Many of us live our lives increasingly through our smartphones. Whether reading the news, checking in with family, playing games or even shopping for groceries, there’s very little that cannot be done through your phone in the modern age.
This applies, increasingly, to how we learn. From apps that offer supplementary coursework to those that offer courses in toto, app learning continues to be more and more integral to the educational experience of millions of students. And this applies as much to GMAT prep as it does to everything else – in the form of GMAT prep apps.
Though some GMAT course providers have been slower to adapt to this new paradigm than others, the fact is that the predominance of app learning is inevitable. As someone who’s looking to prep for the GMAT in 2023, then, it’s probably a good idea for you to assess the situation and find out which are the best GMAT prep apps for mobile learning. After all, the benefits of learning whenever and wherever you like almost go without saying.
Without further ado, then, let’s take a look at the best GMAT prep apps currently on the market – and what makes them the best.
Table of Contents
Best GMAT Prep Apps For Mobile Learning 2023
Below you can find a general overview of the various GMAT prep apps, and in which area they excel. For a more detailed look at each one, please refer to the appropriate section.
- Most comprehensive GMAT prep app: Manhattan Prep GMAT
- Best budget GMAT practice app: GMAT Prep & Practice (Magoosh)
- Best adaptive algorithm: Bloomberg GMAT Prep
- Best social app: GMAT Club Forum
- Best free app: GMAT Official Practice (GMAC)
- Best new GMAT app: GMAT Exam Prep 2023
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Most Comprehensive GMAT Prep App: Manhattan Prep GMAT
Manhattan Prep (which has recently merged with another big name in the GMAT app game, Kaplan) is one of the most esteemed names when it comes to GMAT preparation – and with good reason. Few companies take the meticulous and thorough approach that Manhattan Prep do when it comes to GMAT preparation, and their app is proof positive of that.
The list of content you can access via the app is, to say the least, exhaustive. Expect over 1100 quantitative and verbal practice questions, over 1500 sentence correction drills and quiz questions, glossaries for both the quant and verbal sections, general GMAT strategies and hints and MBA tips. There is also an analytics section that will offer you feedback on your progress and a detailed analysis of your time management skills.
With its emphasis on sentence drills and idiom explanations, it’s also one of the best GMAT prep apps for non-natives, who can sometimes struggle with some of the language that appears on the GMAT.
With all of this, you might expect a hefty price tag. But the fact of the matter is that you can use the app completely free of charge for the first 24 hours – plenty of time to get to grips with how it works and whether or not it’s a good fit for you. After that, the app costs $29.99 (with discounts applicable if you buy it for longer periods of time).
What We Like
- Great selection of practice questions and drills
- Fantastic for non-native candidates
- Lots of advanced quant content (which is usually tough to find)
- Excellent analytics that provide solid feedback throughout
What We Don’t Like
- Sometimes a little buggy
- Occasional login issues
Pricing
- $29.99/month
Best Budget GMAT Practice App: GMAT Prep & Practice (Magoosh)
Magoosh have made a name for themselves as one of the best value-for-money GMAT course providers out there, and they’ve brought that philosophy to the app game with one of the best budget GMAT prep apps out there.
Magoosh is quite happy to give potential buyers a taste of the pie, with a good chunk of content being offered free of charge at first. You can download the app and get 30 practice lessons and 80 video lessons without spending a penny – pretty generous in comparison with the trial plans offered by some of Magoosh’s competitors.
If you’re impressed by what you see, you can sign up for Magoosh’s premium package. This gets you a comprehensive online course of which the app is only part; on the app itself, you’ll unlock 1300 test questions, 340 video lessons, access to tutor help, and a whole range of in-depth articles breaking down the GMAT and offering various tips and tricks to ace the course.
In addition, those signing up for the premium option also receive a guarantee from Magoosh of a 50-point score increase – not bad for what is already one of the most affordable GMAT apps for mobile learning on the market.
Magoosh also offers two other more focused GMAT apps aside from their flagship one – the ‘GMAT Math Flashcard’ and ‘GMAT Idiom Flashcard’ apps. These two apps focus on improving your mental arithmetic and ability to process English idioms that you might see on the test. The best thing about these two apps? They’re 100% free.
