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Magoosh Blog

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mikemcgarry
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Difficult Numerical Reasoning Questions [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   24 Apr 2024, 14:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: Difficult Numerical Reasoning Questions
The GMAT Data Insights section excels at creating problems that frustrate folks who try to get through math by memorizing formulas.   It excels at creating out-of-the-box problems that really demand folks use logic and number sense to dissect the problem.   Here are four out-of-the-box Data Sufficiency problems to consider.

1) Peter went to the store to buy paint.  Small cans cost $30 and larger cans cost $80.  How many small cans of paint did he buy?

Statement #1: Peter spent $220 on paint.

Statement #2: Peter bought four cans of paint in total.

2) In a card game named Allemande, each of four players has a hand of 8 cards from a standard deck of 52.   Through a series of discards, players try to maximize the point value of their final hand.  Suits are irrelevant.   Cards Ace through 10 have a point value of the number of their card: for example, the five of any suit would be worth 5 points.   Face cards (Jack, Queen, and King) are worth 20 points each.   Does Charles have the highest value final hand?

Statement #1: Charles’ hand is worth 117 points.

Statement #2: No other player besides Charles has more than four face cards in his hand.

3) Each of three students is given fifteen tokens to spend at a fair with various tents to visit.   Some tents cost 3 tokens to enter, and some, 4 tokens.   How many tents did Amelia visit?

Statement #1: Amelia bought one token from another classmate, and spent all the tokens in her possession.

Statement #2: Not all of the tents Amelia visited were the same token-price.

4) A group of five friends have $87 dollars between them.   Each one only has bills, that is, whole dollar amounts, no coins.   Dolores has $29: does she have the most money of the five of them?

Statement #1: Three of the friends are tied for the median value, and one has two dollars less.

Statement #2: Two of the friends, Andie and Betty, have $30 between them, and each has more than $5 herself.

Solutions will come at the end of the article.

 

Success with GMAT Math
Getting an elite score on the GMAT Data Insights section is not easy.  It involves mathematical thinking, that is, thinking about math the way a mathematician would.  It does not involve blind memorization, although it involves remembering formulas and rules by understanding the logic behind them.   It involves an agile and diverse approach to problem solving that includes estimation, backsolving, and out-of-the-box thinking.   Math is all about the details, so a successful mathematical mindset involves paying attention to all the details that other neglect, such as the logic of grouping symbols.

One common complaint of students studying for the GMAT Data Insights section is that the problems look hard but then it seems easy when they read the explanation.  Math has this funny quality: when you don’t know what to do, it’s impossible, but then when you know what to do, it’s easy.   Students often focus on the very left-brain question of “what do I do“, and all too often neglect the more right-brain questions “what perspective do I bring?” and “how do I frame the problem?”  When the student brings to a problem the right perspective and frames the question in the right way, then everything about what to do becomes clear.   Math solutions do this, but if students focus only on what the solution did, they will miss the most important part: how the solution chose to frame the problem, how the solution approached the problem from scratch and made sense of it.   Perspective and framing are everything in the solution to challenging GMAT math problems, and as a student develops these capacities, problem after problem simply unfolds before that student.

Finally, think about what it means to achieve an elite math score.  For example, a score of a 51 is approximately the 96th percentile.   If student X scores a 51 for a GMAT scaled DI score, that means student X could do more math than could 96% of the test-takers.   This means that problems on which most people give up, because they don’t know how to begin, student X begins and solves correctly.   Now, think about those problems, the most challenging GMAT math problems.   Most people will look at them and not know how to begin.   There is no easy trick for beginning such problems: if there were, they wouldn’t be problems that 96% of test takers get wrong.  Nothing you can memorize and no set procedure you can follow will get you through those problems.  If there were some easy trick that allowed you to solve them, then again, 96% of test takers wouldn’t get them wrong.  These problems involve insight and creative perspectives in problem-solving, all the qualities that come only from building experience in problem-solving and learning new perspectives from problem explanations.

 

Summary
Here’s another challenging question for practice:

5) http://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/951

If you would like to add anything about your own experiences with challenging GMAT DI problems, let us know in the comments section below.



 

Practice problem explanations
1) Statement #1: How many ways can we make 220 from adding as many 30’s as we want and as many 80’s as we want?   Since 80 is bigger, I will go through cases looking at the number of 80’s we use.

Case #1: zero 80s.  Can we make 220 purely with 30’s?  No.  The number 22 is not divisible by 3, so 3 does not go evenly into it.  This case is impossible.

Case #2: one 80.  Then 220 – 80 = 140 would be left for the 30’s to make.  Well, we can’t make 140 solely with 30’s, because 14 is not divisible by 3.  This case is impossible.

Case #3: two 80’s.  Then 220 – 2*80 = 220 – 160 = 60 would be left for the 30’s to make.  We’re in luck: with two 30’s, we get 60.  Thus 220 = 80 + 80 + 30 + 30.  That’s one possibility.

Notice there can be no case #4, because three 80’s would be 240, already too big to be included in 220.   Thus, 220 = 80 + 80 + 30 + 30 is our only possibility, and we know Peter bought exactly two larger cans and two small cans.

This allows us to determine a definitive solution.  This statement, alone and by itself, is sufficient.

Statement #2: with no idea of the total price, this doesn’t tell us anything.  Let L = larger can and S = smaller can.  If he bought four cans, he could have bought {S, S, S, S}, {L, S, S, S},  {L, L, S, S}, {L, L, L, S}, or {L, L, L, L}.  The number of small cans could be anything between zero and four.  We have no way to determine a definitive answer.  This math question statement, alone and by itself, is insufficient.

Answer = (A)

2) Statement #1 is obviously not sufficient, because it only tells us about Charles, and nothing about everyone else.

Statement #2 is obviously not sufficient, because it only tells us about everyone else, and nothing about Charles.

The whole question revolves around what happens with the combined statements.

Charles has 117 points, a strong hand.  No one else has more than four face cards.  Clearly, most players, say someone with no face cards, would have to be below Charles.   We have no doubt that some players are below Charles.  Could anyone possibly have more than Charles?  Well, suppose one person had four face cards (4*20 = 80 points) and also had all four 10’s in the deck — then, that person would have a total point value of 80 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 120, higher than Charles.  So, given the combined conditions, most people will have less than Charles, but someone could have a hand worth more than Charles’s hand, so even with the combined statements, we cannot say definitively that Charles has the highest value hand.   Nothing is sufficient here.

Answer = (E)

3) This is a tricky problem.

Statement #1: Amelia had 16 tokens in total, and spent them all.  How could she do this with a combination of 3-token tents and 4-token tents?  Well, there are two possibilities.

Case I: Amelia visited four 4-token tents, four tents in total.

Case II: Amelia visited one 4-token tent and four 3-token tents, five tents in total

Since this math statement question leaves us with the ambiguity with four vs. five tents, we cannot give a definitive answer to the prompt question.  This statement, alone and by itself, is insufficient.

Statement #2: This statement, by itself, tells us very little.  How many tokens did Amelia have?  Did she spend all the tokens in her possession?  We have no way of knowing, so no way to answer the prompt question.  This statement, alone and by itself, is insufficient.

When we combine the statements, the second one becomes more significant.  Of the two cases given in statement #1, the first involves four trips to tents of the same token-price, so case #1 is not consistent with statement #2.  That leaves only case #2, which means that Amelia had to have visited exactly five tents.   Combining the statements allows us to give a definitive answer to the prompt question.  Combined, the statements are sufficient.

Answer = (C)

4) A crucial numerical fact to recognize is that 87 = 3*29.  In other words, Dolores’ share is 1/3 of the entire pot.

Statement #1: three people share the same median value.  Suppose Dolores were one of those three friends.  Then, each would have $29, and together the three of them would have 3*29 = $87.  A fourth would have $27, and we are already way over the amount of the whole group. It’s not possible for Dolores to have the median value or to be less than the median, so the only other possibility would be for Dolores to have the value greater than the median – i.e. the maximum value.   The answer to the prompt question is a clear “yes.”  This math question statement allows us to determine a definitive answer to the prompt question.  This statement, alone and by itself, is sufficient.

Statement #2: First of all, neither Andie nor Betty could have as much as Dolores has.  If Andie has just $6, then Betty could be as high as $24, but Betty can’t go any higher, because Andie must be above $5 and their sum must be $30.   So, Andie & Betty each must be lower than Dolores.   Now, between the three of them, Andie & Betty & Dolores, they must have $30 + $29 = $59, leaving only $87 – $59 = $28 for the other two people.  If the other two people have $28 together, neither one can have as much as Dolores.  Thus, Dolores has to have the most.   This statement allows us to determine a definitive answer to the prompt question.  This statement, alone and by itself, is sufficient.

Answer = (D)

 

The post Difficult Numerical Reasoning Questions appeared first on Magoosh Blog — GMAT® Exam.
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mikemcgarry
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GMAT Data Sufficiency Tips [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   07 May 2024, 14:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: GMAT Data Sufficiency Tips


The GMAT Data Insights section contains five types of questions. This post will focus on Data Sufficiency. On the GMAT, the format of each Data Sufficiency problem is the same: you’re given a question and two statements. It’s up to you to decide whether the statements give you enough information to answer the question.

You don’t need to give the answer to the actual question. You just have to decide whether either statement (or both statements) gives data that is sufficient for finding an answer—hence the term data sufficiency!

What is GMAT Data Sufficiency?
The Data Sufficiency (DS) question type is extraordinarily apt for the GMAT as getting to the correct answer is more about logic and critical reasoning than deep mathematical knowledge or ability.

On the Data Insights section, you get 45 minutes for 20 questions—of these 20 questions, approximately 5-6 will be Data Sufficiency questions. Furthermore, when the GMAT launched it’s revised test in November of 2023, Data Sufficiency questions under a few significant changes:

  • Data Sufficiency questions no longer test purely mathematical content, so you won’t be asked to solve algebraic expressions or problems based solely on numerical properties.
  • Data Sufficiency questions now focus on applying logic and reasoning strategies to real-world contexts, which means that you should expect most of the quant-based questions to be presented as word problems.
  • There are now quant and verbal Data Sufficiency question types. Verbal Data Sufficiency questions come in two flavors:
    • 1.) Questions that are require only verbal reasoning skills 2.) Questions that require a combination of verbal and quantitative reasoning skills.
So let’s talk basic strategies for approaching DS questions! The following tips will help prepare you for these uniquely challenging problems.

GMAT DS Tip #1: Memorize the Answer Choices
The answer choices always consist of the same five options in the same order. You should memorize these now!

  • A. Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
  • B. Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
  • C. Both Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question asked; but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
  • D. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.
  • E. Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient to answer the question asked, and additional data specific to the problem are needed.
Just remember, it’s “One, Two, Both, Either, or None.” Got it?

GMAT DS Tip #2: Consider the Statements Separately
For GMAT Data Sufficiency test problems, you first have to consider whether each statement, by itself, is sufficient. Only if both statements are not sufficient separately would you consider the sufficiency of the information in the combined statements.

One common mistake is to carry over information from Statement (1) into Statement (2). You have to “wipe the slate clean” after looking at Statement (1).

Helpful strategy: Consider whichever statement is the simplest first. That’s because the GMAT loves making Statement (1) a huge, complicated, juicy statement and Statement (2) something incredibly brief. If that’s the case, consider Statement (2) first.

GMAT DS Tip #3: Smart Elimination
GMAT Data Sufficiency problems test your logic skills as well as mathematics. Let’s look at a flowchart to help land on a correct answer. This is based on examining Statement (1) first, but a similar flowchart would apply if you looked at Statement (2) first instead.



So let’s talk about the choices, starting at Statement (1).

  • Case 1: Statement (1) is sufficient. That means the correct choice is either A or D. From there, it’s a simple check: Is Statement (2) ALONE also sufficient? If yes, then pick D; if not, pick A.
  • Case 2: Statement (1) is NOT sufficient. Now the correct choice is one of B, C or E. It can be a bit trickier to find the right choice in this case. Move to Statement (2).
    • Case 2A: Statement (2) is sufficient. Great! Choice B is correct.
    • Case 2B: Statement (2) is NOT sufficient. Ok, so we can eliminate B, but that still leaves C and E as contenders. Now you have to figure out if BOTH statements taken together could solve the problem. If so, then C is your answer; if not, then select E.
Notice that in either case, the first choice eliminates either two or three choices right off the bat! If you had to guess from that point onward, then your chances have improved greatly.

Practice Problem
Let’s try out our elimination strategy! Click on this practice problem from Magoosh. The solution follows.

Click here for the answer
 

D. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

Consider Statement (1) first. Suppose there are \(x\) widgets, and the price of each one is \(p\). From the given information, then we know that \(xp = 480\). Statement (1) can be interpreted mathematically as follows:

\(x(p-2) = 480 – 160\), or

\(xp-2x = 320\)

 

Since we know the value of \(xp\), the above equation can be used to solve for \(x\), and then you can derive \(p\) directly from the fact that the product is 480.

Ok, so Statement (1) is sufficient. Thus, we can eliminate three choices, B, C, and E!

Next, look at Statement (2). This one can be translated into mathematics as follows:

\(x(p+1.50) = 480 \cdot 1.25\), or

\(xp+ 1.5x = 600\)

 

It’s a similar situation, and we’d easily be able to solve for both variables. This is enough to narrow down the correct answer.

GMAT DS Tip #4: Avoid the Temptation to Calculate the Answer
GMAT Data Sufficiency is all about the question, “Could you find the answer?” The apprentice problem-solver with poor managerial instincts will dutifully work through the several steps necessary for finding actual values, all without access to a calculator, mind you.

On the other hand, the master GMAT test-taker would realize: “From the equations I built to analyze the real-world scenario I was given, I could work all the way through to a solution if I wanted to.” That, in and of itself, answers the sufficiency question right there, and that’s all you need to do! The actual correct answer values for DS questions are irrelevant.

Practice Problem
Try your hand at this question.

Click here for the answer
 

D. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

First, the given information is very helpful. If we let \(x\) stand for the number of visitors on day 1, then on day 2 we’d have \(x + 3\), and day 3 would be \(x + 6\), etc. By the time day 7 rolls around, there would have been \(x+18\) visitors.

Statement (1) tells you the total number of visitors. Avoid the temptation to solve an equation here. All you need to know is that \(x + (x+3) + (x+6) + \cdots + (x+18) = 126\) is an equation in a single variable. Even better, it’s a linear equation, which is guaranteed to have a solution. It doesn’t matter what the solution actually is; Statement (1) is sufficient.

Similarly, Statement (2) boils down to the equation, \(x+18 = 3x\)—also quite solvable.

Both statements are sufficient individually.

GMAT DS Tip #5: Focus on Sufficiency
On the GMAT test, Data Sufficiency problems may be quite misleading. As discussed above, you’re not looking for the one, correct answer. You’re answering the question, could you find the answer? And sometimes that answer is “no.”

Conclusion
GMAT Data Sufficiency problems can be very challenging. However, if you keep the five tips above in mind, you’ll be well on your way to higher and higher GMAT scores on test day!

