The Official Guide for GMAT Review (10th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: A Necessity!
Review: Having access to actual questions from previous GMAT's is extremely beneficial when you actually take the test. Pay special attention to the essay questions and sample answers. I personally don't think that buying a book alone will give you the necessary knowledge to achieve a great score on the GMAT, but this books is hands-down the best on the market.

Rating:
Summary: Simply the BEST!
Review: Hi guys,
just took the test for the second time (jan 7th 2003) and scored a 670. Just wanted to give the future test takers a few tips:
1) Do not worry too much, this test is not as difficult as people make it to be.
2) Practice Practice & Practice...from OG (Official Guide) book
The GMAT wants you to think like the ETS (Critical reasoning) and use grammar like the ETS ("Considered VS considered to be") so why waste time thinking like the authors of Kaplan and Princeton review?
3) Do not even bother to take the Full Kaplan tests...just go through the math sections. (their math sections are tougher than the real GMAT + even if you do take the full tests do NOT believe the scores : my scores were 580, 560, 570 and 600)
3)Use the PR (Princeton) book and CD (Got 660, 680, 690 and 670 on the CD rom tests and i guess it is a true refelction of my real score)
4) Luckily ETS throws a lot of experimental questions so do not waste time during the real test finish as many questions as you can.
5) personally I found the Math more difficult than the book and the English much easier but ironically my math score was 48 VS my English which was below 40.
6) Brush up on prob stats and counting methods BE SURE you will be getting a few of those on the real test.

Also i would like to thank all the poeple who have written reviews here! without them i would be nowhere and i mean it...specially after taking the KAPLAN tests i felt SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO bad that I really considered enrolling in their classes because the last thing I wanted was a lower score on my GMAT. But fortunately for me I came across all these reviews and indeed they saved me..(In my opinion Kaplan sets a trap for students like me and is trying to lure people into their programs by making people think that they cannot take the test my studying home by themselves.)

Note: Do NOT believe ETS officials when they say that your scores cannot be improved. I spent 3 months and raised my score by 80 points and so did one of my friends D(620-700)

If you need any help email me and good luck in your future pursuits:)

Rating:
Summary: The only thing you'll need
Review: I don't have much to add to all the great reviews for this book, but the one thing that's important to realize is that if you want to use the ETS PowerPreps as diagnostic tools, you should take both tests before you really get into the guide. I took the second Powerprep after I was done with the guide, and scored a nice ole 800. Of course the fact that I had seen about half of the questions tested in the guide made the accomplishment a slight bit less extraordinary.

Another thing - for the math section, even though all the questions in the guide are good practice, only the last 100 or so in each of the math sections look like anything you'll see on the test.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Necessary to Score High on the GMAT
Review: I started preparing for the GMAT test approximately 8 weeks ago using the Offical Guide for GMAT Review, practicing roughly 40 questions per day. Since the Official Guide doesn't have much in the way of test taking techniques, I also used the Kaplan and the PR Verbal Workout. Aside from these books & the PowerPrep tests, there wasn't much else I used.

I took the test today and scored a 720, which closely matched my scores on the PowerPrep tests (720 and 740). On the Kaplan tests, I scored 630, 620, 680 (don't trust the Kaplan scores). In my assessment, the Official Guide practice questions are crucial for maximizing your score - you'll probably want to use the other test prep materials to learn some useful techniques, but the Official Guide MUST be used. Since the math in the Official Guide comes from the old paper-based test and has changed somewhat since then, I found the quantitative questions on the actual test to be slightly harder. I'd suggest supplementing with questions from the Kaplan for the math. For this reason, I gave the Official Guide 4-stars. Seems the Verbal questions haven't changed though - I found them to be quite similar to what I encountered in the Official Guide.

Practice as many questions as possible from the Official Guide and you'll be good to go!

Rating:
Summary: Gotta be a genius
Review: I'd just like to say a quick thank you to all those incredible nice people in the world who have posted their advice here about taking the GMAT. The only place I got a realistic impression of the type of preparation required for this test was from here. Don't believe those people who say you don't have to prepare much, and certainly don't believe ETS, who say that you can't improve your score. It's hard enough finding the time and energy to go through with it, let alone work out how much time and energy you have to put in.

Anyway, as everyone else says, make sure you go through this book and practise. The order of 50 to 100 hours solid preparation is not unusual; you need that much to get familiar with the exam. Do the two sample tests. Personally I think they slightly overestimate your score, perhaps by 10 to 30 points. I got 680 and 730, and then 730 in the real thing, but I thought I had improved from the mocks. If you use Kaplan, ignore their scores. I got 550, 590 and 580. I'm not sure what they measure.

