A 6 min read

Starting your GMAT prep journey can feel overwhelming, but the right tools can make a big difference in how you study and the scores you achieve, especially if you’re targeting a score of 645 or higher. In this article, we’re diving into the official GMAT Prep content available on mba.com, especially designed for the GMAT Focus Edition test. We will guide you through accessing these resources and making the most of them.

Here is what we will discuss in this article:

1. The official GMAT prep resources: What they are, how to access them, and why they matter.
2. Unique and Non-Overlapping Resources: Unlike the vast ocean of prep materials where many overlap, we’ll introduce you to resources that offer unique, non-repeating questions.
3. Question distribution: how the questions are spread out across different resources and their distribution by section (Verbal, Quant & DI).
4. Making the most of these official resources: Discover how to effectively use these materials to enhance your preparation strategy and score 645 and above.
5. Understanding the limits: what these resources can’t do for you, and what are the limitations of the platform.

This article will focus on non-mock content, moving away from the commonly discussed six mock exams. Let’s dive in and see how these official tools can help boost your GMAT prep.

Official GMAT Focus Prep Resources

MBA.com offers many official prep resources, providing approximately 10 resources available for purchase. However, not all these resources contain unique questions, and not all completely overlap. This presents a challenge in determining:

• How many unique questions MBA.com provides outside of the mocks?
• How these questions are distributed among Verbal, Quant, and DI?
• How you can utilize these resources if you aim to score 645 or higher?

There are three primary resources: The Official Guide, The Official Guide Review, and the Official Practice Questions. These resources feature non-overlapping sets of questions, meaning you will find unique questions in each resource. They are priced at $47.99, $62.99 (Quant, Verbal, & DI), and $79.99, respectively.

In the next section, we will discuss the total number of questions and their distribution by section.

1) The Official Guide (2023-2024 Edition)

The Official Guide is your cornerstone resource, containing questions across all three subsections: Verbal, Quantitative (Quant), and Data Interpretation (DI). This guide is updated regularly, ensuring you have the latest questions reflective of the actual test format and difficulty level.

You can read this article to know more about GMAT official guide -2023-24.

2)  Official Guide Review

For those seeking a deeper dive into specific sections, the Official Guide Review offers separate books for Verbal, Quant, and DI. These reviews provide additional questions and are an excellent way to focus on areas where you may need extra practice.

3) Official Practice

The Official Practice portal offers a unique question bank that doesn’t overlap with the Official Guide or Review books. This ensures a broad range of questions, allowing for extensive practice without repetition.

Now, let’s talk about the distribution of the questions across these three resources.

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These mocks are designed to be fully adaptive, mirroring the actual exam’s structure, to offer a realistic practice experience. 

Distribution of the Questions

Above mentioned three resources offer a vast array of practice questions that are meticulously categorized by difficulty levels: easy, medium, and hard. For candidates aiming to achieve high scores, it is particularly beneficial to concentrate on medium and hard questions, as these better simulate the complexity and challenge of the questions encountered on the actual GMAT test.

Together, these three resources provide 1,934 questions. However, not all these questions are relevant if you’re aiming for a higher score; the relevant ones are the medium and hard questions. Therefore, we will focus on the medium and hard questions.

Below is a breakdown of the medium and hard level question distribution by section:

Section	Difficulty Level	Number of Questions	Remarks
Verbal	Hard / Medium	486	Split in CR & RC
Quant	Hard / Medium	332	Problem Solving
DI	Hard / Medium	416	Split among five question type

Note: This distribution is shown for only medium & hard difficulty level questions.

Verbal Section

The Verbal section’s questions are almost equally divided between Critical Reasoning (CR) and Reading Comprehension (RC), ensuring that test takers can practice a wide range of question types within this section.

Quant Section

The Quant section is exclusively comprised of problem-solving questions, reflecting the emphasis on quantitative reasoning and mathematical problem-solving skills essential for the GMAT.

Data Interpretation (DI)

The DI section questions are distributed among five different question types, highlighting the importance of data analysis and interpretation skills. Approximately 40% of these questions are Data Sufficiency (DS), 22%  GITA , 22%  Two-Part Analysis (TPA) & 15%  Multi source Reasoning (MSR).

Here is the detailed question distribution list among all three official resources:

