Best GMAT Math Prep Books (Reviews & Recommendations)

Top Best GMAT Quantitative Books




Common Book Combinations and Recommendatios
1. Need to figure out your weaknesses in GMAT math? Take a GMATPrep test or GMAT Club's free gmat diagnostic test
2. Rusty with Math or want to be very methodical - start with basics: Manhattan GMAT Foundations of GMAT Math
3. OK with Math but need a good review in a short amount of time: Kaplan Math Workbook + MGMAT Number Properties + MGMAT Word Translations
4. Need highest score and have time: MGMAT Guides + GMAT Club tests
5. Need specific question practice: PR 1012 (has some errors/typos), Quant OG, or use gmat club tags
6. Probability and Combinations review: combinations-permutations-and-probability-references-56486.html and MGMAT Word Translations

Book Bundles and Study Plans at a Glance
	Standard Plan	Advanced Plan	Ultimate Plan	Beyond Hardcore Plan
General Strategy Books Explain how GMAT works, provide general principles and strategies, give an idea about weaknesses, provide practice tests	Kaplan Live Online + comes with 6 practice tests	Kaplan Live Online + comes with 6 practice tests Kaplan GMAT Advanced - Poor guidebook, more of a question collection	Kaplan Live Online + comes with 6 practice tests Kaplan GMAT Advanced - Poor guidebook, more of a question collection GMAT Test Simulation Booklet + Great for practice	Kaplan Live Online + comes with 6 practice tests Kaplan GMAT Advanced - Poor guidebook, more of a question collection GMAT Test Simulation Booklet + Great for practice
Quant Books Refresh math principles, fill gaps, and learn patterns	Kaplan Math Workbook - missing probability and combinations	Kaplan Math Workbook - missing probability and combinations MGMAT Number Properties	5 Quant MGMAT Guides MGMAT Math Foundations	5 Quant MGMAT Guides MGMAT Math Foundations Probability and Combinations for Dummies
Verbal Books Refresh grammar rules, aquire CR and RC strategies	Kaplan Verbal Workbook OR: PowerScore Verbal Bible	CR: PowerScore CR or MGMAT CR RC: MGMAT RC SC: PowerScore SC or MGMAT SC	CR: PowerScore CR or MGMAT CR RC: MGMAT RC SC: PowerScore SC or MGMAT SC SC: Kaplan Verbal Foundations	CR: PowerScore CR or MGMAT CR CR: LSAT Critical Reasoning RC: MGMAT RC RC: LSAT Reading Comprehension SC: PowerScore SC or MGMAT SC SC: Doing Grammar
Practice Questions Additional practice	Official Guide 12th + 900 retired real GMAT questions	Official Guide 12th + 900 retired real GMAT questions Verbal Official Guide + 300 retired verbal GMAT questions Quant Official Guide + 300 retired quant GMAT questions	Official Guide 12th + 900 retired real GMAT questions Verbal Official Guide + 300 retired verbal GMAT questions Quant Official Guide + 300 retired quant GMAT questions Princeton Review 1012 + Great target practice	Official Guide 12th + 900 retired real GMAT questions Verbal Official Guide + 300 retired verbal GMAT questions Quant Official Guide + 300 retired quant GMAT questions Princeton Review 1012 + Great target practice Paper GMAT Tests + Official Retired tests available from GMAC
Tests Simulated Practice GMAT tests	GMATPrep, Kaplan, Free tests	GMATprep, Kaplan, MGMAT, some GMATClub tests	GMATprep, PowerPrep, GMAT Focus, Kaplan, MGMAT, GMATClub tests	GMATprep, PowerPrep, GMAT Focus, Kaplan, MGMAT, PR, GMATClub tests

1. GMAT Math Books


1. Manhattan GMAT (MGMAT) Guides
Recommended for best results if you have the time.
Strengths:
1. Good balance between test taking strategies and background theory explanations
2. Single-topic focus of each guide allows the student to purchase only those guides that pertain to his/her weaknesses
3. Covered concepts are illustrated with examples that are conveniently assigned to either PS or DS section.
4. Access to 6 Online CAT's (same for each book)
5. Additional online practice question banks (different for each book)
Weaknesses:
1. Time and Money
2. Books themselves do not contain many practice questions (though online and OG 12 references more than compensate)
Notes: most often recommended guide is the Manhattan GMAT Number properties and MGMAT Word Translations



3. Veritas Prep Guides
Rival of the MGMAT bundle though a bit higher priced.
Strengths:
1. 15 total guides + an intro book for quant + test simulation booklet
2. Practice questions. Every one of the 15 guides is packed with practice questions
3. Fresh questions; you probably have not seen them on forums/etc since these books have just been published

Weaknesses:
1. Price: $299
2. Spacing is a bit strange sometimes with only one question per page







