The Official Guide for GMAT Review is the one book that everybody should buy. The guide doesn’t provide strategies or tactics for taking the test. Instead, its just a HUGE book of 800 real GMAT questions from past tests. If you also pick up the Official Guide for Verbal Review and the Official Guide for Quantitative Review, and you’ll have enough questions to do plenty of timed practice tests.

Toward the end of my GMAT training, I used these guides to tackle about 150 practice questions. I generally did these in 3 sets of 50 questions, all in the same subject matter. I knew I was ready to take the test when I started getting 48-49 right everytime.

Better to first read the strategies from some of the major guidebooks, Kaplan, Princeton Review and especially the highly recommended Manhattan GMAT Prep Guide series.

If you’re like me, you may have never studied formal logic in college or elsewhere. This can be a major handicap on the GMAT, and its definitely one area that the traditional courses cover too quickly for you to really master the material.

A lot of GMAT questions start with “logically” or “identify the logical fallacy” or similar language. This is not the same use of the word “logical” that you are used to in your day-to-day speaking.  Formal logic has a very specific set of rules that must be followed and conditions that must be met. These are not necessarily intuitive, so those on the path to GMAT Mastery will seek outside resources.

I checked Logic Made Easy: How to Know When Language Deceives You, from the public library as part of my GMAT preparation.  It basically says the same thing over and over again: If A then B does not mean if B then A. However, there are many more complicated ways in which this basic statement can be hidden from view, causing you to trip up during the high pressure atmosphere of the GMAT.

 If you are having trouble with the verbal section of the GMAT, find a book on logic.  This one is a good place to start:

The most helpful book I found in my GMAT preparation, bar none. Most people taking this test rely on Kaplan, Princeton Review and then then think they’ve done enough. But those traveling the path to GMAT Mastery want to do better than everybody else.  So you’ll have to find references that nobody else has found (except fellow travelers on the path–don’t worry, there’s not many readers of this site yet!).

So are you really ready to walk that path of mastery? To do what it takes to boost your score by 50 or 100 points?  If so, then this book is the right place to start.  I’m not going to lie, it’s boring.  It’s a textbook! But it’s not just any old textbook. I am convinced this is the textbook that the test writer’s for the GMAT Critical Reasoning study when they are preparing this test.

If you are having trouble stating premises, identifying assumptions or are struggiling with other aspects of the critical reasoning section, go out and get this book right away.

Fortunately I found it at my local public library because I wouldn’t have forked over the $33.30 that Amazon is asking.  Having used this in my studying to such great success, however, I would definitely spend the $33 if I were starting over today.

This should be a core part of your GMAT extracurriculars–those additions to the normal study routine that set GMAT Masters aside from the rest.  The people who write the GMAT are masters of using statistics to trick you into choosing the wrong answer. This book will help you identify some of the most common devices used to do this.

The fact is, our brains evolved in the Pleiostene. We do wonderfully when acting on data that is immediately in front of us (huge animal with sharp teeth—RUN!).  However, when dealing with the abstract data of probability and statistics, we fail miserably. We simply weren’t wired for it.

How to Lie with Statistics is your guide to overcoming some of the most common pitfalls. At about 120 pages, it’s a fun afternoon read that packs a lot of punch when it comes to taking the GMAT.  The insights are important in preparing you for the inevitable trick questions on both the math and verbal sections of the test.

Buy it on Amazon:

The GMAT Book Reviews category at right features reviews of the major GMAT prep guides and several additional highly recommended readings to help you master the test.

Most people studying for the GMAT read one or two test prep books from Kaplan, Princeton Review, or (if they’re smart) Manhattan GMAT.  However, most people are not going to score above 740 on their test. 

People on the path to GMAT mastery, on the other hand, know that if you are going to separate yourself from the herd, you need to seek out resources most people don’t know about.  

For me, books are the best additional resources you can bring to bear. While everybody else is looking for the quick fix shortcut to knowledge, those on the path to GMAT Mastery are steadily acquiring true knowledge about the material on the test.  The only way to really learn something is to spend time with it.

Let’s not kid ourselves though. For the most part, reading additional books about relatively dry material is not that fun.  With a few exceptions, like How to Lie with Statistics, the books I recommend are textbooks or other rather bland information sources.  But if you are truly committed to mastering the GMAT, you’ll spend almost much time studying the extra-curricular readings as you do on the main course books.

When you’re ready to get started, visit the GMAT Book Reviews category on your right.