Customer Reviews

The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I started GMAT Club - online MBA community; my GMAT score is 750 (49, 42), and here are my thoughts about this book:

Strengths:
1. 907 real GMAT questions retired from past tests
2. Practice questions are organized by level of difficulty
3. Practice questions follow actual GMAT test patterns (it's great to have one's ear trained, esp. in verbal)
4. Contains a 100-question diagnostic test

Weaknesses:
1. Does not include any test-taking strategies
2. Though it has a few short review sections for each area, they are weak and very unfriendly
3. Questions are predominantly low to medium in difficulty which is often not representative of questions one encounters on the test
4. There is a 66% overlap with the previous version (11th edition)

Contents (number of questions per section):
1. Diagnostic Test - 100 questions
2. Problem Solving - 230 questions
3. Data Sufficiency - 174 questions
4. Reading Comprehension - 139 questions
5. Critical Reasoning - 124 questions
6. Sentence Correction - 140 questions

* Why is this book valuable/must-have?
The Official Guide is published by the creators of the GMAT and therefore it is the only source of actual GMAT questions representative of what you will see on the test.

* Why is the book not sufficient by itself?
This Guide contains only questions and lacks insightful information about the test, a math/verbal concept review section, or any test-taking strategies. To get up to speed, you will need to get a study guide such as Kaplan Premier Program or Princeton Review's Cracking the GMAT Cat.

* How should this book be used?
This book should NOT be used as a study-guide. It is a collection of questions - think of it as a way to practice your test-taking strategies but not a way to learn them.

* What if I own a previous edition of this book?
If you have the 11th edition, the only difference between the two is 300 new questions, or about 30%. Most test-takers agree that 300 new questions is not a compelling enough reason to own both editions, as the 11th edition offers enough practice. If you do need additional practice questions, get the Math or Verbal workbooks instead as they each have 300 questions.

* What is a recommended study plan using The Official Guide?
There are a number of approaches that work - here is one that most find reasonable:

Step 1: Buy a GMAT Guide from Kaplan or Princeton Review. Get familiar with the test and brush up on fundamentals (math and grammar); also these books will give you a good base for test-taking and timing strategies.

Step 2: Take a GMAT Prep (2 free tests downloadable from MBA.com) - but don't waste these; these are free but very valuable tests. Take 1 after you go through the Guidebooks and save the second one for later. These tests will be representative of your GMAT score (plus/minus 40 points).

Step 3: (Optional - if you want a 650+ score) Get a specialized Math and/or Verbal workbook from Kaplan, the 8-book set form Manhattan GMAT and do a deep dive into the fundamentals - this is what will help you crack the test - solid knowledge of Math and Grammar.

Step 4: By now you should have a good understanding of question patterns, strategies, and timing. Start working on the Official Guide and honing your skills - this is especially important for Critical Reasoning questions that have certain unspoken patterns and rules that only the Official Guide offers - work through the questions to train your ear. Keep in mind that these questions are on the easier side if you are aiming for 650+.

After going through all the GMAT books, here is my comparison about some of the most popular GMAT books:

Official Guides:
Pros - Excellent source of GMAT questions. Very well organized with real test like questions.
Cons - No review of any math content or test-taking strategies. Not very good explanations of practice questions.
Overall, the Official Guide is a must have for all test-takers. It will give you a good idea about the type of questions to expect on the GMAT; however, if you need more than just a bank of questions, you need to look at some other source.

Kaplan:
Pros - It covers every section of the test as much as possible by a single book. Also a good source for additional practice questions.
Cons - Review of math content is not thorough but just the very basics. Not enough explanation of test taking strategies. Full of guessing techniques with no real mathematical solutions. Not good enough explanations of practice questions. Unrealistic questions.

Princeton:
Pros - Good for learning how to make educated guess and process of elimination. Focuses more on test taking techniques.
Cons - Review of math content is not thorough but just the very basics. Not enough explanation of test taking strategies. Full of guessing techniques with no real mathematical solutions. Not good enough explanations of practice questions. Weird sense of humor of Joe Blogs.

Dummies:
Pros - Good book if you are looking for test taking strategies and brief overview as it covers every section. It's definitely worth the price.
Cons - Not a regular standalone type of a book. You'll certainly need additional help.

Barrons:
Pros - Intensive math review. Big list of questions. Good test taking strategies. Very well organized. This is by far the best of the all-in-one kinds of books.
Cons - Although the book has a good math review, it doesn't go deep enough into each concept. Does not have a good section for logical reasoning (permutation, combination, probability, etc) questions, which is one of the most important question-type. Does not break down the concepts/questions step by step. This is the only book I recommend you must buy apart from the OG.

