the best online GMAT practice.

If you’re looking for more content review in your prep, check out our guide to the best GMAT books.

The post GMAT Sample Tests: The Best Way to Start Studying appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.

The quantitative section is probably the most notorious and daunting section of the GMAT exam. It can feel like you need to be a genius to get a good score, but really all you need is practice!

In this guide, I’ll explain what you need to prepare for the GMAT quant section and list the best resources for GMAT math practice. Last but not least, you’ll see my best study tips for the math section to help you achieve your goal score.

What’s Tested on the GMAT Quant Section?

Simply put, the GMAT Quant section tests your ability to analyze data and draw conclusions using reasoning skills. There are two types of questions on the GMAT quant: data sufficiency and problem solving.

The quant section tests your content and analytical knowledge of basic math concepts, such as arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. Contrary to popular belief, the GMAT quant section doesn’t test on advanced math concepts. Instead, you’ll be tested on how you apply your knowledge of basic math concepts.

What Do I Need to Prepare for GMAT Quant?

When you’re studying for GMAT quant, you’ll need a mix of practice and study materials, including GMAT-style practice questions, math content review, and full-length practice tests.

It’s also vital that you use high-quality GMAT math practice resources so you don’t waste precious studying time. Below, I’ve listed the qualities to look for in your study materials for GMAT quant.

#1: Use the Same Format as the Real GMAT

The GMAT is an unique test with often confusing question formats. The more time you spend answering questions that test the same content and look the same as the real test, the more comfortable you’ll be on test day. You won’t have to waste any time wondering “Where do I submit my answer?” or “Where are the directions for this question?”

#2: Test the Same Content as the Real GMAT

The GMAT quant section tests on the following concepts: algebraic equations and inequalities, arithmetic, decimals, percentages, ratios, exponents and square roots, geometry and coordinate geometry, integers, factors, multiples, number lines, and variable operations. You need to make sure that you’re practicing all of the content included on the GMAT quant, without adding in anything extraneous or missing any areas.

#3: Be Computerized, If Possible

The GMAT is a computer adaptive test (CAT). Practicing with online questions will help you be more comfortable reading and answering questions on a computer before test day.

#4: Cover a Variety of Content Areas and Difficulty Levels

The GMAT is an adaptive test, meaning that it gets harder or easier depending on how well you’re doing. You should practice easy, medium, and hard questions so that you’re prepared for whichever levels of questions you may face.

Your GMAT quant practice question sets should include questions organized by topic, so that you can drill specific skills (e.g., coordinate geometry) that you need to work on. Drilling specific skills helps you target your practice and focus on one skill per practice section, so that you can truly master it before moving on to the next skill.

Official GMAT Quant Practice Materials

Official GMAT practice questions are written by GMAC, the same company that writes the GMAT, and are often real questions that have been retired from the actual test. Practicing with official GMAT Quant practice questions is almost always the best option, since you know they’ll be accurate representations of what you’ll see on test day.

The Official Guide for GMAT Quant Review 2017

Price: $12.53

This guide, written by GMAC, provides official GMAT prep focused on the quant portion of the exam. It includes sections that review the fundamentals of the math section of the GMAT, including algebra, geometry, and arithmetic concepts, as well as word problems. The guide includes over 300 practice questions with full answers and explanations to test your understanding, as well as full-length practice CATs.

This guide is a great resource for official practice questions, especially since the online companion lets you build personalized practice sets to hone in on specific skills. However, it doesn’t go into that much depth in its review of skills and isn’t suitable for test-takers who need substantial quant review. It’s also insufficient for students who are looking to test themselves at higher skill levels, since it includes a limited number of hard questions.

GMATPrep

Price: Free!

This online software gives you access to two full-length practice CATs, with the option of purchasing more. The software also gives you access to 45 GMAT quant practice questions and lets you sort the questions into the sets so that you can practice specific skills. You can also purchase extra question packs for an added fee from MBA.com.

Like the official quant review book, this program is a solid resource for official practice questions. It also has the very useful “Exam Mode” which will familiarize you with the exact format of the CAT. Unfortunately, the basic software doesn’t have a wide range of questions, and some of the answer explanations can be convoluted and confusing.

Unofficial GMAT Quant Books

In addition to the Official Guide for GMAT Quant Review, there are tons of unofficial prep books out there. These tend to have more extensive content review, but lower quality practice questions. Here are a few books that are worth looking into for their overviews of the quant section.

Manhattan GMAT Math Guides

These single-focus guides, which range in price from $14 – $26 on Amazon, will help you take deep-dives into the specific content areas that you’re struggling with. For instance, you can be a guide that focuses specifically on fractions, decimals, and percents, or on algebra strategy. Each guide also comes with access to six online CATs and additional online question banks that focus on the specific skill you’re working on.

Manhattan Prep guides are great because they provide in-depth instruction, so you’re really mastering the content knowledge required to solve each of the questions. However, they don’t contain as many practice questions as most competitors’ books (you’ll only get access to 25 online questions per skill), so they’re most useful when used in conjunction with the GMAT official practice materials and questions.

Kaplan GMAT Math Workbook

This book, which costs $13.38, offers comprehensive review for every part of the GMAT quant section, building up your skills as you work through it. It’s mostly focused on building your knowledge, and includes a lot of skill drills, rather than GMAT-style questions. This book is a nice option if you want to buy one resource that’ll take you through the basics of GMAT math.

However, this book doesn’t include many difficult questions and skips a few important math topics, so it’s not a good choice for people who are looking for a high score.

Manhattan Prep’s GMAT Advanced Quant

This book, which costs $15.49, is great if you need more advanced GMAT math practice to help you knock your quant score out of the park. This guide reviews more advanced concepts and offers you the opportunity to work on mainly hard questions. I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners or people who need more foundational review.

Unofficial GMAT Math Practice Tests

Practice tests are an important way to measure your progress and build your stamina on all four sections, including the quant. Here are some full-length, free CATs that you can take to develop your skills. Lots of practice tests also offer answer explanations which will help you diagnose mistakes that you made and hone your GMAT math practice.

Veritas Prep

Veritas Prep offers one free GMAT practice test with explanations. If you’d like, you can purchase 6 more tests for $49. Veritas Prep tests have solid practice questions that are reflective of the actual GMAT and offer the option to take the test with the standard time constraints or with 50% or 100% extra time.

Manhattan Prep

Manhattan Prep offers free access to one full-length GMAT online, which includes rigorous and accurate GMAT-style questions. However, this practice test doesn’t come with answer explanations, which severely limits its utility.

Kaplan

Kaplan offers two types of free online GMAT practice tests: self-proctored and instructor-proctored. For the self-proctored test, you’ll receive your scores and answer explanations to peruse at your leisure. For the instructor-proctored exam, you’ll get your scores, and then work with an instructor in real-time online to get answer explanations.

Despite extensive answer explanation, this practice test isn’t a great option for most students. Kaplan practice questions are OK, but you’ll notice that some are either a little different in format or a little off from GMAT core content. This resource can be helpful if you’d really like someone to walk you through a few questions and you aren’t planning to hire a tutor, but otherwise you should focus on other resources.

Unofficial GMAT Math Practice Question Banks

The GMAT quant section is notoriously tricky, so there are a ton of question banks out there with hundreds of GMAT math practice questions.

Nova’s GMAT Prep Course

This book, which costs $39.95, isn’t a question bank, strictly speaking, but it might as well be. This book is simply a collection of math problems with clear answer explanations. It’s a great resource if you’re looking for more GMAT quantitative practice questions, especially at harder difficulty levels. However, it does include a fair number of typos and misprints, which can be frustrating.

Tagged Question Banks in GMAT Forums

Beat the GMAT and GMAT Club are great resources for GMAT knowledge and, if you need it, emotional support as you go through the business school application process. Many users have uploaded question banks that they used to practice during their own GMAT prep, and can often help explain tricky questions.

You can search for tags in the forums like “quant questions” to find downloadable materials. Check out this list of question banks to get started.

Other GMAT Quantitative Practice Question Resources

In addition to the books and software listed above, there are a number of other resources that you can use to boost your GMAT quantitative practice.

Flashcards

Flashcards are a quick and easy way to build your fluency with formulas and rules you’ll see on the test. They can help you drill important skills at any time, in any place!

Magoosh GMAT Flashcards

Magoosh offers free online flashcards to help you practice GMAT math topics. You can download these flashcards online or as an app for iPhone or Android. They aren’t full-length GMAT questions, but rather drills that can help build your foundational knowledge.

GMAT Club Flashcards

GMAT Club flashcards are great for honing in on specific topics for each of the parts of the GMAT quant section. You’ll cover all of the math concepts tested on the GMAT in concise and easy-to-use cards.

Apps

Like flashcards, GMAT apps are helpful for studying on the go, though they’re no substitute for full-length practice tests or drilling with official GMAT questions.

Veritas Prep GMAT Question Bank

This app by Veritas Prep lets you practice hundreds of realistic GMAT math practice questions and is 100% free. You can customize and create your own GMAT quizzes to work on skills that you’re struggling with. However, some users have complained about the confusing layout and frequency of crashes.

Prep4GMAT

Prep4GMAT (or Ready4 GMAT) is a free app that has over 1,000 verbal and quantitative questions and explanations, as well as hundreds of flashcards and practice tests. It’s great for traveling, because you can download it on your phone. The app can be a bit buggy and some users report that it crashes frequently.

Economist GMAT Tutor App

The Economist’s free app covers every section of the GMAT with lessons and practice questions, and offers the Ask-a-Tutor feature, which helps put you in touch with live GMAT coaches. Unfortunately, the app doesn’t let you customize your prep, so you have to follow the prescribed lessons and question sets in order.

4 Key GMAT Math Study Tips to Help You Prep

Although having high-quality GMAT math practice practice resources is an important place to start, you also need to know how to use them effectively for high-impact prep. Check out our top study tips below:

#1: Practice Without a Calculator

You don’t get a calculator on the GMAT quant section, meaning you’ll have to do all of the arithmetic in your head. You absolutely must get practice doing these calculations by hand, so you should never use a calculator for your GMAT math practice. I know it can be frustrating, especially at first, but it’s vital that you get comfortable without a calculator or you’ll really struggle on test day.

#2: Analyze Your Practice Test Results to Target Your Prep

You can be much more efficient with your prep is use your practice tests to inform your studying. Practice tests will tell you the areas you’re doing well on and the areas that need work. For example, you might look at a practice test and realize you missed half of the exponent questions but only one geometry question. In that case, you probably need to spend more time studying exponents that geometry!

You can (and should) use your analysis to figure out which areas you need to spend the most time on, but don’t forget to review every section of the test. Getting all of the algebra questions on one practice test right doesn’t guarantee you’ll have the same success on the test itself.

#3: Familiarize Yourself With the Format of GMAT Quant Questions

The GMAT quant section only has two types of questions: problem solving and data sufficiency. Both, but especially data sufficiency, have their own unique style and quirks that you need to be comfortable navigating if you want to excel on the exam.

To that end, it’s vital you spend time familiarizing yourself with the format, features, and directions for these sections. Learn exactly what to expect and how questions will be phrased. The more familiar you are with the style of the questions, the more quickly and easily you’ll be able to answer questions.

#4: Drill the Basics

Contrary to many myths surrounding the GMAT, the quant section only tests basic math concepts that you’ll have covered in high school: pre-algebra, algebra, and geometry. What makes the GMAT math section challenging is the tricky ways it test you on these relatively basic concepts.

As such, you really have to have the foundational skills mastered to ensure you can tackle harder questions. Even if you consider yourself good at math, take the time to drill basic GMAT math skills until you’re able to quickly, easily, and accurately identify and execute the math you need to answer questions correctly.

