Free GMAT practice tests that actually move your score

The GMAT Focus Edition is demanding less because of advanced content and more because of pace and adaptivity. You answer 64 questions in 2 hours 15 minutes, roughly two minutes each, and the algorithm keeps raising difficulty as you answer correctly, so a strong candidate always feels stretched. The mathematics itself stops at high school algebra and arithmetic, with no calculus. Most of the difficulty lives in reading precisely under time pressure and resisting answer choices built around common reasoning errors. That is good news for preparation, because those skills are trainable.

On the Focus Edition's 205 to 805 scale, roughly 545 is the median. A 645 puts you around the 75th percentile and is competitive for many strong programs. 685 and above sits near the 90th percentile and is in range for the most selective US business schools. Those percentile bands come from GMAC's published tables and are restated each year against a rolling three-year cohort, so treat them as close rather than fixed, and check GMAC's current table before relying on a single point. The honest answer is that a good score is one at or above the median for the programs on your list, so check each school's published class profile.

Most candidates need between 100 and 170 hours spread over two to four months. If you are starting close to your target, six to eight weeks of focused work can be enough. If you need a 100 point jump or more, plan on three to four months at 10 to 12 hours a week. Consistency matters more than the total, because the exam adapts to sustained accuracy rather than to a good day.

You can sit the GMAT once every 16 calendar days, up to five times in a rolling 12 month period and eight times in total across your lifetime. These limits apply across test centre and online delivery combined. Because attempts are finite, most candidates should sit the real exam only once their practice test average is at or slightly above target.

Treat it as a readiness signal, not a forecast. The real exam scores you with an item response model that weighs the difficulty of what you got right; our tests are fixed form and map the proportion you answered correctly onto the same 205 to 805 scale, which tracks readiness well but will not reproduce an official score exactly. A practice score is most useful as a trend. Take three or four under proper timed conditions and the average tells you far more than any single result.

Total scores run from 205 to 805 in 10 point increments and always end in a 5. Each of the three sections is scored separately from 60 to 90, and all three carry equal weight toward the total. Scoring is based on the difficulty level you sustain rather than a raw count of correct answers, because the exam adapts question by question. There is no penalty for a wrong answer beyond the adaptive effect, so never leave a question blank. Answer every one, even if you have to guess in the last seconds.

In the United States the GMAT Focus Edition costs around 275 dollars at a test centre and about 300 dollars for the online version, though prices vary by country and GMAC adjusts them periodically. Budget for extras as well: rescheduling inside 14 days carries a fee, additional score reports beyond the free ones cost extra, and the Enhanced Score Report is a separate purchase. Check mba.com for current pricing in your region before booking.

Not easier, but shorter and narrower. The Focus Edition removed Sentence Correction, and the essay, and it cut the exam from about three and a half hours to 2 hours 15 minutes. What it added is weight on Data Insights, which now counts for a full third of your score rather than sitting outside the total as Integrated Reasoning did. Candidates who were strong on grammar lost an advantage, and candidates who ignored data questions can no longer afford to.

There is an on screen calculator in the Data Insights section only. Quantitative Reasoning has no calculator at all, which is deliberate: the questions are built so that recognising the structure is faster than grinding the arithmetic. If you find yourself doing long multiplication in Quant, you have usually missed a shortcut. Practise Quant without a calculator from day one so that mental arithmetic and estimation become automatic.

Data Insights is the third scored section and covers five question types: Data Sufficiency, multi source reasoning, table analysis, graphics interpretation and two part analysis. It tests whether you can read data presented in tables, charts and short passages and reason about what it does and does not establish. Data Sufficiency moved here from Quant in the Focus Edition. It is the section candidates most often under prepare, and because it carries the same weight as Quant and Verbal, that is an expensive mistake.

GMAT scores are valid for five years from your test date, and GMAC keeps them on record for ten. Nearly all business schools accept a score taken within the five year window, so a score from an earlier application round is usually still usable. One caveat worth knowing: legacy GMAT scores and Focus Edition scores sit on different scales, so if you have both, send whichever is stronger in percentile terms rather than comparing the raw numbers.

Yes. The online GMAT Focus Edition is the same exam with the same sections, scoring and adaptivity, taken under remote proctoring. You need a quiet private room, a stable connection and a clear desk, and you are monitored throughout. The online version costs slightly more and counts against the same attempt limits as test centre sittings. Most candidates who have a reliable setup at home find it less stressful than travelling to a centre, though a few prefer the enforced focus of a test centre.

Nearly every US MBA program now accepts both and states publicly that it has no preference, and admissions data broadly supports that. What still differs is context: the GMAT is a business specific exam, so a strong score signals commitment to a management path, and some consulting and banking recruiters recognise it directly. The GRE gives you flexibility if you are also applying to non business programs. If you have no other applications to consider, take a free practice test of each and go with the format that suits you.

You cannot skip a question outright, but the Focus Edition lets you bookmark answers and review as many as you like and change up to three answers per section before time expires. This is a genuine change from the legacy exam, where every answer was final. Use the budget deliberately: bookmark a question you have answered but are unsure about, then move on rather than burning two extra minutes. Candidates who spend the budget in the first ten questions usually regret it when a harder item appears later.