The post GMAT Data Sufficiency Tips appeared first on Magoosh Blog — GMAT® Exam.
This Blog post was imported into the forum automatically. We hope you found it helpful. Please use the Kudos button if you did, or please PM/DM me if you found it disruptive and I will take care of it. -BB
User avatar
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mikemcgarry
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Posts: 4476
Own Kudos [?]: 28711 [0]
Given Kudos: 130
GMAT Data Sufficiency Tips [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   07 May 2024, 15:00
Expert Reply
FROM Magoosh Blog: GMAT Data Sufficiency Tips


The GMAT Data Insights section contains five types of questions. This post will focus on Data Sufficiency. On the GMAT, the format of each Data Sufficiency problem is the same: you’re given a question and two statements. It’s up to you to decide whether the statements give you enough information to answer the question.

You don’t need to give the answer to the actual question. You just have to decide whether either statement (or both statements) gives data that is sufficient for finding an answer—hence the term data sufficiency!

What is GMAT Data Sufficiency?
The Data Sufficiency (DS) question type is extraordinarily apt for the GMAT as getting to the correct answer is more about logic and critical reasoning than deep mathematical knowledge or ability.

On the Data Insights section, you get 45 minutes for 20 questions—of these 20 questions, approximately 5-6 will be Data Sufficiency questions. Furthermore, when the GMAT launched it’s revised test in November of 2023, Data Sufficiency questions under a few significant changes:

  • Data Sufficiency questions no longer test purely mathematical content, so you won’t be asked to solve algebraic expressions or problems based solely on numerical properties.
  • Data Sufficiency questions now focus on applying logic and reasoning strategies to real-world contexts, which means that you should expect most of the quant-based questions to be presented as word problems.
  • There are now quant and verbal Data Sufficiency question types. Verbal Data Sufficiency questions come in two flavors:
    • 1.) Questions that are require only verbal reasoning skills 2.) Questions that require a combination of verbal and quantitative reasoning skills.
So let’s talk basic strategies for approaching DS questions! The following tips will help prepare you for these uniquely challenging problems.

GMAT DS Tip #1: Memorize the Answer Choices
The answer choices always consist of the same five options in the same order. You should memorize these now!

  • A. Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
  • B. Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
  • C. Both Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question asked; but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
  • D. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.
  • E. Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient to answer the question asked, and additional data specific to the problem are needed.
Just remember, it’s “One, Two, Both, Either, or None.” Got it?

GMAT DS Tip #2: Consider the Statements Separately
For GMAT Data Sufficiency test problems, you first have to consider whether each statement, by itself, is sufficient. Only if both statements are not sufficient separately would you consider the sufficiency of the information in the combined statements.

One common mistake is to carry over information from Statement (1) into Statement (2). You have to “wipe the slate clean” after looking at Statement (1).

Helpful strategy: Consider whichever statement is the simplest first. That’s because the GMAT loves making Statement (1) a huge, complicated, juicy statement and Statement (2) something incredibly brief. If that’s the case, consider Statement (2) first.

GMAT DS Tip #3: Smart Elimination
GMAT Data Sufficiency problems test your logic skills as well as mathematics. Let’s look at a flowchart to help land on a correct answer. This is based on examining Statement (1) first, but a similar flowchart would apply if you looked at Statement (2) first instead.



So let’s talk about the choices, starting at Statement (1).

  • Case 1: Statement (1) is sufficient. That means the correct choice is either A or D. From there, it’s a simple check: Is Statement (2) ALONE also sufficient? If yes, then pick D; if not, pick A.
  • Case 2: Statement (1) is NOT sufficient. Now the correct choice is one of B, C or E. It can be a bit trickier to find the right choice in this case. Move to Statement (2).
    • Case 2A: Statement (2) is sufficient. Great! Choice B is correct.
    • Case 2B: Statement (2) is NOT sufficient. Ok, so we can eliminate B, but that still leaves C and E as contenders. Now you have to figure out if BOTH statements taken together could solve the problem. If so, then C is your answer; if not, then select E.
Notice that in either case, the first choice eliminates either two or three choices right off the bat! If you had to guess from that point onward, then your chances have improved greatly.

Practice Problem
Let’s try out our elimination strategy! Click on this practice problem from Magoosh. The solution follows.

Click here for the answer
 

D. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

Consider Statement (1) first. Suppose there are \(x\) widgets, and the price of each one is \(p\). From the given information, then we know that \(xp = 480\). Statement (1) can be interpreted mathematically as follows:

\(x(p-2) = 480 – 160\), or

\(xp-2x = 320\)

 

Since we know the value of \(xp\), the above equation can be used to solve for \(x\), and then you can derive \(p\) directly from the fact that the product is 480.

Ok, so Statement (1) is sufficient. Thus, we can eliminate three choices, B, C, and E!

Next, look at Statement (2). This one can be translated into mathematics as follows:

\(x(p+1.50) = 480 \cdot 1.25\), or

\(xp+ 1.5x = 600\)

 

It’s a similar situation, and we’d easily be able to solve for both variables. This is enough to narrow down the correct answer.

GMAT DS Tip #4: Avoid the Temptation to Calculate the Answer
GMAT Data Sufficiency is all about the question, “Could you find the answer?” The apprentice problem-solver with poor managerial instincts will dutifully work through the several steps necessary for finding actual values, all without access to a calculator, mind you.

On the other hand, the master GMAT test-taker would realize: “From the equations I built to analyze the real-world scenario I was given, I could work all the way through to a solution if I wanted to.” That, in and of itself, answers the sufficiency question right there, and that’s all you need to do! The actual correct answer values for DS questions are irrelevant.

Practice Problem
Try your hand at this question.

Click here for the answer
 

D. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

First, the given information is very helpful. If we let \(x\) stand for the number of visitors on day 1, then on day 2 we’d have \(x + 3\), and day 3 would be \(x + 6\), etc. By the time day 7 rolls around, there would have been \(x+18\) visitors.

Statement (1) tells you the total number of visitors. Avoid the temptation to solve an equation here. All you need to know is that \(x + (x+3) + (x+6) + \cdots + (x+18) = 126\) is an equation in a single variable. Even better, it’s a linear equation, which is guaranteed to have a solution. It doesn’t matter what the solution actually is; Statement (1) is sufficient.

Similarly, Statement (2) boils down to the equation, \(x+18 = 3x\)—also quite solvable.

Both statements are sufficient individually.

GMAT DS Tip #5: Focus on Sufficiency
On the GMAT test, Data Sufficiency problems may be quite misleading. As discussed above, you’re not looking for the one, correct answer. You’re answering the question, could you find the answer? And sometimes that answer is “no.”

Conclusion
GMAT Data Sufficiency problems can be very challenging. However, if you keep the five tips above in mind, you’ll be well on your way to higher and higher GMAT scores on test day!

The post GMAT Data Sufficiency Tips appeared first on Magoosh Blog — GMAT® Exam.
This Blog post was imported into the forum automatically. We hope you found it helpful. Please use the Kudos button if you did, or please PM/DM me if you found it disruptive and I will take care of it. -BB
User avatar
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mikemcgarry
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Posts: 4476
Own Kudos [?]: 28711 [0]
Given Kudos: 130
Free GMAT Practice Test With Answers and Explanations [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   13 May 2024, 12:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: Free GMAT Practice Test With Answers and Explanations


Magoosh is excited to offer you a free GMAT practice test (online) with video answers and explanations. The assessment will give you access to:

  • A realistic, adaptive exam that mimics the test day experience
  • Your baseline score estimate
  • A detailed report of your strengths and weaknesses to help guide your GMAT study strategy
  • A lesson plan personalized for you, based on your assessment data
  • High quality practice questions with in-depth video explanations
  • Lesson videos that cover every concept you’ll encounter on exam day
Start your free GMAT Practice Test
Enter your email here to start the test:

What to Expect from This GMAT Practice Exam
[*]Official GMAT Practice Tests: Another Important Resource[*]Planning the Rest of Your GMAT Prep[/list]
What’s a Good GMAT Score?”

With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the ins and outs of this practice test.

Free GMAT Practice Test With Answers and Explanations appeared first on Magoosh Blog — GMAT® Exam.
This Blog post was imported into the forum automatically. We hope you found it helpful. Please use the Kudos button if you did, or please PM/DM me if you found it disruptive and I will take care of it. -BB
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mikemcgarry
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Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Posts: 4476
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The Best GMAT Prep Courses: 2024 Edition with Comparison Charts [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   15 May 2024, 16:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: The Best GMAT Prep Courses: 2024 Edition with Comparison Charts


Choosing the best GMAT prep course, like choosing a business school, is all about what works best for you as an individual. There is no objectively ‘best’ course that is right for everyone, but there are six GMAT courses that should be on your radar in deciding which option suits your needs. One way to choose a course is to attend a free session or engage with some free material to see what suits you best.

To make your decision, you’ll have to consider your learning style, and which course elements—from price to score guarantees—matter most to you. Don’t worry. We’ve done the hard work for you and have broken down the pros and cons of what we consider the six best GMAT online prep courses.

Magoosh

$349
N/A
Up to 70 point score improvement guarantee
800+ practice questions and at least two practice tests.

One-year access

Princeton Review
$799
$180 an hour
575 starting score required to be eligible for the guarantee of a 645+ GMAT Focus score
3,000+ practice problems and 4 full length GMAT Focus practice tests

Four-month access

Target Test Prep
$229 per month; $699 for 6 months access
$350 per hour
Up to 130 points depending on the starting score
4,000+ practice questions
One-month to six-month access

Manhattan Prep (powered by Kaplan)
$850
$290 per hour
No score guarantee for the self-paced, on-demand course
1,100+ questions

and six practice tests

Six-month access

PrepScholar
$139-$259
4 hours of tutoring from $779
60+ score guarantee
Access to between 750-1000+ practice questions depending on plan and

2 full length practice tests

Three or four month access

e-GMAT
$199-$399
N/A
N/A
5,000+ questions and five practice tests
Two-month to six-month access

Magoosh is consistently ranked among the best GMAT prep courses. And that is not just due to the low price, but to the quality of content, which is on par with competitors. While the cost of Magoosh courses is much lower, you are getting all the content and support you need to ace the test, with one of the best GMAT online prep courses available.

Pros:

  • You can sign up for a seven-day free trial. There is a money back guarantee if you don’t like the product within seven days.
  • Up to 70 score improvement guarantee on the total premium package
  • Fast, expert email and chat support for students.
  • Not only do you get a year’s access to content (the longest access period in the best prep course list), but you can also pause your plan if you need to.
  • Accurate score predictor based on scores and official reports of previous students
  • Study schedules and checklists, a progress tracker, and smart feedback can help you stay on track.
  • Magoosh is the only test prep company on the list to offer both video and written answer explanations.
Cons:

  • You get only two practice tests.
Princeton Review is a go-to comprehensive course with great question explanations and quality content. They offer solid, tried, and tested courses. The course offers a wealth of video lessons and a truly epic amount of practice questions. It’s a great option for students who value being able to drill through a lot of material The self-paced offering starts at $799 and features a 7 day money back guarantee.

Pros:

  • There are adaptive drills that simulate the way the GMAT algorithm increases or decreases the level of difficulty according to your ability.
  • 4 full-length GMAT Focus practice tests.
  • If you don’t improve your score you can get a refund on your tuition. You are also able to repeat the program for free if you are not satisfied.
  • Time-saving adaptive video-based lessons
Cons:

  • Self-study students only get four months of access to content.
  • The interface and videos are not as slick as those of companies like Manhattan.
  • The course is comparatively expensive.

Target Test Prep focused on Quant only and built up a reputation as an excellent Quant course. Now, there is a verbal component added at no extra cost. Target Test Prep is a great option for students who want to do a lot of questions and to see in-depth performance analytics.

Pros:

  • All test prep plans include live expert support
  • The content has inbuilt Intelligent metrics and error tracking
  • You can test out the course with a five-day free trial
Cons:

  • The customer test builder doesn’t mimic the real GMAT test experience. While you can get free and paid-for practice tests from other sources, computer-adaptive practice tests would have made this offering more competitive.
  • Still Quant heavy and not as robust an option for students who need Verbal help.

Manhattan Prep is known for its engaging videos and instructors. The materials are top-notch and the self-study GMAT guides frequently make the best GMAT books lists.

Pros:

  • Materials are engaging and tutors have a reputation for dynamic and entertaining lessons.
  • You get access to a discussion forum to delve into GMAT topics.
Cons:

  • There is no score guarantee for Manhattan Prep’s self-paced, on-demand course option.
  • Practice tests are known for being slightly more difficult than the GMAT itself. This could be a pro or a con depending on what motivates you.

PrepScholar’s GMAT prep course is designed around personalization. Students take a diagnostic test upfront, and their proprietary algorithm works to create a custom study plan. You can also see which skills you have mastered and which you still need to work on on your student dashboard.

Pros:

  • The personalized curriculum is perfect for those studying under time pressure.
Cons:

  • PrepScholar does not have as many practice questions as its competitors. To be fair though, few students get through all the practice questions on offer, in addition to those in the Official guide.
  • Your access period for PrepScholar is well below those of competitors—you get only four months of access for their flagship Completely Customised Online GMAT Prep course.

e-GMAT has a reputation for helping non-native English speakers improve their Verbal scores. Highly ranked and dedicated tutors are employed full-time.

Pros:

  • You get a customized study plan.
  • Ability quizzes isolate your areas of weakness so you can focus on gaps.
  • There is a seven-day money-back guarantee if you are unhappy with the course.
  • The scoring algorithm of practice tests tries to mimic that of the GMAT.
Cons:

  • There are no one-on-one tutoring options available.

GMAT Prep FAQ
Is there anything I need to know about the GMAT Focus when starting my prep?

Show Answer
The GMAT underwent a major overhaul in November 2023 with the updated test being called the GMAT Focus. This name was used to distinguish between the new format and the old GMAT while both versions of the test were available to test-takers. Starting in July 2024 there will only be the updated test available and the name GMAT Focus will no longer be used. All of the prep courses featured here have made extensive upgrades to their materials to make sure students are prepping for the new test format effectively. Make sure that any supplemental resources you use, including books and internet resources, are referencing the new test format.

 

Are the more expensive GMAT prep courses worth the price?

Show Answer
That depends on what you are getting and what you are looking for. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that cost always equals quality. In general, expect to pay more for more one-on-one time with an instructor. Private tutoring can often be the best way to identify and address gaps in your knowledge. If you are unsure about which is the best GMAT online prep course for you, be sure to utilize free trials or reach out about sitting in on a live session. This will allow you see how each prep course fits with your personal learning style.

 

What’s the difference between online and in-person GMAT prep courses?

Show Answer
While the content should be the same, in-person GMAT prep courses give you the chance to ask any questions you might have about the topics. In-person classes can also make you feel more accountable and can give you access to a group of peers all going through the same thing. The best GMAT online prep courses, on the other hand, will give you all the materials you need to work around your schedule and ability level. Learners who appreciate being able to learn when and where they want while also enjoying the freedom to adapt their study plans often do better with online courses. Students who value live instructor feedback and the accountability of a live course will prefer in-person courses. Whether in-person or online classes are better for you, will depend on your learning style, schedule, and requirements.

 

What are the best GMAT prep apps?

Show Answer
One of the few things you need to rote learn for the GMAT is idioms. Idioms are tested in an estimated 1 out of 5 Sentence Correction questions, so they are vital to know. This GMAT idioms flashcards app from Magoosh gives you all the most tested idioms specific to the GMAT, in an easy-to-learn flashcard format.

