Practice GMAT Sample Questions and Answers for Excellent Result
GMAT Sample Questions and Answers: You want a preview of the question types you’ll face on the GMAT? Keep reading for a quick hand at the GMAT practice questions I have compiled for you below.
Then, check your answers after each question and in-depth explanations to see how you did. Under this topic, you will read the following.
- About the GMAT
- What Is On the GMAT
- GMAT Sample Questions and Answers
- GMAT Frequently Asked Questions
About the GMAT
The Graduate Management Admission Test, or GMAT, is an important part of the business school application process.
The GMAT is a multiple-choice, computer-based and computer-adaptive standardized exam that is often required for admission to graduate business programs (MBA) globally.
The GMAT is developed and administered by test maker GMAC to provide business schools with common measures of applicants’ preparedness for graduate-level academic work.
Business school admission committees look at your GMAT score, along with work experience, academic record, and supporting materials, to assess your readiness for the rigors of an MBA program.
What’s the takeaway? A high score on the GMAT will have a direct, positive impact on your business school application.
What Is On the GMAT
The GMAT exam measures your command of basic arithmetic, algebra, geometry, multi-source data analysis, and grammar. More importantly, it measures your ability to analyze and evaluate written material, think critically, and solve problems.
The GMAT is first and foremost a test of your critical thinking skills. Knowing how to reason through and analyze information is the key to a great GMAT score.
GMAT Sample Questions and Answers
Reading Comprehension
“Urodeles,” a class of vertebrates that includes newts and salamanders, have the enviable ability to regenerate arms, legs, tails, heart muscle, jaws, spinal cords, and other organs. “Planaria,” simple worms, can be sliced and diced in hundreds of pieces, with each piece giving rise to a completely new animal.
However, while both “urodeles” and “planaria” can regenerate, they use different means to accomplish this feat.
In effect, a “urodeles” specimen turns back the biological clock. First, the animal heals the wound at the site of the missing limb. Then various specialized cells at the site, such as bone, skin, and blood cells, lose their identity and revert to cells as unspecialized as those in the embryonic limb bud.
This process is called dedifferentiation, and the resulting blastema, a mass of unspecialized cells, proliferates rapidly to form a limb bud. Ultimately, when the new limb takes shape, the cells take on the specialized roles they had previously cast off.
In contrast, “planaria” regenerate using cells called neoblasts. Scattered within the planarian body, these neoblasts remain in an unspecialized, stem-cell state, which enables them at the need to differentiate into any cell type.
Whenever “planari” a are cut, the neoblasts migrate to the site and form a blastema by themselves. It is interesting to note that this mechanism is similar to that following reproductive fission in these animals and that species incapable of this form of asexual reproduction have poorly developed regenerative capacities.
Question 1
The primary purpose of the passage is to:
A. describe the roles of blastemas in regenerating “urodeles” and “planaria.”
B. describe how “urodeles” use the process of dedifferentiation to regenerate.
C. contrast the mechanisms by which “urodeles” and “planaria” accomplish regeneration.
D. shows how methods of cellular regeneration have evolved in different animal species.
E. explain the link between reproductive fission and regeneration in simple worms.
Answer: (C)
The last sentence of the first paragraph sets forth this central theme. The paragraphs that follow give the relevant details.
Question 2
All of the following are true of dedifferentiation in regenerating “urodeles” EXCEPT:
A. the cells recover their specialized roles after the limb bud takes shape.
B. it involves a regression by cells to an earlier stage of development.
C. specialized cells migrate to the site of the blastema and proliferate rapidly.
D. the healing of the wound at the site of the injury is the first step of the process.
E. dedifferentiation is characterized by a loss, and then recovery, of cellular identity.
Answer: (C)
As paragraph two explains, the specialized cells “lose their identity and revert” to being unspecialized cells, forming a blastema. Only after this do they proliferate; so it’s wrong to say that the “specialized cells . . . proliferate rapidly,” as choice C does.
Question 3
Artistic success as an actor is directly dependent on how well an actor has developed his craft. This has been demonstrated by the discovery of a positive relationship between the number of classes taken by an actor and the number of professional productions in which the actor has appeared in the past two years.
Each of the following, if true, cast doubt on the author’s argument about artistic success for actors EXCEPT:
A. The figures for the number of classes taken were based solely on the information provided by actors.
B. Success as an actor cannot necessarily be judged exclusively by recent credits.
C. For most successful actors, it’s not the quantity but the quality of their classes that have helped to develop their craft.
