BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

Official Guide for GMAT Review 2015: Identical to OG13

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Post Reply
Previous Topic Next Topic
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 134
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:23 pm
Location: California
Thanked: 59 times
Followed by:15 members

Official Guide for GMAT Review 2015: Identical to OG13

by dabral » Tue Jun 17, 2014 9:27 am
The GMAT test writers will shortly be releasing new GMAT guides for 2015(Amazon gives a date of 8 July 2014). The bad news is that all of the questions in the guides are identical to the older editions. I compared about 80 to 90% of the questions in the quantitative/math section of the two guides, and they are identical to the OG13 and OG Quant Review 2nd edition.

The only thing new is the ability to access all of the questions in an online question bank format that will allow one to create practice tests. The online question bank consists of the same questions that are present in the two guides. It is unclear at present if the online access would allow one to rank questions by difficulty, and also be able to do timed practice tests. I will review this feature once it is made public.

Cheers,
Dabral
Image
Image
Free Video Explanations: 2021 GMAT OFFICIAL GUIDE.
Top
Source: — GMAT Strategy |
User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2193
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 pm
Location: Vermont and Boston, MA
Thanked: 1186 times
Followed by:512 members
GMAT Score:770

by David@VeritasPrep » Tue Jun 17, 2014 10:02 am
The ability to create exams with these 900 questions is a significant feature. This sounds very much like functionality of the GMATPrep Pack 1 add-on. Except this book has 900 questions and the Prep Pack 1 has about 400.

Doing questions on the computer is more realistic than doing them in the book. At Veritas we have made the questions in our books available to our students in an online format for some time. It is a great feature.

For this reason, I would suggest that anyone about to buy the OG 13 (or Quant Review) should wait a couple of weeks and buy the new 2015 version.

However, anyone who already has the OG 13 and Quant Review is better of investing in the GMATPrep Pack 1 for the 400 different questions that can be attempted online since as dabral has mentioned it appears that there are not any new questions in the new edition.

GMAC continues to improve the amount of materials and ways to access those materials!
Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor

Veritas Prep Reviews
Save $100 off any live Veritas Prep GMAT Course
Top
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue May 20, 2014 6:38 am
Thanked: 3 times

by varung79 » Tue Jun 17, 2014 6:25 pm
Hi

The new release would definitely be a time saver and makes your preparation livelier. Excited to know what other features the online software offers.
The trouble with too many people is they believe the realm of success always lies within their exam preparation & hard work and not with his or her Manager

TestPrep....Practice....Exam...LOL...www.controlledexams.com
Top
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 134
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:23 pm
Location: California
Thanked: 59 times
Followed by:15 members

by dabral » Wed Jun 18, 2014 5:31 pm
Perhaps that day is not too far where they stop publishing the official guides and make all of the practice content part of GMATPrep. They could easily incorporate all of that content in a format similar to GMATPrep Question Pack 1, along with the official explanations as well. May be this is a step in that direction. It would also be great if they could release the difficulty data on GMAT questions, what percentile of students got a certain question correct. GRE did this for years, but GMAT never disclosed this information. I have always wondered why.

Cheers,
Dabral
Free Video Explanations: 2021 GMAT OFFICIAL GUIDE.
Top
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue May 20, 2014 6:38 am
Thanked: 3 times

by varung79 » Wed Jun 18, 2014 10:20 pm
Super cool thought! Fades away the gap between book preparation and CAT.
The trouble with too many people is they believe the realm of success always lies within their exam preparation & hard work and not with his or her Manager

TestPrep....Practice....Exam...LOL...www.controlledexams.com
Top
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 381
Joined: Wed May 19, 2010 10:15 pm
Thanked: 41 times
Followed by:2 members

by AbhiJ » Thu Jun 19, 2014 7:19 am
I believe this is just another product by MBA.com. I would rather use the following combination of materials
- OG12, OGQ2, OGV2 (These could be found for a total of 20$)
- GMAT Prep Question Pack 1
- GMAT Prep Exam Pack 1

Do Not think any more value will be added by practising OG materials on screen than via hard copy.
Top
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue May 20, 2014 6:38 am
Thanked: 3 times

by varung79 » Thu Jun 19, 2014 12:13 pm
Hi AbhiJ

Is there any specific reason why you prefer OG12 to OG13?
The trouble with too many people is they believe the realm of success always lies within their exam preparation & hard work and not with his or her Manager

TestPrep....Practice....Exam...LOL...www.controlledexams.com
Top

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
Elite Legendary Member
Posts: 10392
Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pm
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Thanked: 2867 times
Followed by:511 members
GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Thu Jun 19, 2014 2:31 pm
hi AbhiJ,

While the differences between the OG12 and OG13 are not significant (the OG13 "swapped out" a number of practice questions and includes a section on IR), there IS value in practicing with online/computer-based resources. There are significant differences between studying for hours out of a book and studying for hours on a computer. The Official GMAT will require you to take the Test on a desk-top work-station over the course of about 4 hours. This new "asset" that the New OG includes should be interesting in that it will allow Test Takers to work in the same "format" as the Official GMAT.