Speaking of easy-to-learn flashcard formats, the Magoosh Math flashcards give you an overview of all the GMAT math rules. While math is very much about practice, these flashcards make the general rules that you’ll need for Data Sufficiency more explicit and easier to remember.

If you are looking for a mental math workout before the test, look no further than the Math Tricks app and Calculator: The game app which allow you to practice the mental math tricks that can speed up your problem-solving in the GMAT. While these are not GMAT apps per se, they will help you to solve mental math problems more quickly and creatively.

The Wiley Efficient Learning mobile app also needs a mention as a must-have GMAT app. It is essentially a more portable version of the Official Guide. It will give you access to the same Official Guide Questions in the book and online question bank, just on the go.

 

What materials should I use in my GMAT prep?

Show Answer
You’ll want to get a copy of the GMAT™ Official Guide so you can practice with real GMAT questions. But you’ll also need some guidance on how to answer the questions. For insights, tools, and strategies, you should get hold of some kind of GMAT prep book. Don’t underestimate the usefulness of a GMAT study schedule to keep you on track and focused. Learn how to build your own GMAT study schedule to keep yourself motivated and accountable.

Remember the best GMAT prep materials are the ones that work best for you. Part of the emphasis on practice is to get a sense of what works for you. Everyone is slightly different in their approach so experiment while you are practicing to adapt generic strategies to your benefit. Keeping a diligent error log while you practice is an essential tool to diagnose your areas of weakness and target your study.

Whichever method of study you choose, try not to get too bogged down in the theory. Don’t learn the theory in isolation without considering how the GMAT tests different concepts. The GMAT is all about practice—and gaining as much insight into the test and the question types as you can from each question you practice.

In your first phase of studying you might find it useful not to focus too heavily on timing. Rather, learn the concepts at your own pace. Once you have a good idea of how to answer questions you can introduce timing in the second phase. Lastly, you should have practiced a number of mock tests before you take the GMAT to get a feel of the test, build up stamina and see what checks and balances you can introduce to improve your score.

 

These are our top picks for the best GMAT online prep courses! Like we mentioned earlier, the best GMAT prep course may vary greatly depending on your study style, strengths and weaknesses, and even your reason for taking the GMAT. Nevertheless, we hope this list can help you decide which prep course or study method works best for you. Good luck!

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How to Prepare for the GMAT: Study and Preparation Tips [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   16 May 2024, 12:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: How to Prepare for the GMAT: Study and Preparation Tips


Wondering how to prepare for the GMAT? I’m here to offer you some tried and true GMAT preparation advice to help you reach your target score. Read to the end for bonus advice on how to prepare for a 645+ and even a 695+ GMAT score!

You may be wondering how scoring on the GMAT changed with the adoption of the new test format. Or you may have heard that a 700+ or 750+ score were the cream of the crop. Start your GMAT prep journey by watching our quick video on scoring changes or read a more in-depth score comparison.

Best Ways to Prepare for the GMAT
1. Give Yourself Time to Fail

While it can be very helpful to read hundreds of blogs and articles on ‘How to Prepare for GMAT’ or to talk to dozens of GMAT experts to understand what worked for them, research isn’t enough to ensure you reach your target score. The number one thing that will either make or break your GMAT preparation journey is this: the amount of time you give yourself to experiment with prep strategies and recommendations to find out the perfect combination for you. The single most important GMAT preparation tip is about how to use all the remaining tips in this post: allow yourself time to try a few different things out, fail, and then figure out what works best for you.

In general, people set aside about three months before their deadlines to get some solid studying in with minimal distractions. Get a personalized recommendation on how long to study for the GMAT with a quiz to get a better idea and then give yourself one month extra on top of that. The extra month will give you time to experiment with your studying pattern and figure out what works for you. It will also allow you to study without pressure knowing you have some margin to fail early on but still have enough time to reach your target GMAT score.

2. Know The Test

It is so often that students come to me after having spent dozens of hours preparing for the GMAT but are still unaware of the adaptive nature of the exam or what kinds of questions make up the Data Insights section. It is vital to get familiar with the GMAT format and structure before starting your journey. The directions on the GMAT won’t change on the day of the test, so you will save a lot of time on the exam day if you come in already knowing the format and the directions. Knowing how the test works will also help you study better. Remember that you aren’t just being tested on concepts, but also on your ability to think critically. Because the GMAT is an adaptive test, it’s a good idea to get familiar with the adaptive format in particular!

3. Focus on Accuracy First, Timing Later

The GMAT is a timed test, and students try to incorporate that into their GMAT preparations from Day 1. While this might sound like an efficient use of time, it, unfortunately, sets students up for failure. You need to remember that GMAT is about finding the correct balance between speed and accuracy. The best way to find that balance and, therefore, the best study for GMAT is to separate these two aspects and tackle them one at a time. Whenever you study a topic from the GMAT Quant, Verbal, or Data Insights section, always focus on accuracy first. Ensure that you can get 80-90% accuracy on the practice questions or topic tests you take. Don’t worry whether it takes you 30 seconds to solve each question or 3 minutes. Once you have consistently started to hit the 80% – 90% accuracy mark, you should bring timing into the fray and begin to notice the time it takes you to solve those questions.

4. Learn the Most Frequently Tested GMAT Concepts
It might not feel like it, but there is a finite amount of information that is tested on the GMAT. While it would be ideal to be an expert in every single possible topic to be tested, it would be disappointing to hyperfocus on one topic and find that it only has the slightest chance of showing up on the test. Begin by focusing your study on the big concepts that the test is building upon. For Quant that will be arithmetic, algebra, and “real life” problem solving topics like interest, profit, work, and rate questions. For Verbal you’ll be tested on how to evaluate arguments, identify ideas, and make inferences. The Data Insights section will test you on analyzing and making sense of data from graphics, multiple sources, and tables.

5. Work on Your GMAT Timing
The time limit on the GMAT puts a lot of structure around how long you can spend on each question. That’s because the test is computer-adaptive and you will only see one question at a time.

Be familiar with how much time you have to answer the questions for each section (total section time/number of questions per section). Once you are confident about your accuracy, time yourself while doing the practice problem to train your body to get a feel for how long 2 minutes really are.

In addition to getting into a rhythm for timing, work on your stamina, concentration, and focus. Now that the GMAT clocks in at just over 2 hours you may think that stamina isn’t that important.That’s a mistake! Remember that you’ll be asked to answer 64 questions in a compressed time with only one option 10 minute break. You’ll benefit from building up your ability to stay concentrated and focused during that test window. And don’t forget all the non-test things you can do to improve concentration, focus, and stamina. Getting good sleep, staying hydrated, and working on regulating your breathing can all help you keep your eyes on the prize.

6. Take Every Mock Test Like the Real Exam

So often, great students who have worked hard and are well prepared fail on the exam day due to pressure and anxiety issues. One of the best ways to overcome exam day anxiety is to simulate the test-day experience whenever possible and take every practice test in a test-like setting. I usually advise all my students that if you take every mock like the real exam, the real exam will feel like just another mock.

During your GMAT preparation, you’ve been building accuracy. It is also essential to build endurance for the duration of the test! Find a quiet place with a computer and pull up the free GMATPrep software or one of Magoosh’s practice tests (included with a Premium plan).

7. Be Aware of Your Strength and Weaknesses

As you study along with your GMAT materials, you are bound to make mistakes. Make a habit of learning from these errors by keeping a GMAT error log. Take time to revisit your error log and analyze the areas where you make frequent mistakes. This exercise might be difficult at first but will pay off in the long run since it will highlight the types of questions and content you need to focus on improving. It will put your weaknesses front and center and force you to work on them and better understand the concepts! Remember, if you’re a Magoosh GMAT premium user, our excellent Student Help team is available to answer all of your academic questions.

8. Practice, Practice, Practice
Expert GMAT advice is united on this point: The best way to apply your studying is to do tons and tons of practice questions. You’ll become familiar with the different ways the same topic can be tested, and you’ll uncover weaknesses that will help you hone in on areas for improvement.

Don’t be discouraged by getting practice questions wrong. Being able to understand why you got certain questions wrong will help you avoid making the same mistakes in the future. Better to get questions wrong in practice than on test day! Remember that GMAT error log you created, and don’t give up!

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GMAT Error Log: The Key to GMAT Success (Free Template Included) [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   16 May 2024, 18:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: GMAT Error Log: The Key to GMAT Success (Free Template Included)


Your GMAT journey will be challenging and rewarding. There will have highs and lows. Some days will build your confidence and then other days you will want to forget about completely. We have all had those days: you are studying and you feel like you can’t get any question right. But before you crumple up that paper, wipe clean that dry erase board, or power down that computer, STOP! Document your struggles and capture that data!



Get my Free GMAT Error Log

Why Keeping an Error Log is So Important
Our mistakes are full of information about our test taking abilities, strategies, and more importantly, our habits. Looking at your mistakes is helpful whether you’re studying for your first GMAT or preparing for a retake. A critical look at how we approach, solve, and check our work not only directs us to which areas we should study next. It also makes us conscious about the bad habits we exhibit every time we attempt a GMAT problem.

We are always told to review our questions after we complete practice problems and the best way to advance your skills is by using a GMAT Error Log! An error log turns your weaknesses into strengths by helping you to narrow in on parts of the test where you are losing points. Keeping track of your performance over time is critical to ensuring that you are spending your study time wisely. The beauty of a written error log is that you can can come back to your mistakes with fresh eyes, honing your performance based on trends you identify.

How to Use an Error Log
One major GMAT prep error!
GMAT prep is broken down into three parts: Content, Problem Solving, & Testing.

What have I consistently seen that keeps test-takers from earning their top score? They haven’t spent enough time in the Problem Solving stage. Test-takers would read 100% of the material and complete 4 to 5 practice exams, but would only successfully complete 20-30% of all the questions on the Magoosh platform and even less when it comes to the Official Guide.

Knowing the ratios of a 30-60-90 triangle, how to FOIL, or what is a noun is important, but you must drill these topics in various various ways to really understand these concepts and how to answer these questions on the exam.

Taking practice exams in isolation will not improve your score. Careful review and reflection is where you will develop skills and earn points. Practice exams are a time investment and are extremely valuable, so you don’t want to waste too much time to only answer 30 or more random questions.

A strategy adopted by the most successful GMAT takers
One strategy I’ve seen high-scoring GMAT takers do is to drill mini problems sets (5, 8, or 10 questions) and use those as a sample to gauge their skill set. In these practice problems is where the GMAT Error Log shines!

Let’s say each day for a week, you complete 10 to 20 random problems of various question types and difficulties. You are bound to miss a few questions. What most people do when they get a question wrong is read the explanation, say “oh I got it,” and move on.

Here is where you leverage the GMAT Error Log. Not only will you read the explanation, you will also input the question you got wrong in the Error Log, what you did wrong, and what you will do differently next time.

This seems like a small task today, but in the beginning, it can feel very daunting. After about 20 or so questions, though, you will get into the habit of updating your error log and begin to see the fruits of your labor.

Leading up to a test day, a great Error Log can be your most beneficial review tool
When I work with my test-takers I teach them how to build a detailed Error Log with great care because it is those careless errors or habits that are written in the Error Log that jumps your GMAT score to that 645 and above score.

When you keep detailed, honest notes about your performance and weaknesses you are best prepared to improve. Understanding exactly what you are thinking and doing when you approach a problem is essential to correcting your mistakes. Looking at all of your mistakes can seem demoralizing at first, but over time you will see how the practice unlocks your highest potential.

How to Structure Your GMAT Log
Your Error Log does not need to have bells and whistles. It doesn’t need to be something with macros and automated graphic generators. It doesn’t have to be a spreadsheet or digital at all. I actually keep two logs – an old school black and white marble notebook and a digital copy.

The Error Log just has to fit your method of note-taking, be updated diligently, and have honest reflections.

Error Logs lose value when they are not updated. You only get out of the Error Log what you put in. I can never guarantee your score to improve, but I can say that having a running list of all your mistakes can help prevent you from making them again.

Here is the key information you want to have in any GMAT Error Log:
  • The source and question number, type of problem, and the concepts being asked in the problem. These are your basic details that will help you notice patterns
  • Next, write answers to some key questions:
    • Why did you miss the question?
    • Why was your answer wrong?
    • Why was the correct answer correct?
    • What will you do to avoid this next time around?
This sounds extremely simple, because it is – the challenging part is building and sticking to the habit.

After a few weeks, you will have an error log that you will cherish and will be excited to fill it up. So go out there and make some GMAT mistakes!

Get my Free GMAT Error Log

  • Check out our GMAT expert’s suggestions on creating, reviewing, and maximizing your Error Log—so you never make the same GMAT mistakes more than once!


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Best GMAT Prep Books and Resources (2024) [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   17 May 2024, 13:01
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FROM Magoosh Blog: Best GMAT Prep Books and Resources (2024)


All The GMAT set
The Official Guide to the GMAT Review
GMAT Math Prep Course
The PowerScore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible

Publisher
Manhattan
GMAC
Nova
PowerScore

Pages
1912
866 (OG), 188 (Quant), 420 (Verbal), 270 (DI)
516
434

Most Recent Edition
7th
2022
2021
2022

Practice Tests/Questions
6 practice tests
1400+ questions
600+ math questions
600+ verbal

Approx. Price on Amazon (New)
$166
$99.99
$19.95
$33.24

Notes
The 8th edition debuts in July 2024. It will be fully updated in print and online for the new test format. The 7th edition is only updated online.
4 books. Worth buying for the official practice material from GMAC.
Worth buying if you need additional challenging math practice.
The CR book has the best reputation and will be most valuable in prepping for the new test format.

Best GMAT Prep Books (Table)
[*]Best Free GMAT Resources
[/list]
Amazon.com) is a truly comprehensive guide to the whole GMAT. Don’t just learn a bunch of nifty tricks; learn the fundamentals behind the questions. That way you won’t just be flailing about on test day, relying only on guessing strategies.

The 7th edition currently consists of three books – All the Verbal, All the Quant, and Integrated Reasoning + Essay. With the change to the new GMAT test format (called GMAT Focus from 2023-summer 2024), the IR and Essay sections have been eliminated. If you buy the 7th edition now you’ll be getting the excellent test prep quality Manhattan Prep books are known for but with slightly outdated books. However, the books come with digital supplements explaining test changes and letting you know what not to study in the printed books. Your digital materials will change to reflect any test changes. Important note:in order to access the digital materials you will need to use a one-time use access code. If you purchase these books used the code will likely already have been used and you will not be able to access the updated material.

Manhattan Prep is releasing a fully updated new set of books–the 8th Edition–in July 2024. This new edition will be fully updated in print for the new test format and combine Quant and the new Data Insights section into one book. Our recommendation:if you need to start studying now and only plan to use books, the 7th Edition is a good choice. However, if you are planning to get started with an online course and want to supplement your studying with books, waiting until July for the 8th Edition isn’t a bad idea.

This brings us to another point: not every Manhattan book is built equally! In general, the Quant material is of a higher standard than that of the Verbal. The Quant material is marginally more difficult than what you’ll see on the test, while the Verbal questions are noticeably easier.

