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Last Updated on July 5, 2024
It used to be that there weren’t many options for study material for MBA entrance exams. Nowadays, however, the number of test preparation options can be overwhelming. From prep books to online courses, it’s difficult to know which study aids work best. And if you’re planning to take the GMAT Focus Edition, you may be wondering, “Which GMAT resources do I really need in order to prepare?”
In this article, we’ll explore the range of GMAT Focus study resources out there, including:
- GMAT preparation books and Official Guides
- free GMAT resources
- resources for self-study
and more.
We’ll also discuss what types of learning resources and practice materials to look for to ensure that you’ll be able to achieve the concept and skill mastery necessary for performing well on the GMAT Focus.
Here are all the topics we’ll cover:
- Preparing for the GMAT Focus Edition: Are the Official Guides Enough?
- Can You Prepare for the Focus Edition Using Free GMAT Resources Online?
- What Materials Do You Need to Self-Study for the GMAT Focus?
- Can You Prepare for the GMAT Focus by Just Taking Practice Exams?
- What Are the Best GMAT Study Resources for the Focus Edition?
- GMAT Focus Study Resources: Key Takeaways
- What’s Next?
To start, let’s address a very common question among students planning to take the GMAT Focus: whether the Official Guides are sufficient to prepare.
Preparing for the GMAT Focus Edition: Are the Official Guides Enough?
Whether Official Guides are sufficient to prepare for test day has always been a common question among GMAT students. However, particularly because the new version of the GMAT is shorter and has fewer question types, many students are now wondering whether they can “get away with” using the Focus Official Guides as their sole study resource.
Here’s the thing: the Official Guides, along with GMAC’s online question banks, contain many practice questions. So, using official study materials, you can get a lot of practice answering GMAT questions. However, official materials don’t provide the kind of focused, topic-by-topic practice that solidifies knowledge and builds strong skills.
In other words, if you want the time you spend practicing to be as productive as possible, then the Official Guides should supplement the GMAT practice materials you primarily use for your studies, not be your sole source of practice.
Likewise, although official materials contain some useful information about the test and its question types, they are not comprehensive study guides that linearly and methodically teach all the GMAT concepts, exam strategies, time-management techniques, and problem-solving skills necessary to earn a high score on the GMAT Focus.
So, if official materials are your only study resource, you may be left with numerous gaps in your knowledge. You also likely won’t learn the most logical and efficient paths to answering GMAT questions. (Official answer explanations are notoriously lacking in this respect.) Without those strategies, high accuracy and proper time-management may be difficult to achieve.
TTP PRO TIP:
If you’re going to use official study materials, use them as a supplement to your test preparation, not as your main or only study resource.
This brings us to a similar question: whether it’s possible to prepare for the GMAT Focus by just taking practice tests.
Can You Prepare for the GMAT Focus by Just Taking Practice Exams?
There is no shortage of GMAT material online, including online practice exams. And taking full-length mock exams is no doubt a key aspect of preparing for the GMAT Focus. However, unless you are already basically at your score goal and just want to hone your pacing and get accustomed to the test-taking experience, practice tests alone are not sufficient for GMAT Focus test preparation.
The reason they are not sufficient is that practice tests do not actually teach you concepts and strategies. Rather, they are tools for helping to uncover concept areas that still need strengthening and ensuring that the strategies you’re using are optimal under test conditions.
In fact, for the most part, test-takers should not do exam simulations until the final stage of their test preparation. In other words, you should take full-length practice tests after you’ve learned and practiced all the concepts and strategies you need to achieve your GMAT Focus score goals.
TTP PRO TIP:
Unless you are basically at your score goal already, practice exams should not be your only resource for preparing for the GMAT Focus.
Can You Prepare for the Focus Edition Using Free GMAT Resources Online?
A decent amount of GMAT study material online, including practice materials, is free. So, you may wonder whether you can properly prepare for the GMAT Focus using only free GMAT resources. I would caution you against going down this road.
True, there are reputable online sources of free GMAT study materials, test-taking tips, and advice about study techniques. The TTP GMAT blog in fact contains many valuable study tips and exam strategies, and our Free GMAT Resources page contains video lessons, practice quizzes, and more.
