How to get free GMAT practice exercises online?
Certification: Test Prep GMAT - Graduate Management Admission Test
GMAT is an examination required for students who are planning to pursue higher education such as masters in business administration (MBA). The GMAT examination is also known as Graduate Management Admission Test. All the major business schools and universities accept it; therefore it is very important for potential graduate students to undergo the examination. GMAT does not aim at developing skills required for management graduate program. It rather focuses on testing basic skills that have developed over the years. The broad categories of skills on which the questions are based include Analytical Writing Assessment, Integrated Reasoning, Verbal and Quantitative Practices.
Even though it is just a test of what’s known to the applicant it still requires time for practicing and brushing up the skills learnt over the years. GMAT is a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT), which means that the questions given to the applicant are based on his or her prior answers. If the applicant keeps giving the correct answers then the level of difficulty also keeps rising after every question. This nature of the test makes it very important for potential students to be well versed with the structure as it may lead to pressure while giving the paper. The time factor is another reason for the students to start practicing much before giving the actual examination. Each section is time bounded and one has to allot equal timing to all the questions appearing on the screen. The GMAT exam allows an applicant 3 hours and 30 minutes for the completion of the test. Therefore one cannot underestimate the practice and hard work required to be put in before appearing for the examination.
One could access various guides available online to polish and develop skills required for the GMAT but it may not be enough to only practice the questions. Preparation Tests should also be given again and again in order to get comfortable with the structure of GMAT. GMAT practice exercises can be availed online through various methods such as: -
The Official Guide
The official guide provided by the GMAT website for the registered applicants acts as the main source of questions. It includes an online question bank and also video content to help the topics understand better. GMAT official guide is a must for students planning to enroll in master’s graduate programs. The following could be accessed on the official website of GMAT which is www.mba.com/GMAT.
GMATPrep Software
GMATPrep Software is a free software provided by the official GMAT website. It could be availed by just entering one’s email address and is free of charge. The software apes the actual GMAT examination structure and is also Computer Adaptive in nature. It provides ninety free questions for the preparation of GMAT; the questions include 30 Quantitative, 45 Verbal and 15 Integrated Reasoning. It also includes answers and explanations of the questions therefore being of great help. Some of the other functions of the GMATPrep Software include: -
- Two full length practice sets with detailed answers and their explanations.
- An ability to purchase additional online content if required.
- A step-by-step preparation guide for GMAT.
- It also gives the user a benefit of preparing their own practice set.
Free Coaching Websites
There are majority of websites online that provide free coaching over the web. Such websites only require one to register their email id and they could avail tones of practice exercises and material on the subjects. One could also take various free preparation tests available on the websites but they may not be as accurate as the GMATPrep Software. These coaching websites also offer twenty-four seven student support services for clearing doubts. Though the free exercises are limited in number and one has to purchase more after the initial one’s are solved still the vast amount of such websites ensures that one could never run out of free questions to practice. Example of such websites includes: -
- http://www.manhattangmat.com
- http://www.majortests.com/gmat
- http://www.platinumgmat.com/practice_gmat_questions/
Online Available PDF’s
One could also use the material available in online PDF’s. Many of them could be download free of charge from various websites but they do not involve preparation tests therefore could only be used for question banks supplied. The vast variety of such PDF’s ensures a lot of practice but one cannot overestimate the accuracy of these questions to the one’s that might be present in the actual examination. This fact makes it important for student to use the official guide as the main handbook for preparation.
The following sources available online keeps a student busy with handful of practice but one must not forget to follow a specific plan in order to keep track of their progress. The biggest difficulty is not in getting free practice material online but in judging the accuracy of these questions and their similarity to the actual questions. The preparation tests should be given again and again over a period of time to ensure comfortability with the format and structure of GMAT. The results of these practice tests should also not be overestimated as they may lack in certain areas when compared to the actual GMAT test. One should not worry about the material but should prioritize which material to practice first and in the case of GMAT, official guide acts as one of the most trusted of the sources. The practice test supplied by http://www.manhattangmat.com is also very well reputed and is considered very closely related to the actual GMAT examination. The website provides only a single free practice test and urges the students to purchase the other’s therefore they may not be free of cost but one of the best options available online. It doesn’t matter which practice exercises one opts for but it does matter how the preparation timing is scheduled as it has a huge bearing on the preparation.