D. There is no relationship between the number of professional productions in which an actor has appeared and true artistic success.
E. Most successful actors have taken only a small number of intensive classes.
Answer: (A)
First, examine the choices looking for answers that sever the link between taking a large number of Classes and having a well-developed craft. (C) Effectively attacks this assumption by suggesting that the sheer number of classes is not enough to guarantee developed craft.
(E) points out that an actor can achieve success even if he takes only a few classes. Both of these choices can be eliminated. Next, examine the choices seeking answers that sever the link between professional productions and artistic success.
(B) Suggests that success is determined by more than an actor’s resume and (D) destroys the relationship explicitly. This leaves (A), which does not affect the author’s argument because it doesn’t matter who provides the figures on the number of classes taken. Choice (A) is the correct answer.
Question 4
Music Industry executives have claimed that online file-sharing networks are significantly hurting their business because potential consumers are getting music for free that they would otherwise purchase. However, after file-sharing networks started to become popular, CD sales increased.
Which of the following, if true, best explains the apparent contradictions described above?
A. File-sharing networks carry a more complete variety of music than most traditional music stories.
B. The few people using file-sharing networks already purchased more music than most people.
C. Many people prefer to store their music as computer files rather than maintain large CD collections.
D. Many consumers have purchased music by artists they discovered through file-sharing networks.
E. Music available on file-sharing networks is on the same audio quality as music on commercially produced CDs.
Answer: (D)
(A) doesn’t help because it doesn’t explain why more CDs are being sold in traditional music stores. (B) mentions music that has already been purchased, so it doesn’t explain why CD sales have increased after file-sharing networks grew in popularity.
(C) deepens the mystery because it suggests that people would be unwilling to purchase more CDs. (D) suggests that many people discovered new artists through file sharing, but rather than just listen to these artists on file-sharing networks, they then purchased more music by these artists.
This could certainly explain why CD sales increased After the file-sharing networks became popular, so this is our correct answer. (E) Equalizes electronic music and music on CDs when it comes to audio quality, so why would people purchase more CDS after beginning to share music electronically for free? Choice (D) is correct.
Question 5
Parents of high school students argue that poor attendance is the result of poor motivation. If students’ attitudes improve, regular attendance will result. The administration, they believe, should concentrate less on making stricter attendance policies and more increasing students’ learning.
Which of the following, if true, would most effectively weaken the parents’ argument?
A. Motivation to learn can be improved at home, during the time spent with parents.
B. The degree of interest in learning that a student develops is a direct result of the amount of time he or she spends in the classroom.
C. Showing a student how to be motivated is insufficient; the students must also accept responsibility for his or her decisions.
D. Unmotivated students do not perform as well in school as other students.
Answer: (B)
(B) posits that the author has confused a cause with an effect-that bad attendance causes bad motivation. That’s the reversal of causality, one of the classic weakeners. (B) is the correct answer.
(A) suggests that parents can be vital to the development of motivation, but this has no direct link to attendance, so it doesn’t weaken the argument.
(C) is a 180. It agrees with the parents’ position that a stricter policy will not lead to increased learning, the very position you are asked to weaken, so it doesn’t have any effect; the parents aren’t looking for the school to tighten attendance policies, so finding out that such tightening won’t increase their motivation does nothing to the parents’ argument.
(D) introduces the idea of accepting responsibility, which sounds like a good thing overall but has no direct bearing on improving attendance.
Finally, (E) mentions that unmotivated students have poorer performance, but the parents are only interested in ways to get students to improve their attendance, not their performance in school. Choice (B) is correct.
Question 6
A study of children’s television-watching habits by the federal Department of Education found that children aged 7-10 who watched more than 25 hours of television per week performed worse in school than children of the same age who watched fewer than 25 hours of television per week.
Therefore, parents of children aged 7-10 should prohibit their children from watching more than 25 hours of television per week.
Which of the following, if true, would be best to strengthen the argument above?
A. A separate study, by a renowned graduate school education, found that when parents prohibited their children from watching any television, the children’s reading scores increase rapidly and significantly and stayed high indefinitely.
B. Children who watched more than 25 hours of television per week also performed worse on measures of physical fitness than children who watched fewer than 25 hours per week.