What’s Next?

Looking to make a study plan to get you ready for test day? Read our GMAT study plan to find out where to start.

Struggling with the Verbal section? Check out our guide to the GMAT Verbal section to brush up on your skills.

Want to learn more about the GMAT total score? Take a look at our guide breaking down what it is and what it means.

The post The Best GMAT Math Practice: 500+ Questions and Tests 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.

With all of the options for GMAT prep, which ones are the most effective? Which GMAT study material will help you master the test and achieve your target score?

To help you prepare for this important exam, we’ve compiled all of the best GMAT study materials in one guide. You’ll find official and unofficial resources, prep books and online programs, free GMAT study materials and ones you can purchase.

Before diving into the full list, let’s go over what you should look for in the best GMAT study material.

What Makes for Excellent GMAT Study Material? 5 Features

There are a lot of GMAT prep resources out there, but not all of them are up to scratch. Not only should you stick to the highest quality materials, but you should also choose the ones that best match your learning style. For instance, you might prefer to self-study with books than to take a full prep course, or vice versa.

Whatever you choose, you should make sure your GMAT study materials include at least some of the following five components.

#1: Thorough Content Review

You don’t need to memorize a lot of facts and figures to do well on the GMAT, but you do need to have a certain amount of core knowledge. You must be able to interpret various types of graphs and to apply properties of geometry to solve problems, to give a couple of examples.

Many people taking the GMAT haven’t worked with the concepts it tests in years, maybe even since they left high school. If you haven’t calculated the area of a right triangle in a while, don’t worry – you’re not alone. To help you brush up on rusty skills, your study materials should go over all of the concepts that will come into play on GMAT problems.

#2: Effective Test-Taking Strategies

Doing well on the GMAT isn’t just about having great math, verbal, and reasoning skills. It’s also about being a strategic test-taker. You need to learn strategies to manage time and approach specific question types. The best study materials will offer various strategies to boost your performance.

You should try these strategies out as you study to figure out which ones work best for you. Even with a solid foundation in math concepts and verbal skills, you need to develop an effective approach to challenges like managing your time and knowing when to guess on a question.

#3: Realistic Practice Questions

As you review key concepts, you should drill skills into your memory by answering lots of practice questions. GMAT questions are tricky and challenging, and you need plenty of practice with them before the real test. 

The best GMAT study materials generally come from the test makers themselves, and you’ll see below that GMAC offers a good amount of free material, along with additional questions and tests available for purchase. Unfortunately, unofficial practice questions are less reliable: some prep companies rush to put out material and offer shoddy practice problems that don’t resemble real GMAT questions. Unrealistic practice questions aren’t going to help you on test day.

At the start of your prep, you should work with official practice questions, so that you can gain a clear sense of what GMAT questions look like. Once you’ve become familiar with the format, you’ll be able to spot and avoid low-quality imitators. Regardless, if you stick to the study resources on this list, you’ll ensure that you’re working with realistic practice questions.

#4: Computer-Adaptive Practice Tests

The Quantitative and Verbal sections of the GMAT are adaptive, meaning that the selection of questions changes as you go along to match your ability and get an accurate measure of your skills.

To gain practice with this adaptive format and get insight into your scoring level, you should use materials with realistic, computer-adaptive practice tests. They should also be timed in the same way as the GMAT and offer a testing experience as close as possible to the real thing.

#5: Clear Answer Explanations

Finally, your practice materials should give clear, thorough answer explanations that help you understand your mistakes. They should walk you through problems step by step so you know how to solve them and how to approach a similar question next time.

The least helpful study materials only give the answer and offer no explanation. Some are even filled with errors! Make sure that your study materials offer extensive answer explanations so you can learn from your mistakes.

You may not find that a single study material contains every single one of these components, but you should make sure that your materials, on the whole, include them. You might rely on one source for content review and another for practice tests and sample questions. Altogether, your materials should cover all of these important parts of effective GMAT prep.

Now let’s take a look at the best GMAT prep materials, starting with official materials that come directly from the test makers themselves.

Official GMAT Prep Materials From the Test Makers

There’s one free GMAT study material that should be part of everybody’s study plan. That’s the free GMATPrep software offered by the Graduate Management Admission Council, or GMAC.

Beyond this free software, GMAC also sells practice tests, sample questions, prep books, and online study tools. Let’s take a look at the official free GMAT study material, followed by the ones that you can purchase.

Free GMAT Prep Software

You can download GMAT Prep Software for free at MBA.com. This prep software includes two realistic, computer-adaptive, full-length practice tests, as well as 90 sample questions — 30 Quantitative, 45 Verbal, and 15 Integrated Reasoning.

The software also contains a guide explaining how to get ready for the GMAT, as well as a useful review of all of the algebra, geometry, and arithmetic concepts and word problem types that will appear on the Quantitative section.

The tests have thorough answer explanations, and they will give you an accurate sense of your scoring level, as they use the official GMAT scoring algorithm. You can actually take each test more than once, but you may see a few repeat questions after the first time.

The free GMAT Prep Software is a great way to start your GMAT prep, and it’s most useful for realistic practice tests and sample questions. It’s not as useful for a comprehensive review of content beyond the Quantitative section, nor will it tell you much about time management or other test-taking strategies.

Official GMAT Prep Books You Can Buy

GMAC offers three books for the GMAT. One is a comprehensive guide, while the other two are section-specific and help you prepare for the math and verbal sections. Read on to learn about the details of each book, along with the pros and cons of preparing for the GMAT from these books.

Note that all of the prices below come from the official GMAC site, but you should be able to find the books much cheaper on Amazon.

The Official Guide for GMAT Review, $45.95  

• 900 practice questions with answers and explanations
• Diagnostic practice test
• Six months’ access to 50 online Integrated Reasoning questions
• Comprehensive math review for the Quantitative section
• Grammar review for the Verbal section
• Chapter with details on Integrated Reasoning
• Study tips to help you get ready

The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review, $19.95

• 300 math questions from past GMAT tests
• Questions organized in order of difficulty
• Access to an online question bank where you can create your own question sets
• Access to videos from test takers and GMAC staff who share tips on GMAT prep

The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review, $19.95

• 300 verbal questions from past GMAT tests
• Questions organized in order of difficulty
• Access to an online question bank where you can make your own question sets
• Access to videos from real test takers and GMAC staff with tips on GMAT prep

All three books together cost $85.85 on MBA.com, or you can order them for a total of $49.21 on Amazon.

Pros and Cons of Official GMAT Prep Books

Should you study for the GMAT from books and their accompanying online study tools? As with any study material, there are pros and cons to these books.

Pros

• Most realistic practice questions and practice tests available
• Diagnostic test will give the most accurate measure of your scoring level
• Excellent Integrated Reasoning practice questions accompany official study guide
• Comprehensive math and verbal review

Cons

• Not a ton of concept review apart from math and grammar rules
• Not useful for test taking strategies
• Only one additional practice test
• Books may not be as convenient as online resources, plus you’re solely responsible for sticking to your study plan and recording your progress.

The official GMAT prep books are excellent for practice questions and practice tests, and they offer great math and grammar review. For a more thorough content review and test-taking strategies, though, you’d benefit from supplementing these books with other materials.

Now that you have a sense of the official GMAT prep books, let’s take a look at the online study tools that GMAC offers.

Official Online Study Tools From GMAC

Each of the following study tools integrates with the free GMAT Prep Software. Basically, they add practice tests or practice questions to the software you already have.

We’ll break down each option, and then list out the packages that offer various combos of these resources.

GMAT Prep Exam Pack 1, $49.99

• 2 full-length computer adaptive practice tests with answer explanations
• 90 additional practice questions
• Enhanced score reporting. You’ll see your math and verbal results by question type, and your IR report will tell you about your time management. You’ll get enhanced score reports on both the exam pack practice tests and the free ones already on the GMAT Prep Software.

GMAT Prep Exam Pack 2, $49.99

• Two more full length computer adaptive practice tests with answers (no answer explanations)
• Enhanced score reporting as in Exam Pack 1 for included practice tests and the free tests that come with the GMAT Prep Software.

GMAT Prep Question Pack 1, $29.99

• 404 GMAT questions and answer explanations — 200 Quantitative, 180 Verbal, and 24 Integrated Reasoning
• Integrates with the GMAT Prep software, so you can create your own question sets and answer questions individually or as part of a full-length practice test

GMAT Focus Online Quantitative Diagnostic Tool, $29.99 – $79.99

• Can be purchased as individual exam or set of three exams
• Quantitative exam with a detailed, diagnostic score report and comprehensive answer explanations
• Can purchase the Focus exam more than once, but after the fourth time will start to see repeat questions

Integrated Reasoning Prep Tool, $19.99

• 48 Integrated Reasoning questions and answer explanations
• Create your own question sets by type or difficulty level
• Score your results and track your time management

GMAT Write, $29.99

• Writing tool for the AWA section
• Up to four practice essays scored in real time using the same automated essay-scoring engine used by the official GMAT exam
• You’ll get a score, suggestions for improvement, and detailed feedback on your analysis, supporting examples, essay structure, and use of language.

Combo Packs

The resources above are the main online study tools offered by GMAC, and all of them integrate with the free GMAT Prep Software. In addition to buying them individually, you can also purchase them in two combinations at a slightly reduced price. Below are the two combo packages from GMAC.

The Premium GMAT Study Collection, $405.77

• Includes the following books, online tools, and paper-based GMAT tests:
• The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 2017
• The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review, 2017
• The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review, 2017
• GMATPrep Exam Pack 1
• GMATPrep Exam Pack 2
• GMATPrep Question Pack 1
• GMAT Paper Tests Set I, II, and III (9 past, paper-based GMAT exams with an answer sheet and instructions for calculating your score)
• GMAT Focus Online Quantitative Diagnostic Tool, set of 3
• IR Prep Tool

The On Demand GMAT Study Collection, $319.92

• GMAT Paper Tests I, II, and III
• GMAT Focus Online Quantitative Diagnostic Tool
• IR Prep Tool
• GMAT Prep Question Pack 1
• GMAT Prep Exam Pack I
• GMAT Prep Exam Pack 2
• Including both the paper-based and online practice tests, this package includes 13 complete GMAT exams and more than 1,100 practice questions

As you saw, both combos include GMAT paper tests, which you can download as a pdf separately for $29.99. You’ll get nine full-length tests, but all of them are paper-based, so they don’t offer a very realistic experience of the exam.

Given all of these options, how can you decide which, if any, are most useful to you?

Which Official GMAT Prep Materials Are Best for You?

At this point, you may be feeling overwhelmed by all of the options — and these are just the official GMAT study materials from GMAC! Given all of these choices, which one should you buy? Should you splurge on a combo? Should you stick to the free software and forget about the add-ons?

Everyone’s needs are a little different, but for most students I recommend the exam packs and question packs over any of the other online tools. These official practice tests and questions are the best ones out there, since they come from the test makers themselves. Plus, they get scored by the official GMAT scoring algorithm, so they’ll give you the most realistic assessment of your score.

Many people take a practice test every two to three weeks to measure their progress. If this practice is part of your study plan, then you should probably buy one or both of the exam packs. If the price is too steep, then you can find other free or inexpensive practice tests online, but they won’t be as realistic as these official ones.

The other study tools could be useful if you have a specific weakness you need to shore up, but most people should buy an exam pack and/or question pack and not worry about the rest. While official GMAT materials are excellent for practice tests and practice questions, they’re somewhat lacking in content review (the books prioritize math and grammar concepts) and won’t tell you much in the way of test-taking strategy.

