The best GMAT prep courses do a lot more than just throw sample questions at you. While knowing the kind of questions you will get can help, understanding how best to answer the questions is much more important. If you're taking the GMAT, a high score is key to your future success and you need the best training system possible. Here's what to look for to ensure that you get the best help:
 
1. Study plans for multiple schedules. Many GMAT prep courses consist of a single training plan and they expect you to go through every step of it in order. That's great if you happen to have exactly the amount of time that the study plan was designed for, but what if you don't? The best GMAT prep courses realize that some people study best when they're under the pressure of a looming deadline, while others prefer months of continuous prep work. Accordingly, they offer multiple study plans with one-month or multi-month schedules.

2.  A complete breakdown of the GMAT and the study program. Many GMAT prep courses fail to put your study section in context. The best GMAT prep courses give a complete breakdown not only of the GMAT itself and how it works, but of each section of the study plan and how it fits into preparing you for success.

3.  Mobile compatibility. While the GMAT itself will be taken on a desktop computer station, that doesn't mean your prep sessions have to be. The best GMAT prep courses offer total mobile compatibility so you can work through prep sessions on your iPad or Android tablet anywhere you go.

4. Progressive training methods. The GMAT is a complex test with an unusual and counter-intuitive "adaptive" framework, meaning the questions you're given change depending on how you did on previous questions. That means a good GMAT prep course needs to do a lot more than familiarize you with the content of the questions. You need to start to learn tactics for time management and how to spot different types of questions that are being used to adapt your overall test—including time wasters and questions that are effectively impossible to solve.

5. Intensive Integrated Reasoning training. The Integrated Reasoning or "IR" section of the test is a mental labyrinth that's often considered impossible to beat. However, there are strategies that will help you manage your own stress in this section and allow you to actually complete it before time runs out—a rare feat. Your GMAT prep course should teach you how to navigate it.

How are you preparing for the GMAT?