GMAT Official Guide 2019: Book + Online

As someone with extensive GMAT Tutoring and test taking experience (pro tutor in NYC and scored 780 before my tutoring days), I will confidently say this is the only book you need for study purposes. This book is massive (it’s at least twice as thick as the old 13th Edition book that is considered the GMAT Bible by many tutors). The answer explanations can be a bit difficult to understand though, so I'd recommend you use videos from officialgmatcourse.com or written explanations from gmatclub.com or beatthegmat.com to find more efficient ways of solving the longer questions. BACKGROUND The GMAT Official Guide Book was the primary resource I used to raise my own GMAT score to a 780 (Q 50, V 48, IR 8, AWA 6) in under 5 weeks back in May of 2015. 3 years later and after tutoring hundreds of clients in New York City and around the world via Skype, I have found these books to be invaluable when it comes to presenting students with content that looks and feels like the real questions I was asked on test day. Since taking the test a lot has changed, the GMAT sections are now shorter (Quant 31 questions from 37, Verbal 36 questions from 41) and students are now able to select the order in which the sections appear on test day (I'd recommend choosing Verbal or Quant followed by Integrated Reasoning and finally Analytical Writing Assessment since the latter two sections don't factor into your score out of 800 points). What hasn't changed is the content - it's as tough as ever and the GMAC are experts at using psychology to misdirect weaker test takers from guessing the right answers. OVERVIEW When it comes to GMAT test prep, these books cover pretty much every type of question you could see on game day (in terms of content) and offer a range of difficulty levels. The questions will not be reused on test day but the authors of the test (The GMAC) are giving you a sneak peek at what they've done in the past to make the test so difficult. Honestly – these are the only questions you want to focus on in your test prep and I’m in the process of recording video explanations to each and every question for my course OfficialGMATCourse.com (not affiliated with the GMAC). Included in the product are two major resources: #1 The GMAT Official Guide 2019: Basically the best all-around resource money can buy. If you don't want to spring for the bundle, this book alone can get you to 760+ territory if you study it properly. The book includes 900 questions + an online question bank. The book also contains about 35 pages of review for math concepts and some brief intro to Reading Comprehension (5 pages), Sentence Correction (24 pages), and Critical Reasoning (3 pages), which round out the verbal side of the test. There are 404 Quant questions, 403 Verbal Questions, and 93 AWA Example Questions. There are also instructions for the Integrated Reasoning section with some examples of what to expect and actual example questions can be found in the online question bank (58 Questions). #2 The Online Content: All of the practice questions are also available in an online format and access is included with this book. The online version of the book has improved over the years but doesn't offer much beyond the physical or kindle version of the GMAT Official Guide book. What it does offer though, is the ability to create quizzes with specific types of questions (like a 20 question medium and hard problem solving quiz, for example). It also offers 58 integrated reasoning questions which are a valuable addition to the books (this is the toughest part of the test in my opinion, but luckily not factored into your 800 point score). BIGGEST CHANGES FROM 2018 BOOKS: #1 Question Index: The biggest improvement in this latest installment of the GMAT Books is the addition of the "Question Index" section at the end of each book. This section is new to the 2019 series and offers a breakdown of the question type subcategories for every question in the book. For example, if you want to find an algebra question dealing with percents, the Question Index for the main GMAT Official Guide will point you to question 92. Arithmetic with exponents? Page 46. The fact that this was not included in other versions of these books is a bit mind-boggling but better late than never as they say. #2 New Questions: This book comes with some new content. The Official Guide offers 130 new questions that have never been seen before in print (of the 900 in the book). New content is always nice and this is just par for the course on each new book series released by the GMAC (these numbers consistent with the updates in the 2018 editions). HOW TO USE THESE BOOKS EFFICIENTLY: Given the addition of the new Question Index at the end of each book, my personal recommendation is as follows. #1 Brush Up On The Test: You should begin by reading the introductory chapter about the GMAT exam if you are completely new to the test, mainly section 1.2 - 1.7 which covers exam format (table on page 5 with question number and timing), testing flexibility (second table), and overview of each section in short form. The rest of the section is pretty generic, basically "read the instructions and use your time wisely". #2 Brush Up On Quant: Now that you have an idea about the test format, it's time to brush up on your skills (and there are a lot of them on quant). Jump to section 4.0 and complete all of the chapter 4 lesson to fully review the topics you're expected to master by test day. I'd recommend taking good notes and making notecards on this section so you can easily refer back to them later. #3 Brush Up On Verbal: The verbal review isn't nicely organized in one place like the quant review was. You'll need to read over sections 7.0 - 7.3, 8.0 - 8.3, and 9.0 - 9.6 to understand each of the 3 main verbal question types and what they test. #4 Really, Really Learn Data Sufficiency: This is a type of quant question where all of the answer choices are standardized. It's basically a hidden shell game that the author uses to test your logical reasoning skills and (in certain situations) punish you for being a stubborn test taker. Read the instructions in sections 6.0 - 6.2 carefully and become familiar with the answer choices (you'll want to know them like the back of your hand on test day). #5 Do Some Easy Questions: Do the following questions to get your feet wet: quant questions 4, 10, 19, 29, 31, 231, 232, 251, 257, 268 and verbal questions 405, 406, 409, 411, 414, 544, 545, 546, 670, 671, 684, and 686. Evaluate your performance read answer explanations to make sure you understand how to tackle each example. If you feel weak on these, review the appropriate content as we discussed in steps 2 & 3 before going on to step 6. #6 Diagnostic Tests: These are tougher than the questions we started with and should give you an idea of where you're currently scoring overall. You'll use this information as a benchmark to help figure out what to study and improve upon, as well as to measure your improvement against. The diagnostic test intro is on page 15 and the quant and verbal sections are back to back in sections 3.1 and 3.2 starting on page 16. There are 48 quant questions and 52 verbal questions so this will take a total of about 3.5 hours if you average 2 minutes per question (this is not required but is about what you'll need to average on test day. Don't try to complete these in one sitting - I'd recommend about 20 questions at a time or even 10 at a time to start with. There is a scoring grid at the end of the section that explains how to evaluate your performance. #7 Continued Study & Practice Tests: MBA.com offers 2 free practice tests that use real retired questions and are computer addaptive like the real GMAT exam. They also offer 90 free practice questions across quant, verbal, and IR that you definitely need to use in your prep. These are the best practice products on the market and they're totally free. Google the words "GMAT Official Starter Kit + Practice Exams 1 & 2 (Free)" and you'll get to the right place. Following your diagnostic test, I would recommend you continue studying until you're ready to check in on your progress by using practice test 1 from mba.com. I will note that you want to have a strong internet connection before doing these online practice exams and that you should skip the AWA and IR section for the first couple exams in the interest of time - but you need to practice the full test in one sitting before test day at least once. Take practice exams every couple of weeks (you can buy more from MBA.com - 6 total exams are available - or Google "free gmat practice tests" and you'll find some from test prep companies) until you hit your target score and are ready to take the test. You can find answer explanations to the questions by Googling them, but the software doesn't provide detailed explanations to the practice tests. It also doesn't provide much info on your timing etc. #8 Take the Real Test: Once you've put together a practice test score you're happy with it's time to put it all together. You're finally ready to crush the GMAT. All of your hard work and determination now boils down to a 3 hours 7 minutes long test (but hey at least it's shorter than the old version and the GRE). Go to mba.com to register for your test and find a good time that works for you. If you're not a morning person, try to find a time around noon to take the test. Make sure you eat a meal similar to what you would eat before an athletic competition (maybe peanut butter toast and a banana) since you'll need slow burning carbs and don't want to feel overly full. When it's time to test, make sure to bring your ID, Gatorade or other sugary beverage for a quick boost between sections, water, a snack (RX Bars are good), and a caffeinated beverage if you need it (bottled iced coffee or red bull). When you arrive they'll check you in and give you a palm scan (essentially the same idea as a fingerprint) to confirm your identity. Now it's up to you to sit down at the computer and show GMAC what you're made of.

