GMAT Official Guide 2019 Bundle: Books + Online

I'm a Harvard grad, 99% GMAT scorer and professional GMAT tutor since 2002: to date, I have taken the GMAT 5 times and scored in the 700s every time, with personal bests of 50/51 Quant, 48/51 Verbal, 6/6 AWA (4 times) and 8/8 IR (2 times). More importantly, I have also coached hundreds of GMAT students to scores as high as 770. I can strongly recommend the GMAT 2019 Official Guide Bundle (currently $53) to anyone trying to earn a great score on the GMAT.Although the vast majority of students will need to use additional learning and strategy guides, the GMAT Official Guides are still the best place to start for anyone preparing for the GMAT, because they are a great source of official test questions. These questions, by popular demand, are now organized by topic in addition to difficulty. They are vastly superior to the questions in third-party GMAT test guides, which are nothing more than subpar imitations of the real thing--particularly on the GMAT Verbal section.The GMAT Official Guide 2019 Bundle includes the following 3 books, which you might want to consider purchasing separately:1) The GMAT Official Guide 2019:  GMAT Official Guide 2019: Book + Online 2) The GMAT Official Guide 2019 Verbal Review:  GMAT Official Guide Verbal Review 2019: Book + Online 3) The GMAT Official Guide 2019 Quantitative Review:  GMAT Official Guide Quantitative Review 2019: Book + Online Each book also provides an access code to a companion website that includes the questions from the book in a digital format, as well as additional Integrated Reasoning questions, which, due to their multimedia nature, cannot be included in the physical books.NO KINDLE VERSION THIS YEAR: There is also a digital version of the main OG, 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 a full list of my personal GMAT Prep recommendations, google "GMAT Action Plan." You can also read my detailed review of last year's edition, which is currently half the price of the 2019 bundle:  GMAT Official Guide 2018 Bundle: Books + Online Please note that the GMAT has changed significantly in the last couple of years: it has become shorter (3.5 instead of 4 hours), and you can now choose the order of your sections from among 3 options: traditional (AWA, IR, Quant, Verbal), Quant first (Q/V/IR/AWA) or Verbal first (V/Q/IR/AWA). I would strongly recommend that you choose one of the final two options.Best of luck on your GMAT and beyond!-Brian

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. But, you definitely do not need all three of these books. The main GMAT Book ( GMAT Official Guide 2019: Book + Online ) has 900 questions covering all of the quant and verbal material you could possibly need, not to mention it includes AWA & IR content. Regardless, these books are basically the GMAT Bible. While the questions will not be reused on test day, 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. Also, the answer explanations aren't the best so I'd recommend video explanations from officialgmatcourse.com or written explanations from gmatclub.com or beatthegmat.com.BACKGROUNDThe GMAT Official Guide series 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.OVERVIEWIncluded in the bundle are four 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 GMAT Official Guide 2019 Verbal Review: A verbal section specific book focusing on Reading Comprehension, Sentence Correction, and Critical Reasoning. The introductions to each section are consistent with the main Official Guide book (the 900 question book discussed above), but the questions are different.#3 The GMAT Official Guide 2019 Quantitative Review: A quant (math) section specific book focusing on problem-solving and data sufficiency subtypes. Again, the introductions are consistent with the main book but you get some new questions here.#4 The Online Content: All of the practice questions are also available in an online format and access is included with each book. The online version of the books has improved over the years but doesn't offer much beyond the physical or kindle version of the official guide books. 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? Question 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: Every book comes with some new content. The main Official Guide offers 130 new questions (of the 900 in the book) while the Verbal and Quant books each offers 45 new questions (out of 300). 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.

This 2019 bundle provided me with excellent practice materials to score 720 on actual GMAT in Aug 2018. To benefit most, I completed the whole Official Guide 2019 before moving to the other two books. I carefully analysed why all wrong choices in every question must be false.Advantages:1. 1,500+ retired yet high-quality GMAT questions, 220+ of which are never seen before.2. Question categorization by difficulty level: easy (below 550), medium (550-650) and hard (above 650).3. Fair distribution of questions into one of the above categories.4. Online platform, a collection of above-mentioned questions and 66 Integrated Reasoning questions.Drawbacks:1. No greater than 20 questions of very hard difficulty (750-800 level).2. No test-taking strategies. Find those elsewhere.

I bought this specially because it had the online resources, but I couldn't get my access code to work even though everything was brand new. I couldn't find any help or support with this.The books are great, but I am really upset I am not able to use the online resources.

Sorry for the public review, but I couldn't find a way to contact you, the seller, directly.In short, the issue is: this book should contain a code for owners (i.e., me) to use to access additional content online. However, one of these three books doesn't have one. Please see picAside from that, thus far the books are fine. If/when this issue is resolved then I'll happily adjust this review, because the issue will have been resolved.Thanks,-A

Thanks to these books I now passed the test and secured my place at the top 3 UK university. Great explanations and instructions on how to tackle those GMAT tasks

Perfect in time

perfect books

I liked these books. They come with a very good review of all concepts covered and include many practice questions and explanations for all answered questions indicating why it was wrong or why it was correct. This helped a lot with studying.The online platform, the Question builder, was very useful tailoring practice exams to the specific sections and skill levels.Why I gave this review a 3 Star is because it helped me make a grave mistake on test day and affected my overall mark greatly.In the Question Builder - the quantitative section allows you the use of an on screen calculator. It is a primitive calculator (in comparison to some of the modern day scientific units.) You need to click on it to open it and when you aren't using it you can minimize it.I got used to using the online calculator in an attempt to mimic the actual GMAT test and familiarize myself with the difficulty level of the questions and left my scientific calculator out of it.On Test Day - I sit down to write the quantitative section and there is no calculator. In fact it says calculators are not allowed right on your screen. So my time spent practicing theory and principles did nothing to help me with my simple arithmetic that I overlooked thinking I had the use of a calculator. This hurt my quant score and my overall test.This is largely in part my error for not reading the entire book... as it is stated in the book no calculator is provided for the quant section... I however find it frustrating that the "official test prep" included the calculator and I completed all my practice with it. Study-ers beware.

I have covered this book front to back and its okay. the explanations on topics are mediocre, i would not recommend this book to learn from. the questions are good because they're representative of the actual exam. But again it falls short in the explanation of the answers a lot of times. overall if you just need practice questions this is good, but i recommend you get other resources in addition to teach your self the material from.