GMAT Focus Quant topics: what is tested and what was removed

Updated 25 September 2026 · 8 min read

If you are starting GMAT Focus prep with an older book or a friend's notes, the first job is to throw out what is no longer tested. The Quantitative Reasoning section of the GMAT Focus Edition is narrower than the Quant section of the old exam: no geometry, no Data Sufficiency, one question format. What remains is arithmetic, algebra, word problems, statistics, and counting and probability, tested at a high-school level of mathematics but with a lot of care in how the questions are built.

This guide lists every topic GMAC names for the section, explains what was removed and where it went, and works through an original example for each topic family so you can see what "tested" means in practice.

The Quant section at a glance

According to GMAC, the Quantitative Reasoning section has 21 questions in 45 minutes, and every question is Problem Solving: a multiple-choice question with five answer choices. No calculator is allowed in this section (the on-screen calculator is only available in Data Insights). GMAC describes the section as measuring algebraic and arithmetic foundational knowledge and how you apply it to solve problems.

Forty-five minutes for 21 questions is an average of about 2 minutes 8 seconds per question. The section is adaptive, like the other two, and its score is reported on the 60–90 scale; GMAC states that Quant, Verbal and Data Insights contribute equally to the Total Score. If you want to see how a Quant score moves your Total, the GMAT Focus score calculator shows it instantly.

What was removed from GMAT Quant

Three changes matter when you pick study material.

Geometry is gone. GMAC's announcement of the Focus Edition says geometry is excluded, and it does not appear in GMAC's current topic list. That means no area formulas, no Pythagorean triples, no circle theorems and no coordinate geometry. If a prep book spends a chapter on triangles, it was written for the old exam. Skip it.

Data Sufficiency moved, it did not disappear. You still need the skill, but you will meet it in the Data Insights section, where a calculator is available. The mathematics inside Data Sufficiency questions is the same Quant content listed below, so work on these topics pays off twice. Our Data Sufficiency strategy guide covers the method.

One format. Because every Quant question is Problem Solving, you can build one routine and use it 21 times: read the question to the end, note exactly what is asked, list every constraint, then solve or test the answer choices.

The full GMAT Focus Quant topic list

GMAC groups the content into eight families. The table uses GMAC's own topic names, with the page on this site where you can drill each one.

Two observations. First, the list is short, and every item on it is school mathematics. Second, the difficulty on the GMAT does not come from advanced content. It comes from wording, from constraints that are easy to skip ("distinct", "positive", "at least"), and from wrong answers built to match predictable mistakes. That is why drilling many questions on one topic works better than rereading theory.

Worked examples by topic

Each example below is original and pitched at a medium-to-hard GMAT level. Try it before reading the solution.

Word problems: successive percentages

A jacket's price is raised by 20 percent, and the new price is then cut by 20 percent. The final price is what percent of the original price?

Turn each change into a multiplier: × 1.20, then × 0.80. The product is 0.96, so the final price is 96 percent of the original. The trap answer is 100 percent, which comes from adding +20 and −20. Percent changes multiply; they only add when they apply to the same base.

Number properties: two remainder conditions

When the positive integer n is divided by 5, the remainder is 3. When n is divided by 4, the remainder is 2. What is the smallest possible value of n?

List numbers that leave remainder 3 on division by 5: 3, 8, 13, 18, 23 and so on. Check each against the second condition: 3 leaves 3, 8 leaves 0, 13 leaves 1, 18 leaves 2. So n = 18. Every other solution is 18 plus a multiple of 20 (the least common multiple of 4 and 5), which is how a harder version might ask for "the remainder when n is divided by 20".

Statistics: a maximum in disguise

Five different positive integers have a mean of 12 and a median of 10. What is the greatest possible value of the largest integer?

Turn the mean into a sum: 5 × 12 = 60. To make the largest value as big as possible, make every other value as small as the rules allow. The two smallest must be different positive integers below 10, so 1 and 2. The median is 10. The fourth value must be greater than 10 and different from it, so 11. The largest is 60 − 1 − 2 − 10 − 11 = 36. The usual wrong answer, 37, comes from letting the fourth value equal 10, which breaks "different".

Overlapping sets: the two-group formula

In a class of 60 students, 35 study French, 28 study Spanish and 10 study neither. How many study both?

Students who study at least one language: 60 − 10 = 50. For two groups, Total in either = French + Spanish − Both, so 50 = 35 + 28 − Both, and Both = 13. When a question has more categories (for example gender and language), draw a two-way table instead of a Venn diagram. The table makes every cell and total visible.

Counting: the complement

A committee of 3 is chosen from 5 men and 4 women. How many committees include at least one woman?

Count all committees and subtract the ones with no women. All committees: C(9, 3) = 84. Committees with only men: C(5, 3) = 10. So 74 include at least one woman. The tempting direct method, "choose one woman, then any two others" (4 × C(8, 2) = 112), counts a committee with two women twice. The complement avoids that double count. See more in our combinations practice.

Algebra: use structure before you expand

If x + 1/x = 5, what is the value of x² + 1/x²?

Square both sides: x² + 2 + 1/x² = 25, so x² + 1/x² = 23. Solving for x directly would mean a quadratic with irrational roots and a lot of arithmetic, which is exactly what the test wants you to avoid without a calculator.

How to study the topic list efficiently

A topic list is useful only if it changes what you do each week. Here is how to use this one.

1. Take a diagnostic first. A practice test or a mixed set of 20–30 questions shows which families cost you points. Do not study the list in order.
2. Rank the families by points lost, not by how hard they feel. Many people fear combinatorics but lose more points on percentages and word problems, because those appear more often and hide more traps.
3. Drill one family at a time, then mix. Ten to fifteen questions on remainders in a row teach you the pattern. A mixed set a few days later tests whether you can recognise it without a label. Our 5-question drill lets you do a quick mixed Quant set without signing up.
4. Log every miss by cause. "Forgot 'distinct'", "added percentages", "arithmetic slip" are more useful labels than "statistics". The error log guide has a template.
5. Build mental arithmetic. With no calculator, fluency with fractions, percentages and squares up to about 20 saves more time than any shortcut.

For the weekly structure around this, see the GMAT Focus study plan, and if you are deciding how many weeks to set aside, read how long to study for the GMAT Focus.