3. Kaplan GMAT Math Workbook
A solid supplement to the Official Guide
Strengths:
1. Fairly comprehensive review of the basic math concepts needed for the GMAT
2. Structure of the book allows you to work from start to finish, building on previous skills learned
3. Sections devoted to Word problem and Data Sufficiency questions
Weaknesses:
1. Statistics, Combinations/Permutations and Probability are not covered
2. Questions do not reflect GMAT questions, but rather are designed to insure that the material is mastered
Notes: Recommended/most interesting problem compilation from Kaplan Math Workbook
Faster than going through the math MGMAT Guides, but also not as thorough



4. Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review
Great for additional math practice questions, but don't expect to find any strategies or math lessons here.
Strengths:
1. 300 real GMAT questions
2. Real GMAT questions retired from past tests
3. The practice questions are organized by level of difficulty
4. The practice questions follow actual GMAT test patterns - great to have one's ear trained.
Weaknesses:
1. The book does not contain any strategies
2. It does have a few short review sections but they are very weak
3. Mostly low and medium difficulty questions. Not very helpful to a person aiming to get above 700.
Bottom Line: this book is optional; usually OG 12 is sufficient by itself.

Notable Specialized Books - Arithmetic, Probability, Combinations, DS, etc

Combinations & Probability

Veritas Prep Combinations & Probability - added 08/24/10

Dedicated Combinations and Probability Guide considered by many to be the best
Strengths:
1. Good strategies
2. Plenty of practice questions
3. Well organized and laid out

Weaknesses:
1. Possibly crosses into non-gmat section but a very minor concern



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5. Manhattan GMAT Word Translations Guide - added 11/11/09
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Contains material on Combinations and Probability
Strengths:
1. Coverage of combinations and probability
2. Coverage of Statistics and Overlapping sets problems
3. Comes with 6 MGMAT tests
Weaknesses:
1. As with all MGMAT Guides, lacks practice questions and relies on the Official Guide for additional practice. If you have covered the OG, you may have to look elsewhere for practice, such as GMAT Club's free collection of probability questions: combinations-permutations-and-probability-references-56486.html





6. Manhattan GMAT Foundations of GMAT Math - Added 2/5/2010

Great for refreshing math concepts and building confidence in math
Strengths:
1. Works well with other MGMAT books (structured in a similar way)
2. Best book for brushing up on long forgotten math concepts (fractions, powers, etc)
3. Comes with additional online practice questions
Weaknesses:
1. The book has 400 practice questions but they are not in a GMAT format, rather a math-textbook format
2. Long! 300 full-size pages - I think the expectation is that you skip parts that you know
3. No access to MGMAT tests that usually are included with all of the other 8 guides
Notes: recommended instead of the Kaplan Math Foundations

2. Interesting Second Tier Books

2.1 Math Review For Standardized Tests (Cliffs Test Prep)
Great Mathematics fundamentals review book.Strengths:
1. Great for a zero-knowledge start or for those who did not deal with maths problems for a long time.
2. Simple,straightforward and relevant
3. Extremely low price
4. 5 Stars on Amazon
Weaknesses:
1. Technically not a GMAT-dedicated book
2. Lacks some of the more advanced areas




2.2 The Ultimate Math Refresher for the GRE, GMAT, and SAT
Good Mathematics refresherStrengths:
1. Good book for starting from scratch.
Weaknesses:
1. Many people have found this book too basic.
2. Lack of good strategies.





2.3 Princeton Review Math Workout for the GMAT
Not a solid performer, even when it came out in 2005
Strengths:
1. Could be a good supplement if you need to master some of the more basic math areas
2. Contains 220 GMAT math questions
3. Price
Weaknesses:
1. Statistics, Combinations/Permutations and Probability are not covered
2. Tricks are emphasized above fundamentals
3. Not suitable for solid math performers
4. 2nd edition, published in June 2005 - long overdue for an update and hopefully will use a better paper grade





2.4 Kaplan Math Foundations - added 7/25/2009
Table of Contents:
Good coverage of Math Basics but numerous errors wipe out value; lacks difficult questions. Use the Foundations of GMAT Math instead
Strengths:
1. Methodical - starts with very basics of number properties and how to add/multiply large numbers
2. Good coverage of topics and well organized though a bit strange with equations as the last chapter
3. Covers adequately probability and statistics, coordinate geometry in great detail
4. No overlap with other Kaplan GMAT Books
Weaknesses:
1. A significant number of errors in questions and explanations
2. One-step questions only - nothing hard
3. No index and no single place for formula reference

I have one more book which has not been listed here in this section. It is McGraw Hill Book, I really found the book useful


Strengths:
1. Lot of word problems which are usually difficult to solve
2. Focuses on Maths basics with clear strategies foir each type of problems
3. Works well with the OG side with more detail on each topic


Weaknesses:
1. Does not cover complex topics like Permutation, Prob. etc

Hi Guys,

I am very new to GMAT Club just have been following it for the last couple of weeks. I have started my GMAT preparation around 1.5 weeks back (wasn't much in touch with these types of quant or verbal qs in the last 4-5 years)....to comment on the Mcgraw book, that was the 1st one I got from a friend and started with it......with absolutely no pratice, I found the questions pretty easy, I could finish all the quant (taking less than 2 mins per qs on an average) and verbal qs (taking a few secs more than 2 mins/qs on average) with fairly good accuracy......thus I feel
1> the qs standards are not up to the mark at all
2> the reviews are not very detailed in some specific topics like permu-combi, probability etc.
Then I got the OG12 this week and found the 1st 5 diagnostic tests (in the begining of the book) much different from what I saw in McGraw. I am planning to get Kaplan and some of Manhattan next week, I am happy that I did not spend much time on the McGraw one and then find out it's flaws nearer to the test date.