Third-party prep materials and programs are more helpful for strategy and content review. Let’s take a look at the best unofficial GMAT study materials.

Best Unofficial GMAT Study Materials

Below you’ll find the best GMAT study materials produced by third-party test prep companies, not by the Graduate Management Admission Council. As we did above, let’s start with the best books and then look at the best online resources.

Best GMAT Prep Books

These books rise to the top for GMAT prep books, both because of their comprehensive review of content and their accompanying online components with practice tests and practice questions.

Read on to learn more about each book or set of books.

Manhattan Prep Strategy Guide Set, $133.64

Manhattan Prep offers a bundle of 10 GMAT guides full of strategy and content review. Along with the books, you’ll get access to six full-length, computer-adaptive practice tests and over 200 additional practice questions. The questions come with detailed answer explanations.

The Manhattan Prep books do an excellent job of teaching strategy and subject material, plus they have thorough question sets to help you drill skills and improve as a test taker. They are geared toward highly motivated students looking to score in top percentiles.

Each guide delves into a specific area or question type, like algebra, word problems, number properties, sentence corrections, and reading comprehension. You can buy the guides individually for between $15 and $20 each.

The main downside is the hefty cost of the books, plus the sheer amount of material means you’ll need to work hard to get through it all. Some students also feel that the Quantitative questions are more difficult than the actual GMAT, meaning that the questions are not as realistic as they could be.

Kaplan GMAT Premier, $25.86

Kaplan’s prep book is a popular one among students getting ready to take the GMAT. It offers extensive review for all sections of the test, plus five computer-adaptive tests online and an additional paper-based one in the book. Beyond the practice tests, you can answer 200 questions online, and those looking for an extra math challenge can try 40 advanced math questions with detailed answer explanations.

Unfortunately, because access to online tests and questions expires after a year, you should probably buy a new, rather than used, copy of the Kaplan book. You’ll also be able to watch video lessons recorded by Kaplan faculty.

The main downside of this book is that it lacks the specialization of books like the Manhattan Prep strategy guides. While its 600+ pages contain thorough review, they don’t break down each concept and question type in the same level of detail as a more specialized guide.That being said, Kaplan does offer math and verbal-specific workbooks for just about $13 apiece.

Some students also say that the Kaplan guide is not the best resource for breaking into the 700s. While it will improve your score, it’s not the best book for scoring in the very top percentiles.

PowerScore Verbal Guides, $24.99 each

PowerScore offers four guides for the Verbal section: the PowerScore Reading Comprehension Bible, the PowerScore Sentence Correction Bible, the PowerScore Critical Reasoning Bible, and the PowerScore GMAT Verbal Workbook. Each guide costs $24.99 on Powerscore.com, but you can purchase the three bibles all together for $69.99. (Unfortunately, PowerScore doesn’t yet offer guides for the Quantitative sections.)

These guides offer great, in-depth reviews and practice for those looking to improve their Verbal performance and boost their time management skills. They break down each question type, teaches specific strategies, and shows you how to avoid common pitfalls and errors. If you find yourself repeating the same mistakes in the Verbal section, then the PowerScore Verbal Trilogy could be an excellent resource for breaking through and making real improvement.

These guides are best for drilling skills, answering practice questions, and learning strategies. However, they don’t go over the fundamentals. You’ll need a solid foundation in Verbal concepts before studying from these books. 

Beyond paper books, prep companies also offer some helpful online resources. Below are the best unofficial online materials.

Best Online GMAT Study Materials

These are the best online GMAT practice resources. The free GMAT study materials aren’t always very reliable, but most of the options below include at least one free practice test, plus additional practice tests available for purchase. Some also offer online GMAT prep courses or other study materials.

Veritas Prep

Veritas Prep offers realistic, excellent GMAT practice tests, one for free and six additional for $48. The tests are computer-adaptive and look very similar to the real GMAT.

If you need accommodations, you can adjust time settings to get 50% or 100% extra time. At the end of the test, you’ll be able to review your performance and read over detailed answer explanations.

These practice tests are great for supplementing your other GMAT study materials and getting extra test-taking practice.

Manhattan Prep  

Manhattan Prep offers one free computer-adaptive practice test online and six more for $49. You can follow the typical time limits or set a time limit per question to give yourself an efficiency boost. The questions look like the real thing, but the visuals of the exam don’t match what you’ll see on test day.

These tests are a decent option for getting additional test taking practice and answering all the GMAT question types at various difficulty levels. Just remember that the actual GMAT will look different from the Manhattan Prep tests in terms of visuals and formatting.

Kaplan

Kaplan offers high-quality, computer adaptive practice tests that include every question type on the GMAT. Each question comes with both written and video answer explanations. You can take one practice test for free, buy four more for $149, or eight more for $199. The questions accurately resemble real GMAT questions, as do the visuals of the tests.

The main downside of Kaplan’s practice tests is the high price point. However, the price includes access to over 1,500 practice questions and the Kaplan GMAT prep app that lets you study from anywhere on your phone.

While practice tests, question banks, and prep books are your main options for GMAT study materials, you may also be interested in supplemental study tools, like apps and flashcards. Let’s look at a few supplemental GMAT study materials that can help you get ready for the test.

Supplemental GMAT Study Materials

There are some supplemental GMAT study materials that help you insert a little bit of prep into your daily routine. Check out the best apps and other supplemental GMAT study tools.

The Official Guide for GMAT Review 2015 Mobile App, $4.99

This app links with the GMAT Prep Software to track your progress, plus it includes 50 practice questions of all types. You can create question sets and answer them casually or under time limits.

The app also comes with a six-month subscription to the above-mentioned Integrated Reasoning tool. If you’re looking for extra GMAT practice through your phone, then the official app has the best practice questions.

Prep4GMAT, Free

This app has about 1,000 practice questions and 100 flash cards to help you get ready. A scoring tool tells you what you got right and wrong and whether or not you need to improve your speed.

This free tool is a useful way to insert a little extra prep into your day, but by no means should it be your only source of GMAT prep. Note that users have noticed a few spelling errors in the questions.

Magoosh GMAT Math Flashcards, Free

Anyone looking to brush up on math formulas and concepts may appreciate the Magoosh app, which contains 425 flashcards testing a range of GMAT math concepts. The app has an easy to use interface and is good for people who want extra math practice on the go.

While this app won’t give you thorough math lessons, it’s a good way to remind yourself of key math formulas while you’re on your lunch break or taking the subway to and from work.

GMAT Question of the Day, Free

GMAT Question of the Day is a great free study tool offered by a variety of GMAT prep companies. You can find them online or sign up for a daily email.

As the name indicates, GMAT Question of the Day is a study tool that simply gives you one GMAT question to answer every day. Some study tools actually provide two questions, one math and one quantitative.

These study tools don’t tend to include AWA or Integrated Reasoning, instead sticking to math and verbal (usually critical reasoning or sentence correction questions, not reading comprehension) problems.

The top Question of the Day tools come from Kaplan, Ready 4 GMAT, Beat the GMAT, Atlantic GMAT, and GMAT Club. You can read more about the pros and cons of each one in this full guide. (coming soon)

Again, these supplemental study tools are a good way to insert a little extra GMAT prep into your day, particularly those days when you don’t have time for more comprehensive study. They’re not sufficient as your only GMAT study materials, but they will help you learn, uncover weak spots, and stay engaged with the exam on a daily basis.

Once you’ve decided on and collected all your GMAT study materials, how can you use them in an effective way? Consider these five tips for designing your GMAT study plan.

How to Create Your GMAT Study Plan: 5 Key Tips

There’s no one-size-fits-all GMAT study plan, as the most effective study plans are customized to your unique profile as a test taker. You need to reflect on your strengths and weaknesses and put effort toward the areas where you can improve the most.

A person with excellent verbal skills will likely need to focus more on prepping for the Quantitative section, while someone who uses math and graphs in their daily life may want to hone in on Verbal prep. The step no one should skip is writing down a clear study plan with specific steps to meet their goals.

As you design your study plan, consider these five tips.

#1: Make Studying a Routine

It’s tough to make time for studying, especially if you’re simultaneously working a full-time job or juggling other professional and personal commitments. To meet your studying goals, try to make a routine of studying.

Rather than trying to squeeze in studying time at random, set aside a specific time on the same days each week. Then, stick to your plan! By turning studying into a routine, you’ll optimize your ability to develop skills while ensuring that you don’t fall short of your goals.

#2: Take a Diagnostic Practice Test

Before you get going with studying, you should set aside three and a half hours to take a GMAT practice test. Nothing will get you familiar with the exam like taking an entire practice test.

You’ll learn about the test and realize questions about it you didn’t know you had. Beyond familiarizing yourself with the test, you’ll get a sense of your initial scoring level.

Don’t have high expectations for this first test. Rather, you’re using it to identify your weaknesses and all of the areas where you can improve. Then, you can use your results to inform your plan going forward.

#3: Target Your Weak Areas

Don’t waste valuable study time going over and over question types and concepts that you already know. Instead, you’ll see the most progress if you focus your efforts on your weak areas.

Find out where you’re lacking and what confuses you, and work extensively there. By targeting your weak areas, you’ll see the biggest score improvements.

Your diagnostic practice test will help you identify these areas of confusion so that you can direct your attention toward them.

#4: Take a Practice Test Every Few Weeks

As mentioned earlier, many students take a practice test every few weeks to become better test takers and to gauge their progress. You can see whether your scores are getting better and reassess your strengths and weaknesses.

Doing well on the GMAT doesn’t have much to do with memorizing facts and figures. Instead, you need to be a skilled test taker. Taking practice tests will help you develop your test taking skills, as well as learn how to answer certain question types, practice managing your time, and try out different strategies.

#5: Don’t Be Afraid to Make Changes

While you should write out a specific study plan before you start, you shouldn’t be afraid to make changes to it. Consider the study plan a living document that you can revise as you go along.

If you find your progress has stalled, you should reflect on what you’ve been doing and what you need to alter. By taking practice tests as you go along, you can measure your improvement, or lack thereof, and use these reports to amend your approach.

In closing, let’s go over what you need to remember about the best GMAT prep materials and how to use them to get ready for this important exam.

Best GMAT Study Materials: Final Thoughts

Before you can start studying for the GMAT, you need to collect GMAT prep materials.

Official materials will always contain the best practice questions and offer the most accurate assessment of your scoring level, so everyone’s first step should be downloading the free GMATPrep Software from MBA.com. This excellent resource features two full-length practice tests, 90 practice questions, and a full math review. Because the software is made by the test makers, it has the most realistic practice questions, plus it uses the official scoring algorithm.

While official materials should definitely be a part of your GMAT arsenal, you may also supplement with unofficial books and practice tests. Third parties like Veritas Prep, Manhattan Prep, and Kaplan offer excellent resources. Beyond practice tests, they give thorough content review and test-taking strategies. But remember that as tempting as those free GMAT study materials you find online might be, you should make sure that they are really worth using, with practice questions of various difficulty levels, computer-adaptive practice tests, and a realistic experience of the test.

By taking time to study in the months leading up to your test date, you’ll be able to tackle all of the material and make significant progress toward your target GMAT scores.

What’s Next?

Did you know that you can find a lot of GMAT material online for free? Check out this full list of free GMAT practice tests available around the web.

Once you’ve collected your GMAT study materials, what do you do next? This guide has 23 key tips for preparing for the GMAT.

The GMAT is a scary test, but how hard is it, really? Check out this guide to learn just how difficult the GMAT is and how you can tackle the challenge.

The post GMAT Study Material: 20 Best Prep Resources to Raise Your Score appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.

