Best GMAT Books - Latest Update

The Official Guide for GMAT review, 11th Edition is good for preparation?

Hi guys,

would you advise to buy the Official guide for GMAT verbal despite that it is more than 3 years old? Aren't the questions a little bit outdated (some people say that the sentence correction part is now more focused on meaning and less on idioms than it was before).

Otherwise, what book would you recommend to somebody who really needs to work only the sentence correction part? I already have the MGMAT sentence correction book, which is great to learn the methods, now I am more looking for a book with a lot of questions (similar to what I will find during the exam) and detailed answers

Nevinlee, the 11th edition of the GMAT Official Guide doesn't have any IR questions at all, and that probably isn't ideal. Also, the questions are arguably somewhat outdated in the 11th edition--roughly 35% of the questions were changed between the 11th and 13th editions. In a perfect world, it's probably best to use the newer edition, but it's also fair to say that the newer questions (i.e. the ones inserted into the 12th & 13th editions of the OG) aren't, generally speaking, all that different from the ones they replaced. So if you really can't afford the newer OG, it's probably OK to use the 11th edition for now, but I'd recommend using the 13th edition if possible.

Jackouille, the SC questions in the GMAT Verbal Review Guide are old-ish, but so are the majority of the questions in the OG. And the writers of the GMAT insist that very little has changed in the past few years. The GMAT has always included SC questions that require you to think about meaning, and they haven't gotten rid of idioms: https://officialgmat.mba.com/2011/09/29/ ... gmat-exam/

I do get the feeling that the writers of the GMAT have de-emphasized the really arbitrary idioms (does anybody really care if test-takers know the difference between "centered around" and "centered on"?--the truly goofy idioms seem to appear only in the oldest GMAT questions), and they've definitely gotten rid of the specifically American idioms. But I don't really think that the questions have changed all that radically; if you can do well in the OG and the GMAT Verbal Review Guide, you're probably fine. The only other truly outstanding resource is the GMATPrep Question Pack, which includes the newest questions. After that, you'll be scraping the bottom of the SC barrel, unfortunately. Manhattan GMAT is great for content, but try to squeeze everything you can out of the official materials once you have a solid grasp on the grammar and usage fundamentals.

I hope this helps!

Yes it does help! Thanks for your answer

What do you guys consider as the best source for IR prep ? I am giving myself around 10-12 days to prep for IR, and intend on using the OG13 questions paired with the MGMAT IR book. Do you guys think it is enough time (total of around 20-25 hours of prep) .

Thanks for sharing the good source for GMAT preparation.

Hi ,

I have the following books in a brand new condition.

1 set of 15 Veritas GMAT Prep books $150
Official GMAT Review 13th Edition $ 20
Official GMAT Review 12th Edition $ 15
Official GMAT Verbal Review 2nd Edition $ 10
Manhattan Advanced GMAT Quant $ 10
Official GMAT Quant Review 2nd Edition $ 10
Manhattan GMAT RC Strategy Guide $ 10
Kaplan GMAT 800 Eighth Edition $ 10
Kaplan GMAT Premier 2012 with test CD $ 15

The total value is $300. I can sell the whole bundle for $ 200 + Shipping . If interested kindly contact 617 202 9391

Hi ,

I have the following books in a brand new condition.

1 set of 15 Veritas GMAT Prep books $150
Official GMAT Review 13th Edition $ 20
Official GMAT Review 12th Edition $ 15
Official GMAT Verbal Review 2nd Edition $ 10
Manhattan Advanced GMAT Quant $ 10
Official GMAT Quant Review 2nd Edition $ 10
Manhattan GMAT RC Strategy Guide $ 10
Kaplan GMAT 800 Eighth Edition $ 10
Kaplan GMAT Premier 2012 with test CD $ 15

The total value is $300. I can sell the whole bundle for $ 200 + Shipping . If interested kindly contact 617 202 9391

I always reccommend to buy only the Official GMAT Review book... and maybe some Manhattan if required to improve in one area. But never - ever - buy an entire set of books, or more than 4 books: there's no need and you will not have time to go over all of them.

hey guys!

just have a quick question: is it true that you are given access to the 6 manhattan gmat tests when purchasing any of their books?? I'm considering buying the mgmat foundations of verbal (seems to be a good recommendation for a non-native speaker just as I am) through amazon Germany and would really like to have access to those 6 tests without paying any extra fee (around 50 dollars according to their homepage). can anybody approve this message? furthermore I was wondering if your access to those tests are somehow restricted (by time or usage).

thanks a lot for getting back to me!!

best,
Eddy

Hi..
how to get all content pls send me detail about this.

