Customer Reviews

The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd Edition

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Note that questions in this book are on average somewhat easier than ones found in The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition. If you are looking for 700+ Verbal practice - look elsewhere.

BUY THIS BOOK IF:
1. You are studying using Manhattan GMAT books (there are only a few practice questions in the books and for additional practice,they refer to questions in the OG 12 and this book)
2. You need more practice with average and low difficulty verbal questions


DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK IF:
- You have OG 10 (there is quite a bit of overlap)
- You have used or were planning to use power prep (previous version of the GMAT prep software has quite a bit of overlap too)
- You have purchased paper GMAT tests from GMAC (overlap again)
- You have not gone through OG 12 yet


Yes, this book is a cheap source of Real retired GMAT questions; (first being the Free GMATPrep software, second, The Official Guide), but the questions are easy and quite a bit dated. Bet the Main Official Guide first, go through 900 questions, and then decided if you really need more questions - most people don't. Also, it's not practicing thousands of questions that get your high score, rather it is a strong knowledge of basics, strategies, and control of the test.

In terms of difference between 1st and 2nd editions - there are 75 new questions and it seems all sections got a bit of a refresh, so you will find about 25 new questions in CR, RC, and SC sections. No other changes have been made. If you own the first edition of this book - don't bother.

Top 6 Mistakes People Make on the GMAT:
1: Rushing to take tests before learning basics
2: Starting with the Official Guide instead of a guidebook/textbook
3: Giving GMAT the worst quality time of the day - studying after a long day
4: Skipping basics and rushing to advanced topics
5: Starting to prepare with poor English proficiency
6: Not following strategies exactly or cutting corners




BB - Founder of GMAT Club
GMAT Score 750 (49, 42)
Let me know if you have any questions about GMAT books - I have read and reviewed all of them.

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

===== OVERVIEW =====

The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd edition, is a welcomed addition to the Official GMAT Review "family" of books. Since most test takers score lower in the verbal section than in the quantitative section, you should not be surprised to learn that this is one of the most popular resources available for GMAT preparation.

As compared with other books with 100% verbal focus, the verbal supplement has the unequaled advantage of bringing you 300 official, retired questions. I cannot stress enough the importance of having real GMAT materials to practice: their quality and style is unmatched in the test prep industry! In terms of number of problems, the book contains:

* 104 Reading Comprehension
* 83 Critical Reasoning
* 113 Sentence Correction

===== PROS =====

* The verbal review offers 300 additional official questions at a decent price, so if you're having trouble with verbal you should definitely consider investing in this book

* As is the case with the Official Guide, explanations are neatly and clearly formulated. Each question is amply analyzed, with proper space given to the correct answer, the incorrect options and the reasoning behind the choice

* Questions are arranged in order of difficulty should you wish to focus on harder material

===== CONS =====

* One would expect a supplement to be centered around harder questions, but this is not the case. The overall level of difficulty is comparable to that of the Official Guide (largely easy and medium difficulty questions)

* The strategy/tips section of each chapter is subpar, meaning that you will need an extra book or two for concepts. Consider the Sentence Correction section - its strategy section is only 7 pages long, while the GMAT tests for enough English language grammar rules to fill a whole volume!

* If short on time, it is wise to go through The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition, rather than to buy this book

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

If you've finished The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition and still feel the need for more practice, or have taken a diagnostic test and feel you're still having trouble with verbal, then this is the book for you. Note however that you should not simply go through official questions without a guidebook at hand, since this would mean using up valuable material without building a solid foundation of knowledge of common patterns and structures. Consider the Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review as an extra opportunity to strengthen your verbal muscle!

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you already have the first edition of this book, there's no point in buying the second edition. The second edition contains 81 new problems (less than a third of total). It's not worth paying more money just to see these problems. Here's a complete list of new problems:

* Reading Comprehension: 1 - 6, 18 - 23, 45 - 49, 64 - 70, 91 - 97 (5 new passages and 31 new questions)
* Critical Reasoning: 1, 3, 6, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33, 37, 40, 45, 48, 51, 54, 59, 62, 65, 70, 74, 78, 81 (23 new questions)
* Sentence Correction: 1, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 22, 27, 31, 36, 42, 45, 53, 57, 61, 65, 69, 73, 79, 84, 88, 92, 96, 100, 104, 108, 112 (27 new questions)

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

If you're new to the GMAT and you're trying to figure out what book to purchase, the GMAT Verbal Review is absolutely indispensable. The first three books you should purchase are the Official Guide (preferably the 12th edition), and the official GMAT quant and verbal reviews. The GMAT is a bizarrely nuanced test, and it's tough for even the best test-prep companies to mimic the style of the actual test. Other books can definitely be useful, but you'll want to start with the official guides.

The bad news is that the 2nd edition doesn't really break much new ground. There are 82 new questions in this edition (31 RC, 23 CR, 28 SC--some weirdo at a website called GMAT Ninja counted all of them), and they aren't all that dissimilar to the ones they replaced. It's arguably worthwhile to pay $13 for 82 "real" GMAT questions, but only if you really feel like you need all the help you can get. Otherwise, you'll be fine with the 1st edition if you already have it, especially if you're pretty confident on the verbal section.

My math skills are far superior to my verbal skills so I bought this book to try to improve my verbal score. SOMEHOW I scored Higher on the verbal than on the math and I did awesome in both parts so these official guides REALLY work.

I thought this guide was going to be about the writing section of the test. You know, verbal as in writing? Nope! This will help you review for the Verbal section of the test. I haven't even cracked it open since I realized that, so I don't know how well it will help. I'm just saying, look closely at which guides you get.

I ordered the Verbal!! I received the quantitative review. It not the end of the world. I will use it. It's just not what I ordered.

Thanks

I have the 1st edition and the 2nd has the same quality!
I would have liked to see a better variety of exercises. I mean if you get the Official Guide and this, you're gonna see a lot of the same exercises! :/

Great product. A definite need if you are planning on taking your GMAT exam. It helped me immensely seeing as this was one of the toughest parts of the test for myself. If you buy this, make sure to utilize the practice questions and the pointers that this book gives you.

Not much more to report other than I said in the title. Item came new and clean, as well. Bought the additional GMAT books from this vendor, and these came the same way.

This is the OFFICIAL GMAT verbal review as advertised on mba.com. This book is an excellent choice if you want to prepare for the GMAT exam. I recommend purchasing this book at least a month in advance so that you can take advantage of all this book has to offer.