If you’ve started to prepare for the GMAT, you’ve probably noticed that there are dozens of different GMAT books on the market. As you’re deciding what to buy, it’s important to understand what makes a good GMAT prep book, so you’re not wasting your time and money on a tool that won’t help you.

In this guide, we’ll talk about what makes a good GMAT prep book and then give recommendations about the eight best GMAT prep books for a range of circumstances. We’ll also discuss other GMAT prep resources and talk about how to choose the right book for you.

What Makes a Good GMAT Prep Book?

A good GMAT test prep book will help you get a higher GMAT score with realistic practice and rigorous content review. As you’re deciding which book to purchase, consider the following qualities that make a prep guide stand out from the rest.

Realistic Test Questions

It’s extremely important for your book to have realistic test questions. GMAT questions are written in a very specific style. Having realistic practice questions helps you familiarize yourself with the style of these questions and practice the skill sets you really need to do well on the test. Practicing with unrealistic questions will waste your time and may lead to you developing strategies that won’t help you on the test or worse, will lead you to wrong answers.

The best sources of realistic GMAT practice questions are the official GMAT guides and prep software. You can also get questions that closely resemble actual test questions in solid GMAT test prep books, though they’ll never be as good as the official practice questions.

Comprehensive Answer Explanations

While virtually all GMAT books offer answer keys, the best GMAT prep guides will have answer keys and comprehensive, detailed explanations of why each answer is correct. Thorough answer explanations will help you understand the skills and strategies you need to do well on the test. 

In fact, we think this is so important that PrepScholar GMAT’s online course offers thorough answer explanations for each of our over 1,000 practice questions that explain not only why the correct answer works but also why each incorrect answer doesn’t.

Full-Length Practice Tests

Taking full-length practice tests is one of the best ways to make sure that you’re getting a realistic GRE prep experience. The GMAT is a long test. It’s important to build up your stamina by practicing the test in its entirety, so you don’t get fatigued on test day. Think of it like a marathon. A marathon runner would never go out and run without doing some long training runs. As a GMAT test-taker, you should build up your endurance by taking full-length practice tests, too.

Because the GMAT is a computer-based test, taking computer-based practice tests is the best possible option to realistically simulate test day. Good GMAT books will often include the ability to access online practice tests and test question banks.

Useful Test-Taking Strategies

The GMAT is a unique test. In addition to building your knowledge of the content covered on the exam, it’s important to build an internal bank of test-taking strategies that you can rely on during the test. These strategies may have to do with time management, quickly eliminating wrong answers, identifying question types, making educated guesses or other skills. Having these skills will help you save time and quickly get to the correct answer on test day.

Clear Review Sections

The best GMAT books help you learn about the content that’s covered on the exam.  The book should have clearly defined review sections that help you build your skills in different areas. For instance, the book may contain a chapter on sentence correction questions, with lessons to build your knowledge and drills to build your skills. The explanations in these chapters should be logical, easy-to-understand, and followed up with exercises or questions that test your knowledge.

While good GMAT prep books don’t have to have all of these qualities, they should have at least one or two specific purpose and strengths that will help you achieve your GMAT goals. Now that you know more about the criteria that makes a good GMAT book, let’s take a look at eight examples.

The 8 Best GMAT Prep Books

I’ve reviewed the eight very best GMAT books below. For each, I explain what it includes, what is especially good about it, what drawbacks you should be aware of, and how you can decide if it’s the best GMAT prep book for you.

Most Realistic GMAT Prep: The Official Guide to the GMAT Review 2018

Price: $54.36 (for the bundle with all three books); $27.93 (for just the GMAT Review 2018 guide and online question bank)

This three-book bundle contains all the basic info you need to know about the test, as well as actual retired test questions from the GMAT. The three books included in the bundle are: GMAT Review 2018 Guide, GMAT Quantitative Review 2018 Guide, and GMAT Verbal Review 2018 Guide. Between all three of these books, the entire test is covered.

In addition to the book bundle, your purchase will give you access to an online question bank with over 1500 questions, including 220 all-new test questions that were just retired from the real exam. All practice questions, both in the book and online, come with answer explanations.

Pros:

• This is the guide you need if you’re looking to practice with real questions (which you should be). These guides are super realistic because they’re written by the test-maker.

• The online practice interface comes with an exam mode, which is identical to what you’ll see on the real test day, so you can familiarize yourself with what questions will look like and how you can navigate throughout the test.

• The guide is not too expensive. In most cases, it’s worth it to buy the bundle with the three guides, rather than just the official guide. This gives you access to over 600 more questions.

Cons:

• The guide gives access to a lot of test questions, but not to full-length practice tests. Remember, it’s important to take full length practice tests to help build your stamina and comfort with the exam. While the guide doesn’t offer full-length tests, you can get access to official, full-length GMAT practice tests for free by using the corresponding GMATPrep software. For more information about online practice options, check out our guide to online GMAT prep.

• While this guide has the most realistic test questions available, it doesn’t have much more. There is very little in the way of strategy in these guides.

• These guides don’t have a lot of questions on the highly difficult end of the question spectrum. If you’re looking to get a 700+ GMAT score, you might be better served with other materials.

• Some of the answer explanations (particularly in the quant and sentence correction sections) can be too simplistic or confusing.

Who Should Buy This Book:

Despite it’s flaws, I recommend most students purchase this book bundle. It’s one of the best resources for getting realistic questions. But be aware that you’ll need to supplement the practice question bank with full-length practice tests in order to be fully prepared.

Best Overall GMAT Prep Book: The Complete GMAT Strategy Guide Set by Manhattan Prep

Price: $133.64 for the complete set of strategy guides

This Manhattan Prep bundle provides a comprehensive overview of all topics seen on the GMAT. The 10 books that make up this bundle are designed to provide a substantial learning impact for students by helping them develop the knowledge, skills, and strategic thinking they need to do well on the test. The set includes the following books: GMAT RoadMap; Fractions, Decimals, and Percents; Algebra; Word Problems; Geometry; Number Properties; Critical Reasoning; Reading Comprehension; Sentence Correction; and Integrated Reasoning and Essay. You can purchase all of the books individually or as a bundle.

These GMAT prep books come with a year-long subscription to web materials and practice tests. Each book dives into a specific section of the test with detailed instruction tailored to that particular section. The books don’t emphasize the use of quick tips or tricks; rather, they focus on building a methodology and skillset to strengthen your performance. They’ll help you build a deep base of content knowledge and a set of reliable test-taking strategies that you can rely on for exam day.

Pros:

• The Manhattan prep books focus on teaching the fundamentals behind questions. This builds a deep understanding of the test because you’ll have test-taking strategies that directly correlate to the content covered in the exam.

• Each book provides in-depth instruction about one specific part of the exam, so you can mix-and-match the exact guides you need based on your strengths and weakness.

• The bundle comes with access to six full-length, computer adaptive practice tests that accurately simulate test-day conditions.

Cons:

• At over 100 dollars, the Manhattan prep books are fairly expensive. You can always buy just a few of the books if you know what you want to focus on, but if you’re looking for a complete guide, this one is a definite investment.

• The test questions tend to err on the more difficult side, so they might be challenging for test-takers who are not looking to score a 650+.

• There are a few typos in the verbal practice problems. This usually isn’t a big deal, but the errors can sometimes be confusing.

• This is a very comprehensive test prep set, and requires a significant time investment to really see an improvement.

Who Should Buy This Book:

The Manhattan Prep books are a solid test prep package that can benefit most test-takers, especially if you’re looking to learn content rather than strategy. If you have a lot of time to devote to your prep and you’re serious about building a studying schedule, this is the book for you. If you don’t have as much time or are only looking to work on specific sections of the test, you should consider purchasing the guides you need individually.

Best Prep Book for Building a GMAT Foundation: Veritas Prep Complete GMAT Course Set

Price: $250.00 for the complete strategy guide

The Veritas Prep Complete GMAT Course Set includes a total of 15 guides (8 for the quant section, 6 for the verbal section, AWA and test simulation booklet). The package includes access to online resources, including hundreds of free practice questions and one full-length, adaptive practice test. The online resources include in-depth guides to 14 of the world’s top business schools. Each of the books is clearly named and contains specific, clear strategies for tackling the types of questions covered.

Pros:

• Every single one of the Veritas Prep guides is packed with practice questions, and the bundle includes access to an online guide with more practice questions.

• The Veritas Prep books are clearly written and offer in-depth coverage of each topic.

• The practice questions are known for being difficult and unique.

Cons:

• The Veritas Prep course set online comes with just one full-length adaptive practice test. By contrast, Manhattan Prep offers six.

• These books are extremely expensive ($250+). You can buy the guides individually, but if you’re looking for a complete strategy guide and you’re worried about price, Manhattan Prep is probably a better option.

Who Should Buy This Book

Get the Veritas Prep guides if you’re looking for a lot of practice questions, but don’t necessarily feel worried about simulating online practice. This would be a good companion set with the Official GMAT Guide, which offers a lot of online practice. It’s also a good set to buy if price is not a concern.

Best Overall Prep Book for the GMAT Quantitative Section: Total GMAT Math by Jeff Sackmann

Price: $59.95

Total GMAT Math is designed to be a total overview of the GMAT quantitative section. It’s all about math, obviously! No verbal questions or strategies here.

The book contains tutorials explaining every type of question that you’re likely to see on the GMAT quant section. There are forty sections that review different question types, followed by a drill section with exercises to make sure you can apply what you’ve just learned. There are over 500 exercises in the book and over 300 GMAT practice questions. Of those 300 questions, 100 are “challenge questions” designed to simulate the hardest questions you may see on the test.

Pros:

• There are a lot (300+) of GMAT-style math questions to help you practice.

• There are even more (500+) of exercises that aren’t GMAT style, but still build up your math knowledge. These include drills that are targeted at building the underlying skills you need for the exam.

• The guide covers all the topics tested on the GMAT and each question type gets a section.

• The questions come with good answer explanations, complete with diagrams and solid strategy suggestions.

Cons:

• Total GMAT Math‘s format can be a bit confusing. The text is densely packed. If you’re going to use it, make sure you read the first section (“How to Use This Book”) to make the most of it.

• The structure of the chapters is bit unorthodox, with no real logic or sequence to the chapters, meaning that sections stand alone and don’t really build on each other, skill-wise.

• No summary sheets – the book would be more useful if there were key concepts or words highlighted at the end of each section.

• It’s on the expensive side for one book.

Who Should Buy This Book:

If you’re looking to build a foundation for the GMAT quantitative section, this is the book for you. The extensive questions and drills in Total GMAT Math will help you focus on the skills you need to feel confident about the quantitative section.

Best Overall Prep Book for the GMAT Verbal Section: Kaplan’s GMAT Verbal Workbook

Price: $13.37

Does the idea of the GMAT verbal section make your palms start sweating? Never fear! Kaplan’s GMAT Verbal Workbook will help you build a strong foundational knowledge for all of the specific verbal skills required on the GMAT.

The book provides straightforward strategies to cover every section (Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning, and Sentence Completion) on the verbal section. The book also provides a Vocabulary and Idioms list that are helpful, particularly for non-native English speakers.

Pros:

• Kaplan GMAT Verbal offers realistic strategies for every part of the Verbal section.

• It does a good job of explaining the difference between casual reading and GMAT reading and specifically teaching you how to read for the GMAT. The Reading Comprehension section is very strong in general and chock full of strategies and tips that will help build your skills.

• The Critical Reasoning strategies are also very helpful — you’ll learn how to approach the questions systematically and efficiently to reduce errors.