Many Test Takers find the physical "mechanics" of taking the GMAT on a computer can sometimes affect their performances. It's not that they don't know how to use a computer, it's that the process "wears them down" so that they're more fatigued by the time they reach the Verbal section and that they make more silly mistakes overall.

As such, however you choose to study (and with whatever combination of resources you opt to use), you should include some online GMAT resources BEYOND the CATs that you take. Those resources will likely help you to better prepare for the GMAT and increase your chances at scoring at a high level.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
Image
Top
User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 1035
Joined: Fri Dec 17, 2010 11:13 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Thanked: 474 times
Followed by:365 members

by VivianKerr » Tue Jun 24, 2014 12:28 am
Being able to use Official material in an online format is HUGELY significant. As a tutor, I often would email students compilations of OG13 questions I had copied/pasted together online rather than assign them the questions from the book itself. It's a completely different test-taking situation to negotiate an exam from computer screen to yellow scratch-pad and back again. Hooray for GMAC catching up with the times!
Vivian Kerr
GMAT Rockstar, Tutor
https://www.GMATrockstar.com
https://www.yelp.com/biz/gmat-rockstar-los-angeles

Former Kaplan and Grockit instructor, freelance GMAT content creator, now offering affordable, effective, Skype-tutoring for the GMAT at $150/hr. Contact: [email protected]

Thank you for all the "thanks" and "follows"! :-)
Top
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2012 6:18 am
Thanked: 1 times
Followed by:1 members

by abhijeet_g » Tue Jul 01, 2014 8:45 pm
Could anyone please give a feedback on Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review 2015 as well? This book is being released in US iTunes stores but not sure 2015 edition has same questions as those in Verbal Review Edition 2.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/offici ... 1292?mt=11

Will appreciate any feedback.
Top

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 768
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2011 4:18 pm
Location: Berkeley, CA
Thanked: 387 times
Followed by:140 members

by Mike@Magoosh » Wed Aug 06, 2014 9:13 am
dabral wrote: The online question bank consists of the same questions that are present in the two guides.

Cheers,
Dabral
Dear Dabral,
I don't know your source of information. I went through the question in the online version. They are NOT identical to the questions in the OG. I recognize all the questions in the OG, and I didn't see any overlap with the online questions. Some of the online questions I did recognize, from official questions in the forum --- presumably, some of them are recycled from early releases of official questions, perhaps earlier versions of GMAT Prep, for example. I want to make crystal clear, though, the online questions are NOT identical to the question in the hard copy of the OG.

See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/the-offici ... uide-2015/
Similarly, for the previous vs. 2015 editions of the OG Verbal & Quant reviews. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/the-gmat-o ... iew-books/

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
https://gmat.magoosh.com/
Top
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 134
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:23 pm
Location: California
Thanked: 59 times
Followed by:15 members

by dabral » Wed Aug 06, 2014 1:08 pm
Mike,

Can you post some screenshots of problems that are in the online bank but are different from the official guide?

This is what mba.com has to say:
"Please note: Content in The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 2015 is the same as the content in the 13th Edition. The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 2015 offers new video content and access to the NEW online section of the book, but no new questions."

The link to mba.com: https://www.mba.com/us/store/store-catal ... -2015.aspx

Cheers,
Dabral
Free Video Explanations: 2021 GMAT OFFICIAL GUIDE.
Top

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 768
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2011 4:18 pm
Location: Berkeley, CA
Thanked: 387 times
Followed by:140 members

by Mike@Magoosh » Wed Aug 06, 2014 2:05 pm
dabral wrote:Mike,

Can you post some screenshots of problems that are in the online bank but are different from the official guide?

This is what mba.com has to say:
"Please note: Content in The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 2015 is the same as the content in the 13th Edition. The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 2015 offers new video content and access to the NEW online section of the book, but no new questions."

The link to mba.com: https://www.mba.com/us/store/store-catal ... -2015.aspx

Cheers,
Dabral
Dear Dabral,
My mistake! I'm sorry! When I looked at the first few questions of each type, I didn't recognize them from the respective sections in the OG, but I didn't realize that these first few were pulled from the Diagnostic section of the OG! Yes, apparently all the online questions are identical the questions in the print copies, both the 2015 editions and the earlier editions.
Very sorry about any confusion.
Mike :-)
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
https://gmat.magoosh.com/
Top
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 134
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:23 pm
Location: California
Thanked: 59 times
Followed by:15 members

by dabral » Wed Aug 06, 2014 11:31 pm
Mike,

The diagnostic questions don't get as much attention as the rest of the problems, and can seem different from the official guide. They are anyway significantly harder than the rest of the guide.

Cheers,
Dabral
Free Video Explanations: 2021 GMAT OFFICIAL GUIDE.
Top
Post new topic Post Reply
• Page 1 of 1