C. The television shows that children aged 7-10 are most likely to watch are saturated with advertisements for products, such as toys and candy, of little educational value.
D. The Department of Education study gave appropriate weight to children of backgrounds representative of children nationwide.
Answer: (D)
(D) validates the representativeness of the sample directly. The author’s conclusion is about all parents of children aged 7-10. A study that “gives appropriate weight” to kids with diverse backgrounds is, therefore, more representative.
(D) is the correct answer. (A) is irrelevant because it deals with parents who prohibit their children from watching any television, rather than parents who hold their kids to a 25-hour-per-week limit.
(B) is not relevant because it concerns physical fitness tests, not school performance. (C) does nothing to suggest that parents should limit their children’s things to 25 hours per week.
It merely offers one reason that the shows kids watch are of little educational value. And (E) is irrelevant. The argument is not concerned with the habits of these children as they age; it deals only with the school performance of children from ages 7 to 10. Choice (D) is correct.
Question 7
The code is to be made by arranging 7 letters. Three of the letters used will be the letter A, two of the letters used will be the letter B, one of the letters used will be the letter C, and one of the letters used will be the letter D. If there is only one way to present each letter, how many different codes are possible?
A. 42
B. 210
C. 420
D. 840
E. 5,040
Answer: (C)
Step 1: Analyze the Question
We have to make a seven-letter code, but some of our letters are repeated. We have three As two Bs, one C, and one D. We have to calculate the possible number of different codes.
Step 2: State the Task
We’ll calculate the number of permutations, remembering to take the repeated letters into account.
Step 3: Approach Strategically
To calculate the number of permutations where some of the elements are indistinguishable, we’ll divide the total number of permutations by the factorial of the number of indistinguishable elements.
So we have:
7! _________ 3!2!
=
(7x6x5x4x3x2x1) _________ (3x2x1)(2×1)
= 420
Answer choice (C) is correct.
Step 4: Confirm Your Answer
Review your calculations to confirm your answer is correct.
Question 8
If a rectangular billboard has an area of 104 square feet and a perimeter of 42 feet, what is the length of each of the shorter sides?
A. 4
B. 7
C. 8
D. 13
E. 26
Answer: (C)
Step 1: Analyze the Question
We know two facts about the rectangle: the area and the perimeter. We need to find the length of the shorter side, so we should try to use the area and perimeter information to set up equations that we can use to solve for the side lengths.
Notice that since the answer choices are all numbers, we can also Backsolve to find the length of the sides.
Step 2: State the Task
Use the definitions of the area and perimeter of the rectangle to solve for the length of each of the two equal shorter sides of the billboard.
Step 3: Approach Strategically
The area is the product of the two sides, and the perimeter is the sum of the four sides. If L and W are the lengths and the width of the rectangle, then the area of the rectangle is LW, so LW = 104.
The perimeter of the rectangle is 2(L + W), so 2(L + W) = 42. We can simplify the perimeter equation if we divide both sides by 2, giving us L + W = 21. Because we have two equations and two variables, we can solve for L and W.
The two equations are LW = 104 and L + W = 21.
We are looking for two numbers whose product is 104 and whose sum is 21. We can factor the 104 to determine the pairs of numbers that must sum to 21.
The factors of 104 are 2 x 52, 4 x 26, and 8 x 13.
The only pair whose sum equals 21 is 8 and 13. So L = 13, and W = 8. Choice (C) is correct.
Now, here’s the Backsolving solution.
Let’s say that you started with (D). If the shorter side is 13, then the two short sides of the billboard total 26 feet. That leaves 42 – 26, or 16 feet for the two longer sides.
They must be, therefore, 8 feet each. Except, of course, that is 13 is the “shorter” side, 8 can’t be the “longer” side. So, the shorter side must be less than 13 feet; (d) and (E) can be eliminated.
Now we test (B). If the shorter side is 7, then the two short sides of the billboard total 14 feet. That leaves 42 – 14, or 28 feet for the two longer sides. They must be, therefore, 14 feet each. Is the area 104? No, as 14 x 7 = 98. Eliminate (B). Even if you don’t see why the shorter side has to be longer and decide that you needed to test another choice, the fact that you already know that 8 x 13 yields a valid perimeter would lead you to test (C). And since 8 x 13 = 104, the shorter side is indeed 8. Answer choice (C) is correct.
