The Official Guide for GMAT Review (With CD ROM) 13th Edition

I ordered this book from Flipkart.com one afternoon and got it within the next evening. Book was in good condition except for the top left corner of the cover page slightly folded, which might have happened during the shipping. But other than that the standard of order processing was good.

Coming back to the book I'm more than half-way in to it. Its got easier questions than the Kaplan ones but I guess since its from GMAC it should mirror the standard we can actually expect on the GMAT. Most of the questions are pretty easy if you have solved Kaplan before. Explanations are thorough and satisfactory. I found some reviews on Amazon.com and they say that its just a re-publication of the previous OGS. I can't comment on that because I haven't gone though the previous ones.

A bit bulky to carry around, if you are planning to carry it on your business trips. However its good value for money and a must-have for anyone preparing for the GMAT.

P.S. For Heaven's sake please don't buy the Barron's book. Go for Kaplan if you want more practice.

The above review by Subbu is actually misleading. Please read the book summary - the GMAC has clearly stated that only 20% of the questions are new. It is unclear what Subbu expected even after reading this. This book provides a great way to kick off your GMAT prep and includes a primer on the new IR section. It's worth getting this book even if you have the 12th edition ; don't compromise on your exam prep for a mere 1000 bucks. And please don't be carried away by such misleading reviews.

First off, I'm extremely happy with FlipKart's delivery. It was prompt, and I received the book in very good condition.

Now, about the 13th edition:

I'm very disappointed in the way GMAT folks have come out with a new edition - that has so little to offer.

The caption on the cover reads "More than 900 questions from past GMAT exams" - while this is true & does offer a comprehensive question bank, be warned that almost 70% of the questions are repeats from the 12th Edition. I own the 12th edition too - and I was disappointed so see this much of an overlap between these 2 editions.

There is no change in the "Strategy" sections of 13th edition as well - they are exact copies of those in the 12th edition.

From June 5, 2012, GMAT is introducing a new section called "Integrated Reasoning". This book does have a brief section dedicated to it, and offers 50 practice questions online. You'll have to register yourself to get access to those questions; for this you should use the unique access code printed at the back cover of the book - which you should do as soon as you get the book delivered, to prevent any misuse. Oh, and by the way, the access to those questions expire exactly 6 months after you register - so make good use of the practice questions as soon as possible.

Apart from a few additional questions in the verbal & quantitative section plus the 50 IR questions, 13th edition does not have anything more to offer than the 12th edition.

So in conclusion- I would say if you have the 12th edition, don't buy the 13th edition - but if 13th ed is going to be your first book, go for it. There is no other book which offers actual GMAT questions.

The Official guide is the closest simulation you can get of the real GMAT exam only because its written by the GMAC itself. It features about 800 past retired questions which will really give you great insight onto what you can expect when you go to write the real exam. You have to go through this book at least once before writing your GMAT, or else your preparation is incomplete or probably flawed severely.

Just to sum this book,
Pro's:
1) It provides REAL GMAT questions, hence, simulating the actual difficulty level of the real GMAT.
2) The questions are arranged from the easiest to the toughest
3) It provides an overview of the question types that are most tested on the GMAT
Cons:
1) The explanations are sometimes cryptic, especially for Sentence correction. With Sentence Correction in particular, you would definitely need something to supplement this section of the book, just to understand the official explanations
2) The concept reviews before the start of each section is pretty useless. Its good if you want to understand topics are being tested, but if you really want to learn the concepts, from scratch I suggest you add another book to your study schedule.
3) The current GMAT Verbal section has been revised, and idioms are not being tested as heavily as it was before. Instead GMAC has put more focus on meanings, and scope shifts in questions in the verbal section, so the official guide Sentence correction section doesn't accurately cover the topics that the revised GMAT is testing.

Personally, I found the book very helpful. Its essential to incorporate this in your study schedule and I recommend it to all. But beware that you do need to use other books to complement your study schedule, this book alone wont do it.

I think this version is utter crap. I request everyone preparing for GMAT to either refer to the Manhattan material or Kaplan 800 or the new book by Princeton which has over 1200 practice questions, to have any remote chance of doing well in the exam. This material given by GMAC is way too simple as compared to the actual questions which pop up in the GMAT.

I would ask you guys to trust me since I have been a GMAT instructor for the past 5 years and would absolutely not recommend the official on grounds that it is outdated and too simple. In fact I don't recommend it to any of my students appearing for the same.