By Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC): The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition Twelfth (12th) Edition

 (118 customer reviews)

After going through all the GMAT books, here is my comparison about some of the most popular GMAT books:

Official Guides:
Pros - Excellent source of GMAT questions. Very well organized with real test like questions.
Cons - No review of any math content or test-taking strategies. Not very good explanations of practice questions.
Overall, the Official Guide is a must have for all test-takers. It will give you a good idea about the type of questions to expect on the GMAT; however, if you need more than just a bank of questions, you need to look at some other source.

Kaplan:
Pros - It covers every section of the test as much as possible by a single book. Also a good source for additional practice questions.
Cons - Review of math content is not thorough but just the very basics. Not enough explanation of test taking strategies. Full of guessing techniques with no real mathematical solutions. Not good enough explanations of practice questions...Read more

The best approach for using the GMAT Official Guide:

The GMAT OG is a "must have" for everyone who intend to take the GMAT, but only if you use it the right way.

-First:
--Go through this book at the very beginning when you first start preparing for the GMAT.
--This will give you a good understanding of what you should expect to see when you take the actual test.

-Next:
--If you feel you are 100% comfortable with all the concepts involved - go ahead and crack every question in this book and you'll be good to go.
--If you feel you lack some if not all of the concepts involved - keep this book aside, go through some of the other study guides, and then at the end come back to this book and answer every question.

-Next:
--Buy the recommended books listed below.
--Take the official practice GMAT.

-Finally:
--If you feel, you still need more practice, consider browsing the internet to find any free...Read more

This is the review for the The GMAT Review 12th Edition (2009) (A lot of reviews are for older versions of this book). I have the 11th Edition (Orange Cover), and bought this new edition hoping for brand new practice questions, but most of the questions are the same. The diagnostic test is even the same.

This is a great book to prepare for the GMAT, but if you already own the 11th Edition (orange cover), then don't bother. There's really nothing in here that isn't in that version