GMAT SAMPLE QUESTIONS

There are 3 sections in the GMAT exam. This page will describe the question types in each question and show official gmat sample questions for each.

Because the GMAT is designed to test quantitative and verbal reasoning skills acquired over a life time, it can be very difficult to prepare for the test and improve.

Understanding the structure of each question type is essential, but solving official gmat sample problems is required to do well.

Quantitative reasoning section

This section has only one question type: problem solving. You are presented with a question and five answer choices. There is always only choice to be made, unlike for example in the GRE, which includes some questions that may require making more than one choice.

The topics tested on this section are:

Value, Order, Factors.
Rates, Ratios, and Percents.
Algebra, Equalities, and Inequalities.
Statistics, Sets, Counting, and Probability.

Here is a gmat problem solving sample question. A more detailed syllabus and a comprehensive gmat study plan is required to cover all areas.

Note: In the old GMAT, the quantitative section included gmat data sufficiency question type, which has now been moved to the data insights section (described in detail below).

Verbal Reasoning Section

There are two question types in this section: Critical reasoning and Reading comprehension.

Reading Comprehension

You will be presented with 3 to 4 reading comprehension passages and a corresponding set of between 3 to 4 questions per passage. The questions usually fall under the following categories:

Main point questions: identifying the main point of the passage as a whole or parts of the passage.
Detail questions: identifying a specific idea stated in the passage.
Function questions: identifying the purpose or function of a specific paragraph or sentence in the text.
Inference questions: identifying the idea implied by the text as a whole or parts of the text.

Reading comprehension sample questions

Here is a reading comprehension passage with a sample question

“In order to gain and hold the esteem of others, it is not sufficient merely to possess wealth or power. The wealth or power must be put in evidence, for esteem is awarded only on evidence. And not only does the evidence of wealth serve to impress one’s importance on others and to keep their sense of his or her importance alive and alert, but it is of scarcely less use in building up and preserving one’s self-complacency. In all but the lowest stages of culture, therefore, the members of each stratum accept as their ideal of decency the scheme of life in vogue in the next higher stratum, and bend their energies to live up to that ideal. On pain of forfeiting their good name and their self-respect in case of failure, they must conform to the accepted code, at least in appearance.”

“Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure. As wealth accumulates on one’s hands, his or her own unaided effort will not avail to sufficiently put their opulence in evidence by this method. The aid of friends and competitors is therefore brought in by resorting to the giving of valuable presents and expensive feasts and entertainments. Presents and feasts had probably another origin than that of naive ostentation, but they required their utility for this purpose when they received their perfect development under the guidance of the principle of conspicuous waste.”

According to the passage, what is the main purpose of conspicuous consumption?

Providing entertainment and happiness
Demonstrating wealth and gaining esteem
Promoting a minimalistic lifestyle
Encouraging charity and altruism

Spoiler: B

For a more detailed analysis of this question type and how you can excel in this section, review this outline of the official GMAT reading comprehension question type.

Critical Reasoning

There are about 8 to 10 critical reasoning questions in the verbal section. Critical reasoning questions are designed to test reasoning skills required in:

Constructing an argument

Evaluating an argument

Formulating or evaluating a plan of action

The GMAC (The organization that creates and manages the GMAT© exam) can be very creative in the questions that they ask however, and so you may see a question that is unique and cannot be strictly classified under one topic of critical reasoning.

Critical reasoning sample question

GMAT sample question - CR

Mall Owner: Our mall’s occupancy rate is so low that we are barely making a profit. We cannot raise rents because of an unacceptably high risk of losing established tenants. On the other hand, a mall that is fully occupied costs about as much to run as one in which a rental space here and a rental space there stands empty. Clearly, therefore, to increase profits we must sign up new tenants.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) The mall’s operating costs could be cut by consolidating currently rented spaces in such a way that an entire wing of the mall could be closed up.

(B) The mall is located in a geographic area in which costs incurred for air-conditioning in the hot summers exceed those incurred for heating in the mild winters by a wider margin.

(D) The mall lost tenants as a result of each of the two major rent increases that have occurred there.

(E) None of the mall’s established tenants is likely to need additional floor space there in the foreseeable future.

*this is an official GMAT question – property of GMAC©

Data insights

This is the newest section on the GMAT, and tests the following skills:

The ability to define the boundaries of a problem and assess whether enough information is available to solve the problem.
The ability to synthesize information from various resources to make a decision.
The ability to decide what information is relevant and what is not.

The new data insights section has improved the GMAT in the following ways:

Presents an opportunity for non-math candidates to demonstrate their ability to carry out a quantitative analysis. You can be a great business manager, executive, or entrepreneur without a strong background in maths. A strong performance in data insights does not require exceptional quantitative ability, but a strong ability to scour through heaps of information and identify the ‘math’ required to solve the question, which usually comes to down to a basic calculation. Some questions do require more refined math insight, but one can nevertheless compensate on questions that are more verbally inclined.
Tests skills relevant to success during the MBA and after graduation: identifying the forest, not the trees. It is rare to see problem solving questions provide information that is not required to solve the problem (but it does happen). In data insights, there are heaps of information that are unnecessary, which one must sift through. Clearly this is relevant for doing well in a leadership position or reading 10s of cases per week as part of the course load during the MBA.

There are five question types in the data insights sections

Data Sufficiency

This a question type very unique to the GMAT. You are not required to solve the problem, for example ‘Find x’, but determine whether it is possible to find x, by considering two pieces of evidence that is true, first separately, then together. This unusual format presents an extra layer of complexity that can trap even the smartest candidates.

DATA SUFFICIENCY SAMPLE QUESTION

Table Analysis

An interactive table is provided. You can sort by any of the columns in the table to analyze the data in whatever form convenient to answer the question. Many students find this to be the least challenging type of data insight questions. However, a certain feature of this question type, which is common to most of the remaining types of questions, is that you are often presented with a question for which you need to make more than one choice. In the case of table analysis, it is usually three choices, ALL of which have to be correct to receive credit for the question.

Graphics interpretation

The GMAC© takes great liberty in this type of question. The type of graph or visual illustration presented can range between a table, two-coordinate financial charts, seasonality in temperature or sales, and flowcharts. They can get very creative at times with some charts even relating to geological time scales.

Graphics Interpretation Sample Question

The picture below shows the Earth’s geological time scale. Can the claim be made that the Earth’s longest time has elapsed during the Pre-Cambrian Era?

Spoiler: Yes

Graphics Interpretation sample questions usually have two drop down menus from which you need to make 1 selection each.

To receive credit for a question, BOTH of your selections must be correct.

Topics are not limited to finance or business, and data may be sourced from a variety of topics.

No prior knowledge is required.

Two-Part Analysis

This type of data insights question can come in two forms:

Mathematically inclined

The questions are usually longer than say a typical problem solving question in the quantitative section. Below each question you will see a table with three columns. You have to make two selections, exactly one selection each in the first two columns, based on the information in the third column. To receive credit for this question, both selection you make must be correct. Otherwise, you get zero credit. Some of these questions can be very challenging and require a clear though and high-order quantitative reasoning using simple numbers.

Verbally inclined

The question is generally as long as a critical reasoning problems. The format is the same as above: the selections you make must both be correct to receive any credit for the question.

Multi-reasoning

I would say this question is somewhere between a reading comprehension text and a business case in an interview at Mckinsey. You are required to analyze two or three tabs of different types of information, and answer a set of 2 to 4 questions. Some question require making three choices, all of which have to be correct to receive any credit for the question.

The type of information that can be included in the tabs varies from tables, charts, visuals illustrations, to straightforward detailed descriptions.