GMAT Official Guide 2022: Book + Online Question Bank
G**)
No New Questions this Year but Still a Must-Have
If you are starting out with the GMAT, you will need to get this book of questions. get this book BUT you will need others to get a strong GMAT score.I am the founder of GMAT Club community and here are my thoughts about the OG:1. GMAT Official Guide does not contain any strategies, tips, or techniques to help you learn content. It is only a collection of highly valuable questions. Don't think you can just get this one book and nail the test - you will need review and refreshers for quant and grammar as well as strategies. It can be books, a course, a tutor, etc.2. This edition does not contain any new questions compared to the 2021 edition (published in 2020). There is a new section that contains a bit of quant and grammar review that goes beyond last year's section but it is nothing that will really help you with studying. If you own 2021 edition, do NOT buy this edition. Instead get the Quant or Verbal OG Books (they have non-overlapping questions) or consider getting the Question Pack or Exam Packs (plenty of places to spend your money on official GMAT Questions)3. In case you are wondering about the question level/difficulty in this book - it is Medium on average with mostly easy and medium questions and about 15% harder ones. If you want to know the exact difficulty of each question, search for "Official Guide Directory 2022"~~~ Strengths ~~~1. Real GMAT questions retired from past tests - 995 real GMAT questions retired from past tests.2. Difficulty of questions listed at the back (though it looks like they split the questions into 3 groups - easy, medium, and hard, just by pure even distribution, not real difficulty)3. Online quiz engine allows you to build practice sets using the OG but it is very weak and cumbersome (more below) but the engine is flawed at the moment - it will be updated later in the year4. Practice questions follow actual GMAT test patterns (it's great to have one's ear trained, esp. in verbal)5. Overview of the Integrated Reasoning section (74 questions online)6. Mobile app version but hard to get (In case you are like me and searched the App store to only find nothing, you will need to download the Wiley Efficient Learning app and login with your online account at Wiley to get access to the OG Question bank on your mobile device). Seems more hassle than it is worth.~~~ Weaknesses ~~~1. The quiz system is too simplistic and cumbersome. For example I have no idea how to start working on question 10 or take only assumption questions for example, though it is an upgrade from the previous version... Perhaps I have been spoiled with good GMAT Prep and other CAT Test interfaces. I am struggling here.2. Questions are EASY/MEDIUM difficulty in general (only about 5 questions are really a 750 level) based on GMAT Club member feedback.3. Does not include any test-taking strategies. Though it has a few short review sections for each area, they are weak and very unfriendly4. We really could have used some new questions. The official Guide questions are generally on the EASY side.5. There is a 100% overlap with previous edition.~~~ HOW DO I STUDY WITH THIS BOOK? ~~~You don't really study with the book. You rather practice the questions and I recommend attempting questions by topic. You will need other books to cover certain topics such as Number properties, Geometry, Parallelism or Assumptions and then you use this book for practice/quizzes. For example, you can get the Manhattan GMAT Set of Guides or the Veritas Prep Guides. These book sets are targeting specific Math and Verbal areas. You have a much better chance getting a 700+ with those book sets but they also do require at least 2.5-3 months to cover them. The MGMAT Books come with 6 adaptive online tests. If you only have a month, you can get the Kaplan book set (Premier and Verbal/Quant workbooks - they can do the job but not as luxurious with tips and strategies as MGMAT or Veritas Prep).~~~ What are some of the good study suggestions? ~~~- Start with a practice test (diagnostic test)- You need quality time. It is really the quality time (morning for some and evening for others) that provides the most retention and results- Don't skip or move past a section until you're able to solve 90% of the questions correctly (timed of course). That is if you want 700+- Try to solve questions while timing yourself. Even if you are not limiting your time, still get a sense of how you are doing. It is helpful sometimes not to worry about the time and put that away from your mind and learn how to apply strategies first. However, in the last third of your prep, you definitely want to time every single question.- Don't jump into the hardest areas first - build confidence instead with what you know and can demonstrate progress at- Start every new day with the review of what you have learned the day before- Make notes for everything you cover - it helps tremendously to retain what you have learned even though you may never read them. The process of making notes is a very helpful learning experience. If nothing else works - use it- Finally, your practice tests are a usually a very good indicator of your performance. If you are getting 600 on your practice tests, there is about a 2% chance that you will get a 700 score. Believe in yourself but also - be realistic with yourself not to waste $250 test registration fee.Let me know if you have any questions - i reply to commentsBB, Founder of GMAT Club750, q49, v42.