Good luck. Study hard. Hope to see you sometime in business school.

Rating:
Summary: 1,400 Real GMAT Questions -- this is the source
Review: In August 2001, I earned a perfect 800 score on the GMAT-CAT.

This book -- The Official Guide for GMAT Review -- was the only GMAT preparation book that was of any benefit to me. Other prep books were real disappointments because all their GMAT questions are manufactured (not real GMAT questions) and they give advice (such as picking numbers and working slowly on the first few questions) that is simply wrong.

Because I had so much success with my GMAT, I now help other people improve their GMAT scores. I insist that people use this book to prepare for the types of GMAT questions that they will see on test day. In the last few months, I have helped several people score 700 or above on the GMAT-CAT and these people have been accepted to top B-schools -- Harvard, Wharton, Chicago, Kellogg, MIT, etc.

So don't accept any substitute, get the Official Guide. If you live between San Francisco and San Jose. If you don't live in the California Bay Area, buy the Official Guide and pay particular attention to your weaknesses. Good luck on test day.

Rating:
Summary: An indispensible tool for GMAT prep
Review: This book is simply a collection of questions from old GMATs. I found all questions were representative of the real thing (including the math sections). The best way to prep for the test (for me) was to practice problems over and over which made this book ideal.

The main disadvantage is that you don't want to spend *too* much time doing problems out of the book and should definitely get some practice doing timed problems off of the computer screen. The problem is that the questions from ETS's Powerprep practice tests are the same ones that appear in the book. In practice this actually didn't affect me too much since there were *so many* questions in the book but if you do plan on going through the entire book you should take the Powerprep tests first.

As this book simply contains old questions, I recommend you use another book for test taking pointers (I use Princeton Review) in conjunction. This book, a tip book (princeton, kaplan etc) and ETS's Powerprep software are the only things you need to prep for the GMAT.

Rating:
Summary: GMAT Preperation
Review: This book is the key to a good GMAT score.

Standardized tests are all about thinking like the test writer. It's not perfect (the current math section is harder than this book). It overlaps the free electronic one (but it is difficult to get the electronic one to cough up more than 25% of the total question bank). But the same often strange reasoning for answers will be used to grade your test that this book presents.
This book has far higher quality control (which I find essential when studying) and relevance to the actual test than any competitor.

When you get to the end, start over. You'll have forgotten most of the answers by then anyway. Solve every math problem from scratch, especially those you get wrong.

Working a book like this takes time and discipline. ... It doesn't teach skills well (buy another book if you need help). But it teaches the test.

Oh, and think about the AWA before you enter the test room. This book provides almost no help and since the test is computer graded it is looking for an awkward, boring, factual style that you probably peaked at in high school.

Rating:
Summary: Great for verbal , Sucks for Quant
Review: You got have this book for scoring top percentile in verbal. its worth every penny and the questions in the verbal section are the closest to what you will see on the GMAT.

The book is a bad one for Quant, as most of the questions are real easy. That way it does not truly reflect what you see in the actual GMAT. Thats the reason for the 4 star rating. I would highly recommend KAPLAN for quant any day. Good luck people

Rating:
Summary: The real thing
Review: You won't find it in most book stores, but this book, combined with the Power Prep software and the Kaplan review, helped me score in the 99th percentile on my first try. Here are my thoughts and observations:
(1) Kaplan offers great test taking strategies. Go straight to the CD and take the diagnostic and devise a study plan. (If you get less than 600, consider going through the review sessions in the book first). Hone your basic math and verbal skills but concentrate on developing your internal clock.
(2) Some of Kaplan's toughest questions are designed to confuse you. Some questions have more than one "good" answers. Do not delve too deeply into Kaplan's test psyche.
(3) Midway through your Kaplan study program, take your first Power prep exam. In general, your score will be higher than your Kaplan scores so far. Note the discrepancy.
(4) Begin working through the Official Guide. Clock yourself and try to do a few more questions per session than required on the CAT. Keep an error log and review it often. Read the official explanations for questions you guessed on or missed.
(5) Take the second Power prep exam half way through the official guide. You may encounter questions that you have encountered during practice. So keep in mind that your score may be skewed. This should be your ideal score.
(6) Devote the last week to your weakest links. Review your error log frequently. Take the rest of the Kaplan exams. Try to complete all questions before time expires. Expect to make incremental improvement but don't worry if these scores remain lower than your power prep results.
(7) Rest. Visit your test center in advance.
Good luck. Let me know whether you find these thoughts helpful.