Test-takers will be pleased to learn that GMAT Official Practice Exams are all new and significantly SHORTER! GMAT has moved the practice exams into an online environment that’s easier to navigate and access. The new format requires you to create an account at mba.com, but the official practice exams are accessible from any device and available via all web browsers.
In addition, the new GMAT Official Practice Exams and Questions (no longer called GMATPrep) follow the updated GMAT format of 31 Quant questions and 36 Verbal questions. The updated format also includes two free practice exams. You can purchase four additional practice exams as well as additional practice questions as needed.
The GMAT official practice exams platform has been moved online and the whole look and feel has been updated. We do lose the ability to take an exam offline, but we gain so many other benefits that the trade-off is worth it.
What did we gain with these new GMAT official practice exams?
First, you can access the GMAT official practice exams and questions from your mba.com account. You don’t need to download any separate software and you don’t have to worry about any compatibility issues with your OS or device—and, yes, you can access the platform from tablets. You’ll be able to access the material from Safari, Firefox, Chrome, or Internet Explorer.
Second, we can now take GMAT official practice exams in the updated format (31 Quant questions and 36 Verbal questions)! The old software (known as GMATPrep) is still in the old format and it will never be updated—it’ll just quietly fade into the sunset.
Wait, so it’s not called GMATPrep anymore?
Nope, now it’s called the GMAT Official Practice Exams and Questions. The free part is now called the Free GMAT Official Starter Kit + Practice Exams 1 & 2.
I just logged into my own mba.com account and, boom, it was already right there waiting for me under My Product Purchases. (You can also find it “for sale” for $0 on the website’s store page…but I didn’t even go there.)
What else do we get with the new GMAT official practice exams?
There are also these paid products:
GMAT Official Practice Exams 3 & 4 (formerly Exam Pack 1)
GMAT Official Practice Exams 5 & 6 (formerly Exam Pack 2)
GMAT Official Practice Questions (formerly Question Pack 1)
All of the above exist in GMATPrep as well—they’re the same products, just renamed.
What material is new?
Exam #2 (the second of the two free exams) used to have the same IR questions as Exam #1, but now exam 2 has its own dedicated set of IR problems. Yay!
Other than that, the content is the same (though there are some new features in terms of doing and tracking questions—more on that in another post at a future date). This is really more a platform upgrade than anything else (and, of course, the upgrade to the new test format).
What if I I’ve already been using GMATPrep? Should I switch to the online platform?
This is important: Any data you’ve accumulated in GMATPrep will not transfer over to the new platform. So you do have to make a choice about whether you want to switch.
If you’re pretty close to the end of your studies and have a lot of data already built up in GMATPrep, then you may not want to switch. You can either use Manhattan Prep’s exams if you want to take exams under the new format or you can just still take the old format under GMATPrep, if you like. The per-question timing averages are still the same; the test is just longer.
If your test date isn’t coming up soon, though, then I’d say it’s a good idea to switch. You might as well practice under the new official format for the test.
What if I bought a paid product for the old GMATPrep software?
You can switch your product registration to the new online platform. Take a look at the official FAQ page to learn how to do so. That page also has all of the details in terms of how long your access will last and so on.
Same rules apply: Your data won’t transfer, so don’t make the switch if you’re pretty close to done, don’t want to lose existing data, and don’t mind taking practice exams in the old format. If that’s not the case, then switch to the new platform.
For more, see Manhattan Prep.
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