S**M
Damaged Book
The book seemed slightly damaged when it arrived. I have yet to explore the book content but should reduce the price for the poor maintenance and handling.
B**Y
Zero New GMAT Questions. You’ve got to be kidding us, GMAC!
I’m a Harvard grad, 99% GMAT scorer and professional tutor/coach since 2002. I have taken the GMAT 6 times—including the GMAT online—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 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. I’m also the creator of the 5151 Podcast, where I discuss current GMAT issues in great detail, with zero censorship.The GMAT Official Guide 2022, a.k.a. "OG" (currently $33) receives my qualified recommendation because it provides a great source of over 1,129 real GMAT practice questions: 1,045 questions in the book and an additional 84+ "online exclusive" questions. It also includes access to an online / mobile version of all the questions in the book, known as the GMAT Official Guide Online Question Bank.Despite having given this book 5 stars in a row for many years, I’m knocking it down to 4 stars this year, for the simple reason that with zero new questions—as opposed to previous editions that offered about 15% new questions—it’s mostly useless for someone with an older edition of the OG. You should also utilize the free GMAT Club website, which has forum-style explanations to every GMAT question (simply google search the exact wording of your question), because the official explanations in the OG are notoriously lacking.That being said, this year's official guide is still entirely useful as a source of paper questions for those who don’t already have a copy of the OG. Although the GMAT is of course a computer test, it can still be quite helpful to study and prepare on paper using a physical book.The OG is by far the very best source of GMAT practice questions, especially for Verbal—where real questions are indispensable—but you will likely need another type of study aid to help improve your scores, such as a book, a class, an online self-study program, a private tutor, or a combination of those 4 methods, in addition to self-study. In most cases, GMAT self-study is possible given the many free, public learning resources such as GMAT Club, especially for Quant, but it can become more challenging on Verbal, where the official explanations can be even more confusing than the questions themselves, and the online preparation options are far more limited and lacking.For more information, google “GMAT Action Plan—McElroy Tutoring.”
I**E
damage items
i order 6 books and 4 of them came damaged
A**R
If you need the "Online question bank access code" - DO NOT BUY THE KINDLE FORMAT!
Its been around 5 days since i bought the OG 2022 (Kindle version), for the only purpose of receving the online question bank access code. After around 5 days of chat support, there is no code, and seems like nobody know anything about it. A waste of time and energy.
H**O
Numerous Errors
I just got this book today and I’m already seeing numerous errors in the very first math section. It’s saying that -9^(1/2) = -3 and in its example for 2.09x1.3, they talk about how the decimal needs to be moved but they fail to do so in the example (no it’s not a practice problem), making it appear as though the answer would erroneously be 627.
J**R
Beat Up/Used
Bought new but came banged up and used. Need a refund and for the time wasted.
A**R
A++
Perfect
E**E
Good introduction but nothing beats the real exam time pressures
I had hoped to learn new tricks in this to get faster for the exam and up my marks but it made no difference at all to my score unfortunately. I have heard similar feedback since from other candidates from a maths background, it's learning how to make strategic guesses more than crunching numbers, the maths are easy, it's the time constraints are hard. Guessing isn't intuitive to me as I'm in the numbers game for a living so my score remained steady. Not bad, but the book didn't help me personally.
B**A
Suboptimal quality. Seems first copy
1. The cover quality is very substandard compared to other Wiley books2. Pages are see through.3. Wiley Hologram is missing4. Not an Indian edition as shown in product description.5. Something has been blurred out in cover page6. Paper and cover too thin compared to other gmat books7. Seems like a duplicate book8. The seller All india book home is looting customer by providing fake copy.
B**E
Overpriced af
An essential resource that is quite overpriced. While the quality is good, educational resources should be priced decently as they are essential goods and not a luxury. Plus even after you buy the book, a lot of online material is behind a paywall.
R**A
Go for it.
Very good guide for starting preparationIt gives a complete analysis of the exam patternYou can refer other books like GMAT subject specific books and Manhattan prep books for complete preparationThis is a must have
V**L
Page quality not even worth 500
The media could not be loaded. Compare to other two guides page quality for book is very bad. Costs 2000 but gives material of ₹200.I had online copy of it already but thought of hardcopy but it looks very bad
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