• Contains 2220 GMAT-style questions that are on the harder side, so you can really up your score.

• It’s cheap! Who doesn’t love a book that’s under $15?

Cons:

• The Sentence Correction section is a little bit weaker, only containing 5 pages plus a grammar section in the back. If you’re a non-native English speaker, this is probably not enough for you to get the hang of the concepts tested by these questions.

• The question banks in Kaplan GMAT Verbal overlap with those from the Kaplan Premier book, so if you’ve already bought that, you’ll be reusing questions.

• Some of the questions, particularly those on the Critical Reasoning section, are slightly different in style from those on the GMAT. Make sure you’re taking official practice tests as well so this doesn’t throw you off.

Who Should Buy This Book:

If you need to build a foundation for the verbal section, Kaplan GMAT Verbal is the book for you. This is a solid all-in-one verbal book that you can cover in a few weeks.

Best Prep Book if You’re Looking to Really Boost Your Quant Score: GMAT Advanced Quant by Manhattan Prep

Price: $16.22

This book, from Manhattan Prep, is designed for students seeking a top GMAT score. It’s geared at students who are already scoring at the 70th percentile on the quantitative section. It provides techniques for approaching the most difficult GMAT math problems.

There are over 250 practice questions in GMAT Advanced Quant, which are all extremely difficult. The book also includes access to two additional online practice sets. The sections included are Problem Solving Principles, Problem Solving Strategies & Tactics, Data Sufficiency Principles, Data Sufficiency Strategy & Tactics, Pattern Questions, Common Terms & Quadratic Templates, Visual Solutions, Hybrid Problems, and a chapter called “Workout Sets,” which contains practice problems.

Pros:

• • • If you’re already doing well on the quantitative section, this will help you push yourself even further. It covers concepts and strategies that aren’t reviewed in depth in either the full Manhattan Prep or full Veritas Prep guides.
    • The content really pushes you to the “next level” of thinking, particularly by ensuring you’re working on very difficult practice questions.
    • The problems in GMAT Advanced Quant are all much more challenging than anything in the GMAT Official Guide, which are generally easy or medium questions. These questions will prepare you for the hardest questions you may see on the quantitative section.
    • It’s a cheap supplemental to your other practice books.

Cons:

• • • GMAT Advanced Quant is not very useful for anyone scoring below the 70th percentile. It doesn’t cover any basic quant concepts and assumes a high level of knowledge.
    • There are a few typos in the book that can make it hard or impossible to get the right answer to some of the questions.

Who Should Buy This Book:

If you want to be a top-scorer on the quant section, GMAT Advanced Quant is the guide for you. Many guides only offer easy or medium questions, whereas this guide offers the chance to practice hard questions that you’ll encounter if you’re a top-scorer.

Best Prep Book to Help Develop Your GMAT Strategy: The GMAT Roadmap: Expert Advice Through Test Day by Manhattan GMAT

Price: $18.10

The GMAT Roadmap gives you a blueprint to follow as you get ready for the GMAT. This book isn’t focused on content knowledge; it focuses on helping you develop an excellent test and preparation strategy, and then getting you to achieve that strategy.

Manhattan’s GMAT Roadmap helps you map out your studying, develop and stick to a game plan, and manage your test anxiety. It also includes access to six online practice tests.

Pros:

• • • It’s like having a personal coach in your pocket (or on your Kindle) — this book will really guide you through every step of the studying process.

• • • GMAT Roadmap provides solid study tips to maximize your study sessions.
  • • It includes tips from test takers and instructors, as well as tips for international students.

• • • The book includes some high-level overview of the different test sections (for instance, telling you what kinds of questions you’ll see on the verbal section). It also gives a detailed overview of the test, including length for each section, order of the sections, and types of skills tested.

Cons:

• • • Some of the advice is a little too obvious, such as getting a good night’s sleep before the exam.
    • The chapter on test day expectations is not very in-depth and will likely leave you with some questions.
    • This isn’t as useful for people who have already taken the GMAT, because it’s primarily designed for people who aren’t familiar with what will be on the test. If you’ve taken the test before, you’ve seen what’s on it and you’ll know about the basics of its formatting.

Who Should Buy This Book:

If you’re a first-timer, GMAT Roadmap is a great book that helps you manage your expectations, put together a plan, and stick to it through test day.

Best Prep Book If You Struggle With Critical Reasoning: The PowerScore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible

Price: $31.79

The GMAT Critical Reasoning questions are notoriously difficult. This book will teach you how to understand GMAT argumentation, how to recognize question types, and how to separate correct answer from incorrect answers. It offers an in-depth overview of Critical Reasoning strategies and approaches to different questions.

Pros:

• • • PowerScore GMAT Critical Reasoning clearly divides CR question types and gives specific strategies for each type of question. It also addresses common mistakes for each question type.
    • The CR practice questions are very realistic.
    • Every question is accompanied by solid explanations that help you make sure that you’re not just solving a question, but solving it in the correct way.

Cons:

• • • PowerScore GMAT Critical Reasoning doesn’t include any tests or online content.
    • There aren’t that many practice questions. You’ll probably want to supplement with more official practice tests or questions.
    • Though most of the answer explanations are very clear, a few can be a bit long-winded or confusing.
    • The price point is slightly high for a book that focuses so narrowly on one question type.

WHO SHOULD BUY THIS BOOK:

If you’re trying to improve your Verbal score and have noticed that Critical Reasoning is a weak point for you, this is a great book to hone in on a very specific set of skills.

How Can You Choose the Best GMAT Prep Book for You?

It’s important to make sure you choose the right GMAT book for you. Consider the following factors when deciding what book to buy:

What Are Your Goals?

It’s extremely important to think about your goals when you’re considering which prep book to buy. After all, your GMAT test prep book will be a time and money investment. You want to make sure it’s meeting your needs. For instance, if you’re starting from scratch and want to learn a lot about the entire test, you’ll probably want to think about purchasing one of the larger strategy guides. If you’ve taken the test before or if you feel confident in your skills in most sections, you might consider purchasing a guide that works on a specific area that you struggle with.

Is the Book You Want to Buy Good Quality?

Buying a good quality prep book is just as important as buying a GMAT prep book that meets your goals. You don’t want to waste your money or time on a book that’s filled with inaccurate information or bad strategies. Not only will incorrect information not prepare you for the test, it could actually hurt you. If you’re practicing the wrong skills, you’ll be unprepared for the skills that actually appear on the GMAT.

Make sure the book you buy is high quality. Check out our reviews here and read the reviews on Amazon. Knowing what other people think will help inform your decision.

What’s Your Budget and Time Frame?

Make sure you’re not stretching your budget or your time frame. You want to purchase a book that is affordable and fits your study plan. If you only have a week to go before your GMAT, it’s probably not a good idea to spend $250 on a set of 12 GMAT books that you’ll never have a chance to read. Similarly, if you’re stretched for money, there are plenty of free resources around the Internet. You could buy a cheaper book, while supplementing your prep with some of the other study tools I’ll discuss in the section below.

4 Other Study Tools to Consider

You’re not confined to traditional GMAT prep books when approaching your studying. There are numerous resources (free and paid) that you can and should use in order to make sure you’re fully prepared. Here are some ideas for tools that you can use to supplement your GMAT books.

GMATPrep Official Software

This online software helps you prepare, practice, and improve. You’ll learn about the skills you need and get a step-by-step guide for preparing for the GMAT.The software includes 90 free questions with answers and explanations. You also get full-length, computer adaptive practice tests. These are great for simulating test day (and they’re official!), so you should definitely work them into your studying.

Free Online GMAT Practice Tests

Several resources offer free online practice tests. It’s important to note that these practice tests are not necessarily of high quality. It’s definitely better to take the official practice tests first. If you’ve exhausted those, try these.

• Manhattan Prep’s online free practice test
• Veritas Prep’s online free practice test
• Kaplan’s online free practice test
• Princeton Review’s online free practice test

GMAT Forums

There are a number of GMAT forums (such as Beat the GMAT and GMAT Club) out there that offer a whole range of services: test prep questions, interactions with business school and test prep company representatives, and general support. The forums also offer honest reviews of test prep options, as well as business school programs

GMAT Flashcards

Flashcards are a great way to make sure that you’re practicing any time, anywhere. Several different groups offer free GMAT flashcards that cover everything from equations to idioms. Magoosh’s free math flash cards review all the topics covered on the GMAT. Beat the GMAT also offers free GMAT flashcards that offer a complete set of GMAT “quick tips.”

What’s Next?

For some alternate GMAT study options, check out our guides to free GMAT prep, GMAT practice tests, and the best GMAT study materials.

Want an in-depth look at specific GMAT prep books? Check out our reviews of the Manhattan GMAT books and the Official GMAT Review Guide.

The post The Best GMAT Prep Books, Reviewed (2019) appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.

Practice questions are an essential part of any GMAT prep. But how do you find the best GMAT sample questions?

In this article, I’ll address what to look for in GMAT practice questions, the pros and cons of both official and unofficial GMAT test questions, and tips on creating an effective GMAT study plan using these resources.

What to Look for in GMAT Sample Questions

There are a wide variety of GMAT sample questions out there. How do you know if you’re using quality practice ones? These are a few of the characteristics of good GMAT practice questions, whether they’re official or unofficial.

#1: Same Format and Question Types as the Real GMAT

Once you start taking GMAT practice tests, you’ll get a feel for how GMAT questions should look: how long they are, what they look like on the screen, the topics they tend to cover, and the style in which they’re written, for example. In every section, there will also be a mix of question types: the quant section always includes both data sufficiency and problem-solving questions, while the verbal section always includes a mix of sentence correction, reading comprehension, and critical reasoning questions.

The GMAT example questions you choose as you prepare for the test should be as similar as possible to real questions written by the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC). The closer you can get to simulating real testing conditions, including everything from visuals to question content, the more comfortable you’ll feel on the day of the test. Also, answering GMAT practice questions that are similar to those you’ll encounter on exam day will help you gauge your progress and potential GMAT score range accurately.

#2: Computerized (and Hopefully Adaptive)

The GMAT is a computerized adaptive test (CAT), which means it adapts to the test taker’s skill level in real time to determine both their score and the mix of questions they’re given. Ideally, GMAT sample questions should follow this format, so you can be best prepared for what you’ll see and experience on test day. Practice resources in CAT format will usually advertise that fact prominently. If they don’t, they’re likely not in the format of the official GMAT.

Obviously not every resource you use will be in CAT format—for example, if you’re using a book to do drills on specific question types. But a sizable portion of your prep should be done using practice questions in CAT format.

#3: Accurate Difficulty Levels

The GMAT always includes a mix of easy, medium and difficult questions. How many you receive of each will depend partly on the computerized adaptive test: You’ll start with ‘medium’ questions, and if you answer those correctly, you’ll be given more difficult questions on average; if you answer them incorrectly, you’ll get easier questions on average. However, every test taker will receive some questions at all three difficulty levels.

Your selection of practice GMAT questions should be at the same difficulty level as the real GMAT test questions. As you prepare, you’ll be able to tell if your sample GMAT questions seem too easy or too difficult on average. Practicing with either too-difficult or too-easy questions might give you an inaccurate picture of your probable ultimate GMAT score, and could also leave you underprepared for the real GMAT.

#4: Organized by Skill and/or Difficulty

You should target your weaknesses when completing GMAT practice questions. You may struggle more with data sufficiency questions than with problem-solving questions on the quant section, for example, or you may do well on most geometry questions but wrestle more with trigonometry and algebra. Alternatively, you may have mastered easy questions across the board and might need to focus on medium and/or difficult questions instead.