Step 4: Confirm Your Answer
Read back over the problem, confirming that your solution accurately follows the information in the question. For example, if you accidentally solved for the longer side, you’d have chosen (D); this step would allow you to change the wrong answer into the right one.
Question 9
If x is an integer and 2.134 x 10x is less than 210,000, what is the greatest possible value for x?
A. 7
B. 6
C. 5
D. 4
E. 3
Answer: (D)
Step 1: Analyze the Question
we know two things about x: it’s an integer, and 2.134 x 10% < 210,000.
Step 2: State the Task
Find the greatest possible value for X.
Step 3: Approach Strategically
To multiply a decimal quantity by 10%, move the decimal point x places to the right. For 2.134, moving the decimal point 5 places to the right results in the number 213,400. That’s just over the limit of 210,000, so the maximum value of x is 4. The correct answer is (D).
Step 4: Confirm Your Answer
A great way to confirm the answer to this type of question is to write the number down on your noticeboard before counting the number of decimal places to move.
Question 10
John spent 40 percent of his earnings last month on rent and 30 percent less than what he spent on rent to purchase a new dishwasher. What percent of last month’s earnings did John have leftover?
A. 30%
B. 32%
C. 45%
D. 68%
E. 70%
Answer: (B)
Step 1: Analyze the Question
John spends 40% on one thing and 30% less than that on another. Since the answer choices are percents, picking 100 is a good idea. Some answer choices are widely spread out. When choices are spread out, estimation and logic are also great approaches.
Step 2: State the Task
What percent of last month’s earnings did John have leftover? We now know that we’d pick $100 as his earnings. (We care much more about picking manageable numbers than about giving imaginary people a living wage.)
It’s also important to focus on the fact that we are solving for what he has left after paying for rent and the dishwasher, not what he spent on those things.
Step 3: Approach Strategically
Some answer choices could be logically eliminated right away. After spending 40% of his earnings on rent, he’d have 60% left. Then he spends some more. Therefore, no answer 60% or greater could be possible.
That eliminates (D) and (E) very quickly. And since simple combinations of percents are rarely the right answer, the odds of the right answer being “subtract 40% and then subtract 30%” are very small.
That makes 100% – 40% – 30% = 30%, choice (A), a safe elimination as well. We could make a 50/50 guess very quickly on this problem, which is sometimes a good thing to do if you are falling behind pace. But let’s say that you had the time to solve.
Picking $100 for his earnings, we see that John spends $40 on rent. He spends 30% less than $40 on a dishwasher; “30% less than something” is the same as “90% of that something.” So John spent 0.7($40), or $28, on a dishwasher. Taking $40 and $28, or $68 away from $100, John is left with $32. That’s 32% of his original earnings, so choice (B) is correct.
Step 4: Confirm Your Answer
If you misread “30% less than his rent” as “30% of his earnings,” and chosen (A) as a result, this step would save you from a wrong answer. Also, (D) is another trap answer that represents the total percentage of these earnings that John spent.
GMAT Frequently Asked Questions
Ques.: How Do I Register for the GMAT?
Ans.: You can register for the GMAT at mba.com (the official GMAT website). After you create an account, you can select your testing date, time, and location by clicking on “Register for the GMAT” under “The GMAT Exam” on the main page.
Ques.: How Much Does the GMAT Cost?
Ans.: Scheduling a GMAT appointment costs $250. You can pay for your GMAT registration with credit or debit card, money order, cashier’s check, or personal check.
Ques.: How Often Can I Take the GMAT?
Ans.: You can take the GMAT up to five times every 12 months.
You can’t take the GMAT more than once in a 16-day period, or more than eight times total.
Ques.: Can I Reschedule a GMAT Appointment?
Ans.: You can reschedule by logging into your personal GMAT account at mba.com, but there’s a fee. If you reschedule your exam more than seven days before your appointment, it’ll cost you $50; if you reschedule seven days or fewer before your GMAT appointment, there’s a $250 fee.
Ques.: Can I Retake the GMAT?
Ans.: You can take the GMAT up to five times every 12 months.
About a third of students retake the GMAT, and business schools don’t look down on it, especially if your score improves with each retake. About 10% of applicants have taken the GMAT three or more times.
If you read these GMAT Sample Questions over and over again, you will be few steps away from making it with excellence.
You can also invite your friends to practice this GMAT Sample Questions and Answers by sharing this article with them on their social media handle.
CSN Team.
