The Official Guide for GMAT Review

This is essential to GMAT prep. The practice questions are the main reason for this. I'd recommend other sources for Gmat test taking strategies and insider tips. However, once you're ready to just practice those methods covered by Kaplan and such, this is what you need. The practice questions are organized by difficulty so you can do some of each level and move around depending on the type of practice you need most. What makes this a standout is that it is compiled for the GMAT Council- so it has real past questions and is developed by the creators of the test. So this is a great source once you've learned about the test structure and methods and once you just need practice.

I recently took my GMAT (first and only one) and had a score which exceeded my expectation. I purchased this book and the Kaplan guide. Between these two, we have a pretty good coverage. I used Kaplan for test strategy and this OG for actual problems. One thing I found useful was I would take 10-20 problems at a time and timed myself to see if I can average under 90 secs per problem. It's been 20 years since I finished high school (ha it's been that long!) so I rented a math review book from local library and it was a good refresh but Kaplan book also has a decent review section. Having said that it would help if you had a strong education background in math. Regarding the sample computer tests (two of them) that you get from [...], as the other reviewer said, please do not waste them. My two scores were 20 points apart and my actual score was right in the middle! Finally on AWA, if you care, there are some templates out there on some web sites and this is a good starting point, you don't have to copy it exactly but it will give you a good idea on how to structure your essays. Now that I am done, I have to figure out how to get rid of these books :-)

It is a very good book with real examples, but I found that other books may help with better tips for the exam. I really like mathematics and prefer to solve exercises than to use replacing numbers techniques, but I found that, for many of the GMAT exercises, the latter is the best way to have time to go through all the exercises. I used several books to study for the GMAT and found that the most efficient are; Kaplan Premier 2011 (good for tips, introduction and exercises) and GMAT the official guide (good for testing similar exercises as of the real exam). The Manhattan books are also very good, but can be used to strengthen specific parts and for giving access for 6 online exams.

I feel that the Official GMAT Review is a necessary study guide when preparing for the GMAT. If you are going to get anything out of this book, try to understand how the test takers think in designing the questions and answers. I would also complement this book with other study material to get more detailed explanations and practice. I felt that the answer explanations for some of the problem solving questions can be too time consuming if you do the work the way they do it. Instead, I would study the math examples from the Kaplan or Ace the GMAT to find easier ways of doing the math problems. I strongly recommend that you download the two practice prep tests from the GMAT website [...] The scores you get on these two tests will be very similar to what you get on the actual GMAT. In fact, the score that I got on the second prep test was identical to the score that I got on the actual GMAT. Practice these prep tests over and over so you get an idea of how to pace yourself and what types of questions to expect. Try doing the entire prep test including the essay sections just like you are taking the actual GMAT. The GMAT is a long test and you might find yourself losing stamina towards the end. So practice the full prep tests until you feel comfortable doing the entire test. You may also want to switch out the two essays from each prep test with essays from the Official Guide. Although the math and verbal questions can change (especially when you start to get higher scores), the two essays questions remained the same. I only wish they had more prep tests to practice with.

If you're looking for a GMAT prep book that simply gives you a bunch of practice problems and nothing else, then this is the book for you. If you're like most people and need some in-depth math review, then this isn't for you. This book lacks an in-depth review of the math concepts to be tested on the GMAT. The review in the beginning does a great job of reviewing basic principals, but it doesn't go into detail on the problems that often combine two or three different principals. Not even the answer explainations go into enough detail. The explainations do not show how one result went to the next, ultimately resulting in the answer. They also don't provide a reason to use certain principals, or explain how they knew what to do to solve the problem. The practice problems are displayed at random, so the question type varies within each section (Data suffiency and word problems are not intermixed however.) If you need some repition on a topic, you won't find it here. If your math skills are pretty good, and you're also good at reading between the lines (often needed on this test), then this book is good for you since it just goes over common questions. Since it is written by the makers of the test, they don't give much insight into tricks they play, or strategies to solve certain types of problems. For this, I recommend the Veritas test prep guides. Their books include drills on even basic topics like factoring and decimals. Sounds elementary, but the GMAT is based on basic topics that build on each other. Therefore, a concrete understanding of these principals, and knowing ways to solve them quickly without a calculator, is very important. Good luck and happy studying!

If you are going to take GMAT and have only 30-40 days to study only 3 hours per day, but no more, Official Guide for GMAT Review is the book you should follow. You can supplement your studies with two other books by the same publisher if you have 15 more days to study 3 hours per day for each of the following books: The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd Edition & GMAT Quantitative Review There are bunch of other guides that can help you prepare for GMAT; however, above are the most comprehensive ones that busy professionals should follow, I believe. If you have more time than stated herein above however, I strongly recommend you to start studying with one of the other publications available. This will enable you to get accustomed to the test, GMAT, before using those three valuable products. It may also be better to look for the most recent editions of these books as the published revise them annually, if I am not mistaken.

I own Austin GMAT Review, a GMAT test prep company in Austin; my GMAT score is in the 99th percentile. My instructors and students use this book as a reference. Here is our collective assessment. WE LIKE THE QUESTIONS: Like previous editions, the 12th edition of The Official Guide for GMAT Review (OG12) contains hundreds of actual questions from past GMAT tests. The questions cover all areas of the GMAT and provide tremendous insight into what the GMAT is after. We are slightly disappointed that OG12 dropped some great questions on prime numbers and factorization that were included in OG11, but overall we find that as a source of practice questions, the OG12 surpasses any third-party material that we have come across. WE DO NOT LIKE THE ANSWER EXPLANATIONS: Though not incorrect, the answer explanations do not necessarily help the reader learn how to answer a question within two minutes, the average time per question allowed by the GMAT. We consider this to be a very serious flaw. Consider, for example, Question 10 on page 21, and its answer on page 50. Reading the explanation alone can consume more than five minutes (unless you read 10-variable math equations and their solution like an English novel). But wait! You are supposed to solve the entire problem in two minutes! There has to be a better approach, and actually there is. It would be nice if the GMAC addressed this deficiency in the next edition. A CAVEAT ON THE SO-CALLED DIAGNOSTIC TEST (pages 20-44): If you are just starting on GMAT preparation, you might want to skip the Diagnostic Test at the beginning of this book. The questions are tough, and the results may leave you feeling demoralized. You would be better off circling back to the Diagnostic after you have gone through the other 700+ questions in the book. BOTTOM LINE: As a source of excellent GMAT questions, this book is hard to beat. Buy it for the questions, but be prepared to be disappointed with the explanations.

I would highly recommend this book if you are just starting to look into taking the GMAT. It starts off by giving you pointers to get you acquainted with what will be on the test and how to prepare and study for it. It also allows you to take a diagnostic test to see where you stand so that you know what parts to study for. I would recommend studying for all 3 parts of the test, BUT concentrate on the problem areas a little bit more. Great book along with the Quantitative and Verbal book as well.

Nice product

Quintessential Purchase for every MBA aspirant (via GMAT)....even if you don't plan to appear for GMAT ....going through this book with fill you with more analytical approach in general....One should buy this first and then if required go for Kaplan, Princeton etc. Awesome book: awesome price and more than your money can offer.

Ottimo

やはり過去問が収められている問題集を使うのが試験対策としてはベストです。ポイントがまとまっており、やりきれないほど問題もあり、これをやらないでGMAT対策はないでしょう。

Good way to get ready for the GMAT Test! But i strongly recommend to take online tests.