Best GMAT Books of 2023 : General GMAT Questions and Strategies

Best GMAT Prep Books

Usually these books are a great starting point - they get you familiarized with the test format, sections, timing, and main strategies. Sometimes books are not the best tool and there are low-cost GMAT Courses out there, but this discussion is about books.




The first column lists book categories and the purpose behind them and the other columns list approaches to the GMAT from average to most comprehensive. These are designed to copliment the GMAT Study plan thread.






1. GMAT Official Guide - 2021 Ed
Published by the creators of the GMAT. Must have to access to 1,100+ real GMAT questions but lacks any strategies.
Strengths:
1. 1,100 real GMAT questions
2. The practice questions follow actual GMAT test patterns - great to have one's ear trained
3. Online system but sometimes hit and miss
Weaknesses:
1. The book does not contain any strategies
2. It does have a few short review sections but they are very weak
3. Mostly low and medium difficulty questions. Not very helpful to a person aiming to get above 700.
Other Notes: OG 2021 Directory with difficulty and topics





2. Manhattan GMAT (MGMAT) Guides
The go-to book set for GMAT Prep and probably one of the best options out there
Strengths:
1. Good balance between test-taking strategies and background theory explanations
2. Thorough
3. Access to 6 MGMAT CAT's
4. Additional online practice question banks (different for each book)
Weaknesses:
1. The latest edition has moved some of the content online which has made it less comprehensive. See the comparison of the last 2 editions here.







3. Veritas Prep 12 GMAT Guides Bundle
Strong challenger to the Manhattan GMAT set
Strengths:
1. Very in-depth overview of every GMAT subject in 12 dedicated guides (each is 100-200 pages long)
2. Comes with a test simulation booklet and a basic math book for those who need extra help (MGMAT charges extra for these)
3. Comes with 7 CATs
4. Has more practice questions than the Manhattan set
Weaknesses:
1. Could have used less paper - some books have only one question per page
2. Expensive! $250 for new on Amazon but you can find a good used deal.






4. Kaplan GMAT Prep Plus 2021
Recommended. Well-rounded guide for GMAT preparation. Questions are usually harder than GMAT and sometimes a bit off; however, the book comes with 6 GMAT Tests
Strengths:
1. Good review of fundamentals and valuable strategies - good first GMAT Book
2. 6 GMAT Tests included for the price of $38 with free shipping from Amazon
Weaknesses:
1. Several questions overlap with Kaplan 800 book
2. Some areas such as combinations or probability are not covered in sufficient detail
Other Notes: Updates have been lacking from edition to edition






5. Kaplan GMAT 800
This book is a great idea - create a resource for those who already mastered the lower levels of GMAT, do not require any information about the test or basic strategies but need to focus on higher difficulty questions, but it has its weaknesses, one of them, not living up to its name. Though a great marketing name, many feel it should realistically set expectations as a 650-700 bookStrengths:
1. Good for additional practice questions as a supplement
2. Contains more advanced strategies
3. Saves time for advanced test-takers
Weaknesses:
1. Review of mathematical content is not thorough enough and actually fairly basic
2. Guessing as well as Plug-in-the-number strategies are overused
3. Some questions are not very realistic (do not follow the GMAT patterns)
4. Few 750-level questions




6. Test Simulation Booklet with Marker ("Scratch Paper")
The laminated booklet and marker are exactly as the ones you will get at the test center. Great product to get familiar with the special laminated scratch paper.

This is only for the physical test-center GMAT. For the GMAT Online, see this post for the whiteboard options

Other Books You May Find Helpful:

Princeton Review 1,138 GMAT Questions
Not a guidebook and contains only practice questions.
Strengths:
1. Review of factorials, probability, combinations, groups, Yes/No DS, assumption, and parallel structure questions
2. Good split between PS and DS in math
Weaknesses:
1. Some errors in explanations have been reported
2. Weaker RC section
3. Verbal questions are a bit off but all non OG Verbal questions are off.






Feel free to suggest other books you have liked or critique my recommendations :wink:


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General

All the Official Guides we do have in our directory https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmac-officia ... 40610.html

Quant

- GMATClub Math book
- MGAMT Advanced quant

Verbal

- Aristotle SC
- Aristotle CR
- RC the resources we do have on the forum. Such as these
https://gmatclub.com/forum/experts-topi ... 41004.html
https://gmatclub.com/forum/rc-verbal-qu ... 95438.html
- Improve reading: GMAT_Monthly_Reading
https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-improve ... l#p1671400

Recommended tutors

- Gmat Ninja (Charles Bibilos) or GMAT Quantum.

