Best GMAT Prep Books Recommendations

Question

Hi guys,
I've got some books:

Kaplan Verbal Workbook
Kaplan Math Workbook
Kaplan Premier Program
GMAT 800
The Official Guide
Project GMAT Advanced Math

I know, quite a lot already but i prefer studying from books than attending workshops.
Now i'm wondering: is there any sense in getting Manhattan's books, e.g. on sentence correction, on top on what i've got already?

Also, see these discussions:

1. General GMAT Guides
top-gmat-prep-books-guides-reviews-comments-77703.html

2. Math GMAT Books
best-gmat-math-prep-books-reviews-recommendations-77291.html

3. Verbal GMAT Books:
best-gmat-verbal-prep-books-reviews-recommendations-78094.html

nink · Answer

Sounds like you decided to take a trip to Barnes and Noble and pick out random books on GMAT. I hope you saved your receipt because many of us (high GMAT scorers) used pretty much same book during our prep.

Verbal:  
1) Do diagnostic testing on  GMATPRep  to get sense of your strength & weaknesses.
2) Sentence Correction -  Manhattan GMAT SC is a MUST 
3) Critical Reasoning - either  Powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible  or  Manhattan GMAT CR Book  (either one is fine)
4) Reading Comprehension -  GRE Prep for RC from Princeton Review  is a great choice
5) Then do this last -  Official Guide for Verbal

Math:  
1) same as Verbal (1)
2) Buy all or some of MGMAT's MATH guides based on your strength and weaknesses for fundamental review
  A.  Number Properties Guide  
  B.  Equations Inequalities and Vics Guide  
  C.  Fractions, Decimals, and Percents Guide  
  D.  Word Translations Guide  
  E.  Geometry GMAT Guide

3)  Official Guide for Quantitative Review

Then retest yourself on GMATPrep + any CAT exams (such as MGMAT etc)

pippo · Answer

thanks for the quality response!
you were pretty right about my stroll down to barnes & noble. shame on me...
so i hear for high scores kaplan is not very good? at least for an intro though?
or should i be good with your list?

thanks again, really appreciate it!

tusharvk · Answer

Thanks for the list.
I am curious to understand how the OG quant questions are broken down by difficulty? Are they broken down by level of difficulty in OG 11?

amitdgr · Answer

Pippo,

ninkorn has covered the best of books available for GMAT as of today .........

Tushar,

All the three OGs have questions in increasing order of difficulty ..... but it is not possible to find the exact level of difficulty of each item ... So the first few questions are easier than the next few ... and so on ... This means the last few questions are the toughest in the OG ...

Hope this helps

bb · Answer

Also, here is a list of MBA books to read:
 https://gmatclub.com/forum/t74557-good-books-to-read-prior-to-mba-mba-books-master-thread

And, a list of books to read to improve your English:
 https://gmatclub.com/forum/t76079-books-to-read-improve-verbal-score-and-enjoy-a-good-read

bb · Answer

One more thread to add:  https://gmatclub.com/forum/t76582-top-20-best-gmat-books-on-gmat-club

bb · Answer

See these 3 threads:

1. General GMAT Guides
top-gmat-prep-books-guides-reviews-comments-77703.html

2. Math GMAT Books
best-gmat-math-prep-books-reviews-recommendations-77291.html

3. Verbal GMAT Books:
best-gmat-verbal-prep-books-reviews-recommendations-78094.html

osbornecox · Answer

What do people think of McGraw Hill? I somehow find them more credible than Kaplan and Princeton Review, though a notch below the OG and Manhattan...

ramzy66 · Answer

first very helpfull forums and information, thank you all for taking the time to enlighten us. I am a structural Engineer meaning math is definitely my strength)

I am Planning to buy these books and I am wondering if they are compatible with each other:

Verbal:

1) Sentence Correction - Manhattan GMAT SC (From the forums i learned it refers to OG 12th ed. and OG Verb. 1st ed.)
2) Critical Reasoning - Powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible 
3) Reading Comprehension - MGMAT RC (Would have liked to get GRE Prep for RC from Princeton Review but it seems like it is geared more towards GRE)
4) Official Guide for Verbal (I would have to get the first edition for it to be compatible with MGMAT SC) and is this one needed?

Math:

1) MGMAT Guides (Does this one seem excessive for an engineer?)

Practice Questions:

I would have to get Official Guide 12th ed. since MGMAT SC references it.

General Strategy Books:

Do I need this one? and what is the best one that completes the combo set I have up there.

Please Please feel free to add input to this list. I am going by the advice from forums and reviews I have read.

Thank you in Advance,

chisagitta · Answer

Bookmarked for future use.

Thanks for recommending Nink.

viki00762 · Answer

Hi,
I am a GMAT Novice,please suggest me on the official guide for GMAT bt GMAC.
Shall i start with this book or some other one?

Regards

NAVKAL · Answer

Hi All,

I am an MBA aspirant and want to start preparing for GMAT. Could you please share your thoughts and experiences about/with the best books available which can help and prepare me fetch a ~ 750 score?

- NK

medkong · Answer

I have used the official GMAC guides and Kaplan for prep. A couple of my friends swear by the new ChiPrime book: 100 Sprints to Math Success available on Amazon. Is this worth buying? I ask because I have been to their website at chiprime (dot) com and under the resources section there are three free quizzes (what they call sprints), as well as excerpts from their books, and these seem really quite well done. I wondered earlier if they were that good why no one else mentioned them before, but then these seem to have been published only relatively recently. At any rate, the free stuff by itself is good. And the book gives you 1000 questions at $9.99 so maybe I will purchase it. But curious to see if anyone else has experience with it. Want to really toughen those math muscles. Thank you for sharing.

evansgherzi · Answer

Hi,

If you feel you need more grammar practice we would recommend "English Grammar in Use" (intermediate and advanced levels).

Please be aware that almost all grammar books tend to be exercise-oriented and often go into much more detail than what the GMAT tests. In addition, many grammar books do not deal with certain sentence structure issues (e.g. dangling modifiers). You need to look for something that can help in that regard too, or simply fill that gap with a proper course such as ours. You need to cross-reference what is on the GMAT with the book you get. But "Grammar in Use" is probably the best grammar self-study book available.
​Sincerely,
​Evan

newfish · Answer

Hi All,

I am in Bangalore, India. I want to sell my used 3 month old Manhattan GMAT Series + Foundations of Math and Verbal books. In total there are 12 books and all are 5th edition. The price is negotiable. Interested buyers please send me a PM or reply in this post.

P.S - The complete list of books

GMAT Roadmap
Fractions, Decimals, & Percents GMAT Strategy Guide
Algebra GMAT Strategy Guide
Word Problems GMAT Strategy Guide
Geometry GMAT Strategy Guide
Number Properties GMAT Strategy Guide
Critical Reasoning GMAT Strategy Guide
Reading Comprehension GMAT Strategy Guide
Sentence Correction GMAT Strategy Guide
Integrated Reasoning & Essay GMAT Strategy Guide
Foundations of Math
Foundations of Verbal

Apologies if this is considered as spam!

Regards,
Newfish

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