GMAC Official Guide (OG) is a solid book to have on your bookshelf. In fact, some would argue that the GMAT OG material is the actual bible of GMAT preparation, and the rest mere apocrypha. After all, the main book and its three companion books that focus on Verbal, Quant, and Data Insights are made by the brilliant people (GMAC) who actually write the questions you’ll see on GMAT test day.

  • With that said, we suggest that you don’t rely on the Official Guides for strategies (the way you would with MGMAT), instead using official material for the best source of high quality GMAT questions.
The 2024-2025 bundle is what we’re linking to in this article and it comes out at the end of May 2024. But, the 2023-2024 bundle was updated for the new test format and, therefore, is a good option for studiers wanting to save a little money. We highly recommend not purchasing an OG from before 2023-2024 to make sure you are studying materials for the most recent iteration of the test.

Nova’s GMAT Prep Course has a wealth of math practice material and advice. The newest edition, released in 2024, has been updated for the new GMAT test format. Magoosh’s experts have taken a close look at Nova’s books over time and found them to have some flaws. However, they can still be useful for those who want to do more math problems and have worked through other question banks.

Understand that this book uses the same studying philosophy as Manhattan’s resources: it prefers to challenge test-takers with questions slightly more challenging than their supposed difficulty. Some might prefer this approach, which tends to over-prepare students by testing the upper limits of what is tested on the exam, but for others, the process could be disheartening.

LSAT company with its LSAT Critical Reasoning Bible. For those who don’t know the difference between GMAT vs. LSAT, the LSAT is the GMAT Critical Reasoning section on steroids. So, you can bet that PowerScore really knows how to dissect one of the most difficult question types on the GMAT. We’d recommend it as a supplement for those wanting an academic approach to CR. It also seems consistently accurate, especially compared to Manhattan’s CR resources.

The 2022 edition is the most up-to-date publication. Compared to its 2021 and 2019 counterparts, the biggest difference comes in the form of a bigger font which makes it easier to read, if ever so slightly. The question problem set for each chapter hasn’t changed. Because of that, borrowing from a friend or buying second-hand will be just as useful as purchasing the most recent edition. The new GMAT format eliminated the Sentence Correction question type, making the Verbal section all Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning questions. This renewed focus on CR makes it an even more important section to master.

The chapters explain how to easily take apart arguments through the recognition of their different parts (premises and conclusions), and to select the strategies for attacking each question type. Additionally, the book will also show the most frequently used ‘wrong answers’ that GMAC uses to trick test-takers. If you don’t mind a more academic approach to CR strategy and appreciate dissecting problems rather than learning through trial and error, then this book will be highly valuable in your test prep journey.

Expect an in-depth study aid, and prepare to be thumbing frequently between the chapters and the book’s expansive glossary. You might very well feel that you’re ready for either the GMAT or the LSAT after diving into learning about logical fallacies and cognitive traps.

[list]
Best Free GMAT Exam Resources
Remember: Just because a resource is free doesn’t mean that it isn’t high quality. A lot of students begin prepping for business school and start to think that the number of dollar signs in front of something is a symbol of quality. Sure, there’s often a correlation there — but cost:quality isn’t a causal relationship. Most students will use a mix of paid and free resources to prep.

Here are the best free resources you can start using right away.

Resource
Company
Why You’ll Love It

Magoosh.com
Magoosh
Wide range of free resources, including study schedules, eBooks, video lessons, and practice questions.

GMAT Math Flashcards
Magoosh
Available for Android, iPhone, or web. You can study anywhere.

Beat the GMAT
Beat the GMAT
Forum for GMAT students and instructors. Honest reviews on GMAT prep options.

GMAT Club
GMAT Club
Forum for GMAT students and instructors. Honest reviews on GMAT prep options.



best GMAT prep courses.

Editor’s note: none of the following content is sponsored! Magoosh has purchased each of the best GMAT prep books reviewed below to ensure the most objective reviews possible.

All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners, and the use of these names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement.

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What is a STEM MBA? Top STEM MBA Programs in 2024 [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   20 May 2024, 21:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: What is a STEM MBA? Top STEM MBA Programs in 2024


Per the World Economic Forum, over 100 million new jobs will emerge as the workplace becomes more digitized. To teach business leaders to understand and leverage technology in a tech-driven world many universities have started offering STEM MBA programs. STEM MBA programs are designed to simultaneously provide you with business fundamentals as well as technology and analytical skills. It helps business leaders make decisions in a dynamic environment by leveraging data analytics tools while leading cross-functional teams.

Before we dive into the benefits of these programs, we need to first understand what a STEM MBA program is.

What is a STEM MBA?
STEM is an acronym for “science, technology, engineering, and mathematics” and generally relates to technical careers. Meanwhile, a typical MBA program covers the foundations of a business and touches on a broad range of subjects. These include finance, marketing, and economics as well as technology. Thus, business and management degrees don’t haven’t traditionally fallen under STEM.

A STEM MBA offers a curriculum taught with an emphasis on STEM applications in addition to the management fundamentals. The program typically includes specialized courses on accounting, decision theory, economics, technology law, and statistics. It does this while providing the necessary management science and leadership skills to occupy companies’ leadership roles.

What’s the difference between STEM MBA and MBA?

The traditional MBA courses focus on building learners’ business and managerial skills.

Meanwhile, a STEM MBA also focuses on learners’ technical skills. The current trend suggests that employees who can make decisions using technology and analytics are more employable than traditional MBA graduates of similar profiles.

In terms of courses, the STEM MBA program offers courses in the category of Business Analytics, Accounting with Statistics and Mathematics, Management in Information Systems, etc. It also covers other domains like Financial Management and Investment Banking, Digital Marketing, Operations and Technology Management, and Supply Chain Management. At the same time, the traditional MBA programs focus more on Hospitality and Facility Management, Human Resource Management, Sales and Marketing Management, Entrepreneurship, Hotel Management, etc. To see which programs rank the highest, check out our list of the top MBA programs.

If we speak from students’ profiles perspective, many STEM MBA courses are open to STEM undergraduates or people working in STEM roles. In comparison, traditional MBA courses are available to students from all fields. As more programs become fully STEM-certified, the requirements for STEM undergrad degrees may lessen.

One of the other primary differences between the two is the extended OPT program for STEM MBA. This brings us to the next topic – the benefits of STEM MBA programs

What are the benefits of STEM MBA programs?
OPT Program for International Students

With visa restrictions coming into play, the STEM MBA course provides international students with more extended Optional Practical Training (OPT). With a typical program, global learners can stay and work in the U.S. for 12 months after graduation. However, since there is a need for STEM-trained professionals in the country, learners who graduate from STEM-designated programs are allowed to apply for a three-year OPT.

Eligible students have an option to apply for an extension of OPT after the initial period of 12 months. Refer to the US DHS page for STEM OPT for more details.

STEM MBA Students Are Equipped With Career-Ready Skills

As per Emerson’s report, increasing STEM skills shortage in the US will leave two million jobs empty by 2025. Almost every business is incorporating technology in its core value proposition. For instance, the rise of e-commerce, FinTech, and Social Media companies in the past few years has meant that technology is woven into the everyday tasks of most modern managers.

More Scope for International Students

Getting an H-1B visa has become very difficult for international students. Given the gap in talent pool in the STEM domain, students with STEM-MBA stand a better chance at getting hired and securing visas.

This creates a unique proposition for both local and international students looking to become equipped with career-ready skills in the US.

STEM MBA Programs in the US (2024)

These are the top STEM MBA programs in the US for 2024.

MBA Program
STEM Designation

Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
Fully STEM Certified

Chicago (Booth)
Fully STEM Certified

Columbia Business School
Full-Time MBA; Executive MBA; MS Marketing Science; MS Financial Economics; MS Accounting and Fundamental Analysis

Cornell (Johnson)
Full-Time MBA; 1-year Tech MBA; 1+1 MBA; MPS in Management; MPS in Management – Accouting

Dartmouth (Tuck)
STEM Designated MBA: Management Science and Quantitative Methods track

Duke (Fuqua)
STEM Designated MBA Track: Management Science and Technology Management (MSTeM)

Harvard Business School
MBA with STEM Designated Indiana (Kelley)
STEM Designated Majors: Business Analytics, Finance, Marketing, Strategic Analysis of Accounting Information, and Supply Chain and Operations

MIT (Sloan)
Full-Time MBA; Executive MBA; Sloan Fellows MBA

Northwestern (Kellogg)
1-year Full-Time MBA; 2-year Full-Time MBA; Executive MBA; MMM; MBAi; Evening and Part-Time MBAs

NYU (Stern)
Full-time MBA; Andre Koo Technology and Entrepreneurship MBARice (Jones)
All MBA Programs

Stanford Graduate School of Business
Full-Time MBA program; MSx program

UC Berkeley (Haas)
Full-Time MBA; Evening and Weekend MBA; Executive MBA

UCLA (Anderson)
Full-time MBA; Fully Employed MBA; Executive MBA; MS Financial Engineering; MS Business Analytics

University of Michigan (Ross)
Full-Time MBA with Data and Business Analytics Concentration;Specialization in Management Science

UNC (Kenan-Flagler)
Full-Time MBA; Evening Executive MBA; Weekend Executive MBA; Charlotte Executive MBA; online MBA@UNC programs

UPenn (Wharton)
Full-Time MBA STEM designated Majors: Business Analytics; Business Economics and Public Policy; Business, Energy, Environment and Sustainability; Environmental, Social and Governance Factors For Business; Finance; Operations, Information and Decisions; Quantitative Finance; Social and Governance Factors for Business; Statistics

USC (Marshall)
Full-Time MBA; ; Part-Time MBA; One-year MBA; Specialized Master’s Programs

University of Texas-Austin (McCombs)
14 STEM Designated Tracks in Full-Time MBA;Specialized MS Degrees: Finance, Marketing, Energy Management, Business Analytics, Technology Commercialization, Information Technology

University of Virginia (Darden)
MBA with STEM Designated Management Science Specialization

Vanderbilt (Owen)
MBA Concentrations: Consumer Psychology and Marketing Analytics, Finance, Operations and Analytics

University of Washington (Foster)

Full-Time MBA Management Science Degree Option;Technology Management MBA

Yale School of Management
Management Science major

With almost all top US school incorporating multiple options for aspirants to pursue STEM designated MBA programs, the importance and popularity of these program is only going to increase in the future. With the dual benefit of teaching a highly relevant and in-demand skill as well as providing international students a way to stay and work in the US for three years after graduation, the program hits a sweet spot for all aspirants.

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GMAT Timing Strategy: Your Ultimate Guide (2024) [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   21 May 2024, 17:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: GMAT Timing Strategy: Your Ultimate Guide (2024)


The GMAT’s instructions regarding timing strategy are simple:

  • Complete 21 questions in the Quantitative section in 45 minutes
  • Complete 23 questions in the Verbal section in 45 minutes
  • Complete 20 questions in the Data Insights section in 45 minutes
That gives you an average time of:

  • 2.15 minutes per question in the Quantitative section
  • ~2 minutes per question in the Verbal section
  • 2.25 minutes per question in the Data Insights section
If you stick to those averages, you will finish each section right on time. But for most test-takers, that’s easier said than done.

Have you ever taken a GMAT practice test and run out of time? If so, you know that sinking feeling as you realize partway through the section that you’re behind. Panic sets in as you try to pick up the pace. You constantly are checking the on-screen timer and hoping the next question will be faster. Your heart begins to race, and you find yourself reading the same sentence over and over again, unable to comprehend the material because you have one thought filling your mind: “I’m not going to finish all these questions in time!”

This is a challenge many GMAT test-takers face, but fear not! You can overcome this and reach your target score. In this post, we’ll discuss why timing is so tricky—but important—on the GMAT, some general best practices for proper time management, and specific tips for completing the quantitative and verbal sections in the allotted time.

Why Time Management Is Tricky on the GMAT[*]General GMAT Time Management Strategies[*]Verbal Timing Strategies[*]Quantitative Timing Strategies[*]Data Insights Timing Strategies[*]GMAT Timing Strategy: A Summary[/list]
How to do GMAT Math Faster.

Magoosh Diagnostic Test or check out this post for a list of Free GMAT Practice Test Resources That Will Make You Feel Good About Your Score.

 

GMAT Data Sufficiency Tips, including a DS cross-out technique.[/list]
    Don’t try to mentally download all the information: Data Insights questions can feature a lot of data whether it’s in graph, table, or Multi-Source form. Not all of this information will be essential for answering the question. When first approaching a question you should get a general sense of what kind of information is being provide and go back to details as needed. Let the questions, not the full data picture, guide you.
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Free GMAT Diagnostic Quiz [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   23 May 2024, 12:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: Free GMAT Diagnostic Quiz


Take the GMAT Diagnostic
Curious about where you would stack up compared to others taking the GMAT test? Take our free GMAT Diagnostic Quiz (with questions from all three sections: Quantitative, Verbal, and Data Insights) to gauge your skills on the GMAT exam:

Enter your email here to start the diagnostic quiz:

At the end of the quiz, you can view text and video explanations for every question. Plus, continue reading here for advice on how to study next based on your results!

What You Need to Know about the GMAT Diagnostic Quiz
But first, let’s go over some important information about the free GMAT Diagnostic Quiz. It’s 20 questions long, and we recommend that you set aside 45 minutes to take it. Here’s a more detailed breakdown:

  • Quantitative Reasoning – 7 questions
  • Verbal Reasoning – 7 questions
  • Data Insights – 6 questions

This quiz is roughly one third of a full GMAT exam. However, unlike the real GMAT, this quiz is NOT adaptive. On the actual GMAT, future questions you encounter will become harder/easier based on your performance on previous questions. In this quiz, you’ll see a preset range of difficulties (from Easy to Very Hard) and a sampling of various question types. For a true adaptive experience, an estimated GMAT score, and a more accurate measure of your abilities, we highly recommend that you take a full-length practice test.

If you are brand new to the GMAT, it’s a good idea to get familiar with the various question formats first. You can learn about the GMAT “big picture” (question formats, topics, pacing, etc…) in Magoosh’s What is the GMAT? Everything You Need to Know article or in the GMAT Official Guide created by GMAC, the test-makers of the GMAT.

Your GMAT Diagnostic Quiz Results and What to Study Next
Once you’ve taken the GMAT diagnostic quiz, you’ll get your overall score out of 20 and will be able to see your results on each individual question. The study recommendations here are for an individual section (Quant, Verbal, or Data Insights), so tally up the number of questions you answered correctly in each section first before reading the advice.

By the way, don’t be discouraged if you found the quiz difficult: the GMAT is supposed to be hard! Keep in mind that this is just a diagnostic to measure where you are in your GMAT journey. Use this tool as a gauge of your current level and not an absolute measure of your abilities.

No matter how you scored, we strongly recommend that you follow a study schedule. We generally recommend that students study for at least three months, but there are shorter and longer schedules available. In the advice below, there are some additional suggestions around study schedules, but for even more detailed suggestions, check out the study schedules themselves.

Section Score: 0 – 1 Right Answers
Many folks preparing for the GMAT test will fall into this group, including most people who are at the very beginning stages of their studying. And that’s perfectly fine! Yes, this is the “lowest” of the four groups in terms of Diagnostic GMAT scores, but this does NOT mean you are starting with any kind of disadvantage. I will emphasize that it is quite possible to start with these recommendations and get a 705+ score on the GMAT test. It all depends on your commitment to excellence.