That's it.
Regards

Topic updated with the 2021 book titles and even a link to a whiteboard
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hi all, does anyone have free/used GMAT and/or TOEFL books/CDs ? Thanks in advance!!

Hi! I'm looking at verbal resources from MBA.com could someone guide me:

What are the differences among:

GMAT Official Guide 22
GMAT Official Guide Verbal Review
GMAT Official Practice Questions 1 & 2

These are 4 resources. I'm in the mid 30s of Verbal and wanna improve. Which one(s) will be best?

HI im currently preparing for CAT(Indian management test) post that I have planned to take gmat. i almost have 5 weeks for it and wanted study material. Since the CAT already has formed the basics of most topics. I want only those resources who can give me advance practice. With regrades to different questions types of CR and DS I am also familiar with them as I have given NMAT by GMAC whose format is very similar to gmat but difficulty is on the lower side.
I was planning to buy the Kaplan prep plus 2022 book. Does it have good quality qs?

raju1212 wrote:HI im currently preparing for CAT(Indian management test) post that I have planned to take gmat. i almost have 5 weeks for it and wanted study material. Since the CAT already has formed the basics of most topics. I want only those resources who can give me advance practice. With regrades to different questions types of CR and DS I am also familiar with them as I have given NMAT by GMAC whose format is very similar to gmat but difficulty is on the lower side.
I was planning to buy the Kaplan prep plus 2022 book. Does it have good quality qs?

Sure, it would have fine questions though the biggest value that it will have will be the strategies and also the Tests that come with it.
If you are looking just for a question book to practice from, get the Official Guide first.

Good Luck!
BB
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Hello
I really want to take the GMAT again since my score of 640 is an abysmal one for unis that I would want to target
Came across the official GMAC Verbal and Quant books
Can someone let me know if those are good enough to start with and whether their questions are good enough to increase my score? Also planning to take the GMAT Whiz course to cover any gaps
Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated!
Thank you
Sas

Came across the official GMAC Verbal and Quant books
Can someone let me know if those are good enough to start with and whether their questions are good enough to increase my score

Probably fair to say the Official Guides are solid choices to include into one's prep at some point. In terms of learning fundamentals early on, however - if you are, for example, very rusty with combinations or English grammar - it may be worth checking out 3rd party sources.

suryasas wrote:Hello
I really want to take the GMAT again since my score of 640 is an abysmal one for unis that I would want to target
Came across the official GMAC Verbal and Quant books
Can someone let me know if those are good enough to start with and whether their questions are good enough to increase my score? Also planning to take the GMAT Whiz course to cover any gaps
Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated!
Thank you
Sas

Those guides are certainly helpful, but you may need some more robust materials. Have you checked out course reviews here on GMAT Club?
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ScottTargetTestPrep wrote:

suryasas wrote:Hello
I really want to take the GMAT again since my score of 640 is an abysmal one for unis that I would want to target
Came across the official GMAC Verbal and Quant books
Can someone let me know if those are good enough to start with and whether their questions are good enough to increase my score? Also planning to take the GMAT Whiz course to cover any gaps
Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated!
Thank you
Sas

Those guides are certainly helpful, but you may need some more robust materials. Have you checked out course reviews here on GMAT Club?

Hello Scott
Yes, I have.
As mentioned GMAT Whiz primarily due to a time constraint I had
Thought I could supplement that with the offical verbal/quant books.
However, I can understand needing more robust or tougher material to prepare, appreciate the insight.
Went through the forum's list of books and already have the Kaplan guide. It's underwhelming however and has questions that don't seem to be on par with the official 700+ questions on the official GMAT exam.
Do you have any suggestions?
I can see that you're part of TTP, if your course can bridge the gap from 640 to mid 700's then I'd be happy to switch over. Inclined toward Whiz because of their reviews on score rises.
Thank you for your time
Best,
Sas

Consider checking out/also including Manhattan-Prep's 6th Edition for SC and CR into your prep. May take you less than 2 weeks to go through them both. There's a free in-house gmatclub math guide you can download for free as a pdf as well. Some Quant and Verbal video tips on the gmatknight website you may find interesting too.