What We Like
- Expansive number of practice questions and video lessons
- Great free option to test the waters
- Guarantee of a 50-point score increase
- Fantastic free companion apps
What We Don’t Like
- Unable to filter practice questions by category or topic
- Occasionally clunky interface
Pricing
- Main app: $249/year (equal to $21/month approx.)
- Companion apps: free
Best Adaptive Algorithm: Bloomberg GMAT Prep
Financial media powerhouse Bloomberg is well respected as a publication – but can the same be said for its GMAT app?
The Bloomberg GMAT app scores points straight out of the gate for its use of adaptive technology to ensure that the questions and activities are pitched at the perfect level for the user. The app’s AI acts, according to its creators, as a virtual ‘personal tutor’, analyzing your progress and tailoring what comes next to your individual needs and requirements.
The app features a comprehensive dashboard that keeps you up to date on your progress and offers information on several key stats and performance markers. The dashboard will also highlight your strengths and weaknesses, and offer advice on which areas you should focus on next.
Bloomberg GMAT Prep offers a free one-week trial when you sign up, and also offers you a 100% refund if your GMAT score ends up lower than when you bought the course. This isn’t as enticing as a 50- or 60-point score bump, but it’s certainly better than no guarantee at all.
The app comes bundled with more than 100 hours of interactive material, with in-depth lessons and practice questions for Verbal, Quant, and IR. There are also lessons on the AWA, with deep dives into this tricky question and a host of tips and tricks to ensure that you make the most of your 30 minutes.
Purchasing the course also gives you, in addition to the features on the app, access to consultations with real GMAT tutors, the ability to ask questions of tutors whenever you need help, and grading of your AWA essays by a real tutor who will offer you advice and personalized feedback. Note that these features are available via the website, rather than directly within the app.
What We Like
- Great adaptive algorithm that adapts to your needs
- Comprehensive lessons and practice questions in all areas of the GMAT
- Excellent supplementary features bundled with the app
What We Don’t Like
- Rigid structure – no ability to skip ahead without first completing preceding questions
- Can be buggy and unresponsive
- Expensive
Pricing
- $299/$699/$999 for 3/4/6 months. Each tier comes with extra practice tests and more 121 consultations.
Best Social GMAT App: GMAT Club Forum
For the very best in staying connected with other GMAT test-takers (and instructors), the GMAT Club Forum 2023 app simply cannot be beaten. It essentially places more than a million other voices in your pocket, and ensures that you’ll never feel alone while gearing up to take the GMAT.
The base app is free of charge, but you wouldn’t know it from the sheer wealth of materials on offer. There is a database consisting of a frankly staggering 100,000 GMAT practice questions, accessible to anybody who has downloaded the app – and costing not a single penny. You can also create a personalized study plan and will gain access to a decision tracker, which will allow you to check out your chances of being accepted onto a course in an instant.
The biggest draw of GMAT Club Forum is, however, probably the access that it gives to the wider GMAT community. With over a million registered users – many of whom are GMAT instructors – you can discuss different sections of the test, submit AWA answers for peer or instructor correction, and ask for advice on just about any section of the GMAT you can think of.
Because of these factors, it may well be the best GMAT app on the market. No other app can offer the social support, real-time advice and feedback, and sense of camaraderie that GMAT Club Forum 2023 does – and this is before you factor in the wealth of practice questions and the practice tests on offer. And aside from those practice tests, it’s entirely free.
What We Like
- Access to more than one million fellow GMAT test-takers and professionals
- Over 100,000 practice questions
- Personalized study schedule
- Decision tracker to ascertain your chances of admission to various schools
- Almost all materials available for free
What We Don’t Like
- No guarantee of advice or feedback
Pricing
- $9.99/month to access practice tests; free otherwise
Best Free App: GMAT Official Practice (GMAC)
If you want to get a feel for how the actual GMAT is, then where better to start than with the official GMAT app?