Your results suggest that you need to learn academic material and not just go through practice sets. Many students make the disastrous pedagogical mistake of binging on questions and ignoring lessons. Watch the lessons! And watch the answer explanations under the questions you miss; these are essentially mini-lessons.

With that in mind, we recommend that you closely follow a study schedule to ensure that you’re both learning the foundational material you need as well as putting it into practice.

Section Score: 2 – 3 Right Answers
This, too, is a common scoring range to be in when starting out in your GMAT prep, so don’t worry if you find yourself here. Landing in this range on the GMAT diagnostic quiz simply means that you’ve identified areas for improvement. And the good news is that you have plenty of room to grow your score. Take note of the question types and subjects that you missed on the diagnostic, and plan to focus on improving in those areas.

Results in this scoring range also suggest that you can pick up a lot of points by prioritizing lessons to gain a strong grasp of fundamental concepts. On Magoosh, questions have a Related Lessons section beneath their explanations. If an approach is not making sense, it’s a good idea to review those lessons to ensure that you understand core strategies and concepts.

Therefore, following a study schedule closely is a good strategy here as well. This way, you’re sure to get a good mix of lessons and practice in your studies.

Section Score: 4 – 5 Right Answers
You have a pretty solid grasp of both GMAT question formats and concepts tested. However, keep in mind that these diagnostic quiz questions are just a small sampling of the GMAT. They also do not reflect the GMAT’s adaptive nature. You’ll need to sustain this performance on more questions and harder questions, so continued practice in your studies is essential. Additionally, landing in this scoring range means that there’s still room to improve, so you you can push your score even higher!

You have a bit more flexibility in how to approach your studies. When following a study schedule, you can be a bit more choosy in the tasks that you complete. For example, you likely already have a good understanding of some lessons’ content. Thus, you could view the summary of a lesson first to see if the lesson is something that’s already familiar to you or not. Likewise, you could jump straight into a lesson quiz to gauge your knowledge before viewing a lesson. But don’t neglect this resource! If you don’t have full understanding of a topic, these are well worth your time.

Lastly, you may want to do more targeted practice of the question types and topics that you struggle with the most. That’s where you’ll pick up the most points towards your overall score. But don’t neglect keeping your skills sharp in areas that you’re already doing well in. And since the GMAT itself is a mix of questions types and topics, practicing in the same manner is crucial.

Section Score: 6 – 7 Right Answers
If you are in this group, then congratulations! You already have shown tremendous progress toward impressive GMAT scores. Now, having said that, I will caution you: getting complacent is the best way to fall short of your potential. So many people get to this point and then lose a sense of urgency. This is precisely why so few wind up with scores over 645. Even though your prospects are good, the worst thing you could do would be to take anything for granted. In order to score high on all three sections, you still have to hunger for excellence. You still have to apply the habits of excellence assiduously.

Challenge yourself to push to deeper and deeper levels of understanding of GMAT concepts. One of the best ways to do this is to put yourself into a situation in which you have to explain a problem to someone else. It is one level of understanding to known how to do a problem and be able to do it cold. It is a higher level if you can walk someone who is confused through the problem step by step, answering all their questions so the problem makes complete sense to them. You really have to understand something deeply to teach it, and this is the kind of deep understanding that can get you a top GMAT score.

Closing Thoughts
Use this free GMAT Diagnostic Quiz as a springboard towards GMAT excellence. Again, for the most accurate assessment of where you currently stand, be sure to take a full-length practice test.

And with even more practice tests, lessons, questions, and explanations, Magoosh GMAT is a great way for you to learn and prepare for the GMAT exam. Get a year of access with Premium, or try us for free first with a 1-week trial!

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GRE to GMAT Score Conversion [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   26 May 2024, 16:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: GRE to GMAT Score Conversion
Have you just taken the GRE and do you wonder what you would get on the GMAT? Did you apply to a b-school with a GRE score and do you want to see how you stack up against the GMAT competition? In both cases, you will definitely want to know the GRE to GMAT score conversion. Check the chart below when weighing GRE scores vs. GMAT scores.

Comparing GRE and GMAT Scores[/*]
[*]GRE to GMAT Classic Conversion Chart[/*]
[*]GRE to New GMAT Conversion Chart[/*]
[*]Average Test Scores for Top 20 MBA Programs[/*]
[/list]
Comparing GRE and GMAT Scores
 

Some might quip that comparing GRE and GMAT scores is like comparing apples and oranges. Is a perfect GMAT score equivalent to a perfect GRE score? Isn’t the math section on the GMAT more difficult than the one on the GRE? Though such questions do show that the comparison is not perfect—perhaps an oranges to tangerines one—this is still a “close-enough” approximation. For those who just took the GRE and are considering taking the GMAT, or vice versa, figuring out exactly how you’ll do on one test can be very difficult. To confound our attempts at conversion even more is the fact that not all of us have the same skill set. For instance, you may be strong at vocabulary, but not so strong at grammar. This imbalance will work against you on the GMAT. Likewise, you might have scored 90% on the GRE quant, but since the quant competition for the GMAT is much stiffer you will in likelihood not score 90% on the GMAT quant section.

With the launch in 2023 of the new shorter GMAT test the already tricky task of comparing GRE and GMAT scores became harder. In fact, GMAC (the GMAT test makers) argue the tests are so different that it’s impossible to compare them. With the launch of both the shorter GRE and GMAT, ETS (the company that makes the GRE) deprecated their score conversion tool our tables are based on.

How to Use These Charts
Business schools know very well about the asymmetries cited above. Moreover, we don’t know how business schools compare GRE to GMAT scores internally. So why publish conversion charts at all? We believe that when you are applying to MBA programs it’s helpful to have as much information as possible – and that learning to critically read data is an important business skill. You should read these conversion charts in tandem with our average test scores chart. And you should always put your test scores in conversation with the rest of your application materials. Choosing whether to take the GMAT or GRE (or both) can be difficult: reading these charts together and taking GRE and GMAT diagnostic tests can help make your decision easier.

GRE to GMAT Classic Conversion Chart
 

This chart was built using data from the ETS GRE to GMAT conversion tool. It converts GRE scores to the classic 200-800 score range GMAT long test. It was designed to help test takers predict their performance on the GMAT Verbal and Quantitative sections using their GRE Verbal and Quant scores.

Click here to see the GRE to GMAT Classic Conversion Chart

GRE Verbal
GRE Quant
GRE Total Score
GMAT Total Score
GMAT Verbal
GMAT Quant

170
170
340
800
46
53

169
169
338
790
45
52

168
168
336
780
44
50

167
167
334
760
43
49

166
166
332
740
42
48

165
165
330
730
41
47

164
164
328
710
40
45

163
163
326
690
39
44

162
162
324
670
38
43

161
161
322
660
37
42

160
160
320
640
36
41

159
159
318

620
35
39

158
158
316
610
35
38

157
157
314
590
34
37

156
156
312
570
33
36

155
155
310
560
32
34

154
154
308

540
31
33

153
153
306
520
30
32

152
152
304
500
29
31

151
151
302
490
28
29

150
150
300
470
27
28

149

149

298
450
26
27

148
148
296
440
25
26

147
147
294
420
25
24

146
146
292
400
24
23

145
145
290
390
23
22

144
144
288
370
22
21

143
143
286
350
21
19

142
142
284
330
20
18

141
141
282
320
19
17

140
140
280
300
18
16

139
139
278
280
17
14

138
138
276
270
16
13

137
137
274
250
15
12

136
136
272
230
15
11

135
135
270
220
14
9

134
134
268
200
13
8

133
133
266
200
12
7

132
132
264
200
11
6

131
131
262
200
10
4

130
130
260

200
9
3

 

GRE to New GMAT Conversion Chart
ETS does not have a similar tool to compare the GRE to the new, shorter GMAT. For this chart we combined the GRE to GMAT Classic tool and GMAC’s Classic to New GMAT conversion data. This provides a rough estimation of what a GRE to New GMAT conversion would look like.

Click here to see the GRE to New GMAT Conversion Chart

GRE Verbal
GRE Quant
GMAT Classic Score
GRE Total Score
New GMAT

Score



170
170
800
340
805

169
169
790
338
805

168
168
780
336
785

167
167
760
334
735

166
166
740
332
695

165
165
730
330
685

164
164
710
328
665

163
163
690
326
635

162
162
670
324
615

161
161
660
322
615

160
160
640
320
595

159
159
620
318

585

158
158
610
316
575

157
157
590
314
555

156
156
570
312
545

155
155
560
310
535

154
154
540
308

515

153
153
520
306
495

152
152
500
304
495

151
151
490
302
485

150
150
470
300
475

149

149

450
298
455

148
148
440
296
445

147
147
420
294
435

146
146
400
292
425

145
145
390
290
415

144
144
370
288
405

143
143
350
286
395

142
142
330
284
375

141
141
320
282
375

140
140
300
280
355

139
139
280
278
345

138
138
270
276
335

137
137
250
274
335

136
136
230
272
305

135
135
220
270
295

134
134
200
268
255

133
133
200
266
245

132
132
200
264
235

131
131
200
262
225

130
130
200
260

215

 

Average Test Scores for Top 20 MBA Programs
This chart was compiled from data about each program’s incoming class of 2025. New GMAT scores are not currently being reported by programs; the scores seen here reflect our conversions using GMAC data.

Click here to see the Average Test Scores for the Top 20 MBA Programs

School
Average GRE Score
GRE Middle 80% or Accepted Student Range
Average GMAT Classic Score
GMAT Classic Middle 80% or Accepted Student Range
Average New GMAT Score

Stanford GSB
328
Range: 290-340
738
Range: 630-790
685

UPenn (Wharton)
324
Does not disclose
728
Does not disclose
685

Northwestern (Kellogg)
326
Range: 294-340
731
Range: 620-780
685

University of Chicago (Booth)
325
Range: 297-340
728
Range: 600-780
685

MIT (Sloan)
325
Middle 80%: 315-335
730
Middle 80%: 700-760
685

Harvard
326
Range: 295-340
740
Range: 500-790
685

NYU (Stern)
326
Middle 80%: 315-338
732
Middle 80%: 700-760
685

UC Berkeley (Haas)
324
Middle 80%: 312-337

733
Middle 80%: 680-770
685

Yale
330
Middle 80%: 316-339
720
Middle 80%: 680-760
675

Dartmouth (Tuck)
322
Range: 301-340
726
Range: 630-800
675

University of Virginia (Darden)
321
Middle 80%: 309-333
716
Middle 80%: 680-750
665

Columbia University
322
Does not disclose
730
Middle 80%: 700-760
685

Duke (Fuqua)
318
Middle 80%: 306-330

715
Middle 80%: 670-760
665

University of Michigan – Ann Arbor (Ross)
322
Does not disclose
719
Middle 80%: 670-760
675

Cornell (Johnson)
324
Does not disclose
710
Middle 80%: 660-750
665

Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
324
Middle 80%: 314-338
705
Middle 80%: 650-750
655

UT-Texas – Austin (McCombs)
321
Middle 80%: 310-334
704
Middle 80%: 670-740
655

Emory (Goizueta)
Does not disclose
Does not disclose
709
Middle 80%: 640-740
665

University of Southern California (Marshall)
323
Middle 80%: 290-336
722
Middle 80%: 681-760
675

Indiana University (Kelley)
322
Does not disclose
685
Does not disclose
635

 

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What Is a Good GMAT Score? [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   27 May 2024, 13:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: What Is a Good GMAT Score?


The short answer? A good GMAT score is 615+ on the new GMAT and 645+ on the old GMAT. A great GMAT score is 665+ on the new GMAT and 720+ on the old.

This makes strong GMAT prep essential and worth the time and energy; good GMAT scores are essential if you want to get into a top MBA program. And a great score will make you stand out!

However, a good score is not necessarily the same for every person. In this post, we’ll cover GMAT score percentiles, good scores for top business schools, how to improve your score, and how to set your GMAT test goals..

Understanding GMAT Scores[/*]
[*]Average GMAT Scores[/*]
[*]Percentiles[/*]
[*]How the GMAT Is Scored
[*]What matters in the business school application?[*]How long to study?[*]Takeaways[/list]
average total GMAT score for the new, shorter exam is 546.01[/b].

We can also break the mean scores down by section:

Section
Mean Score

Verbal
78.99

Quantitative
77.71

Data Insights
74.41

Total Score
546.01

Sample Size: 866,640

Data Period: 2017-2022

Average GMAT Scores for Top MBA Programs

Click here to see the Average Test Scores for the Top 20 MBA Programs

School
Average GRE Score
GRE Middle 80% or Accepted Student Range
Average GMAT Classic Score
GMAT Classic Middle 80% or Accepted Student Range
Average New GMAT Score

Stanford GSB
328
Range: 290-340
738
Range: 630-790
685

UPenn (Wharton)
324
Does not disclose
728
Does not disclose
685

Northwestern (Kellogg)
326
Range: 294-340
731
Range: 620-780
685

University of Chicago (Booth)
325
Range: 297-340
728
Range: 600-780
685

MIT (Sloan)
325
Middle 80%: 315-335
730
Middle 80%: 700-760
685

Harvard
326
Range: 295-340
740
Range: 500-790
685

NYU (Stern)
326
Middle 80%: 315-338
732
Middle 80%: 700-760
685

UC Berkeley (Haas)
324
Middle 80%: 312-337

733
Middle 80%: 680-770
685

Yale
330
Middle 80%: 316-339
720
Middle 80%: 680-760
675

Dartmouth (Tuck)
322
Range: 301-340
726
Range: 630-800
675

University of Virginia (Darden)
321
Middle 80%: 309-333
716
Middle 80%: 680-750
665

Columbia University
322
Does not disclose
730
Middle 80%: 700-760
685

Duke (Fuqua)
318
Middle 80%: 306-330

715
Middle 80%: 670-760
665

University of Michigan – Ann Arbor (Ross)
322
Does not disclose
719
Middle 80%: 670-760
675

Cornell (Johnson)
324
Does not disclose
710
Middle 80%: 660-750
665

Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
324
Middle 80%: 314-338
705
Middle 80%: 650-750
655

UT-Texas – Austin (McCombs)
321
Middle 80%: 310-334
704
Middle 80%: 670-740
655

Emory (Goizueta)
Does not disclose
Does not disclose
709
Middle 80%: 640-740
665

University of Southern California (Marshall)
323
Middle 80%: 290-336
722
Middle 80%: 681-760
675

Indiana University (Kelley)
322
Does not disclose
685
Does not disclose
635

 

You need a top score to stand out at a top business school. At the top 20 business schools in America, you need a score of at least 645 to be competitive. Still, even in these top programs, some applicants are accepted with scores lower than 645. And a school’s own stated GMAT score preferences can change from year to year.

GMAC, the folks who create the GMAT, the GMAT score percentiles reveal the link between GMAT score and percentile rank of everyone who takes the GMAT.

Click here to see the New GMAT Edition Total Score Percentiles

Score
Mean Score
Percentile Ranking

805

100%

755

100%

705

99%

655

93%

605

75%

555
546.01
53%

505

31%

455

17%

405

8%

355

3%

305

1%

255

0%

205

0%

 

What does this mean for you and your scores? Check out how GMAT percentiles work. (If you’re not sure about your score, check out Magoosh’s GMAT score calculator first, then check out what this means for percentiles!)

Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT). The CAT changes the difficulty, question by question, as you move through the section. As a general pattern, if you are getting questions right, the CAT gives you harder questions, and if you are struggling, the CAT will give you easier questions. CAT is trying to pinpoint a test taker’s ability level through the use of a complex algorithm in order to level the testing play field as much as possible.

That’s the overall trend, although this highly complex algorithm also does sweeps through different difficulties: for example, you may get an easy question out of the blue even if you did nothing wrong. The grading for the CAT does NOT depend on simply the number of questions you answer correctly or incorrectly: instead, the score depends on the difficulty of the questions. Therefore, the person who gets a 450 and the person who gets a 750 might have gotten about the same number of questions right and wrong, but the difficulties were in very different zones. This algorithm is highly sophisticated and virtually impossible for test takers to “crack”. Don’t make the common mistake of trying to predict, interpret, or manipulate the algorithm. Answer each question to the best of your ability and then try to forget it before moving on to the next question.

computer-adaptive format of the GMAT can be intimidating at first if you haven’t taken an adaptive test before. But the more you prepare, the easier it’ll be on test day!

In short, here’s how GMAT scoring works: Correct answers x difficulty level = score. What this means for the questions you’ll see is that the difficulty adapts as you go.

In terms of your strategy, first things first: you definitely need one to get a high GMAT score! Here are a few key points to keep in mind:

  • Don’t guess on a bunch of answers in a row.
  • Skipping questions is generally bad.
  • Develop a pacing strategy.
As you work on perfecting your pacing, here’s what to keep in mind:

  • You have 2.15 minutes for each Quant question
  • You have ~2 minutes for each Verbal question
  • You have 2.25 minutes for each Data Insight question
With that said, different questions types will take you less or more time. Take a look at GMAT timing strategies to prepare.MBA, admissions committees look at many factors in combination. GMAC, the test-maker, polled business schools to find which factors they considered most strongly.

Chief among these? You’d be surprised—it’s not GMAT scores, though they came in a close second! It’s how you perform on your interviews.

However, not everybody gets an interview. And the way to get one? Have stellar materials. GMAT scores are one factor used to determine who gets an interview. Overall, they weight these scores nearly as much as the interview itself.

This means that in terms of approaching your applications, GMAT scores are incredibly important.

From there admissions committees consider:

  • Undergraduate transcripts
  • Resume
  • Essays
  • Letters of recommendation
  • Student bio
  • Short-answer questions
Out of all the factors you can still control, your GMAT scores are far and away the most important to MBA programs.

free GMAT Practice Test to help gauge where you are in your prep!

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The JD/MBA Student: A Professorial Perspective [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   28 May 2024, 09:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: The JD/MBA Student: A Professorial Perspective


There are some real benefits to a dual JD/MBA, in terms of salary and jobs. But beyond the salary and jobs, is this degree worth it? As a JD/MBA professor, I’m happy to give you my perspective on this unique type of program: its structure, its costs and rewards, and the learning experience it provides.

The dual-degree JD/MBA: Degree structure and top programs
Law and business graduate faculty would probably agree that this joint program is probably the most challenging in the educational community. And, from an employer’s perspective, this duality is probably the most commercially relevant.

This blog post speaks to the prospective MBA candidate who is curious about law school, the time/energy commitment, and the benefits of this joint degree. This is the most marketable dual degree now being offered at many graduate schools across the country.  Want a four-year adventure? Then embark upon the most challenging and rigorous graduate program available.

Typically, the first and fourth year of the program consist solely of law courses while the second and third year are an integration of law and business. (However, the Kellogg School and Northwestern University’s School of Law tout a three-year, fully integrated, joint program.)

Per U.S. News & World Report, strong rankings for business and law include the well-recognized, familiar-name schools.

Columbia: business school (12), law school (8)

Harvard: business school (6), law school (4)

Northwestern University: business school (3), law school (9)

Stanford: business school (1), law school (1)

UC Berkeley: business school (7), law school (12)

University of Chicago: business school (3), law school (3)

University of Pennsylvania: business school (1), law school (4)

Yale: business school (7), law school (1)

The dual law and business degree in terms of extra cost… or savings
Tuition structures for JD/MBA dual degrees vary a lot at different universities. Generally, a dual degree costs more than getting just an MBA. Surprisingly, sometimes this dual degree can cost slightly less than getting a JD alone. And getting a dual JD/MBA will always cost less than completing a JD and an MBA separately.

Schemes for tuition and fees can be a bit complex, almost convoluted. To give you an example, I’ll walk you through the current tuition structure and total schooling costs of the top program in the list above: Harvard.

Harvard’s JD/MBA program takes four years to complete. In the first two years, students study for one year each at the Harvard School of Business and the Harvard School of Law. During those years, JD/MBA students pay full tuition at whichever school they’re taking classes in for the year. At Harvard’s today, JD/MBA scholars pay $76,410 for their first year at business school and $77,100 for their first year in law school. This means a total tuition cost of $153,510 for the first half of the program.

In years 3 and 4 of the JD/MBA degree path, students study simultaneously in both schools. They then take the equivalent of 1 additional year of courses in the business school and one additional year of law school classes. During these upper-level years in the degree, students pay 40% of current business school tuition rate and 65% of current law school rate. Right now, that means an additional $30,564 in tuition for business school and an extra $50,115 in law school tuition.

So the total tuition cost for Harvard’s JD/MBA is $234,189. A Harvard JD on its own takes three years, totaling $231,300. The MBA at Harvard is a two year program, priced right now at $152,820 in total tuition. If you decide on a JD/MBA dual degree at Harvard but you had originally planned for a JD, you save $3,189 in tuition and spend an extra year in school. If your original choice would have been just an MBA, you spend an extra $81,369 in tuition and spend an extra two years in school. Either way, you ultimately spend more money. The $3,189 you save if you upgrade from a JD to a JD/MBA will be eaten up by an extra year of living expenses and lost wages.

Not all universities offer Harvard’s exact arrangements. Still, JD/MBA dual degrees ultimately cost more than just a JD or just an MBA, no matter what campus you go to. At Stanford University, a JD/MBA takes four years and costs $272,595 in tuition, while a JD is 3 years long at $223,425. Then, a Stanford MBA is two years long at $164,910. And the University of Chicago estimates their total JD/MBA cost to be $470,523.

JD/MBA salary and jobs
Is a JD/MBA dual degree worth the extra time and money, in terms of employment and pay after graduation? Again, this is a little hard to figure out. One thing that makes this a complicated question is the fact that no job really requires both a JD and an MBA. So if you get this dual degree, you’ll either end up working as a lawyer or in business after graduation. Obviously you won’t be holding down both of these jobs at the same time.

To get an idea of the kind of money you might make right after finishing a JD/MBA, let’s look once again at three of the top schools listed at the beginning of this post. According to U.S. News and World Report, Stanford MBA graduates make on average $230,000 a year immediately after graduation. UPenn (Wharton) and U. of Chicago (Booth) b-school grads make an average of $213,000 per year on graduation. U.S. News also reports that those with a JD from a top 15 program earn a median starting salary of $190,000 in the private sector.

Post graduation salary and fringe benefits
These post-degree salary figures don’t tell the whole story, though. In the long run, JD/MBA holders have much better prospects for promotions, increases in pay, and general upward mobility. Those with both a JD and an MBA can switch between business management work and law in the course of their careers. They can also use their degree to negotiate better entry level pay, better raises, and more frequent promotions.

Ultimately, dual-degree graduates may also enjoy a wider spectrum of job opportunities. They will often finding work in the general counsel’s office of a large corporation or in the business litigation division of a large law firm.

The JD/MBA dual degree: My perspective as a professor
From a professorial perspective the JD/MBA students, usually 12-14 in a class, were always a delight to teach. I always expected a certain level of preparedness and they consistently delivered. And they had expectations for me as well: they wanted topical, seminal law cases assigned for discussion. As a group I noticed a given student would lean toward or favor a particular discipline. Those who were more business oriented were older, more practical with considerable work experience. Those who considered themselves law students first were more irreverent, talkative, and generally better writers. They most often had a liberal arts undergraduate degree. And they formed tribal groups early on sometime arguing loudly across the classroom.

If you are considering the JD/MBA talk to trusted mentors, check your finances, ponder the job market, and think carefully about a radical change of lifestyle.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published by Professor Dave Scalise in March 2012. It has since been updated by David Recine and Magoosh staff for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

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GMAT Focus Edition: Score Chart and Percentiles Rankings (2024) [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   29 May 2024, 12:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: GMAT Focus Edition: Score Chart and Percentiles Rankings (2024)


When it comes to business school admissions, the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT
) is a critical component of the application process. However, with the introduction of the GMAT
Focus Edition, potential candidates are faced with a new dimension to consider. This article breaks down the differences between the regular GMAT and the GMAT Focus Edition, and how these variations may affect your scores and percentile rankings.

The GMAT Scoring System
With the introduction of the GMAT Focus Edition, there has been a significant shift in the scoring system which impacts percentile rankings. This new version introduces an updated score scale ranging from 205 to 805, with each score ending in a 5, a clear departure from the traditional GMAT Exam’s 200-800 range. This adjustment enables a clear differentiation between the scores from the GMAT Focus Edition and the traditional GMAT Exam.

Moreover, the GMAT Focus Edition brings a more comprehensive evaluation into play. Unlike its predecessor, which calculated the Total Score based solely on Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning scores, the GMAT Focus Edition incorporates all three sections: Quantitative, Verbal, and Data Insights. Each section contributes equally to the Total Score, with individual section scores ranging from 60 to 90.

What does this mean?
Let’s consider an example to illustrate this difference. If two test takers, John and Jane, take the GMAT and the GMAT Focus Edition respectively, and both score 600 and 605, this does not indicate equivalent performance levels. John, who took the traditional GMAT, achieved his score based solely on his Quantitative and Verbal Reasoning skills. On the other hand, Jane’s score from the GMAT Focus Edition reflects her competencies in Quantitative, Verbal, and Data Insights sections. Hence, while their scores may seem close numerically, Jane’s 605 is a reflection of a broader skill set.

This revised structure emphasizes a multi-faceted approach, underscoring the importance of versatility in skills. By considering your performance across all three areas, the GMAT Focus Edition provides a more holistic view of your prep.

GMAT Focus Score Conversion
To gain an understanding of how the standard GMAT scores align with the GMAT Focus Edition, take a look at the comprehensive Score Concordance table provided below.

GMAT Score
Percentile Ranking
GMAT Focus Edition Score

800
100%
805

790
100%
805

780
100%
805

770
100%
805

760
99%
715

750
99%
715

740
98%
695

730
97%
695

720
95%
675

710
93%
665

700
90%
655

690
87%
645

680
83%
635

670
80%
615

660
78%
615

650
75%
615

640
71%
595

630
65%
585

620
63%
585

610
59%
575

600
55%
565

590
51%
555

580
48%
555

570
44%
545

560
41%
535

550
38%
525

540
35%
515

530
32%
515

520
28%
495

510
27%
495

500
25%
495

490
23%
485

480
21%
475

470
19%
475

460
18%
465

450
15%
455

440
14%
445

430
13%
445

420
12%
435

410
10%
425

400
9%
415

390
9%
415

380
8%
415

370
7%
405

360
6%
395

350
6%
395

340
5%
385

330
4%
375

320
4%
375

310
3%
355

300
3%
355

290
2%
335

280
2%
335

270
2%
335

260
2%
335

250
2%
335

240
1%
305

230
1%
305

220
1%
305

210
1%
305

200
0%
205

This table was provided by GMAC. You may also find it helpful to look at the average GMAT scores of top programs.

Final Thoughts
In conclusion, the GMAT Focus Edition has revolutionized the landscape of business school admissions tests, introducing a more comprehensive and holistic evaluation approach. The expansion of the score scale and the inclusion of a third section in the total score calculation provides candidates with a unique opportunity to showcase a wider range of competencies. As a result, it is crucial for candidates to grasp these differences and understand their impact on their scores. By doing so, you can strategically prepare for the exam and ensure that your scores truly reflect your dedication.

Follow the Magoosh GMAT blog to stay up to date on the latest GMAT Focus news, test tips, and strategies.

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Whats Tested on the GMAT Verbal Reasoning Section? [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   30 May 2024, 10:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: What’s Tested on the GMAT Verbal Reasoning Section?


The GMAT Verbal section consists of 23 multiple-choice questions (with five answer choices each) in 45 minutes. So, you have about 1 minute and 57 seconds to answer each Verbal question the GMAT throws at you. But, the time required to answer those questions will vary since different question types will demand more or less time. You’ll encounter two GMAT Verbal question types: Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning. Keep reading to learn about what’s tested on GMAT Verbal and the frequency of each question type and topic!

What are the GMAT Verbal question types?
Here, again, are the two types of GMAT Verbal questions: Reading Comprehension questions and Critical Reasoning questions. Note that within each of these broad categories are subtypes of questions, which are important to be able to identify in order to use the best strategy. Below, we’re going to look at the two broad types and their subtypes.

Reading Comprehension
Out of the 23 Verbal questions on the GMAT, you should anticipate 13 or 14 to be Reading Comprehension questions. The passages may be up to 350 words and will have 3 or 4 associated multiple-choice questions. The subjects of the passages are typically about social sciences, physical or biological sciences, or business/economics. Luckily, you don’t have to be an expert in these topics before taking GMAT Verbal. There are six question categories, from finding the main idea of the passage to identifying the author’s tone. To prepare for Reading Comprehension in GMAT Verbal, check out How to Study for Reading Comprehension.

GMAT Reading Comprehension Question Types
Here are the five most common types of Reading Comprehension questions on the GMAT:

  • Inference (identify information that is implied in the passage, but not directly stated)
  • Detail (identify information that is directly stated in the passage)
  • Primary Purpose (identify the main purpose the whole passage serves)
  • Organization and Function (identify the purpose of a smaller part of the passage, or identify the way that the whole passage or parts of it are organized)
  • Analyze the Argument (analyze the strength of an argument made in the passage)
A Note about EXCEPT Questions and their Frequency
Students often ask us about EXCEPT RC questions on the GMAT. These questions ask you to select the one answer that is incorrect instead of the one correct answer. Typical wording would be something like “all of the following is true EXCEPT….” It is possible for Inference, Detail, Organization & Function, or Analyze the Argument questions to have this EXCEPT pattern. But if you find this format of question difficult, I have good news: only a few of GMAT Reading Comprehension questions fall under this category.

Critical Reasoning
Of the 23 Verbal questions on the GMAT Focus, 9 or 10 will be Critical Reasoning questions. Each Critical Reasoning question begins with a passage that is usually fewer than 100 words. Your mission is to analyze the argument presented in the passage, determining which answer makes the argument stronger, weaker, flawed, or whatever specific task the question asks you to complete. There are eight question categories. For a detailed breakdown of this question type and the smaller question types within it (plus additional practice!), read our Introduction to Critical Reasoning article.

How long is the GMAT Verbal? What is the timing of each Verbal section?
The total time for the GMAT Verbal section is 45 minutes. With 23 GMAT Verbal questions to contend with, you’ll have between one to three minutes to complete each question, so pacing yourself is key!

