Mike MᶜGarry

GMAT Paper Tests for Practice

As of 2020, the GMAC is no longer selling paper GMAT tests. Fear not! You can still access these GMAT tests–only they have now been digitized. You can find GMAT practice tests #3-6 here.

However, if you happen to have come across a set of paper GMAT practice tests, you can absolutely still use them to prepare for test day! Here’s the low-down.

Why do these paper tests even exist?

Long long ago, in the deep recesses of  history, say, around the time that Bill Clinton was in office, the GMAT was not given on the computer at all!  Back in those quaint old-fashioned days, people would actually go to a physical location and take a paper version of the GMAT.   As incredible as that may seem now, there are a few people alive today who remember those archaic times — including yours truly!

In fact, the GMAT has been given every year since 1954.  In fact, for the first 18 years, it was called the “Admissions Test for Graduate Business Study” — in 1976, GMAC changed the name to the “Graduate Management Admissions Test”, i.e., the GMAT we know and love today.   The name changed in 1976, but basically it has been the same test for over half a century, with largely the same question types.  This means: GMAC has accumulated a donkey-load of “old” questions over the years.  For example, the questions in the OG and in GMATPrep are retired questions that used to appear on the live test.

You may be able to to find some of these old GMAT Paper Tests for sale. Here’s what you’ll see.

What’s on GMAT paper tests?

In those days, after the two AWA essays, there were six sections, following something like the following plan:

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Section 1 = Reading Comprehension (3 passages, 17 questions), 25 minutes

Section 2 = Data Sufficiency (20 questions), 25 minutes

Section 3 = Sentence Correction (22 questions), 25 minutes

Section 4 = Problem Solving (16 questions), 25 minutes

Section 5 = Critical Reasoning (16 questions), 25 minutes

Section 6 = Problem Solving (16 questions), 25 minutes

In other words, there would still 75 minutes of Math and 75 minutes of Verbal, but it would be broken up by question type.   Of course, all of the questions are exceptionally high quality questions.

 

Can I use these paper tests for practice

Some students ask the question, is this a good practice source for the GMAT?  The answer is:

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Questions designed by the folks at GMAC themselves are going to be the highest quality questions available.  All other practice questions by all other private companies strive to meet the high standard held by GMAC.   While you may find questions about as good, especially if you use MGMAT or Magoosh, you certainly will not find any question that are more GMAT-like than the questions that were on the GMAT itself.

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The only drawback of these is that they have the questions and the letter answers, but no explanations.   GMAC produces wonderful questions, but they don’t shine on the explanations: the explanations in the OG are notoriously lackluster.  This is why it’s important to have a prep source, such as Magoosh, that provides high quality explanations, so you can learn what you need to learn.

You may already have too much material for your GMAT preparations, but if you have some extra time and want some additional practice, you could not find a better source of practice questions than these.  If you already have used up all the questions in the GMAT OG, and you want more high quality practice questions, you simply could not make a better choice than the GMAT Paper Tests.   If you need more GMAT practice questions, the questions in the GMAT Paper Tests get a five-star recommendation.

 

Summary

Do you have questions about the GMAT Paper Tests?  Have you used them and would you like to share your experience of them?  Please let us know in the comments section.

 

Author

  • Mike MᶜGarry

    Mike served as a GMAT Expert at Magoosh, helping create hundreds of lesson videos and practice questions to help guide GMAT students to success. He was also featured as “member of the month” for over two years at GMAT Club. Mike holds an A.B. in Physics (graduating magna cum laude) and an M.T.S. in Religions of the World, both from Harvard. Beyond standardized testing, Mike has over 20 years of both private and public high school teaching experience specializing in math and physics. In his free time, Mike likes smashing foosballs into orbit, and despite having no obvious cranial deficiency, he insists on rooting for the NY Mets. Learn more about the GMAT through Mike’s Youtube video explanations and resources like What is a Good GMAT Score? and the GMAT Diagnostic Test.

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