If you’ve been perusing GMAT study resources for any length of time, you’ve probably also noticed that GMAT Club contains many discussions with study tips and test-taking tips, in addition to many practice GMAT questions. You may also be able to find some limited, free versions of GMAT study apps in the App store.
So, conceivably, you could cobble together a bunch of free GMAT resources to study for the GMAT Focus. Chances are, however, that your test preparation would be highly disorganized and inefficient. Let’s talk about the two main reasons why.
Using Only Free Resources Puts the Burden on You
Creating a start-to-finish GMAT study plan on your own, as opposed to having an expertly designed one laid out for you in a course or class, is a difficult and time-consuming endeavor. Moreover, if you’re using only free resources to study for the GMAT Focus, you may end up cobbling together partial or conflicting study plans, or more likely, not having any real study plan at all.
Additionally, if you’re pulling together free math resources from one provider and free verbal resources from another, you may learn conflicting study techniques and strategies that you’ll need to spend time trying to reconcile.
In short, using only free resources places some rather large burdens on you. You must:
- do all the planning yourself
- search around and compile various resources
- untangle good strategies from bad
and much more.
Many students have wasted MONTHS going through this process, only to end up purchasing study materials after realizing they made little to no improvements in their GMAT skills in that time.
Avoid this mistake!
You Miss Out on the Most Valuable Study Tools
You can bet that the most valuable study materials and coolest test prep tools that companies have are reserved for paying customers. So, by sticking with the “teasers” you can access online for free, you’ll likely miss out on study aids that could greatly enhance and speed up your test preparation.
For instance, the TTP GMAT Focus Course features robust analytics that track student progress and performance by topic, question type, and more, as well as tracking pacing. These data allow students to easily see what their strengths and weaknesses are at any given moment. So, our students can be as strategic as possible with their study time.
And with the TTP course’s custom practice test builder, students can create practice sets that target particular topics, question types, and time-per-question goals.
Of course, these are just a couple of examples. But the point is, you’re going to noticeably limit the range of tools you have access to if you use only free GMAT resources.
TTP PRO TIP:
With only free resources, your GMAT Focus preparation will likely be disorganized, inefficient, and burdensome, and you’ll miss out on many valuable study tools.
Let’s take a closer look at the self-study materials you need to properly prepare for the GMAT Focus.
What Materials Do You Need to Self-Study for the GMAT Focus?
We’ve already discussed the pitfalls of cobbling together a bunch of free GMAT resources for self-study. So, if you are wisely sidestepping that rocky path, the question of what type of GMAT Focus self-study materials to use generally boils down to a debate about whether GMAT test prep books or online courses are better.
So, let’s answer that age-old question.
Prep Books vs. Online Courses: Which Are Better?
When it comes to test preparation, different study materials work well for different students. Certainly, some students reach their score goals using GMAT preparation books. However, by and large, we’ve found that students tend to reach their goals more quickly and perform at a higher level when they prepare using an online self-study course.
For one, we’ve already discussed some of the great features that a top-notch online GMAT Focus course will provide. Using a book as opposed to an online course, you simply are not going to have built-in tools such as:
- analytics
- custom test engines
- error trackers
- digital flashcards
and so on.
Furthermore, GMAT test prep books are not personalized for your needs and goals. With an online course such as TTP, you get a step-by-step study plan tailored to your score goal. Plus, you get a daily study calendar that automatically updates as you complete tasks. So, you can see exactly when you’ll finish the course on your current study schedule.
A GMAT Focus prep book may provide a study plan. However, typically, that plan won’t be as detailed as the one you’ll get with an online course. Moreover, it’ll be a “one-size-fits-all” plan, rather than a plan that’s customized for you.
Also, online courses are designed to keep students engaged. When you’re engaged in your learning, you retain information much more readily, and studying feels less like a slog. Thus, your studying is more effective, and you’re more likely to be consistent with it. A great online self-study course will have all sorts of features and ingenious design to help you stay motivated and interested in what you’re learning.
Self-Study Doesn’t Have to Be Entirely On Your Own
One thing to remember about preparing for the GMAT Focus on your own is that you don’t have to do it entirely on your own. Study techniques and resources that involve others may be helpful at different points in your prep.
