Prep for the Exam

Put Your Prep in Focus

Here are our steps to starting your prep journey with your best foot forward.

1. Study the structure. Use the study plan in our free GMAT™ Official Starter Kit to become familiar with the exam format and structure. The study plan will guide you through each question type and give you sample questions. This will boost your confidence come test day when you know what to expect.
   
   
2. Understand the question types. Beyond knowing how to answer questions correctly, learn what each type of question is asking of you. GMAT questions rely on logic and analytical skills, not underlying subject matter mastery, as detailed in the GMAT™ Official Guide 2024-2025 & Online Question Bank.
   
   
3. Establish your baseline. Take GMAT™ Official Practice Exam 1 (FREE) to establish your baseline. It uses the same format and scoring algorithm as the real test, so you can use the score report to accurately assess your strengths and growth areas.
   
   
4. Study answer explanations. Take advantage of each question you get wrong by studying correct answers, so you know how to get it right next time. GMAT™ Official Practice Questions provide detailed answer explanations for hundreds of real GMAT questions. This will help you understand why you got a question right or wrong.
   
   
5. Simulate the test-taking experience. Take GMAT™ Official Practice Exam 2. All GMAT™ Official Practice Exams use the same algorithm, scoring, and timing as the real exam, so take them with test-day like conditions (e.g., quiet space, use the tools allowed on test day) for the truest prep experience.

Detailed Performance Insights

The GMAT exam includes detailed performance insights in your Official Score Report. But that’s not all! You can benefit from the same (and more!) detailed insights after taking any GMAT™ Official Practice Exam.

On both the Official Score Report and Practice Exam score report, in addition to your total and section scores and percentile rankings, you’ll get insights by section, question type, and content domain (meaning, a specific area of knowledge, and details on your time management. Plus, you'll get the following insights only from GMAT™ Practice Exams:

• Overall score distribution
• Section score distribution
• Time pressure index and performance

And only on the real Official Score Report will you see your performance by program and school, which shows your Total Score percentile ranking compared to the percentile rankings of test takers who sent their GMAT scores to the same program within the past 5 years (this chart will only display if you send your Official Score Report to one or more programs).

You can learn more about all of these sections at Official Score Report, or take a Practice Exam and see for yourself!