Cheers,
PC

Has anyone tried the EZ Solutions - Test Prep Series books? I was on Amazon and they came out as suggested books but I dont know...

Hi. and welcome to GMAT Club forum. It's always great to see new people.
Answering your question on E-Z Solutions. You can look though this thread gmat-books-ez-solutions-thoughts-76791.html
But I'll sum it up for you. Apparently this company has its employees writing fake reviews on amazon and other web-sites. There was an attempt to do so on gmatclub site also. Since we find such a way of doing business not only inappropriate but also highly unethical, we removed our review on E-Z books from Best GMAT Math Prep Books thread.

Project GMAT isn't available on Amazon. Has the book been discontinued? Is there another place to purchase it?

It's been out of stock for a few weeks - not sure if another edition or batch will be printed. If not, we'll remove it.
It is not available from veritasprep.com, so my guess it may be the last we've seen of it.

Has anyone tried Total GMAT Math by Jeff Sackmann? I'd love to hear from someone who has. Thanks.

Does anyone here has the "Project GMAT book"? I would like to buy it. Because it is not available on the Amazon.

Thanks

I think "Project GMAT" is out of print. I've tried searching for it too but it's unavailable.


EDIT:
Veritas confirmed on the phone that the book is out print and will not be re-printed.
This material is included in the $450 package available from their website but not as a stand alone option.

Hi Guys i have heared of Winners Guide E-books and i beleive it worth some serious consideration....wut do u think??

I bought Manhattan GMAT Inequality and Geometry, I will highly recommend in case you want to work on the fundamentals of these 2 topics.

Thank you. I have also added the Star Rating system for the books (planning to split up the Manhattan GMAT Books next but that's too much work )

Grt feature, rated a couple of books. Can we do it for other books in some post?

I am truly torn. After working through the math section of PR's Cracking the GMAT it is apparent that I need additional study. I'm deciding between some of the specific Manhattan books, the Kaplan math workbook, and now the new entrant, the Kaplan math foundations book.

I should note that I am less concerned with additional sample problems accompanied by many of the books, but most concerned with what gives the most thorough, succinct, correct instruction on math concepts. I'll be purchasing the official guide to make sure I have a gauntlet of questions to test out my knowledge on, once I've studied up.

Are the mistakes in the Kaplan Foundations book only present in the review questions, or are their some errors in the fundamentals they teach?

Are Manhattan's books worth the added expense? i.e. If I purchase 3 math review books from Manhattan I am looking at roughly $50+ vs $15 for either the Kaplan Math Foundations or Kaplan Math workbook? Is this a 'get-what-you-pay-for" situation?

I ask because I cannot find any of the Manhattan books at any local retailers, so I can't actually take a look at these books before purchasing.

Very valid question and I have been trying to figure out how to make the process of picking books easier.

I would say that the mistakes in the Kaplan Math Foundations are not very concerning - a few errors in the explanations are easy to spot. They are not in concepts or rules or theorems, so you are not learning baloney, just a few errors in the explanations/answer choices, which are minor. So, it is irrelevant for the majority of test takers except the pickiest, but I am sure the book will be condemned on Amazon as the result.

Here is my shot at it. I would say the best combination for what you are looking for is probably Kaplan Math Workbook with MGMAT Number Properties book.

Kaplan Math Foundations is much more thorough but basic and starts with how to multiply/divide numbers. It is not enough by itself - you would need another math book with harder Math Questions to practice.

MGMAT Guides are better than Kaplan Math Workbook in terms of explanations and learning presentation - they are the ultimate collection and having used them, you can be confident you covered all areas, though most people find that though they learnt the concepts, the books did not contain anything they did see in other books (except Number Properties book). In my opinion, it is probably not worth the extra $$$ for all of the guides.




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My view about MGMAT books except SC Guide is not that great. Other MGMAT books lack in number of questions.
No dount to start with very basics, these guides might be helpful.

Also, i am under the impression that all high scorers usually refer to KAPLAN series and OGs.

I have a question here, I haven't tried, practising 1000 series questions. How much useful are these??

hi, i recently started preparing for GMAT ,,and the only book i've got is OG11...( and i found the problems in the OG quantitative review fairly easy)
what i want to ask is-

is it really necessary to buy all these books ??
i found them quite expensive.. so which are the books are essential?? like i can't prepare without them?