Here’s what we suggest for timing for GMAT Verbal:

  • For Reading Comprehension questions, allow 6 minutes for a set of 3 questions, or 8 minutes for a set of 4 questions, plus 2-4 minutes to read the passage.
  • For Critical Reasoning questions, give yourself 90 seconds to 3 minutes.
Like GMAT Quant, the questions are adaptive, so you might see more and more challenging ones if you’re doing well. If you’re having trouble finishing the verbal section within the time limit, check out our Ultimate Guide to GMAT Pacing.

The max score you can achieve for the GMAT Verbal section is 90, and the average of your Verbal and Quant scores forms your overall GMAT score, which is on a 205-805 scale. With Verbal counting towards one of the more important scores that MBA programs are looking at, you’ll want to be prepared for all the GMAT Verbal question types by test day.

If you’re not sure how you’d do on Verbal, you can get a baseline score by taking a free Practice test. After taking steps to improve your score.

We’ve also compiled our Verbal practice questions and top tips to help you get ready!

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1-Month Study Schedule for the GMAT [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   30 May 2024, 11:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: 1-Month Study Schedule for the GMAT


Suppose you need to prepare for GMAT in 1 month, starting from square one. You’ll need a good GMAT study guide, dedication, and the willingness to study hard for the next ~30 days. Studying for GMAT in one month might not give you a whole lot of time, but we’re here to help you with this 1 month GMAT study plan to make the best of what you have.



How to Use This 1 Month GMAT Study Plan
[*]Essential Study Materials[/*]
[*]Abbreviations[/*]
[*]The 1-Month GMAT Study Schedule[/*]
[/list]
Getting Started

GMAT rescheduling fee–but it’s far better than taking the exam before you have time to fully prepare and needing to pay for a retake.

  • If possible, follow a three-month or six-month plan.

If you are committed to a 1-month schedule this plan will be time-consuming and require hard work, dedication, and focus to get through, but we know you can do it.

Now, you can just dive into this plan! However, you’ll find it more effective if you use it methodically. To get the most out of this GMAT study plan, approach it with as follows:

  • Make sure you have all the essential materials.
  • Maintain your motivation. Writing down why you want a particular score on the GMAT—and reviewing your reasons often—can be a powerful reminder to keep you going!
  • Maintain your physical health. Eat well and get physical activity as much as you can!
  • Sleep for eight hours! Get enough sleep during this three month period. REM sleep plays an important role in encoding long term memory!
    • In an eight hour period of sleep, the last hour has the most REM.
  • Avoid artificial crutches: Caffeine and energy drinks will keep you feeling awake if you don’t get enough sleep, but they don’t do bupkis to replace the lost opportunity to encode more information into long term memory.
  • Bring it all together for test day! Review Magoosh’s tips at the end of this post for how to make sure you do your best when it (officially) counts.

A Premium subscription to Magoosh[/b]

Magoosh’s Complete GMAT Guide: This comprehensive web-based guide gives you a quick and useful overview. You’ll see how the GMAT is designed and scored, what skills it tests, how to find and use the best GMAT prep, and how to study for each test section.

GMAC’s GMAT Official Guide (OG)–The newest edition of the e-book and online question bank is here: OG 2023-2024. If you are going to buy a new guide, get that one. Want a paper copy? Check out this link.

Word to the wise: Don’t write in the official guide or any prep books. Do all your work on separate paper or on a computer. You will want to keep the books clean, so that later, if you need to look at a problem again, it is still fresh and unmarked.

An Error Log. Not sure what’s up with an error log. The link at the beginning of this sentence will walk you through the benefits and provide you with access to a Free template.

Note: The GMAT underwent major changes in 2023. So, you might be wondering what to do if you have prep materials that were produced for older versions of the GMAT. Good news! You can absolutely keep and use those older materials; however, there are a few topics and subject areas that you should skip if you do choose to use older materials. Here’s what you should leave out:

  • Lessons/practice for Sentence Corrections
  • Lessons/practice for the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA)
  • Lessons/practice for quantitative questions that test plane geometry concepts
  • Lessons/practice that use the Data Sufficiency (DS) question type to test purely algebraic or numeric property concepts. DS questions now all either test verbal reasoning skills or math in a real-world context (aka) word problems based on realistic scenarios.
Optional Materials

The Magoosh mobile app for your iPhone or Android

The OG Verbal Review 2023-2024, the OG Quantitative Review 2023-2024, and the OG Data Insights Review 2023-2024. These links will take you to the e-book and online question banks available from the Exam Prep section of mba.com. You cannot go wrong if you use materials produced by the folks who write the exam.

GMAT’s additional official practice exams, which are now entirely digital.

The Magoosh GMAT Math Flashcards. If you happen to see a deck for plane geometry concepts, remember to skip those since those concepts are no longer tested on the GMAT.

If you’ve exhausted the OG and Magoosh materials, another credible option is Manhattan’s All the GMAT book set. It is an excellent prep source. (Don’t write in these books either!)

The two online forums:

GMAT Club

Beat the GMAT

These are great places to ask questions about anything GMAT related, or simply to check out the discussions and see how others are preparing.

sign up here for a free trial!

Day 1: Diagnostic Test, Review, and GMAT Basics

  • Take Magoosh’s Free GMAT Diagnostic. When you are done, note your score, then check your answers.
  • If you haven’t done so already,build your error log and add questions from the diagnostic you just took. You’ll be using your error log throughout this study plan. Today, you are going to do your first in-depth review. For each question you entered into your log do the following:
    • Try to determine and make note of why you missed the question
    • Read any related text explanations and watch any related video explanations
    • Watch any recommended lesson videos (don’t worry about watching them out of order. You’ll likely be watching the videos a few times, especially those that relate to your weaker areas.)
    • Be aware of any trends that help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Go to the test-maker’s website, and read all about the GMAT. Click on each of the Quick Links on the sidebar of that page to explore the exam structure, content, and to check out a few sample questions.

In Magoosh, watch the following videos:

GMAT Focus Introduction: all seven videos in this section

Gmat Focus Intro: Quantitative Section

GMAT Focus Intro: Verbal Section

GMAT Focus Intro: Data Insights Section

Computer Adaptive Testing

GMAT Focus Scores

Pacing, Skipping, and Guessing

Gmat Focus Intro: Test Day

Day 2: Quantitative Reasoning Basics

NOTE: Some of the information in Magoosh videos may be super easy or very challenging, brand new information. Some folks will find the verbal information obvious and the math hard-going; other folks will have the reverse experience. If the material is relatively easy for you, feel free to click to the end and simply read the summary. If the material is new to you, take notes on what you are learning, and if possible, watch that video a second time.

NOTE II: After most Magoosh questions is a text and/or video explanation. If you got the question right, just skim the text summary of the video to verify you understand it. If you got the question wrong, watch the video explanation right away. If you don’t understand a question after reviewing the text and video explanations, email us at Magoosh.com. Due to a high volume of questions, please allow up to 48-hours for a response.

Getting questions wrong at the beginning may be frustrating, but remember that you are playing a “longer game”: the point is not instant success at the beginning, but building deeper understanding overtime. Remember to add all incorrect questions to your error log!

Watch the following videos:

In Quantitative Reasoning (QR), watch the following General Math Strategies videos and complete any associated practice quizzes:

Intro to GMAT Math

Mental Math: GMAT Estimation

Mental Math: Doubling and Halving

Mental Math: Squaring Shortcuts

Number Sense

The Use and Abuse of Formulas

Properties of Real Numbers

Positive and Negative Numbers

Mixed Numerals and Improper Fractions

Word Problems with Fractions

Quiz: Arithmetic and Fractions

Error Log Review: Arithmetic and Fractions Quiz

Magoosh Custom Practice:

From your dashboard select Practice → Custom Practice → All Quantitative Reasoning. Select “clear all” and then check the box for Arithmetic and Fractions.

  • 10 QR questions. Subject: Arithmetic and Fractions

Review

If you have not done so as you worked through the questions, be sure you review all the practice questions you’ve attempted.

Add any that you missed to your error log, and remember to be sure that for each question you do the following:

  • Try to determine and make note of why you missed the question
  • Read any related text explanations and watch any related video explanations
  • Watch any recommended lesson videos (don’t worry about watching them out of order. You’ll likely be watching the videos a few times, especially those that relate to your weaker areas.)
  • Be aware of any trends that help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Day 3: Verbal Reasoning

Watch the following videos and complete any associated practice quizzes:

Intro to Critical Reasoning

Dissecting an Argument

Common Argument Types

General CR Strategy

Weakening the Argument

Strengthening the Argument

Assumption Questions

Trap Answers

Magoosh Custom Practice:

From your dashboard select Practice → Custom Practice→Verbal Reasoning→ Critical Reasoning. Select “clear all” and then check the boxes for Strengthening and Weakening questions.

  • 10 VR questions. Subject: Critical Reasoning, Strengthening and Weakening.

Review

If you have not done so as you worked through the questions, be sure you review all the practice questions you’ve attempted this week.

Day 4: Quantitative Reasoning

In QR, watch the following videos and complete any associated practice quizzes:

Number Sense and Percents

Ratios and Percents

Quiz: Ratios and Percents

Error Log Review: Ratio and Percents Quiz

Multiples

Least Common Multiple

Testing Cases

Remainders

Integer Property Strategies

Quiz: Integer Properties

Error Log Review: Integer Properties Quiz

Magoosh Custom Practice:

From your dashboard select Practice → Custom Practice→ Quantitative Reasoning→ All Quantitative Reasoning. Select “clear all” and then check the boxes for Percents and Ratios & Integer Properties questions.

  • 10 QR questions. Subject: All QR, Percents and Ratios & Integer Properties.

Review

If you have not done so as you worked through the questions, be sure you review all the practice questions you’ve attempted.

Day 5: Data Insights

Watch the following videos and complete any associated practice quizzes:

Fundamentals of Data Sufficiency

DS Elimination Method

Avoiding Common DS Mistakes

Introductory DS Strategies

Word Problems, Summarizing Information

DS with Integer Constraints

Tautological Statements

Quiz: Data Sufficiency

Error Log Review: Data Sufficiency Quiz

Magoosh Custom Practice:

From your dashboard select Practice → Custom Practice → Data Insights (DI) → Data Sufficiency. Select “select all.”

  • 10 DI questions. Subject: Data Sufficiency

Review

If you have not done so as you worked through the questions, be sure you review all the practice questions you’ve attempted this week.

Day 6: OG Question Bank Diagnostic Test

OG Diagnostic practice tests!

If you haven’t already done so, in the OG online question bank, navigate to Practice Exams on the sidebar. Take all three diagnostic practice exams.



Go through the answers after you are done, taking notes on anything you got wrong.

At this early stage of practice, it is not as important to mimic the real GMAT conditions. Pay attention to how well you maintain focus within each section. Note your energy level during different sections, and how this affects your concentration.

Day 7: OG Diagnostic Test Review

Review

If you didn’t do this yesterday, open your error log for a deep-dive review of the practice test. During this session with your error log, determine which question types you are currently struggling with the most in regards to timing. If running out of time is not an issue for you, review your error log to find the questions where you should have spent MORE time. Can you find any patterns? Where do you make careless mistakes? Figure out where you should slow down when testing.

*You can also use this day to catch-up on or review any of this week’s assignments.

Day 8: Take a Break

Relax and prepare for the next round of studying!

Day 9: Quantitative Reasoning

Watch the following videos and complete any associated practice quizzes:

Factoring-Combined

Advanced Numerical Factoring

Factoring-Rational Expressions

Two Equations, Two Unknowns-II

System-Number of Solutions

Three Equations with Three Unknowns

Absolute Value Equations

Strange Operators

Absolute Value Inequalities

Quiz: Algebra, Equations, and Inequalities

Error Log Review: Algebra, Equations, and Inequalities Quiz

Magoosh Custom Practice:

From your dashboard select Practice → Custom Practice → All Quantitative Reasoning. Select “clear all” and then check the box for Algebra.

  • 10 QR questions. Subject: Algebra

Review

If you have not done so as you worked through the questions, be sure you review all the practice questions you’ve attempted.

Day 10: Verbal Reasoning

Watch the following videos and complete any associated quizzes:

Intro to Reading Comprehension

Approaching the Passage

Understanding Structure

Dissecting the Passage

Approaching the Questions

Answer Choice Traps

Magoosh Custom Practice:

From your dashboard select Practice → Custom Practice→Verbal Reasoning→ Reading Comprehension. Select “select all.”

  • 10 VR questions. Subject: Reading Comprehension.

Review

If you have not done so as you worked through the questions, be sure you review all the practice questions you’ve attempted.

Day 11: Quantitative Reasoning

Watch the following videos and complete any associated quizzes:

Multiple Traveler Questions

Shrinking and Expanding Gaps

Work Questions

Growth and Decay

Mixture Questions

Intro to Sets and Venn Diagrams

Double Matrix Method

Three Criteria Venn Diagrams

Arithmetic Sequences

Recursive Sequences

Inclusive Counting

Sums of Sequences

Backsolving

Intro to VICs

Day 12: Data Insights

Watch the following videos and complete any associated quizzes:

The IR Calculator

General IR Strategies

Multi-Source Reasoning

Bradley Metalworks 1 (Practice)

Bradley Metalworks 2 (Practice)

Table Analysis

High School Exams (Practice)

Graphics Interpretations

Types of Graphics

Venn Diagrams

Scatterplots

More on Scatterplots

Three Companies (Practice)

Numerical Flowchart (Practice)

Day 13: Mock Test

In Magoosh, take a full-length practice test!

In your dashboard, navigate to Practice → Practice Test, choose the order in which you want to take the sections, and then start your practice test.

Try to mimic the GMAT conditions. You can review your test immediately after completion or save it for tomorrow.

Day 14: Mock Test Review

Review

If you didn’t do this yesterday, open your error log for a deep-dive review of the practice test. During this session with your error log, determine which question types you are running out of time on, and also review your error log to find the questions where you should have spent MORE time. Can you find any patterns? Where do you make careless mistakes? Figure out where you should slow down when testing.

*You can also use this day to catch-up on or review any of this week’s assignments.

Day 15: Take a Break

Relax and prepare for the next round of studying!

Day 16: Quantitative Reasoning

Watch the following videos and complete any associated quizzes:

VICs – Algebraic Approach

VICs – Picking Numbers

Quiz: Word Problems

Error Log Review: Word Problems Quiz

Laws of Exponents II

Equations with Square Roots

Fractional Exponents

Exponential Equations

Quiz: Powers and Roots

Error Log Review: Powers and Roots Quiz

Magoosh Custom Practice:

From your dashboard select Practice → Custom Practice → All Quantitative Reasoning. Select “clear all” and then check the boxes for Word Problems & Powers and Roots.

  • 10 QR questions. Subjects: Word Problems & Powers and Roots

Review

If you have not done so as you worked through the questions, be sure you review all the practice questions you’ve attempted.

Day 17: Verbal Reasoning

Watch the following videos and complete any associated quizzes:

Conclusion and Inference

Bold-Faced Questions

Flawed Argument Questions

Paradox Questions

Evaluating the Conclusion

Miscellaneous CR Tips

Critical Reasoning Example #1

Critical Reasoning Example #2

Quiz: Critical Reasoning

Error Log Review: Critical Reasoning Quiz

Magoosh Custom Practice:

From your dashboard select Practice → Custom Practice→Verbal Reasoning→ Critical Reasoning. Select “clear all” and then check the boxes for Evaluating, Paradox, Conclusion/Inference, Flawed Argument, and Structure.

