Best GMAT Books

Knewton as well as GMAT Pill Do. Both offer online-only programs without books.

Hi everyone,

I am new to GMATClub. I want to start my GMAT Preparation ASAP so I did research through many posts in this forum to find out the best books for GMAT. Looks like, most of the GMAT aspirants mentioned the following books with good reviews:

OG 12th edition
OG Quant review
OG Verbal Review
All MGMAT Books (8 books I guess)
Aristotle SC Grail, Aristotle RC 99.
PowerScore CR Bible
GMATClub Tests (Especially Quant)

So I am looking to buy these books. If anybody, who has done with GMAT test, is willing sell these used ones please let me know. Either reply to this or PM me.

Thanks,
Sudheer

Currently just starting some general overview, test is scheduled for December 15th, so i'm planning on starting my full schedule September 14th, Currently rockin the Princeton Review: Cracking the GMAT 2012 (Though I haven't read anything from this one yet) and Kaplan Strategies, Practice, and Review 2012 (Basically the Premiere but stripped down without as many features), which I have been reading as my first bit of foundation. Currently thinking of what books I will need to purchase prior to September 14th. Any advice on what's good? From what I can gather the MGMAT series is going to be a must have, so the OG, OG Verbal, OG Math, and 8 MGMAT guides.

Besides this I have only decided on "Doing Grammar - Max Morenberg"
I am willing to do whatever it takes to get a 700+ on this test and am looking for any other advice thanks!

I'm about to start my GMAT prep. I have 7-8 months to prepare for the test (I'm aiming at international top-10 and want to take the test BEFORE the next-gen GMAT comes out in June 2012). According to your comments, the MGMAT bundle + OGs are the way to go. I'm planning on going through this material up until the end of this year.

That being said, I have two questions:
1) Would it make sense to take Kaplan's (only the Advantage course is avl. where I live) on-site course after I've gone through MGMAT's material? I've been saving money for a while now and I'm willing to invest as much as needed to get a high score, but it is one thing to invest and quite another to throw money and time away.

2) Since my aim is to send my application on Q3 2012, am I choosing right by taking the test before the next-gen GMAT comes out?

Thanks in advance!

Dear bb,
Dear members,

thank you very much for the helpful information in this forum.

I am starting my GMAT preparation this month, so, as many athors, I wanted to get your responce regarding the most appropriate books. But right at the beginning - Can anyone provide us with a little information concerning the changes in the exam format, planned for June 2012? Is it going to change dramatically?

After reading many posts, I settled down to the following books:
Entire MGMAT Preparation package - 8
OG 12, OG Quant, OG Verbal
Aristotle SC Grail, Aristotle RC 99.
PowerScore CR Bible

Would you add something - especially from the Kaplan package, which is to contain more practice questions? And generally, which is the best book providing test exams?
Are there any plans for some of the above-mentioned book to be newly issued in the comming months?

Thanks in advance!

According to the Kaplan 2012 Strategies book, The test will be changing with the addition of a new section called 'Integrated Reasoning'. The IR section will be replacing one of the Anlytical Writing sections. At the time of publication there was no details on how it would be scored but the books suggests that Verbal and Quant will be weighed within the 200-800 range, the one AWA will be marked 0-6.0, and the IR could be weighted separately. According to the book as well, the questions could be based on some innovative past experimental questions to show up on the GMAT, such as charts, graphs, spreadsheets, and possibly even audio.

Hope this helps!

Like this post.. thanks for sharing

Thanks nphealan! The post is really informative! According to your info the change won't be significant, nevertheless I will try to meet me target score before June 2012

Can you give your comments on my question.

wrote:

After reading many posts, I settled down to the following books: Entire MGMAT Preparation package - 8 (prior to first CAT) OG 12, OG Quant, OG Verbal Aristotle SC Grail, Aristotle RC 99. PowerScore CR Bible Would you add something - especially from the Kaplan package, which is to contain more practice questions? And generally, which is the best book providing test exams? Are there any plans for some of the above-mentioned book to be newly issued in the comming months?

Thanks!

These books are certainly good ones to choose, you mentioned the Kaplan package and after what i've gone through myself with Kaplan I'm a firm believer that they know what their talking about and execute it an an efficient manner. The "Kaplan Advantage" to me is when I read through these forums at first, everyone talked about the difficulty difference between Kaplan and other tests. I feel as though preparing for something that's worse then the actual, can only help you develop a stronger strategy for when the day comes. The disadvantage of Kaplan to me is playing off the strength. Some individuals will get caught up in a lower score from Kaplan or harder questions and it'll get in their head. As long as you keep telling yourself that there is a difference in the average, you'll be able to take advantage of this.

As for the MGMAT guides, I'm currently finishing my last exams of undergrad so I havent gotten a chance to really look into the books yet, I have them, but their pretty well collecting dust until next week. These are what i'm planning to build my studying around. I've heard from everyone that these are the books to use when building your foundation. They seperate into 8 different categories and really give you the opportunity to learn each topic one at a time. To me taking it one step at a time in great detail, that sounds like a recipe for success, and reviews on this site by BB and everyone else seem to indicate nothing but that. The OG12 goes along with this, you should use the guides together as one, at the end of each chapter you will see reference to OG12, so make sure that when you start the guides, you have OG12. Great source for your studying. Quant and Verbal are both offered by MGMAT, and this could be advantageous but to me I feel as though what you'll learn in the MGMAT guides, will show you everything to come from those two books. So in my opinion (and it is just that) I feel as though you won't need these books. I only say that because I see you're looking at other books for RC, SC, CR by Aristotle/Powerscore. I think that this is smart because obviously the MGMAT guides will give you a single outlook/perspective on approaching the GMAT. But by bringing in these other books you're going to get a different perspective and perhaps a better approach for you personally.

To sum it up, my goal is to actually diversify my sources when it comes to studying. I currently have The Princeton Review, Kaplan, MGMAT guides, OG12, Doing Grammar, and Ultimate GMAT Verbal. I feel as though these will be sufficient as it brings in a lot of approaches to the GMAT and I will be able to hopefully harness the approach that makes me the most comfortable, and after all building a comfort zone for this test is going to be the make or break factor on that first attempt.

I certainly hope this helps you a little,
nphelan