The best thing about this app, from GMAT creators GMAC, is that it’s completely free of charge. That doesn’t mean that there is a trial period, or that you have limited access until you pay to unlock further features – everything is free. And that makes this an invaluable tool for you to make use of when prepping for the GMAT.
Considering it’s free, the GMAT Official Practice app packs a lot of punch. You gain access to hundreds of test questions, as well as the ability to structure those questions into custom tests that better cater to your needs. You can also compare how you’re doing against all of the other users of the app, with your percentile being simulated against those users.
A question timer is included whenever you’re doing a mock test, which allows you to better keep track of how much time has elapsed (and thus how much time you’d have left if you were in a real exam situation). You can also switch between “practice” and “exam” modes – the former is more relaxed and less formal, and the latter more accurately simulates how you can expect things to be on test day.
The app also incorporates an exhaustive number of explanatory texts that will talk you through pretty much every concept that you can expect to encounter on the GMAT. These explanations are, as noted, textual – no high-production-value video lessons here – but they are also free, and so well worth exploring.
The app also comes with two full practice tests for you to sink your teeth into. All of the questions in both tests are drawn from the official pool of questions created by GMAC, and so they are about as authentic as it gets.
This app is, all in all, a fantastic introduction to the GMAT, and one that will take newcomers to the test very far indeed. It does lack a lot of the bells and whistles of more advanced GMAT apps, but it’s worth remembering that it’s free. And as free resources go, you can’t really go wrong with this.
What We Like
- Fantastic array of free resources
- Two practice tests
- Ability to check your standings against other users
What We Don’t Like
- No video lessons
- No ‘ask a tutor’ feature
Pricing
- Free
Best New GMAT App: GMAT Exam Prep 2023 (He Rong Ye)
New for 2023, this app is produced by Chinese app developer He Rong Ye. What it lacks in pedigree, it makes up for with flexibility and a massive bank of practice questions.
The more than 1000 questions in the app have been prepared by experts in the test, ensuring that they’ll make for excellent practice for the real thing. Each section of the GMAT – Verbal, Quant, IR and AWA – has its own dedicated subset of exercises designed to prime you for test day.
There’s also a statistics section that ensures that you can keep abreast of how you’re doing in the various sections, which will inform what areas you should focus on going forward. Additionally, detailed answers are supplied for all questions, so when you go wrong, you’ll know exactly why.
The app also offers a personalized study plan when you first install it. By asking you a number of questions and ascertaining how many times a week you’ll want to study (and on which days), a study schedule tailored to you will be quickly drafted. You can also set the app to offer reminders and notifications, meaning that it’s easier than ever to stick to a schedule with your GMAT study plans.
In addition, there are several specialized quiz modes such as ‘Quick Quiz’ (tackle 10 random questions immediately), ‘Missed Questions Quiz’ to get straight back to those you got wrong, a ‘Set Own Quiz’ which is exactly what it sounds like (create your own quiz) and a ‘Mock Exam Quiz’ that preps you for the big day by creating a practice test based on real GMAT questions.
GMAT Exam Prep 2023 is, additionally, extremely cheap compared to some of the more established company’s apps. One month is a mere $9.49, and you can purchase lifetime access for $49.99. As it’s a brand-new app, it does remain to be seen whether it’s worth the cost – but as far as GMAT apps for mobile learning go, it may well be worth a shot.
What We Like
- Very cheap
- Good selection of questions
- Personalized study schedule
- In-depth analytics section
What We Don’t Like
- Nothing (as of yet)
Pricing
- 1 month: $9.49
- 3 months: $19.99
- 1 year: $39.99
- Lifetime: $49.99
Conclusion
While the GMAT app playing field is surprisingly sparsely populated (some big names, such as the Economist and Veritas, have discontinued their GMAT apps), there are still a few options on the table – and some of those options are truly excellent, as the review of the best GMAT prep apps above shows.
The good news is that, even if an app isn’t free, chances are that they offer a lot of free content – or, failing that, a trial that will give you chance to see what’s on offer before you take the plunge. Either way, you won’t need to commit to anything until you’re sure you’ve found the right GMAT app for you.