Aptitude tests › GMAT Quantitative Reasoning
GMAT Quantitative Reasoning: what it asks, and how to practise
The GMAT, run by GMAC, is taken for business school programmes; its only form since 2024 is the GMAT Focus Edition. Its Quantitative Reasoning section asks arithmetic and algebra as word problems, without a calculator. This page sets out what GMAC says about the section and where preplaud lets you practise each topic. It covers the quantitative section only; Verbal Reasoning and Data Insights aren't covered here.
What GMAC says
| Section | 21 questions in 45 minutes |
|---|---|
| Question type | Problem Solving only: multiple choice (Data Sufficiency moved to the Data Insights section) |
| Calculator | Not allowed in this section; Data Insights has an on-screen one |
| Whole test | Three sections of 45 minutes, Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning and Data Insights, taken in the order you choose |
| Topics | Word problems, arithmetic and number properties, ratio and proportion, algebra, statistics, sequences, overlapping sets, and probability and combinatorics. Geometry isn't on GMAC's list |
The topics, and where to practise each
- Word problems (algebra basics, profit, percentages, interest): Word problems, Percentages & ratios and Data and percents; simple and compound interest in Interest, mixtures and series.
- Arithmetic and number properties (integers, divisibility, odd and even, primes, highest common factor and lowest common multiple, squares, remainders, decimals): Number properties and Mental arithmetic, which also helps with the no-calculator rule.
- Ratio and proportion (speed, work rates, mixtures): speed and working together are in Word problems; ratios in Percentages & ratios; mixtures in Interest, mixtures and series.
- Algebra (powers and roots, linear and quadratic equations, simultaneous equations, functions, inequalities, absolute value): Linear equations & systems, Quadratics & powers, Expressions & nonlinear equations and Functions & growth.
- Statistics (averages, median, mode, range, standard deviation): Statistics & studies.
- Sequences (general rules, arithmetic series): sums of arithmetic sequences in Interest, mixtures and series, sums of consecutive numbers in Word problems, and finding a sequence's rule in Number series.
- Overlapping sets (Venn diagrams): the "both" and "neither" problems in Word problems, and Counting.
- Probability and combinatorics: Counting and Probability.
What practice can and cannot do
- It makes the moves automatic, and every preplaud item explains the move it uses, step by step. Practise without a calculator, as the section is taken.
- It isn't the GMAT's format. The algebra and statistics drills are written in the SAT and GRE style: some have four choices or a typed answer rather than five choices, and from level 4 some are GRE quantity comparisons, which the GMAT doesn't ask. The maths is the same.
- It doesn't copy the test. preplaud's questions are its own, and preplaud makes no claim that practice raises a GMAT score.
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Sources
- GMAC: GMAT exam overview (three sections of 45 minutes; Quantitative Reasoning 21 questions, problem solving)
- GMAC: GMAT Quantitative Reasoning (Problem Solving only, the topic list, no calculator)