EZ Solutions (series of books):
Pros - Thorough math review from A to Z in the review books. Effective test taking strategies. Abundant solved examples. Numerous practice exercises. Great practice question bank in basic and advanced workbooks. As with most books, you are expected to already have a good knowledge about the various match concepts, but with these books, you can literally start from scratch and reach the most advanced level of the GMAT.
Cons - To get the best result from these books, you have to invest in buying several books (set of 10 books), but if you compare the cost and benefits, the benefits outweigh the cost, or you can buy a few not all. Missing the verbal section. This is not a good option if you are looking for a very basic brush-up. Recommended for serious test takers who have enough time for preparation.

I hope my review will help some of you in making the right decision.

The best approach for using the GMAT Official Guide:

The GMAT OG is a "must have" for everyone who intend to take the GMAT, but only if you use it the right way.

-First:
--Go through this book at the very beginning when you first start preparing for the GMAT.
--This will give you a good understanding of what you should expect to see when you take the actual test.

-Next:
--If you feel you are 100% comfortable with all the concepts involved - go ahead and crack every question in this book and you'll be good to go.
--If you feel you lack some if not all of the concepts involved - keep this book aside, go through some of the other study guides, and then at the end come back to this book and answer every question.

-Next:
--Buy the recommended books listed below.
--Take the official practice GMAT.

-Finally:
--If you feel, you still need more practice, consider browsing the internet to find any free questions you can lay your hands on.
--Once again take the free official practice test before your real test.

Positives:
-Indisputably, one of the best GMAT books - if you want to know what types of questions can potentially pop up on the GMAT.
-Excellent source for practicing real test questions for all difficulty levels.

Negatives:
-No conceptual knowledge of any concept whatsoever.
-Answer explanations are fine, but not that methodical.

GMAT Books: If you are serious about getting a high score, I'd recommend doing the following:
-Buy the latest edition of OG.
-Buy Barron's book as this is one of the best all-in-one review book (except the CD).
-For Verbal Practice - consider Kaplan/PR Workbooks, and Dummies book.
-For Verbal Review - consider Kaplan/Arco, and Manhattan for SC.
-For Math Practice - consider Kaplan/PR Workbooks, or EZ GMAT Basic WB for medium-difficulty problems and Advanced WB for most-difficult problems.
-For Math Review - consider Kaplan/Nova if you need a basic refresher, or EZ GMAT Review Books if you want a more in-depth coverage of each and every math concept.
Of course, amazon is a great place to get all these books at one place and at the best price.

I am certain that if you follow the above steps, you'll be well prepared for the GMAT without the need to take any expensive prep course or private tutoring. I did a lot of struggle preparing for the GMAT and that's why I know how painful it can be if one doesn't have the right guidance.

I really hope that I was able to help at least some of you who are still trying to figure out the best approach to prepare for the GMAT.

Thanks for reading and good luck with your exam.

This is the review for the The GMAT Review 12th Edition (2009) (A lot of reviews are for older versions of this book). I have the 11th Edition (Orange Cover), and bought this new edition hoping for brand new practice questions, but most of the questions are the same. The diagnostic test is even the same.

This is a great book to prepare for the GMAT, but if you already own the 11th Edition (orange cover), then don't bother. There's really nothing in here that isn't in that version

I self studied and scored a 770 on the GMAT. Here are my thoughts on Official Guide 12:

===== OVERVIEW =====

The most important piece of information that you need to know about the Official Guide (often called the OG on forums) is that it contains real, retired GMAT questions. As such, material released by the GMAC (the creator of the test) is utterly priceless, since replicating the exact structure and "feel" of real GMAT questions is something that test prep companies have yet to accomplish.

The book is not exactly "travel size", but this should be regarded as a plus, since it stems from the fact that the book features 907 questions and quite generous answer explanations (particularly in verbal). The problems are structured as follows:

* 48 Quantitative and 52 Verbal in the Diagnostics Test
* 230 Problem Solving
* 174 Data Sufficiency
* 139 Reading Comprehension
* 124 Critical Reasoning
* 140 Sentence Correction

===== PROS =====

* A great, all-in-one resource for official questions, excellent for training your eye to spot commonly-tested patterns. This is the reason why I believe that it's worth investing some energy even in lower difficulty questions (unless pressed for time)

* Detailed explanations in verbal: this is something that I have not seen mentioned often, but I believe is of crucial importance. In all three sections, explanations follow a similar style: an overview of the question and a solid analysis of ALL the answers, not just the correct one. Understanding why your answer is wrong is sometimes even more important than getting it right

* Questions are arranged in order of difficulty, so if you have little time at hand and feel sufficiently confident about your knowledge, you can just focus on the last questions of each section

* Good value for your money: at just over 20 dollars on Amazon.com, getting over 900 retired questions is a bargain

===== CONS =====

* The OG is not a strategy guide, it's a "workout list". Each section contains a review of the subject, but this is not nearly enough to get you through the test, especially if your math skills are a bit rusty. You will need to rely on other resources for this!

