The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 11th Edition

The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 11th Edition

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #67 in Books
* Published on: 2005-09
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 832 pages

Customer Reviews

Could be Better
For a more detailed review please refer to user Youssef J. Habbouche's review. I'm only going to include what I he hasn't.

I'm actually giving this book 3.5/5 stars. Reason is because as the official prep book by GMAC, I think the number of typos and errors are unacceptable. For example #20 of the Problem Solving section:

20. Of the five coordinates associated with points A, B, C, D, E on the number line above (diagram included in text), which has the greatest absolute value?


(A) A = -2
(B) B = -1
(C) C = 0
(D) D = 1
(E) E = 2
Quick glance at the options and you know there are 2 possible answers A and E. Answer according to text is A. There are other errors and typos like this scattered across the pages of this book. If you have a keen eye they shouldn't be too hard to pick out. Although it can be quite frustrating since the last thing one needs while preping for a test like this is to start second guessing one's ability.

Overall it's a very good prep material especially because some of the questions in the book did show up on the actual test. If the errors and typos are a minor thing to you, this book is the way to go. Using other books as supplement might also help. Good luck!

Absolutely must have this
This is some fantastic prep material. There are a few typos and there's some overlap between this book and the GMATPrep software. However, neither are showstoppers and I believe this is the only prep book with actual questions from previous tests so it doesn't get any more real than this.

Here's what I did to study for the test:

1. I took the first practice test from the GMATPrep software without any studying and got a 580.
2. I put much dedication into finishing this book and thoroughly understanding the answers. This took about two weeks (a couple of hours after work everyday and all weekend afternoons).
3. I had almost two weeks to go before the test so I took a week off from studying so I could get in a couple of days' work with the EZ Solutions Advanced Math book right before the test.
4. I took the second GMATPrep test a couple of days ago and scored a 700.
5. I took the real test today and got a 740.

In hindsight, I'm not sure the EZ book helped that much beyond getting my brain going again after the break but I am 100% sure that this OG plus the GMATPrep were mainly responsible for the jump from 580 to 740. Good luck!

Don't take the GMAT without this
If you're taking the GMAT, you must work through this book. I made the mistake of buying every study guide out there (Kaplan, Princeton Review, Barron's...), but on the day that I walked into the test center, the Official Guide was the only book that I had used.

I took the GMAT a single time and scored a 770. Here's how I did it:
1. I bought the Official Guide.
2. I bought Jeff Sackmann's two e-books, The "GMAT Math Bible" and the "Official Guide to GMAT Review" and used them to work through each problem in the Official Guide.[...]
3. When doing a set of problems from the Official Guide, usually 10 to 15 at a time, I timed myself. Anytime I took longer than 2 minutes to complete a a problem or I got it wrong, I read Sackmann's explanation and re-did the question from scratch.
4. I worked through the Math Bible methodically, trying to do at least one full chapter a night.
5. Six weeks before I took the test, I[...] This is the official site of the GMAC, and the only place that you can access these two practice tests that use the same scoring logarithm as the actual test. Two weeks before my test date, I took the second practice test.

All in all, I spent about two months studying for 1-3 hours a day - and I work full-time, so it wasn't easy. But it was worth it. You *need* the Official Guide if you're studying because it's the only resource with actual questions from the GMAT. The rest of the books out there use made-up problems and many of them aren't very accurate. Because the Official Guide doesn't rate each problem's difficulty, you should consider a companion book (like the ones mentioned above) that rate the problems and offer better explanations.

The best of books...The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 11th Edition