Resources that offer customizable sets (based on question type, skills tested, and difficulty level) of GMAT practice questions, or that separate the questions according to those categories, will help you study more effectively and in a more organized fashion than ones that aren’t labeled according to type or that are randomly compiled. The more specifically each question is categorized, the more effectively you will be able to form a study plan that hones in on your specific problem areas.

Official GMAT Practice Questions

The Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) releases a variety of practice resources that use official GMAT sample questions, either written by the test makers themselves or adopted from retired exams. For each resource, I’ll go over what’s included, its strengths and weaknesses, and the best way to make use of it in your prep.

#1: GMATPrep Software

The official GMATPrep Software is the best resource for GMAT practice questions available. It contains two full-length simulated computerized adaptive tests. Everything is written by GMAC, so you know you’re getting the real thing. You can take the two practice tests as many times as you like, but you’ll likely repeat some of the same questions if you take each one more than once.

You can customize your sets of practice questions, choosing 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 software also includes a detailed breakdown of GMAT question types and strategies, as well as a review of skills you’ll need for the quant section.

The Good:

• It’s free for registered users of mba.com. Just create an account.

• The practice questions are identical in length, format, style, content, and visuals to what you’ll see on the GMAT.

• 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, including specific question types and skill sets

The Bad:

• Not much! The GMATPrep exams are great GMAT example tests. There aren’t many resources that can beat official questions under simulated testing conditions, and it’s free.

• However, there are only two full-length practice tests, so you’ll likely need to supplement these practice questions with other resources.

• Also, while the quant review is great, there isn’t a similar resource available on the software for the verbal section.

How to Use It:

• It’s best to start off your GMAT prep by taking one of the two full-length simulated tests on the GMATPrep software. Since the practice questions and score report are so realistic, the results will serve as a good barometer of your starting point.

• After you complete the rest of your prep with other practice questions, you should take the second GMATPrep practice test a few weeks before you take the GMAT. This will give you a good idea of where you stand before exam day.

#2: GMATPrep Question Pack 1

An official addition to the GMATPrep Software, the GMATPrep Question Pack contains 404 additional official questions.

You can create custom sets of practice questions of any length based on your needs. Each set of questions can be completed in either ‘exam mode’ (timed, under simulated test conditions) or ‘study mode’ (untimed). The Question Pack will cost you $29.99 to download.

The Good:

• This resource contains 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 isn’t much of a downside to official questions as a supplement to your overall prep.

How to Use It:

• Once you’ve taken a few practice tests and figured out your weaknesses, create custom practice question sets that target your difficult spots (particular sections, question types, or question difficulty levels). These will serve as drills to beef up your skills in those areas.

#3: The GMATPrep Exam Collection

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

• Answer explanations offer step-by-step, detailed analyses of all practice questions.

The Bad:

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

How to Use It:

• These practice questions are a great first step after you take an initial diagnostic practice test, particularly if you’re still unsure of what exactly your weak spots are.

• You can use the two full-length CAT GMATs to gauge your progress throughout your prep. Alongside the official GMATPrep Software, you’ll have four full-length tests, so you can space them out to regularly check up on how your score is improving.

#4: GMAT Write

GMAT Write is a fairly new tool released by the makers of the GMAT, meant to help you with the analytical writing assessment. It includes two unique sample prompts for the analytical writing assessment section.

GMAT Write will time your essays (30 minutes each, just like on the real exam) and score them in real time according to the GMAC rubric. It costs $29.99 to download.

The Good:

• The visuals and experience of writing the essay are highly realistic.

• The sample questions are written by GMAC, so you know they’re reliable.

• GMAT Write scores your essays according to the same criteria used on the real GMAT— ‘analyzes the issue,’ ‘supports ideas,’ ‘organizes a coherent idea,’ and ‘language control’— in real time. It’s the only official GMAC tool that will score your sample essays.

The Bad:

• There are only two unique exam prompts included, which isn’t necessarily a lot of practice for $29.99.

• You won’t get any detailed feedback, just scores in each of the four categories used to assess GMAT essays.

How to Use It:

• Use it alongside other practice tests. Many other resources only have integrated reasoning, verbal and quantitative practice questions, so adding a prompt from GMAT Write to your practice test will help you more closely simulated the experience of the actual GMAT.

#5: The GMAT Official Guide 2018

The GMAT Official Guide 2018 is a comprehensive resource for GMAT prep. Included in your purchase ($19.95) is access (both online and in print) to over 900 official practice questions, access to an accompanying site where you can customize sets of practice questions, and online videos with plenty of GMAT tips and strategies.

The Good:

• The questions are written by GMAC, so they’re high quality. The online practice questions mimic the visuals of the real GMAT.

• The practice questions are organized in order of difficulty.

The Bad:

• The answer explanations and introduction sections (where key GMAT concepts get broken down) are too complex for non-advanced students. This is especially true for the quant and sentence correction questions.

• The online question bank only allows you to save ten practice sessions at a time, so if you plan on doing more, you’ll need to delete them before starting a new session.

How to Use It:

• The online question bank is great for regular practice sessions. The question sets are customizable, and you can review them at any time.

• The book itself is a good resource to start your practice with after using the GMATPrep software as an initial diagnostic tool.

#6: IR Prep Tool

The Integrated Reasoning (IR) Prep Tool was introduced in 2014 to aid students specifically in the integrated reasoning section.

The tool includes 48 integrated reasoning questions total: 10 graphics interpretation questions, 15 multi-source reasoning questions, 15 two-part analysis questions, and eight table analysis questions.

You can create customized practice question sets, focusing on all question types or just one. You can also set the difficulty level for each practice question set. Once downloaded, you have unlimited use of the prep tool for six months. The IR Prep Tool can be downloaded for $19.99.

The Good:

• A detailed ‘help’ section breaks down each integrated reasoning question type for you and gives tips on how to approach it.

• A time management tool tracks your average time on each question type and difficulty level, allowing you to work specifically on your pacing.

The Bad:

• The IR Prep Tool doesn’t give you a specific score estimation. Your official IR score will be between 1 and 8, but the IR Prep Tool gives you a score between 0 and 100 based on your performance and time management.

How to Use It:

• There aren’t many resources out there specifically aimed at the integrated reasoning section, a frequent problem area for students, so this is a goldmine for students who have trouble with it.

• Use it to target and break down the integrated reasoning section into manageable chunks, particularly if you get overwhelmed by the fact that each question has multiple components.

#7: GMAT Focus Quantitative Diagnostic Tool

The GMAT Focus Quantitative Diagnostic Tool consists of a 24-question quantitative test (12 data sufficiency questions and 12 problem-solving questions) that uses real questions from retired exams. It’s computer adaptive and follows the style and format of the actual GMAT quant section.

You can start and stop the test manually, but you have 45 minutes total to complete the practice questions.

When you complete the test, the Focus Tool provides detailed answer explanations and an assessment of your strengths and weaknesses in terms of quant concepts.

Four unique tests are available. One test costs $29.99, and a three-test package costs $79.99.

The Good:

• The GMAT Paper Tests are the only other GMAT practice resources that use real retired GMAT questions, making the Focus Tool the only computerized adaptive resource to do so. So you get the best of both worlds with this one: real practice questions from previous GMATs and simulated testing conditions.

• The detailed assessment of your performance, including a possible score range (more accurate than an exact score, since no one practice test will give you a perfect prediction of your ultimate GMAT score) and a breakdown of your performance by question difficulty, will tell you exactly which quant skills you need to work on before the GMAT.

The Bad:

• It’s a bit pricey for just 24 questions each.

• It’s not tied into the other GMAT prep resources, so your results won’t be integrated into your GMATPrep performance reports.

How to Use It:

• After you complete one of the GMATPrep exams, this tool will help you hone in on the quant section. You’ll get an overall idea of your strengths and weaknesses in quant from the GMATPrep Software, but this tool will help you get much more specific about which skills to target in your quant prep.

#8: GMAT Paper Tests

The GMAT Paper Tests are real retired GMAT tests, written by 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:

• Most of the questions in these tests aren’t available in any of the other official GMAT practice tests or resources, so they’re especially good if you want some extra practice. This is a big plus: It’s somewhat difficult to find GMAC-authored questions that don’t overlap with other resources.

• Official questions are always a big positive in terms of GMAT prep!

The Bad:

• They’re on paper! You’ll have to score them yourself using the answer sheet, and it’s not computerized (obviously) or adaptive, so it doesn’t simulate any of the testing conditions.

• No answer explanations are included, just the answers themselves.

How to Use It:

• You may want to order these 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 GMAT Paper Tests might also serve you well if you’ve used all the other official sample GMAT questions and you want some additional prep. However, don’t rely on them to give you much info on your likely final GMAT score, since they aren’t in the official GMAT format. Use them to work through practice questions in your prep sessions instead.

Best Unofficial GMAT Practice Questions

Official GMAT questions are great, but they aren’t the only GMAT prep materials out there. There are also a variety of free and paid resources that offer quality GMAT practice questions. Here, I’ve included practice tests, books, and online question banks. For each unofficial resource, I’ll address how you can access it, its pros and cons, and the best way to incorporate it into your GMAT prep.

#1: Veritas Prep

You’ll need to create an account to access Veritas Prep’s GMAT Question Bank, but once you do, it’s completely free.

The Question Bank offers hundreds of realistic sample GMAT questions: quant, verbal, and integrated reasoning. It includes example questions of every type within those categories. Before you start your practice session, you can choose which kinds of questions you want to see. With one account, you’ll only see each practice question once.

Veritas Prep doesn’t give you an official estimated score, but it does give you an overall percentile, which measures how you did on a particular question set compared to other students who answered the same practice questions.

The Veritas Prep Question Bank is ideal for regular practice throughout your prep, particularly if you have varying amounts of time (you can do a short or lengthy session) and want to drill certain skill sets or question types. The questions from the bank aren’t in CAT format, but you can access one free computerized adaptive test through Veritas and six paid ones. Veritas Prep questions are some of the closest you’ll find to official GMAC-authored GMAT example questions.

#2: Kaplan

Kaplan has a wide variety of GMAT resources, including in-person and online prep courses, but its GMAT Premier 2018 is its flagship GMAT prep tool. Your purchase includes access to over 1,000 GMAT practice questions, six full-length practice tests (one is in the book, and five are computerized adaptive tests available online), video tutorials, an online question bank with 200 GMAT sample questions and customizable quizzes, and a mobile app that allows you to study on the go.

GMAT Premier also includes a special section of forty advanced quant practice questions and in-depth answer explanations, which can help if you’re looking for a challenge in the quant department. The Kaplan practice questions are a bit harder than the ones in Princeton Review, but the verbal questions in particular still leave something to be desired in terms of difficulty level. The sentence correction questions in particular are easier than real GMAT questions. The Kaplan quant questions fare a bit better in terms of GMAT comparability.

Like Princeton Review, Kaplan is a good resource if you’re looking for a fairly solid overview and breakdown of the exam to start your prep (after you take your first diagnostic GMATPrep test). It’s not going to be as helpful if you’re looking for a comprehensive guide to the GMAT or a massive boost in your score.

#3: Manhattan Prep

With an account, you can take one full-length computerized adaptive Manhattan Prep test for free. Six additional ones are available for $49.99, which gives you one year of unlimited access.

You can take the Manhattan Prep practice GMATs timed or untimed, and you can take complete or partial practice exams depending on your time limit during prep. After you take all six, you can reset the questions to take more. Each test includes an in-depth assessment of your performance that analyzes your strengths, weaknesses, timing, and the difficulty levels you’ve mastered.

Manhattan Prep questions are mostly quite realistic in content and difficulty level. Though the visuals aren’t perfect, they are not too far from what you’ll see on the real exam.

