Our reviewers evaluate products and services based on unbiased research. Top Consumer Reviews may earn money when you click on a link. Learn more about our process.
Tuesday, January 19th
GMAT Hacks was created by Jeff Sackmann, who has been helping students prepare for the GMAT and apply to business schools since 2000. He scored in the 99th percentile when he took the GMAT, so he provides books that help others build content knowledge and have realistic practice materials.
Unavailable materials
Sackmann claims that GMAT Hacks are virtually indistinguishable from the actual GMAT test, so students are more prepared with their materials than by using any competitor. However, we found that the materials are unavailable, essentially making GMAT Hacks a useless avenue for students to find GMAT study material.
Out of date
Rather than offering full courses or one-on-one tutoring like some other GMAT prep websites, GMAT Hacks sells books (or at least used to sell books), provides free articles, and used to publish a "Question of the Day" that gave students insight into a realistic problem they might find on the GMAT. The last time one was published was in 2014, so it doesn't seem that GMAT Hacks has been actively updated for years. This is also obvious based on the design of the website. It is nothing fancy and definitely looks outdated.
3 GMAT books
The GMAT Hacks bookshelf shows three books that students used to be able to purchase for study preparation. They include:
Broken links
Unfortunately, the links to purchase and get more information on each of the listed books is broken, so customers may only be able to purchase the books from other third-party sites. It is important to realize that the GMAT is updated every few years, the last time being 2018. Because of this, any books and study materials published years beforehand may not be relevant anymore. Based on different articles and pages on the GMAT Hacks website, it seems that these materials were definitely created years ago.
Information resource
The only part of this website that might prove even slightly useful is the articles section. Here, students can find hundreds of test taking topics and read tips for taking the GMAT all for free. The categories of articles include general study tips, goals and planning, CAT strategy, the mental game, GMAT math strategy, GMAT math topics, mental math, data sufficiency, critical reasoning, reading comprehension, sentence correction, and many others. If there is a specific area of weakness that a student has identified when it comes to taking the GMAT, there may be something insightful within one of the free articles found on the GMAT Hacks website.
Just keep walking
There isn't much more to the GMAT Hacks website than we already discussed. On this unsecure site you'll find broken links to books published over 10 years ago and some free help articles with tips for studying. Most importantly, there aren't actual study materials that students can obtain here, so GMAT Hacks has earned our lowest rating for GMAT test prep services.
The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is a test that predicts how well students might perform in their MBA (Masters in Business Administration) program. The test scores are sent to graduate schools to assist with admission decisions. Students are assessed in their algebra, arithmetic, geometry, grammar, and multi-source data analysis skills.
For students hoping to get into certain business schools, their performance on the GMAT is critical. Having to retake such a long test - to improve a score - quickly adds up over time.
Each GMAT test costs around $250 and scores are sent to five different schools. Students will want to be well-prepared and get a satisfactory score the first time so they don't have to deal with the time and money it takes to complete the GMAT again.
The best way to secure a good GMAT score is to study all the relevant material ahead of time so you know what to expect. There are many fantastic online test prep resources specifically for helping students be successful when taking the GMAT. It may cost some serious time and money to use the materials found through a professional online program, but the confidence and knowledge you'll gain will be well worth it.
There are quite a few GMAT test prep services to choose from out there. Before buying a membership for one of them, we suggest you keep the following criteria in mind:
TopConsumerReviews.com has reviewed and ranked the best GMAT test prep programs available today. We hope this information helps you feel confident and improve your score when you take the GMAT!
Select any 2 GMAT Test Prep Courses to compare them head to head