New: 13th Edition of GMAT Official Guide--With Integrated Reasoning

March 8, 2012

Get ready for more realistic practice: The 13th edition of The Official Guide for GMAT Review will be released next month.

The most important component of this edition isn't in the book itself. It's a companion website featuring practice questions for the new Integrated Reasoning section. A few websites might offer purported IR problems, but until the GMAC itself releases more than a small handful of problems, don't bother. If you can't trust that it is a realistic representation of what you will see on the test, it isn't worth your time.

For this reason, the 13th edition is the first time I consider the new edition a "must buy." While Integrated Reasoning won't make or break your chances of admissions (it might not matter at all in your 2012 applications), the more familiar you are with the new question types, the easier the test will be.

Aside from the companion website, it looks like the 13th edition is very similar to previous versions. The publisher claims that 20 percent of the questions are new. In other words, if you have the 12th edition, you have 80 percent of the Quant and Verbal content of next month's release.

If you are considering buying the Official Guide but haven't done so yet, I strongly recommend waiting until early April, when you can pick up the 13th edition. (Unless, of course, you are taking the test in March or early April!)

Nothing beats realistic practice, whether you're learning new question formats like Integrated Reasoning or polishing your skills on old favorites like Data Sufficiency and Critical Reasoning.

About the author: Jeff Sackmann has written many GMAT preparation books, including the popular Total GMAT Math, Total GMAT Verbal, and GMAT 111. He has also created explanations for problems in The Official Guide, as well as 1,800 practice GMAT math questions.

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