I’d also like to point out one of Manhattan Prep’s best resources for students looking to challenge themselves in the quant section: Their GMAT Advanced Quant book includes strategies for tackling the trickiest quant questions and over 150 realistic practice questions. This is a great resource if you’re already doing well in the quant section and looking to bump yourself up to the next level.

#4: PowerScore

PowerScore’s main claim to fame is its trilogy of GMAT Verbal Bibles: Critical Reasoning, Sentence Correction, and Reading Comprehension, along with the PowerScore Verbal Bible, which covers the entire section. The books are available for $24.99 each or $69.99 as a trilogy.

PowerScore does an excellent job of breaking down each question type within the verbal section (a great resource for non-native English speakers and anyone who struggles with verbal questions), and the sample GMAT questions included in each book are consistent with the length, difficulty, and content of those on the GMAT. Though of course the practice questions here aren’t computerized or adaptive, each book does include access to a companion website that includes extra drills and practice questions.

The main downside to PowerScore is that, while the books offer great strategies and explanations of various question types, there aren’t a substantial number of actual practice questions. The Verbal Bible, for example, contains 31 critical reasoning questions, 77 sentence correction questions, and only eight reading comprehension questions. So while these resources are great reads for test-takers who are looking for in-depth answer explanations, they’re not fantastic for substantial extra practice or regular prep sessions.

#5: 800 Score Test

Providing a username and password will get you one full-length test on 800 Score Test for free. You can download five more for $39.95, which includes a comprehensive quant and verbal review, ten sample essay questions, access to online help, and in-depth video explanations of practice questions.

The visuals at 800 Score Test aren’t much like what you’ll see on the GMAT, but the practice questions themselves are high quality, particularly in the quant section. The verbal practice questions veer a little ‘off’ and aren’t as close to the real GMAT verbal section as the quant questions are, so if you’re especially looking to focus on verbal practice questions, this might not be your best bet.

The 800 Score tests are in CAT format, though, so even though the visuals are a bit lacking, they’re not the worst resource if you only want practice questions that simulate real testing conditions. Their Test Pacer tool lets you know what question you should be on to finish in time, which is very helpful for students who have trouble with consistent pacing.

#6: Princeton Review

Princeton Review’s Cracking the GMAT, available for $21.99 on Kindle, offers a breakdown of all GMAT sections (including integrated reasoning and the analytical writing assessment), along with six full-length computerized adaptive practice exams, over 180 practice questions organized by difficulty level, and drills for each test section. Cracking the GMAT Premier is $7 more and comes with more online resources, like extra practice tests, study strategies, and video tutorials.

Princeton Review offers a decent overview of each of the GMAT sections, though it only offers the grammar and math fundamentals, not anything in the way of more advanced concepts. Indeed, where it misses the mark is mainly in the difficulty of the practice questions: Nearly none of them are as difficult as actual GMAT questions. This is especially true in the critical reasoning and reading comprehension sections. So while Cracking the GMAT may help beginners who aren’t familiar with GMAT basics (especially to start off, since it’s not an intimidating text), it’s not enough for test-takers looking to break 700 or even 650.

#7: GMAT Club

Beyond its helpful GMAT forums, GMAT Club offers a variety of useful GMAT practice materials, including practice tests and question banks.

A few practice tests and question banks are free (no account required), but access to all of their customizable quizzes, bonus questions (over 1,572) and full-length tests will run you at least $79.99 for three months of use.

GMAT Club tests aren’t exactly in CAT format, as they don’t adapt to your performance as you go along, but they do follow CAT ‘logic’ and include a mixture of difficulty levels and question types that is consistent with what you’ll usually encounter in a computerized adaptive test. The quality of the visuals and practice question content is high, with practice questions closely resembling GMAC ones.

Difficult quant questions are one of GMAT Club’s specialties, which is important as many of the other top practice resources (Princeton Review and Kaplan, for example) trend a little easier: They claim that hundreds of their quant questions are at the 700+ scoring level. So if you’re looking to wow your prospective schools with your quant score, this might be a great resource.

#8: Manhattan Review

You have several options for free practice questions and other GMAT prep materials with Manhattan Review. With an account, you can access a fairly high-quality quantitative question bank in PDF ebook form, along with a vocabulary list (good for non-native English speakers) and another free ebook, GMAT in a Nutshell, that serves as an overall guide to the test and top strategies.

The Sentence Correction Guide, downloadable for free, boasts a solid grammar review of the concepts that are more often tested in sentence correction questions, but the sentence correction practice questions themselves aren’t all quite as difficult or complex as the real ones on the GMAT.

Manhattan Review also offers a full-length free practice test, which you can access with an account. It’s a computerized adaptive test. The questions here are good for extra practice, but the difficulty levels and visuals aren’t always consistent with the actual GMAT.

3 Top Tips for Creating a GMAT Study Plan

Once you’ve selected some practice GMAT questions, it’s time to set up a study plan. It’s important not just to find the best prep materials for you, but to use them to your advantage. Here are a few tips for using your prep materials as effectively as possible:

#1: Use the Two Official GMAC Tests on the GMATPrep Software First and Last

You should start your prep with one of the two full-length GMATPrep Software tests. Since they’re computerized adaptive tests with accurate visuals and questions written by GMAC, they’re the best possible indicator of your ultimate GMAT score. The first practice test will give you a good idea of where you stand and how to begin your prep. Unless you purchase more official GMAC practice tests, take the second free test from the software a few weeks before your exam date. This will give you a good idea of your score at the end of it all, and will let you know what to brush up on last-minute before the big day.

#2: Use Different Materials to Build Different Skills

Tailor the practice GMAT materials you select to your particular needs. For example, if you’re strong in quant but weaker in verbal (or a non-native English speaker), you might use Manhattan Prep, the GMAT Focus Quantitative Diagnostic Tool, or GMAT Club practice questions for your quant prep, since they all feature more advanced quant questions. You might start out more slowly in verbal, completing grammar reviews and drills from one of the PowerScore Bibles before delving more into practice questions. Mix and match resources according to your personal GMAT goals.

#3: Note Differences Between the Conditions of Your Practice and the Conditions of the Real GMAT

Not all of your GMAT practice questions need to be (or should be) in computerized adaptive form. Sometimes you’ll need to take your time to work through a particular question, complete a drill, or review concepts. But when you do take a full-length GMAT practice test, stick to the real testing conditions as much as you can: Use double-sided scratch paper, don’t use a calculator on the quant section, take the right amount of time for each section, and take eight-minute breaks between the integrated reasoning and quant sections and before the verbal section.

Some GMAT practice materials allow you to manually time yourself, take longer or unlimited breaks, or stop and start the test. Be mindful of these differences so you don’t learn to rely on conditions (such as a longer break) that won’t exist on the day of your exam.

What’s Next?

Looking for free full-length practice tests in addition to the best practice questions? You can find a list in our guide to the best free GMAT practice tests.

Our complete collection of GMAT practice tests provides a more comprehensive overview, in addition to reviews, of all available GMAT practice tests.

Finally our guide to how long to study for the GMAT will help you set up a time-effective study plan.

The post 2000+ GMAT Sample Questions: Practice Every Question Type appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.

Taking practice tests is an essential part of any GMAT study plan. There are a number of free GMAT practice tests online, as well as several high-quality resources available for purchase.

This guide will give you a comprehensive overview of all of your GMAT practice test options, along with some tips for making the most of these materials. First, let’s go over the general GMAT practice test landscape.

GMAT Practice Tests: What Are the Options?

There are plenty of official and unofficial GMAT examples out there that will help you prepare for the exam. You might take a practice test every two or three weeks to gauge your progress toward your target scores.

The best GMAT practice test comes from the test makers themselves, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). There are two free practice tests on the GMAT Prep Software, and you can take each one multiple times. However, you might see a few repeat questions upon retake, so only your first takes will truly represent a realistic experience of the exam. GMAC also sells a couple of packages with two or four additional practice tests.

Beyond these official materials, there are unofficial practice tests from third party test prep companies. Some companies offer a free test online and sell additional tests for somewhere between $20 and $50. Others offer practice tests as part of a comprehensive GMAT prep course. These courses include classes, tutoring, access to question banks, and essay-scoring services, and they can cost $1,000 or more.

While an unofficial GMAT practice test can never be as realistic as an official one, some offer high-quality practice questions, a near-identical format to the GMAT, and realistic visuals that look the same as what you’ll see on test day.

What specific features should you look for in a GMAT practice test?

What Makes a Good Practice GMAT? 4 Features

Practice tests may be official or unofficial, free or purchased. The official GMAT practice tests are the best, since they come from the test makers themselves and use the real GMAT scoring algorithm.

Unofficial GMAT practice tests, though, can still be very high quality. The best ones share the following four features.

#1: They Have the Right Format and Timing

The best GMAT practice tests have the same format and timing as the real GMAT. They are computer-based, include all four sections, and have a timer counting down how much time you have left in each section.

A GMAT practice test should look the same as the real GMAT and show the same instruction pages. It should have the same visuals as the official GMAT and time each section accurately.

#2: They Use High-Quality Questions

The best GMAT practice tests also feature realistic, high-quality practice questions. There are certain question types in each section of the GMAT, and all of them should be represented on your practice test.

As you answer official sample questions from GMAC, you’ll get more and more familiar with what a GMAT question looks like. Eventually, you should be able to spot a question that is overly difficult, way too easy, or tests an unrelated concept.

#3: They Have Adaptive Math and Verbal Sections

The Quantitative and Verbal sections of the GMAT are adaptive, meaning that the difficulty levels of the questions change to match your ability. If you’re getting questions right, then the questions should get a little harder. If you’re making errors, then the questions should get a little easier.

The best practice tests will have a computer-adaptive format (often abbreviated as CAT, or computer-adaptive test) so that you can gain experience taking an adaptive test.

#4: They Give You a Detailed Score Report and Answer Explanations

Finally, GMAT test examples are useful for uncovering your weak areas. The best tests will give you detailed insight into your scoring level, plus they’ll deconstruct problems and go over how to solve them, step by step.

The best GMAT practice tests let you look back on your performance and learn how to solve questions you got wrong. There’s no point to taking GMAT test examples if you can’t learn from them.

With these four features in mind, we’ve selected the best resources for GMAT practice tests. We’ll start with the official ones from GMAT and then move onto the list of unofficial GMAT practice tests.

Official GMAT Practice Materials

The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) offers practice GMAT materials that are available both for free and for purchase. To access the free materials, you should download the GMAT Prep Software.

This software contains two full-length GMAT example tests, plus 90 additional sample questions. Since the practice tests draw from a large bank of questions, you can actually take each one more than once. However, you might see some repeat questions upon retake.

These free official GMAT practice tests are timed and look the same as the real GMAT. The main differences are the fact that you can pause the exam, stop it and resume at a later time, or review answers to questions as you go along. If you forgo those study tools, though, then you can get a highly realistic experience of taking the GMAT.

Beyond these free materials, you can also purchase additional tests and questions:

• Two additional full-length practice tests for $49.99
• Four additional practice tests for $99.98
• 13 full-length practice tests and 1,100 GMAT questions for $319.92
• 404 extra practice questions for $29.99

If you’re looking for lessons and content review, you can buy official GMAT prep books. GMAC offers three guides, one for the Quantitative section, one for the Verbal section, and one that goes over the test in full.

These books contain lessons on fundamental concepts, like the algebra you need to know for the math section and the grammar rules you need for Verbal. They also have an online component with more practice questions. The cost of all three books is $85.85. Individually, the section books cost $19.95 each and the comprehensive guide is $45.95.

