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May 1912:00 PM PDT
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Scoring 329 on the GRE is not always about using more books, more courses, or a longer study plan. In this episode of GRE Success Talks, Ashutosh shares his GRE preparation strategy, study plan, and test-day experience, explaining how he kept his prep....
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Make the most of your break with the most realistic GMAT™ prep. Take up to $700 off select products. Ends 6/1
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Start your journey with a fully customized action plan and work with a dedicated mentor to achieve a 735+ score.- May 18
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Join us in a live GMAT practice session and solve 25 challenging GMAT questions with other test takers in timed conditions, covering GMAT Quant, Data Sufficiency, Data Insights, Reading Comprehension, and Critical Reasoning questions. - Jun 10
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mcelroytutoring
Expert
Tutor
Joined: 10 Jul 2015
Last visit: 28 Apr 2026
Posts: 1,207
Given Kudos: 282
Status:Expert GMAT, GRE, and LSAT Tutor / Coach
Affiliations: Harvard University, A.B. with honors in Government, 2002
Location: United States (CO)
Age: 45 (10 years and counting on GMAT Club!)
GMAT 1: 770 Q47 V48
GMAT 2: 730 Q44 V47
GMAT 3: 750 Q50 V42
GMAT 4: 730 Q48 V42 (Online)
GRE 1: Q168 V169
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Expert reply
11 Jul 2020, 22:04
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I’m a Harvard grad, 99% GMAT scorer and professional tutor/coach since 2002. I have taken the GMAT 6 times, with personal bests of 770 composite, 50/51 Quant, 48/51 Verbal, 8/8 IR (2 times) and 6.0 AWA (4 times), and I have scored 700+ on every official attempt. More importantly, however, I’ve coached hundreds of aspiring business school students to significantly better GMAT scores over the last two decades, including scores as high as 720 (94%), 740 (97%), 760 (99%), 770, 780, and yes, even the elusive perfect 800, with an average score improvement of over 120 points.
The GMAT Official Guide 2021, a.k.a. "OG" (currently $40 on Amazon) receives my strong recommendation because it provides a great source of over 1,172 real GMAT practice questions at an OK price--1,022 questions in the book and an additional 150+ "online exclusive" questions. It also includes access to an online / mobile version of all the questions in the book, known as GMAT™ Official Guide Online Question Bank.
One note about this year's book is that it's quite obviously thinner than last year's edition, and the paper is thinner / more flimsy. The 2021 OG has 43 fewer pages than last year's book (939 vs 982), but the authors do manage to squeeze in 22 more questions (172 more questions if you count the 150+ "online exclusives").
Despite currently being overpriced and a bit more cheaply made than last year's edition, this newest edition of the GMAT Official Guide (OG) is still the gold standard for realistic GMAT practice. For optimal results, use it in combination with other learning and strategy guides. If you think that you need all 3 books at once, then go ahead and buy the OG 2021 bundle to save a few dollars on the individual books: However, keep in mind that many students buy the bundle and end up only having the time to use this book, which by itself has over 1,000 questions (the 58 Integrated Reasoning questions are accessible only through the companion website, accessible with a code, due to their multimedia nature).
You might also want to consider purchasing the 2020 edition instead. Everyone always wants the newest edition, but sometimes the price difference can be significant, and the questions on the GMAT haven’t changed at all since 2012, so older editions of the OG are still helpful (though the structure of the test has changed slightly).
I highly recommend the “blind review” method, where you buy two books: one for taking notes and one for keeping blank so you can re-try questions without bias.
Is this book enough for a full preparation? For most students, the answer is no: although the very best source of practice questions, the GMAT OG is lacking from a learning and strategy standpoint. In addition, the answer explanations in the book are often convoluted, overly simplistic and/or incomplete. Thus, it is a good idea to use online forums such as GMAT Club (which provide answer explanations to official questions, as well as question classifications and links to similar practice questions) and other GMAT strategy books such as “Ace the GMAT: Master the GMAT in 40 Days” by Brandon Royal to help you decode this complex standardized test. If you still need more help, then consider a class, a self-paced online learning program such as Target Test Prep (TTP), and/or a private GMAT tutor.
Here is a full list of my recommended GMAT prep books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/ideas/amzn1.acco ... idea_share
Best of luck on your GMAT and beyond,
-Brian
More Helpful Resources:
1. GMAT Action Plan and Free E-Book
2. GMATPrep Software
3. All Sources of Official GMAT Practice Questions
4. GMATClub Official Guide (OG) Directory and Guides to the 2021, 2020 , 2019, 2018, and 2017 OGs
5. GMAT Error Log Template
6. GMAT Percentiles and Composite Score Conversions
7. My Review of the 2020 OG
8. My Review of the 2019 OG
9. My Review of the 2018 OG
10. My Review of the 2017 OG
11. Prepositional Idioms List
12. Why You Should Use only Real GMAT Questions
13. From Q42 to Q44 to Q46 to Q50: my GMAT Quant Journey (with ESRs)
14. From V46 to V47 to V40 to V42: my GMAT Verbal Journey (with ESRs)
15. I scored a 750 on the GMAT (with the new "Select Section Order" feature)
16. GMAT Pacing Strategy: The 15/25 Method
17. 7 Important Questions to Ask Your Prospective GMAT Tutor
18. Full List of AWA (Essay) Topics
19. GMAT Club Question Bank - Use this Helpful Resource to search for questions of a certain type and/or source
20. GMATPrep Legacy Desktop Software Downloads for Windows and Mac (Alternative to Online Tests)
Best of luck on your GMAT and beyond,
-Brian
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