* While verbal explanations are generally high quality, quantitative explanations are not as great. Some test takers (particularly advanced ones) will often find themselves opting for a quicker or easier way to solve the given problems. I will however note that more often than not, the OG explanations do not feature number picking. While this is sometimes a faster way to solve a problem, its use is confusing for some GMAT hopefuls

* This book is intended to be a guide for the general test taker, so be prepared to see mostly easy and medium difficulty problems. If aiming for a top score, you'll need to supplement your prep with harder material (such as LSAT sets for critical reasoning). As mentioned before though, do not neglect the easy stuff, since it gets you in the right mindset for the official style of questions. Besides, it's usually the very easy questions that throw off advanced students!

===== BOTTOM LINE =====

Official Guide for Review, 12th Edition is a must have, no matter your level. Even though you will have to spend some extra money on a good strategy book, getting the OG is crucial for your prep. As you go through various GMAT-related material, you will begin to notice the difference between an official question (clear-cut answers, great structure) and an unofficial question (structure is sometimes lacking, answers not as well defined). Because the "feel" of official questions is markedly different from that of test prep developed questions, I recommend saving/carefully reviewing some problems for the very last days before your test.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The 12th edition was released in the sprig of 2009 and contains roughly 300 new questions as compared to the previous, orange-color 11th edition of the OG. As such, if you already have the older version, it is not necessary to spend the extra money on the newer one. If you do have a choice between the two, go for the most recent edition; if not, the 11th is just as good.

Good luck on your GMAT prep!

About me: Dana Jinaru, 770 GMAT scorer, expert at Beat The GMAT - a community serving 100K+ GMAT students/month

Do not buy this book for Kindle. Many of the equations are missing key information. Out of the last five data sufficiency problems I've attempted, three did not display all of the information needed to answer the problem (e.g, " =5x+2", half of the formula is missing!).

One can't help but to purchase this review, however, keep it "old school" on this purchase and pick up the hard copy.

Crammed for the GMAT in 4 weeks and got a decent score - 720. Disclaimer: these are my opinions and impressions of the study guides and CATs that I took. Other people may have different experiences.

Reviews on the study guides I used:
- Official Guide (OG):
5 stars. My advice is to go with the original. Other study guides strive to have a similar look/feel to the GMAT. The questions in the OG don't just have a similar look/feel, they have EXACTLY the same look/feel as the GMAT because they are written by the same people who administer the GMAT.
- Kaplan (Premier Program):
4 stars. Excellent math and verbal review, a lot of supporting online material. I bought this after finding out that the Barron's math review didn't cover some of the types of math problems that I encountered. I read that there were a lot of mistakes in the math section but I didn't see any issues that you couldn't easily decipher. I understand and agree that proof readers should catch these errors before publishing but for review and practice, it serves its purpose. Bonus for the amount of online support material that comes with the purchase of the book.
- Barron's:
2.5 stars. Decent overall study guide. I used it for the math review which covered about 95% of the math material I encountered in the GMAT. I didn't even glance at the verbal review sections based on other reviews I read prior to studying. The AWA tips are irrelevant, at best.

Reviews on the practice CATs that I took:
- Official GMAT practice CATs:
5 stars. These are what you should gauge your pace and performance on. There are no other tests that have the pace and feel of the original. The only problem is that you only have access to the two tests from MBA.com. The good thing is that you can take each one more than once and get mostly different questions the second time around.
- Kaplan's:
4 stars. This is the only test that came close in feel to the official practice CATs from MBA.com. However, the math section is still much faster than the real GMAT, for me at least. I finished the math section with over 10min to spare but was short on time on all practice and real GMAT CATs. My score was about 80pts lower than the average I was getting on the official CATs; I've read that Kaplan CATs typically score 100pts low. Unlike the official GMAT CATs, the Kaplan CATs give you the exact same questions the second time around. Not a big deal though because you have access to 5 CATs (4 on the CD-ROM and 1 online).
- Barron's:
2.5 stars. This CAT was awful. I made the mistake of taking this CAT first to determine my study plan. The math section is significantly easier than the real GMAT so don't trust your pace or score if you crush this.
- Princeton Review:
2 stars. Another awful CAT. The math section was also far too easy compared to the real GMAT. Math questions have a completely different feel to them. I spent 5 minutes on an accounting question that asked for the % of a fraction of a % of a portion of a % of a fraction; you will never get a question like this in the real GMAT, as far as my experience goes, at least. Same goes for verbal; some questions seemed to test my limerick skills rather than typical verbal questions.

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 :-)

I only used this book and the verbal review in the 2 weeks prior to taking my exam. They definitely prepared me for the REAL exam as they provided more accurate questions. I suggest buying this book, the verbal or the math part (depending on which you are weaker in) and a Princeton, Kaplan, Barrons (Pick one) book for overall review. Take the online practice tests to get a feel for the software and you should be GOOD TO GO!

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.