The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review

From the Publisher
The only official quantitative review for the GMAT from the creators of the test
Anyone preparing for the Graduate Management Admission Test® (GMAT) knows it's important to study with the experts. With The Official Guide for the GMAT Quantitative Review, you'll get questions, answers, and explanations straight from the source. The only official quantitative review for the GMAT Exam, this book targets your study and helps you improve your quantitative skills by focusing on your ability to solve equations, interpret data, coordinate geometry, and determine probability with assurance and ease. Inside, you'll find

• 300 actual questions from past GMAT tests
• Sections on Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Problem Solving, and Data Sufficiency
• Questions organized in order of difficulty to save study time

The Graduate Management Admission Council certifies all content so you can trust that you're getting expert guidance as you prepare for the GMAT Exam.

The Graduate Management Admission Council® (GMAC) is the association of leading graduate business schools around the world. GMAC's mission is to meet the needs of business schools and students through a wide array of products, services, and programs. It is the owner and administrator of the Graduate Management Admissions Test® (GMAT), the first and only standardized test specifically designed for graduate business and management programs. Available in nearly 100 countries, it is the global standard for entry to the MBA degree course.

''4 stars' - A good way to practice, but not to study... / by GMAT 760

This book is a quick way to jam through some GMAT practice math questions, nothing more and nothing less. I sat down and did it in a weekend without too much effort. I agree with other reviews that this book is not a good place to begin your studying in that there aren't many pages devoted to concepts - it really is just a tool for practice. As mentioned in other reviews, the questions are in order of difficulty. I found this useful because it gives you a very clear sense of what the GMAT considers difficult versus the types of questions that are considered easy. If you're like me, you'll zip through the bulk of the questions and then hit a wall where you notice you're getting more and more wrong - a good thing, while you're still studying! Kaplan questions are generally harder than these, Princeton Review a bit easier, and Barron's are just plain bizarre. Given the huge inconsistency across books - it's nice to ground yourself in "official" questions once in awhile.

"4 stars" - Fairly useful / By J. Cohen

I bought this after going through the 2005 Kaplan GMAT book. The pro's are that it has a lot of actual past math questions (176 problem solving & 118 Data Sufficiency) and they are very similar to the type of question you will encounter on the real test because the book is by GMAC (the makers of the actual GMAT test). Therefore, it's great as a source for additional practice. The con's are that it has a very brief instructional section that isn't very useful at all and the problems are organized in order of increasing difficulty. This means that approximately the last 20 questions of both P/S and D/S type problems will be like the real thing, assuming you are doing fairly well on the real thing and only receiving difficult level questions. All in all, I highly recommend using this in conjunction with another more thorough GMAT review (such as Kaplan), but not on its own. And if you want an accurate full-length practice test then definitely use the 2 FREE practice tests downloadable from MBA.com when you register to take the GMAT - they are much better indicators of actual performance than Kaplan.

"5 stars" - I found this to be VERY helpful / By Michael Bond

While I did not compare this with other guide books, like some reviewers have, I did use it to prepare for the GMAT. There are hundreds of sample problems and the solutions and HOW the solution was arrived at.

When I took the exam, there were no problems that were in a format I had not seen. Naturally, they were different, but the TYPES of problems had all been explained in the book.

If - for some insane reason - I were to have to take the GMAT again, I would buy this book again.

PS: I scored 90% on the quantitative (woohoo!)

"5 stars" - Good Additional Book for Math Problems / By Andres Gonzalez

I bought this book with the understanding that it was not a study guide. This book should be only used as an additional aid for the math section of the GMAT. This book has really great sample questions that are very similar to the questions that you will see when you take the GMAT. This booked coupled with a GMAT Review study guide, such as the books offered by the Princeton Review makes an awesome combo.

"4 stars" - GMAT Books you must have! / By Monika Sebisky "Mona"

I have been studying for GMAT for a few weeks now and I think the OG is a great source for a good practice on real GMAT questions. But having said that, use the OG only once you grasp all the basics and when you are almost ready to take the GMAT. The OG does not contain any math conceptual content, so use it only for practice towards the end.

In order to get a real GMAT prep - I would recommend you buy the set of 9 books of "EZ Solutions," or whichever book(s) you think you need most help with. These books are very detailed oriented and cover everything on the GMAT math. First use the review modules to get the concepts and then use the workbooks for practice. Some of the most challenging topics in GMAT math, such as permutation/combination, probability, geometry problems, complex word problems, etc., are brilliantly explained in these books. Also, the EZ Advanced Workbook is a "must have" if you are aiming for a high score. It may be a good idea to buy Barron's without the CD (don't waste money on the CD version for any book). After doing all this, use the OG and you will see a dramatic difference in your scores. If you still need more practice, you may consider buying the Kaplan book (but really not needed). Save your money by not buying anything else. You don't even have to take any of those pricy courses. I followed this process and my scores have jumped from the 500-range to the 700-range. Good luck!

"5 stars" - Excellent Preparation Book for the GMAT / By B. Bozant "Future GMat Test Taker"

It has been seven years since I have been out of college. My math skills are very rusty. The Quanative Review is the best book to get because it is written by the GMAT Staff. Each question comes with an explanation of how the problem is solved. The book is broken down into sections with complete explanations.

I am not good at math at all and there are over 300 problems to solve from basic arthimatic, algebra, geometry, and Data Sufficienty. all have multiple choice answers and at the end of each section.

The book is much cheaper than getting it through the mba.

I also recommend the GMAT Verbal Review as well

"4 stars" - Could Have Been Better / By Vanessa Maserati

The questions in this book are definitely A LOT easier than their counterparts from the Official Guide for GMAT Review. Nevertheless, I was still surprised when I got a total of 10 wrong answers. This book by itself is not enough for GMAT study, but it is great for warming up before working on the questions in the official guide.