The Official Guide for GMAT Review

You can trust this guide to offer good advice
The Official Guide for GMAT Review was the only book I bought to prepare for the GMAT, I also paid the subscription fee to use an online service with CAT (Computer Adaptive Tests) and with tips on how to work particularly on the writing section (the two essays). These two were good enough to provide me with the familiarity of the test I needed, and to get a score that will not prevent me from applying to any MBA program.The guide has a review of all the things they are going to test you on during the test. First you can take a diagnostic test that will let you know which sections you should focus on improving more, and which ones you are quite good at. The diagnostic test results are separated by question TYPE so you don’t waste time once you have the results.The guide then offers you a good review of each question type, and the things being measured. For quantitative sections, it lets you know the math you are expected to be able to do, and how to approach the problems. It also shows you where many people fail to answer correctly by pointing out some common mistakes. This is particularly useful for the Data Sufficiency part since most of us don’t usually have to answer this kind of question ever in our life.This book is quite good at offering you what it should, familiarity with the questions you will be asked during the test so you know what to work on. The main purpose of this guide is for you to be able to use your time wisely during the test, and not waste time (or get an answer wrong) because you are not quite sure what the question is looking for. The guide shows you the specific wording used in the test, and how this wording should point out to you what to focus on, which is useful when answering questions based on reading passages. Another useful thing was getting familiar with the sentence correction questions, cause there are some quite repetitive things that will help you discard wrong choices right away, thus saving you time.Overall, this is the best guide for you to save time during the test without hurting your chances to get a great score.

Essential for good score….master it completely
Official Guide, as the name suggests, is an official collection of retired GMAT questions, published by GMAC, who own GMAT. Here, I will review this book and its importance in the overall preparation.First, I was short on time in preparing for GMAT and applying in time. So, I didn’t had time to go over all the material and guides available in this universe, and then compare and review them.Second, before you start your preparation, or make your plan, you need to understand what GMAT is and what it measures. Then try to understand how much time and effort you will need to achieve a good score, for the school(s) you are applying to.- OG will certainly help you to understand what is GMAT, what it measures and how the different sections test your those capabilities.- The Diagnostic Test, taken under strict examination conditions, will measure your current performance and identify the areas you need to focus.- The Verbal and Quant sections of OG are mainly a collection of past GMAT questions, their answers, and explanatory solutions.- There is very little theory/concepts and very generic strategies. However, do read them carefully.Once you identify the areas you need to focus on, find the guides with concepts, fundamentals, and tips and tricks. Do your research by reading reviews, and consulting your peers who have used them in past. Every guide is different and have different difficulty levels. What works for one may not work for another.For Sentence Correction, I will recommend Sentence Correction GMAT Preparation Guide (Manhattan GMAT Preparation Guides). For other sections, I used an old, borrowed edition of Nova’s GMAT Prep Course (with Online Course). Unfortunately, I cannot comment about Kaplan, Princeton, Veritas etc since my aim was to get a good score and not compare all these guides. (I spent 3 weeks overall and got a very decent score)Coming back to OG, here is what I recommend:- Do all the questions.- Do all the questions, at least three times. By doing so, you can master a lot of concepts and calculations.- Do not get discouraged if you get low scores on simulated tests of the other study guides. Actual GMAT level is closest to this OG. Other guides’ sample exams have a hidden marketing motive too. They want you to buy their books or take their course. So, their questions’ level may not be same as that of actual GMAT. In fact, I found some of them very difficult. (Won’t take names, but I took those online free sample exams from those famous names in Study Guides & preps)- If you have time, get GMAC’s Verbal and Quant supplements to practice more & more.At last, it’s all about speed & accuracy. Best of Luck!

Ce livre m’a permis de préparer au mieux l’examen du GMAT. Je le conseille donc vivement à tous ceux qui vont passer l’examen.

見た目からは分かりづらいのですが、OG 11th editionです。GMAT受験生には必須アイテムと言っていいでしょう。■OG 10thを使用したことがある方へ＜10thと11thの共通点＞１）重さ・・・　相変わらず持ち運びに不便な作りをしています。２）AWA・・・　AWAのトピック一覧およびサンプルエッセーは全て10thと同じです。＜10thと11thの相違点＞１）解説・・・　例えばSCの問題であれば、「これはParallelを問う問題」という具合に、パターンが明確に記載されており、読みやすくなりました。２）問題量・・・　解説が詳しくなった分、問題量が減ってしまいました。総数1400→800です。しかも、改訂されたのは一部のみです。SCであれば、11th掲載数138のうち、6割程度は10thと全く同じです。３）GMATのウソ・ホント・・・　例えば定説は「GMATは最初の数問が特に重要で、なるべく慎重に解くべきである」ですが、11thには「これはウソである」と書いてあります。これらのTipsが、11thに追記されていますので、一読する価値はあるかと思います。＜結論＞それなりのスコアが出ている人であれば、買わなくても良いと思いますが、これから本格的にGMAT対策する人は、買っても良いのではないでしょうか。■OG 10thを使用したことがない方へまず、OG 11thで基本的なことを学んで下さい。GMATの基礎知識や解法は10thよりも11thの方が丁寧に記述してあります。しかし、前述の通り問題数がかなり減ってしまったので、これ一冊では不十分と感じるのではないでしょうか。11thが終わったら、10thも是非演習した方が良いと思いますよ。