For instance, some TTP students who want to add more structure to their study schedules or find motivation in learning alongside others complement their self-study with our LiveTeach classes. These classes meet online at set times each week and make forming study groups easy, thus helping students stay accountable and consistent in their GMAT prep.
Similarly, some self-studiers find that some one-on-one tutoring sessions can help them with specific issues or final hurdles they’re facing. For instance, tutors can help with test anxiety, low confidence, or bad habits students can’t seem to break that affect GMAT performance.
The point is, you don’t have to go it completely alone if you’re preparing using self-study materials. Even being active on the GMAT subreddit or a forum such as GMAT Club can be very helpful when you’re seeking answers to specific questions or just need a little extra motivation to stay on track.
TTP PRO TIP:
Complementing self-study with other study techniques, such as tutoring or a class, may be strategic at some point in your GMAT Focus prep.
Now, let’s discuss what the best GMAT Focus study resources are.
What Are the Best GMAT Study Resources for the Focus Edition?
First things first, you can use standard GMAT study materials to prepare for the GMAT Focus Edition. If you were to do so, you would of course need to skip any material related to the following:
- Sentence Correction in the Verbal section
- Geometry in the Quant section
- AWA.
That said, it’s easier if you don’t have to untangle what’s Focus-related or not Focus-related yourself. So, I recommend using a GMAT study resource that is specifically designed to prepare you for the Focus Edition. A thoughtfully designed GMAT Focus course such as TTP’s will not only include just the material you need and nothing you don’t, but also include ample material to prepare you for the new Data Insights section.
I’ve also seen that, for most students, using an online self-study course gives them better results than test prep books or classes alone. For one, self-study courses provide flexibility, and many people studying for the GMAT Focus have a full-time job or busy schedule.
Secondly, a good self-study course will provide you with a more customized experience than you can get with a book or class, which has to cater to a group. Plus, classes don’t meet every day. So, since you’ll need to do at least some GMAT prep basically every day, self-study will still be a part of your test preparation even if you take a class.
The same goes for tutoring. Meeting with a GMAT tutor can be very helpful. However, you’re still going to need to study on your own in between those tutoring sessions.
So, with all the online courses out there, how can you figure out which course to use? Let’s discuss.
How to Determine What Platforms Provide the Best GMAT Study Resources
The most reliable method of determining what platforms provide the best GMAT study resources is twofold:
- First, read verified student reviews.
- Next, select a few courses and sign up for trials.
So, first off, there is no reason to start from zero in your search for a GMAT Focus study platform. Take advantage of the collective wisdom of the test-takers who have come before you by reading verified course reviews on websites such as GMAT Club and Beat the GMAT. That way, you can see what has worked for others in your shoes.
You can also check reputable sites such as MBA Insights and Poets & Quants for their rankings of the best online courses and to learn more about the pricing and features of various courses.
Once you’ve done your research and narrowed down the possibilities to a few courses, or even if you think you’ve found “the one,” try before you buy! Most online courses offer a free or lost-cost trial. So, you can test out each course for a few days before you make a final decision.
When you’re testing out courses, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting the features we’ve discussed in this article. For a complete list of the features your course should provide, check out our guide to what to look for in an online GMAT Focus prep course.
TTP PRO TIP:
Before you decide which GMAT Focus course to use, read verified reviews from past students and sign up for course trials.
GMAT Focus Study Resources: Key Takeaways
Remember the following when looking for GMAT Focus study resources:
- Official Guides should be used as supplements to your test preparation, not as your main or only study resources.
- Unless you are already basically at your score goal, practice tests alone are not sufficient for GMAT Focus preparation.
- With only free resources, your GMAT Focus preparation will likely be disorganized, inefficient, and burdensome. You’ll also miss out on many valuable study tools.
- GMAT students tend to have the best results when they prepare using an online self-study course.
- Complementing self-study with other study techniques, such a tutoring or a class, may be strategic at some point in your GMAT Focus prep.
- A good online self-study course will provide you with a more customized experience than you can get with a book or class.
- Before you decide on a GMAT Focus course, read verified reviews from past students and sign up for course trials.
What’s Next?
Check out our article on how different standard GMAT and GMAT Focus preparation are.
You also may be interested in our article about whether the GMAT Focus is harder than the standard GMAT.