Source	Section	Course	Easy	Medium	Hard	Total
Official Practice	DI	DS	20	13	10	43
Official Practice	DI	MSR	3	12	6	21
Official Practice	DI	TPA	4	9	8	21
Official Practice	DI	GI	3	6	5	14
Official Practice	DI	TA	5	5	1	11
Official Practice	Verbal	CR	20	18	13	51
Official Practice	Verbal	RC	33	20	6	59
Official Practice	Quant	PS	50	35	25	110
Official Guide	DI	DS	41	38	43	122
Official Guide	DI	MSR	0	0	0	0
Official Guide	DI	TPA	0	0	0	0
Official Guide	DI	GI	0	0	0	0
Official Guide	DI	TA	0	0	0	0
Official Guide	Verbal	CR	64	59	64	187
Official Guide	Verbal	RC	50	57	62	169
Official Guide	Quant	PS	95	63	88	246
Official Guide – Online Exclusive	DI	DS	1	7	2	10
Official Guide – Online Exclusive	DI	MSR	12	17	14	43
Official Guide – Online Exclusive	DI	TPA	14	21	9	44
Official Guide – Online Exclusive	DI	GI	10	16	8	34
Official Guide – Online Exclusive	DI	TA	10	11	8	29
Official Guide – Online Exclusive	Verbal	CR	5	3	9	17
Official Guide – Online Exclusive	Verbal	RC	11	2	4	17
Official Guide – Online Exclusive	Quant	PS	5	9	5	19
Official Guide Review	DI	DS	32	33	25	90
Official Guide Review	DI	MSR	10	13	0	23
Official Guide Review	DI	TPA	7	17	26	50
Official Guide Review	DI	GI	14	8	8	30
Official Guide Review	DI	TA	11	14	3	28
Official Guide Review	Verbal	CR	47	39	47	133
Official Guide Review	Verbal	RC	41	49	34	124
Official Guide Review	Quant	PS	82	58	49	189

By concentrating your study efforts on more challenging questions (medium and hard), you can enhance your problem-solving skills, time management, and test-taking strategies, all of which are crucial for achieving a high score on the GMAT.

Strategic Utilization of Official Content

Utilizing the array of questions provided by the official GMAT Prep content is key to a successful study plan. Here’s how you can strategically utilize this content for optimal preparation:

Skill Assessment

Creating quizzes tailored to specific difficulty levels and sections is a strategic approach to evaluate your mastery of various concepts. For instance, after completing your study on Critical Reasoning (CR), you can assemble a quiz with medium difficulty CR questions. This method tests your understanding and ability to apply the concepts you’ve learned. It’s an effective way to pinpoint areas of strength and those needing improvement, allowing for focused study.

Exposure to Variety

The GMAT is known for its diverse question types, especially within the DI section. To ensure a well-rounded preparation, it’s crucial to expose yourself to a variety of question types. Following the completion of a specific study area, such as Graph Interpretation (GI), construct a quiz that combines medium and hard questions. This approach not only challenges your skills but also ensures you are comfortable handling the different question formats you will encounter on the exam.

Test Readiness

As your test date approaches, crafting comprehensive quizzes that span all sections of the GMAT becomes crucial for building test stamina and readiness. Opt for a balanced mix of Quant and DI questions, deliberately avoiding easy questions to better mimic the test experience. This strategy enhances your readiness by simulating the exam’s pressure and time constraints, preparing you mentally and emotionally for the actual test day.

Implementing the Strategy

To implement these strategies effectively, follow these steps:

• Use Official Resources: Access the question banks from the official GMAT prep materials on mba.com to ensure authenticity and relevance.
• Customize Quizzes: Leverage any available tools or platforms that allow for the customization of quizzes based on difficulty level and section.
• Review and Reflect: After each quiz, take the time to review your answers, especially the incorrect ones. Reflect on the reasoning behind each question to deepen your understanding.
• Adjust Your Study Plan: Based on quiz outcomes, adjust your study plan to allocate more time to weaker areas.

Now, let’s discuss how you can access this official prep content.

How to Access the Official Prep Content

Below are the sequential steps for Accessing Official GMAT Prep Content on mba.com:

1. Visit mba.com: Open your web browser and go to the official MBA and GMAT website.
2. Find GMAT Focus Official Prep: Search for the “GMAT Focus Official Prep” section on the homepage or use the site’s search function.
3. Access Shop Prep Section: Click on “Shop Prep” within the GMAT Focus Official Prep area to see all available preparation materials.
4. View All Products: Ensure you see every resource by selecting an option to “All” within the filter results.
5. Identify Essential Resources:
   • Latest Official Guide:
   • Official Guide Review:
   • Official Practice

     

Platform Limitations and Recommendations

While the official platform offers an extensive range of questions, it’s important to note its limitations. Reading Comprehension (RC) and Multi-Source Reasoning (MSR) questions, for example, are not best practiced here due to the inability to group questions by passage. Practicing RC & MSR questions in isolation from their respective passages may not provide the holistic understanding or strategy development necessary for tackling these questions effectively during the exam. The platform’s inability to present these sources together in a cohesive manner can detract from the realism of practice sessions. For these types, seek alternative methods to ensure a complete and effective preparation.

Conclusion : GMAT Official Content

The official GMAT Prep content available on mba.com is a gold mine for test-takers. By understanding how to access and judiciously utilize these resources, you can significantly enhance your preparation strategy. Remember, the key to maximizing these resources is a strategic approach: focus on medium and hard questions, understand the intent behind each quiz you create, and use the content to refine, not define, your skills. Make sure you are using the official content only after you have build your skills.  With these strategies in hand, you’re well on your way to achieving your target GMAT score. Happy studying!

If you have started preparing for the GMAT Focus or are planning to, we can help you with a personalized study plan and give you access to quality online content to prepare. Write to us at acethegmat@e-gmat.com. We are the most reviewed GMAT prep company on gmatclub with 2700+ reviews. Why don’t you take a free trial and judge for yourself?