  • 10 VR questions. Subject: Critical Reasoning, Evaluating, Paradox, Conclusion/Inference, Flawed Argument, and Structure.

Day 18: Quantitative Reasoning

Watch the following videos and complete any associated quizzes:

Weighted Averages II (Advanced)

Range and Standard Deviation

More Standard Deviation

The Normal Distribution

Quiz: Statistics

Error Log Review: Statistics Quiz

Fundamental Counting Principle

FCP with Restrictions

Factorial Notation

Magoosh Custom Practice:

From your dashboard select Practice → Custom Practice → All Quantitative Reasoning. Select “clear all” and then check the box for Statistics.

  • 10 QR questions. Subject: Statistics

Review

If you have not done so as you worked through the questions, be sure you review all the practice questions you’ve attempted.

Day 19: Data Insights

Watch the following videos and complete any associated quizzes:

Intro Two-Part Analysis

Verbal Two Part Analysis

Math Two-Part Analysis

Highway to Hillsborough (Practice)

Algebraic Sequence (Practice)

Quiz: Integrated Reasoning

Error Log Review: Integrated Reasoning

Magoosh Custom Practice:

From your dashboard select Practice → Custom Practice→Data Insights → Integrated Reasoning. Select “select all.”

  • 10 DI questions. Subject: Data Insights, Integrated Reasoning

Day 20: Mock Test

In Magoosh, take a full-length practice test!

In your dashboard, navigate to Practice → Practice Test, choose the order in which you want to take the sections, and then start your practice test.

Try to mimic the GMAT conditions. You can review your test immediately after completion or save it for tomorrow.

Day 21: Mock Test Review

Review

If you didn’t do this yesterday, open your error log for a deep-dive review of the practice test. During this session with your error log, determine which question types you are currently struggling with the most in regards to timing. If running out of time is not an issue for you, review your error log to find the questions where you should have spent MORE time. Can you find any patterns? Where do you make careless mistakes? Figure out where you should slow down when testing.

*You can also use this day to catch-up on or review any of this week’s assignments.

Day 22: Take a Break

Relax and prepare for the next round of studying!

Day 23: Quantitative Reasoning

Watch the following videos and complete any associated quizzes:

Counting with Identical Items

Combinations

When to use Combinations

Calculating Combinations

Counting Strategies

Quiz: Counting

Error Log Review: Counting Quiz

Intro to Probability

Complementary Events and Simple Rules

Mutually Exclusive Events

Binomial Situation

The “At Least” Scenario

Analyzing Questions

Using Counting Techniques

Quiz: Probability

Error Log Review: Probability Quiz

Magoosh Custom Practice:

From your dashboard select Practice → Custom Practice → All Quantitative Reasoning. Select “clear all” and then check the boxes for Probability and Counting.

10 QR questions. Subject: Probability and Counting.

Day 24: Verbal Reasoning

Watch the following videos and complete any associated quizzes:

Primary Purpose

Detail Questions

Inference Questions

Miscellaneous RC Tips

RC Example, Passage #1 Path Dependence

RC Example, Passage #1, Question #1

RC Example, Passage #1, Question #2

RC Example, Passage #2, Office Organization

RC Example, Passage #2, Question #1

RC Example, Passage #2, Question #2

Quiz: Reading Comprehension

Error Log Review: Reading Comprehension Quiz

Magoosh Custom Practice:

From your dashboard select Practice → Custom Practice→Verbal Reasoning→ Reading Comprehension. Select “select all.”

  • 10 VR questions. Subject: Reading Comprehension

Review

If you have not done so as you worked through the questions, be sure you review all the practice questions you’ve attempted.

Day 25: Practice

Miscellaneous Practice:

Take a QR, VR, or DI section test and then break out your Error Log for analysis of any questions that you missed.

Day 26: Practice

Miscellaneous Practice:

Take a QR, VR, or DI section test and then break out your Error Log for analysis of any questions that you missed.

Day 27: Mock Test

In Magoosh, take a full-length practice test!

In your dashboard, navigate to Practice → Practice Test, choose the order in which you want to take the sections, and then start your practice test.

Try to mimic the GMAT conditions. You can review your test immediately after completion or save it for tomorrow.

Day 28: Mock Test Review

Review

If you didn’t do this yesterday, open your error log for a deep-dive review of the practice test. During this session with your error log, determine which question types you are currently struggling with the most in regards to timing. If running out of time is not an issue for you, review your error log to find the questions where you should have spent MORE time. Can you find any patterns? Where do you make careless mistakes? Figure out where you should slow down when testing.

*You can also use this day to catch-up on or review any of this week’s assignments.

Day 29: Take a Break

Relax and prepare for your official GMAT test!

COUNTDOWN TO THE EXAM:

Day Before the Test

No GMAT preparation all day!

Eat a large, healthy, leisurely dinner – no alcohol!

Go to bed earlier than usual.

Day of Test

ABSOLUTELY NO LAST-MINUTE GMAT PREPARATION!

Eat a large breakfast, full of protein

Do relaxing, fun activities to pass time until the test

Bring to the Test

A liter of water

Healthy energy-packed snacks (nuts, protein bar, etc.)

Take the optional break and be sure to get up, move & stretch – moving & stretching the large muscles of the body (legs & torso) will get oxygen flowing throughout, which will help keep you awake and keep you thinking clearly.

Good luck!

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How Long Should You Study for the GMAT? (Take the Quiz!) [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   30 May 2024, 11:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: How Long Should You Study for the GMAT? (Take the Quiz!)


How long should you study for the GMAT? Whether you’re a college student or working professional, the average GMAT student can expect to spend 100-170 hours studying, over the course of 2-3 months before your test date.

The very top scorers on the GMAT often spend more than 170 hours, with study plans lasting up to 6 months.

You may be wondering when should you take the GMAT and how much of a difference the preparation time makes on your score. According to GMAC (the test-maker), there’s a direct correlation between the time you put in and your score outcome. On average, those who received scores of 500+ studied at least 60 hours.

To find out exactly how long you’ll need to get the score you want, take the quiz! Then, come back to the post and we’ll talk about some factors which may come into play when considering when to take the GMAT.

powered by Typeform

 

How much do you enjoy tests?[/*]
[*]How much of a point increase do you want?[/*]
[*]How competitive are the programs you’re applying to?[/*]
[*]How long do you have for GMAT prep?[/*]
[*]When should you take the GMAT?[/*]
[*]How strong are your skills already?[/*]
[*]What are your weak areas? And how weak are they?[/*]
[*]So how long should you study for the GMAT?[/*]
[/list]
How Long Does It Take to Study for the GMAT? Narrowing It Down
It’s really easy to answer “How long do I need to prepare for GMAT?” and “How do I study for the GMAT?” by saying it depends. But, we know that’s not helpful for test takers creating GMAT study plans! Instead, let’s consider some of the factors that affect how much GMAT preparation time you need.

free practice test, relatively cold, with little prep, and got your initial score. We’ll call this a baseline score.

What is your target score? How much do you want to improve from this cold-take baseline?

Let’s say, with moderate prep, you could improve 50 points over a relatively cold-take. That’s readily do-able.

Improving 100 points—that’s more of a challenge.

Improving 150 or 200 points or more—that will take exceptionally diligent work, including more practice tests and practice questions. You’ll need to sustain this GMAT study plan over quite some time, and even then, an improvement of this magnitude is not guaranteed.

some business schools, GMAT scores are super important.

Doing your research to determine admitted students’ average GMAT scores and going in-depth on admissions websites can help you answer this question.

the three categories—Quantitative, Verbal, and Data Insights. On a 1-10 scale, how would you rank your relative aptitudes in each? This may play into extra time over and above the time you spend studying specifically for the GMAT.

GMAT Critical Reasoning and GMAT Reading Comprehension.

Ideally, you will begin this daily reading habit well before the rest of your GMAT studying—a year or more.

Where will you get the time to do all this reading? Well, if you sharply reduce the time spent on social media, TV, video games, and other forms of electronic entertainment, you actually will be doing your brain a favor.

If you are relatively comfortable in verbal, and you haven’t even looked at math since an unfriendly farewell a few years back, then you need to study math, starting pretty much as soon as you finish reading this post.

You don’t get a calculator on the GMAT Quant section, so practice mental math—every day, you should add & subtract & multiply & divide in your head.

Get remedial books published for high school students, “Algebra Review”, “Geometry Review”, and start reading.

Look for every possible application of math in your life. Think areas of rooms, grocery bills, gas mileage, and the like. Do real-world math.

Whether you are weaker in math or verbal, your weaknesses will require extra focus, which should should be considered over and above how long you study for the GMAT. These are the extra number of hours you need to study for the GMAT.

crushed it and so can you. Every second you devote into your GMAT study will become worth it as you receive an invitation into your dream business school.

You can do this
We believe in you!

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Reading List to Improve Your GMAT Verbal Score! [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   30 May 2024, 15:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: Reading List to Improve Your GMAT Verbal Score!


Learn what to read now to best prepare yourself for GMAT Reading Comprehension

Not surprisingly, one of the very best ways to prepare for GMAT Reading Comprehension is simply to read, preferably from a high-quality reading list of GMAT-style material.  If you have only a few weeks between now and when you take the GMAT, you probably should stick to GMAT RC passages for practice.  If, though, you have several months between now and your GMAT, you can afford to invest time in reading for the GMAT.  If you don’t like to read, that is all the more reason to do so — to get your mind in shape for the reading you will have to do on the GMAT.

 

What to read for the GMAT
First of all, what subject areas would be relevant?  All GMAT Reading Comprehension passages fall into one of four areas:

1.  Physical Sciences

2.  Biological Sciences

3.  Social Sciences

4.  Business

A good reading plan to improve your GMAT Verbal skills should cover all four of these areas and should consist of articles written with a high level of vocabulary and sentence complexity. So, while reading a Wikipedia article about a science topic you don’t understand might pique your interest, there’s no guarantee that the grammar or diction will be of the highest quality. You want to be sure to practice with materials that are on par with what you’ll encounter during the GMAT Verbal section.

The easiest GMAT Reading Comprehension area for which to make a recommendation is business. If you’ve spent any time with GMAC’s Official Guide, you’ve likely noticed that there are more business-based Reading Comprehension passages than any of the other three categories. Makes sense. This is an exam that one takes on the road to applying to MBA programs.

If you are planning to go to Business school, get an MBA, and pursue a corporate career, you already should be reading the Financial Times newspaper every day and the Economist magazine every week.  I also recommend Bloomberg Businessweek.  If you have never taken economics, it would be worthwhile to get either an Economics text book or some other introductory books, such as Yoram Bauman‘s Cartoon Introductions to Micro and Macroeconomics.  Those latter two books may not be at the highest level of English language usage, but if you are lacking a strong background in economics, those books would be an excellent way to catch up.

For both the physical and biological sciences, Scientific American is an excellent source.  If you have a relatively weak background in the natural sciences in general, pushing yourself through Scientific American articles could be excellent training for wrestling with similar passage on the GMAT. If you are more ambitious, get your hands on a textbook (borrow from a friend or from the library) and force yourself to read a couple chapters.

For the social sciences, unfortunately, most popularly available publications (e.g. Psychology Today) are not nearly academic enough.  Occasionally, the New York Times will cover an academic social science issue; in particular, if the Sunday NYT Book Review reviews a book about a social science, that can be good material to read.  Here, unfortunately, there is no analog to the Economist magazine or Scientific American. If you really want social science reading practice, I have to banish you to the academic journals. Go to a good academic library and peruse the highly respected social science journals. Yes, this will be very dry and cerebral, but if you can stomach these, then anything the GMAT throws at you will seem easy.  You may also try this open access listing of online academic journals.

The New Yorker and the Atlantic Monthly are exceptionally well-written journals.  The focus of each is a little more literary, so the topics are somewhat less likely to appear on the GMAT, but because the writing is of exceptionally high quality, these still provide excellent practice for sophisticated reading.

How to read for the GMAT
An essential skill you can hone as you prepare to dive into GMAT Reading Comprehension is to read with a purpose. What we mean by “a purpose” is to adopt an active reading strategy, making note of the elements that often pop up in GMAT questions. For example, GMAT Reading Comprehension almost invariably asks a “main idea” question. So, when you read for practice, make a habit of summarizing the main idea(s) and the roles of each paragraph. Here are a few high-level suggestions:

  • Identify the main point of the article as well as the author’s purpose in writing the article. These are not the same thing, although they are often confused.
  • Identify the author’s tone by paying attention to any stated opinions. Also pay attention to the adjectives the author uses throughout the article.
  • Make sure you distinguish the author’s opinion from the other perspectives shared in the article and whether they agree or disagree with the author.
Practicing an active reading strategy will help you develop a much deeper understanding of the text.

A final suggestion is to find a GMAT reading partner. Then, if both of you struggle through the same article, you can quiz each other on the main idea, you can discuss points of view and tone and details. If you are very ambitious, you can even start to write full practice GMAT Reading Comprehension questions for each other. (If you practice having to create four tempting and credible-sounding wrong answers for each question you write, that process will give you great insight into the patterns that the GMAT uses in crafting its wrong answers.)

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GMAT Verbal for Non-Native English Speakers [#permalink] Magoosh Blog   30 May 2024, 15:00
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FROM Magoosh Blog: GMAT Verbal for Non-Native English Speakers


The GMAT is a tough exam, even for those who have been speaking English their entire lives. Another degree of difficulty is added for those who are non-native English speakers. Here at Magoosh, we’re proud to have helped many students from around the world who speak English as a second language. There’s no denying that this endeavor is challenging. Below we share a few study habits to help unlock the GMAT verbal section for non-native English speakers.

The Single Most Important Practice for Non-Native English Speakers
The most important thing you can do to improve your verbal performance on the GMAT is to read English as much as possible. Reading will not only boost your knowledge of vocabulary, but also your comprehension skills — your ability to digest meaning and decipher the author’s intent. This is a crucial skill for the GMAT verbal section’s critical reasoning questions.

But don’t just read anything: it’s important to read high-level materials that are similar to what you’ll see come test day. Consider such venerated publications as The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Economist, and Arts & Letters Daily. Take a look at our full list of recommended periodicals. Or, if you prefer books, check out our recommended fiction & non-fiction (this list is written for the GRE, but all the picks would suit the GMAT as well).

You should read for at least 30 minutes a day. If you can afford the time, make it one hour a day.

Learn to Read ‘Actively’
To master the GMAT verbal section, you need to ‘trick’ your brain into being alert and attentive at all times. In other words, you need to make it a priority to read actively.

Many students make the mistake of trying to rush through passages in the hopes that they can spend more time focusing on the questions. In the end, this approach only wastes time, as you’ll find yourself frequently returning to the passage to fish out details you can no longer remember.

So keep calm, slow down, and make it your goal to read the entire passage with determination and poise.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask Questions
It will be difficult to catch up with native speakers on an exam like the GMAT. Part of bridging this gap is to ask for help when you get stuck. Magoosh has helped thousands of non-native speakers with a range of Verbal concepts, from simply defining words or idioms to making sense of an author’s implied arguments on the critical reasoning section — so check out Magoosh GMAT today! Try us out for free with a 1-week trial.

Happy studying!

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