Official GMAT questions and books can be very useful resources, as they’re the most realistic representations of the real test and they will give you the most accurate idea of your scoring level.

What you choose all depends on how you want to study and how much you want to spend. These materials don’t come along with tutoring or classes, which may be helpful depending on your learning style.

In addition to official practice tests, you could supplement your materials with unofficial tests. Let’s take a look at all the available unofficial GMAT practice tests, ranked from best to worst.

Every Unofficial GMAT Practice Test, From Best to Worst

Here’s the full list of test prep companies with GMAT practice tests, both free and available for purchase. They’re ranked from best to worst based on the realism and quality of the materials and overall costs.

Some companies offer tutoring services and classes, while others simply sell practice tests. Let’s consider each one, starting with the practice tests made by Veritas.

#1: Veritas Prep

Veritas Prep tops the list for its realistic, excellent GMAT practice tests. The format resembles the actual GMAT, and the test contains all of the question types and concepts you’ll see on the real exam.

You can access one GMAT online test for free and take it all at once or in sections. You can also choose 50% or 100% extra time if you need accommodations.

Not only are Veritas GMAT practice tests realistic, but they are also affordable. In addition to the free GMAT practice test, you can also purchase seven additional computer-adaptive practice tests for only $48.

Veritas Prep classes are much pricier, with its flagship 36-hour course priced at $1,650 and its in-person or online private tutoring priced between $2,450 and $7,450. Most students give excellent reviews of Veritas Prep’s GMAT programs.

#2: Kaplan

Kaplan offers some of the best unofficial practice GMAT tests. They have realistic formats and high-quality questions that represent every question type on the GMAT. The math and verbal sections are adaptive, and each question comes with both written and video answer explanations.  

You can take a free GMAT test online or sign up for a live, online instructor-proctored test. The online event includes live explanations from Kaplan faculty, a mini lesson from a teacher, and a live chat window where you can ask questions.

The main downside of Kaplan is that additional practice materials are relatively expensive. It costs $149 for four additional practice tests and $199 for eight practice tests. Included in both packages is access to over 1,500 practice questions, plus an accompanying mobile app that lets you practice from anywhere on your phone.

#3: Manhattan Prep

Manhattan Prep also offers realistic, high-quality GMAT questions of varying difficulty levels. The only downside is that the visuals of its GMAT practice exams don’t match what you’ll see on the real GMAT.

On Manhattan Prep tests, you can manually adjust time settings to give yourself more time in each section or set a time limit for each question. The latter feature can be a useful study tool if you’re trying to improve your efficiency.

You can take one free practice test and purchase six more full-length GMAT practice tests for $49.

#4: Princeton Review

Princeton Review offers solid practice tests, but you don’t have the option of purchasing just the materials. After taking their one free practice test, you can buy a course with 10 additional GMAT practice exams, hundreds of practice questions, video answers and explanations, and personalized feedback on your GMAT essay. This course costs $499.

The main downside of the free Princeton Review practice tests is that they can be kind of finicky. You need to have the right version of Java to access them, and you’ll have to turn off any ad-blocking software. Other than logistical issues, these practice tests offer solid preparation for the GMAT.

#5: 800 Score Test

You can find five practices tests at 800score.com, one available as a free GMAT online test, and the other four available for a total of $24.95. The questions are realistic in type, though they don’t resemble the visuals of the real test, and both the math and verbal sections are adaptive. All the tests also feature an AWA essay prompt.

At the end, you can look over your answers, review answer explanations, and learn how much time you spent on each question. If you don’t have time for a three and a half hour exam, then you can save your results, log in again later, and start from where you left off.

The main downside of these tests is that they don’t look much like the real GMAT exam. The content is decent, but the visuals are not representative of what you’ll see on test day.

#6: Manhattan Review Practice Test

Manhattan Review offers a free diagnostic practice test and online classes. The GMAT practice test is just OK, with many questions appearing easier than what you’ll get on the real test and an outdated AWA section that features two essay prompts instead of one.

The online courses appear to be updated for today’s version of the GMAT, and they include private tutors, hundreds of practice questions, and five CAT GMAT practice tests. For the most part, students give positive reviews of Manhattan Review, but it’s not as popular as other providers. Its comprehensive courses cost $990.

#7: The Economist

The Economist doesn’t offer any free practice tests. Instead, they have three packages for GMAT prep, Complete Prep, Premium Prep, and Ultimate Prep. Complete Prep costs $999 for three months, Premium costs $1,199 for three months, and Ultimate costs $1,399 for six months. The Complete plan includes three full-length GMAT practice tests, Premium plan has five, and the Ultimate plan has six.

All three plans also offer lessons, tutoring, one-on-one help, and essay scoring services to some extent, and they all offer access to over 5,000 practice questions. Overall, students speak highly of Economist Prep, with some saying that the math practice is higher quality than the verbal prep.

It has thorough answer explanations, an accurate scoring system, and an accompanying mobile app to prep anywhere from your phone. If you feel like you need one-on-one tutoring to meet your GMAT goals, then an Economist GMAT course could be worth the splurge.

#8: GMAT Pill

GMAT Pill offers one computer-adaptive practice test with its online course, which goes for $437 for a lifetime membership or $169 for the first month and $99 per month after that. In addition to the practice test, you’ll get over 80 hours of video instruction and explanations, a detailed study plan, a community discussion forum, and over a thousand practice questions.

According to reviews, most students had a positive experience with GMAT Pill. Most say that it’s best for a one-month study plan, and it’s more useful for test-taking strategy than thorough content review. GMAT Pill offers a 50-point guarantee or you’ll get your money back.

#9: McGraw-Hill

McGraw-Hill offers six free practice tests with three of the four GMAT sections; they’re missing the AWA essay. The tests are adaptive, and the questions represent all of the GMAT question types.

The visuals don’t match the GMAT, but the questions are decent, especially the Verbal and Integrated Reasoning problems. Overall, the math questions are easier than what you’ll get on the GMAT.

McGraw-Hill also sells a prep book with additional practice tests, but students say the materials are unrealistic and full of errors. While the free practice tests are a useful resource, the other materials don’t seem worth the cost.

#10: Peterson’s

For just $19.95, you can get 90 days of access to three of Peterson’s full-length GMAT practice tests. The tests are computer adaptive, but their positive features mainly end there. According to students, the tests don’t resemble the real GMAT, the difficulty levels of the questions are way off, and the answer explanations are ambiguous.

While these three tests are one of the most affordable options, it doesn’t seem like they’ll offer good practice or an accurate measure of your scoring level.

#11: Magoosh

To access Magoosh practice tests, you need to sign up for a premium account. You’ll get access to two full-length GMAT practice tests, along with 800 practice questions and 250 video lessons for a year.

Magoosh is not the most highly ranked GMAT prep provider, with students giving it mediocre reviews. It is more cost effective than some of the more popular companies, like Kaplan and Princeton Review, with its premium package going for just $99.

#12: Prep Adviser Test

Prep Adviser offers just one GMAT practice test, and you can take it for free. You’ll see an Integrated Reasoning, Quantitative, and Verbal section; AWA is missing. Overall, the questions are a bit easier than real GMAT questions.

These can be useful if you’re in need of more free practice questions, but it shouldn’t be your only or main source of GMAT prep.

#13: Test Masters

Test Masters offers nine full-length practice tests in its online course, which costs $950. The course includes three hours of tutoring, interactive and video lessons, and thousands of practice questions, drills, and lessons.

The downside of the Test Masters practice tests is that they’re all on paper, not on the computer. Since the GMAT is computer-based with two adaptive sections, these tests won’t give you an accurate experience.

If you’re going to spend close to $1,000, you should be getting computer-based CAT practice tests.

Whichever option you choose, how can you make the most of GMAT practice tests?

How to Make the Most of GMAT Practice Tests: 5 Tips

As you can see, there are lots of options for GMAT practice tests, some of them higher quality than others. Once you’ve collected your GMAT practice materials, how can you plan to use them in the most effective way possible?

Consider these five tips for making the most of GMAT practice tests.

#1: Take a Diagnostic Practice Test

You should take your first practice near the beginning of your studying to establish your baseline scoring level. To get the most accurate measure, you should use one of GMAC’s official practice tests.

Don’t set your expectations high for this first test. Rather, you should use it as a jumping off point for figuring out your weak areas, learning from your mistakes, and seeing how many points you need to improve before test day.

This initial test will establish a benchmark. Review your performance, study answer explanations, and analyze your mistakes. By figuring out what you don’t know, you can design an informed study plan that targets your weak areas.

#2: Take a Practice Test Every Two to Three Weeks

GMAT practice tests are a great way to gain experience with the exam and measure your score improvement as you study. You might take a test every two to three works to make sure you’re still making progress toward your goals.

If you find that you’ve stalled, then you’ll need to change up your approach. Practice tests help reveal what you know and where you’re struggling. Once you’ve figured this out, you can consult other prep materials to strengthen your skills.

By checking in with practice tests, you can use your results to adjust your study plan as you go along. At the same time, you should note that unofficial practice tests don’t use GMAC’s official scoring algorithm, so your score reports from unofficial practice tests may not be very accurate. Beyond the score report, you should also rely on your experience to measure your progress.

#3: Simulate Testing Conditions

The best practice tests give you a realistic experience of the GMAT. To make this experience as representative as possible, you should find a quiet space free of distractions and follow the same time limits as the real test. While most practice tests let you press pause or manually adjust time settings, you’ll get the most out of tests if you simulate testing conditions.

#4: Keep an Error Log

When you take the tests, you should write down any questions that you made a mistake on or were unsure about. Figure out why you made an error, whether you were confused on a concept or ran out of time. By logging your mistakes, you can find patterns over time and take specific steps to address your weak spots.

#5: Develop a Test-Taking Rhythm

While practice tests aren’t going to teach you everything you need to know for the GMAT, they will help you develop a test-taking rhythm. You only have an average of two minutes per question, and you’re responsible for getting to all of the questions in each section or you’ll face a severe score penalty.

As you take the tests, pay attention to the timer and develop a sense of pacing. If you find yourself wasting time on a confusing question, then it may benefit you to make your best guess and move on.

The more you practice, the better you’ll get at time management. By keeping these tips in mind, you can use practice tests in the most beneficial way possible. As we finish up, let’s go over some final thoughts about taking practice tests as you get ready for the GMAT.

GMAT Practice Tests: Final Thoughts

If you’re on the hunt for practice tests, you’ll find quite a few options around the internet. There are some high-quality free practice tests, plus many others that you can purchase on their own or as part of a GMAT prep course.

The best GMAT example tests come from the test makers, and the official offerings may be sufficient for your prep. If you’re looking for even more prep material or want to take a class or get a tutor, then you may look at a well-regarded test prep company.

It’s best to take a practice test near the beginning of your prep to gain a sense of your baseline scoring level and help inform your test prep plan. You could also take a test every few weeks to measure your improvement and figure out where you need to practice more.

Practice tests are a great way to get the GMAT test taking experience before you enter the testing center on test day. With enough practice, the real exam will feel like familiar territory.

What’s Next?

Once you’ve collected your GMAT practice materials, what should you do next? This comprehensive guide tells you exactly how to prepare for the GMAT, step by step.

Are you familiar with the exact structure of the GMAT? Check out this guide for the full GMAT exam pattern, along with sample problems of every question type.

The GMAT is a scary test, but how hard is it, really? Learn just how challenging the GMAT is in this full guide.

The post 28 GMAT Practice Tests to Help You Prepare for the Exam appeared first on Online GMAT Prep Blog by PrepScholar.