GMAT Study Materials- How to Make The Right Choice

You have made an excellent choice by deciding to take the GMAT exams to gauge your readiness for business school. The GMAT is ranked worldwide as an essential test to secure admission to a business management program. The programs include both full-time and part-time MBA and master’s degree programs. It’s an important test that you should take seriously to ensure you score the highest mark. To achieve this, you need to choose the best GMAT study materials and study methods as you prepare to sit for the test.

Here is a guide on how you can select the GMAT study materials that best suit you.

Understand your capabilities  

The first step to choosing the most suitable study materials is by understanding your capabilities. This means knowing your weak and strong areas. By doing this, you will be able to decide whether you can tackle the revision individually, by using online revision tools, or by hiring a private tutor to take you through the coursework. 

Candidates should commence their revision process three months before the exams. This gives them ample time to go through all the examinable topics.

Review exam content

The GMAT exam consists of four sections; Quantitative reasoning, verbal reasoning, integrated reasoning, and analytical writing. You must acquire core knowledge on each of the above examinable areas. You might find out that your skills are rusty in the areas having gone through some probably in high school. From there, a candidate can select a study strategy with adequate knowledge of what to expect in the test.

Choose a study strategy 

A study strategy ensures that you plan your time well according to your schedule. It also ensures that you do not forget to go through all four sections of the exams. You can do this by first deciding when to study and then creating a study timetable. Knowing your weak and strong areas, you can also allocate more time to your weak areas in your timetable and slightly less time to areas you are comfortable with. This ensures maximum preparedness to undertake the test.

Have a test-taking strategy

Doing well in the test is greatly influenced by how well you understand and answer the set questions. This includes how well you manage your time in the exams. Having great verbal, math, and reasoning abilities is not always enough. You have to learn how to approach questions and reading exam content might not always be enough. You need to at least go through questions tested in the past and how you need to answer them. The best study materials always offer strategies and practice materials to boost your performance.

Take practice questions

It is always important to review the knowledge you have acquired from studying by taking practice questions. They enable you to memorize key concepts and the format in which the examiner sets the questions. GMAT questions are quite challenging and you need sufficient practice with them before the real test. 

The best revision questions come from the test makers themselves. GMAC offers plenty of free study questions and materials together with those available to be purchased. Study materials from unofficial sources may sometimes provide vague practice problems which do not resemble GMAT questions hence it is always advisable to use materials provided by GMAC.

Computer-adaptive practice test

The verbal and quantitative sections are computer adaptive. This means that the questions’ ease or difficulty changes as you proceed with the test to match your ability and to measure your skills accurately. 

To gain practice with these two sections and gauge your scoring ability, you should use logical computer-adaptive practice tests. They should adapt the GMAT testing style to offer a close enough experience to the real thing.

Quality answer explanations

Lastly, your practice materials should offer clear and precise explanations to enable you to understand your mistakes. They should give you a step-by-step solution to the problem so that you can know how to tackle similar problems next time.

You can spot the least helpful study material by it giving you answers only without explanations and sometimes the solutions might be wrong.

Study material should cover important if not all the parts of an effective GMAT preparation.

GMAT study materials

Now that you know how to choose study materials, let us take a look at study materials.

There are free GMAT preparation materials offered by test makers. Particular study material should be part of your study plan and that is one offered by the Graduate Management Admission Council.

Free GMAT Prep Software

You can download the free GMATPrep software to access the materials. The software consists of two realistic, computer-adaptive, full-length practice tests and ninety sample questions(30 quantitative, 45 verbal, and 15 integrated reasoning questions).

The software also has a guide on how to get ready for the GMAT. This includes detailed reviews on algebra, geometry, and arithmetic concepts plus word problems from the quantitative section. The tests in this software use the GMAT scoring algorithm and this can help you gauge your scoring ability so that you can improve it

You can also purchase their practice tests, sample questions, prep books, and study tools to boost the study materials already available on the free website.

GMAT Prep Textbooks

Additionally, you can purchase official prep textbooks. GMAC offers three textbooks for the GMAT. One book offers a comprehensive guide while the remaining two help you in preparing for the verbal and maths sections. They are excellent for practice questions as they offer excellent math and grammar review. Textbooks are good for supplementing materials offered in the free GMAT software. You can purchase them cheaply from amazon or any other website.

The GMAT is not a scary test as long as you have prepared enough for it. By following the steps given in the article you will be able to select the study methods that suit you best. In case you need additional information, there is always ready information on the GMAT website.