Enhance your ability to think critically and communicate those thoughts. According to the official GMAT website, the analytical writing assessment section is designed to test your ability in understanding the complexities of an issue of interest by taking an informed position based on provided information. This portion of the test is completed by essay and not multiple-choice selections.
Study resources like downloadable guides, test books and online classes are available for as much as $37, as of December 2010. For one-on-one help, a good idea would be to contact a former high school speech or English teacher. These individuals will more than likely be eager to help you sharpen your analytical skills and could offer to do so at little to no charge.
Understand the basics of reading comprehension. The verbal section of the GMAT is multiple choice, providing you a series of various level questions based on your last answer. The goal of the verbal section is to measure your ability level in: understanding words and statements, your comprehension of specific points in a passage as it relates to an overall concept, and your knowledge of proper English sentence structure.
What's important about this part of the assessment is that there are no wrong or right answers; this means that each answer holds a certain weight in the total score. A good study aid for boosting your results in this area is to participate in a local reading club. These groups are often hosted by professors or English majors, with attendees being those who enjoy discussing different views based on one piece of reading material.
Work on your mathematical skills. The quantitative section of the GMAT tests your problem-solving and data sufficiency skills by mathematic concepts found in arithmetic, elementary algebra and geometry. Math is generally a tough subject to grasp for most people, so finding a free online source that can guide and test you will be easy. Your local library is also a plentiful resource for touching up on your math skills; it has books ranging from elementary- to college-level math courses.