I'm a Harvard grad, 99% GMAT scorer and professional GMAT tutor since 2002. The GMAT Official Guide 2019 (currently $38) receives my strong recommendation because it provides a great source of 958 real GMAT questions at a decent price. This newest edition of the GMAT Official Guide (OG) is still the gold standard for realistic GMAT practice questions. For optimal results, use it in combination with other practice and strategy guides. If you think that you need all 3 books at once, then go ahead and buy the OG bundle to save a few dollars on the individual books: GMAT Official Guide 2019 Bundle: Books + Online . 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 900 questions (the additional 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 2018 edition instead, which is currently much more affordable and includes mostly the same questions (only 130 questions in the 2019 edition are different), but keep in mind that the 2018 edition is not ordered by topic: GMAT Official Guide 2018: Book + Online NO KINDLE VERSION THIS YEAR: There is also a digital version of the Official Guide, but it can only be purchased on the GMAC website, is NOT Kindle compatible (despite what GMAC claims), and can only be installed on 2 computers at a time. For my full list of personal GMAT prep recommendations, google "GMAT Action Plan." Best of luck on your GMAT and beyond! -Brian

ADVICE Before you book the GMAT Exam, focus on completing this book (OG2019). Don't rush. Critically analyse why every wrong choice is wrong and why a right choice must be right. Redo all medium-to-hard questions and the questions you answered incorrectly. Remember, this book does not provide any test-taking strategies. Get those elsewhere. THE GOOD This book offers more than 900 real, retired, and high-quality GMAT questions, as well as 66 Integrated Reasoning questions in the online platform. In addition, the online platform, valid for a year from the date of activation, allows you to build practice sets from those 900+ questions. THE BAD This is the sole reason I give only four out of five stars. Majority of questions range from easy (450-550 level) to medium (550-650 level) difficulty. Fewer than 10 questions are very-hard (750-800 level). This is a serious drawback for those who want to achieve a dream score of 750 and above. ABOUT ME I retook GMAT exam in late Aug 2018 and scored 720 (49Q, 40V), a 140-point increase from 580 (my first GMAT score in late Aug 2017). As a non-native English speaker with engineering background, I believe that this book alone gives sufficient practice materials to score up to a low-700 in GMAT.

Just what i expected. fast and in great condition. thank you!

Very useful

Can not use the online system the code is not valid that was given to me

Excellent guide to prepare for GMAT.

Online code doesn't work and the front cover was not in a good state.

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I was searching for GMAT books and came across this product. The book was delivered in good condition. There were slight creases on the edges. This is a must have book for GMAT preparation, the content is very crisp and clear. It also mentions exam guidelines related to format and content.

Rapidez y bastante bueno el producto gracias

My name is Dan, and I've been helping people with the GMAT for a decade now with Vincia Prep in Paris, France. As a GMAT expert, I can tell you that the official guide is a very useful tool for your GMAT preparation. You don't necessarily have to get the latest version since the GMAT changes very slowly, but you should get the official guide. At the same time, I can also tell you that one of the most common mistakes that I see with students who are just starting to study is that they begin by going directly to practice questions without working on the necessary strategies first. Beginning by studying the proper techniques to tackle questions will allow you to practice in a more efficient way. These books have great practice questions but almost no strategy. Thus, buy some strategy books or take a class to start your studies and then work on these books.

I just studied off this and the free exams provided by mba.com. One thing I would say though is I barely used the physical book at all, just the online version. Was worth the price. Got a 740 on the GMAT.