Hello! I'm new to the forum and I'm wondering if I am on the right track for purchasing prep materials. (Too much? Too little? Bad combo?)

I am not generally an outstanding standardized test taker, and I definitely need to improve the most with math skills. I have a good 3 months to prepare.

I've read a lot of other posts and have concluded on the following...

These two to provide a refresher on math in general:
-Secrets of Mental Math: The Mathemagician's Guide to Lightning Calculation and Amazing Math Tricks
-Kaplan GMAT Math Workbook

This one to plan:
-The GMAT Roadmap: Expert Advice Through Test Day (Manhattan GMAT Strategy Guides)

These to learn the strategy:
-Manhattan GMAT Complete Strategy Guide Set, 5th Edition (Manhattan Gmat Strategy Guides: Instructional Guide)
-The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review, 2nd Edition
-The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd Edition
-The Official Guide for GMAT Review

And this:
-Manhattan GMAT Test Simulation Booklet w/ Marker

Hi, kelly506.

Your study materials look fine, though there is a good bit in there to finish within three months. If necessary, the math refresher items could be of some use, but only for those who have acute difficulty in that subject or are very rusty.

I am currently working my way through the Kaplan Premiere book. I would like some more quant work and need to work quite a bit on verbal (in particular SC). Here are my questions:

Should I get the OG13 along with the individualized OG quant and verbal?
Should I also spring for the MGMAT series as well or would that be over kill?
What are the thoughts on SC?
I'm torn between the bible and MGMAT one. I'm a native speaker if that makes a difference.

Yes, absolutely! Your preparation is incomplete without the OG, and that would show on test day.


It could be overkill. If you notice positive results and progress with Kaplan, then there's no need to pill books upon books. But you may have to supplement Kaplan with other resources. And this brings us to your next question.


Manhattan SC guidebook is the best product for that topic. For some, though, it requires multiple readings in order to get the most value out of it. Plus, it comes with free Manhattan CATs and an online SC question bank. This book is worth the investment.

Hello, new to the forums. I've been reading through posts for the past 2 weeks and am getting ready to start my preparation for the GMATs.

First, I've taken the gmatprep practice exam as a diagnostic. My results are as follow:
Overall: 730, 96th percentile
Quant: 49, 85th percentile
Verbal: 40, 89th percentile
Integrated Reasoning: 8

I'm planning to purchase a set of books today to get started with the preparation. My plan was to grab the OG + MGMAT set as recommended in the original post. Looking on amazon, I noticed newer versions out. I understand this thread is from 2012 rather than 2013, but I was unable to find an updated version, so I wanted to confirm my planned purchases.

The Official Guide for GMAT Review 13th Edition (original post was 12th Edition)
Manhattan GMAT Complete Strategy Guide Set, 5th Edition (original post was 8 books, while this shows 10)
Manhattan GMAT Test Simulation Booklet w/ Marker
(Apologies, I wanted to post links to the above on Amazon, but I am too new)

Would these likely be sufficient to review/practice/bump up to a 750+?
Further, the original post mentioned MGMAT Math Foundations, MGMAT Advanced Quant, and MGMAT Verbal Foundations. How do these differ from the complete MGMAT set? Do they contain additional topics? New tricks or advanced strategies for solving questions?

Thanks for the response!

*Edit: Additionally, is there a recommendation for preparing for the AWA, since I didn't see any books listed. I've found the list of 130+ sample essays and sample responses. Should I just practice going through these and banging out response after response? Is there a way to have these reliably scored or to get feedback of some sort?

manhattan gmat guide set

The Official Guide for GMAT Review
The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review
The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review
Manhattan GMAT Set of 8 Strategy Guides
Kaplan GMAT 800: Advanced Prep for Advanced Students
Manhattan Sentence Correction GMAT Preparation Guide (comes as part of Manhattan set of 8 Guide)
The PowerScore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible
Integrated Reasoning and Essay GMAT Strategy Guide