Trending Content - Business School and GMAT Forum
Career Resources
WSO Free Modeling Series - Now Open Through
June 30, 2026
9 Free Financial Modeling Lessons
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
High Finance Applications
Guaranteed
Get at least one offer GUARANTEED
- 1:1 support
- 92% success rate
- 2,000+ mentor network
- Unlimited Live bootcamps
- AI for resume + LinkedIn
- Networking automation tools
- HireVue simulation tool
- Full course library
- Private Slack community
- 20hrs of mocks
- + much more...
all 3 official guides + manhattan GMAT and you'll be good
Really thank you mate, this is so useful to read. You suggest me to buy the other 2 books or the green one only is fine?
The benefit of the other 2 is the additional exercises you get on Wiley. I bought the Kindle version for all 3 books.
That's all I needed to practice for the exam, but everyone is different (I had an engineering background which makes it easier, I guess) I didn't find Manhattan material books particularly useful and my test scores were pretty discouraging and disconnected from what I got in the official exam. That's why I suggest using official CATs when possible.
Did you at least take a practice exam? Maybe you are already above 650. If you are a native english-speaker 680 is easy af. Better invest in CATs instead of books (btw you can always pirate them).
I'll begin next month to prepare the GMAT for the first time. Not native english speaker but lived in London and studying in Eng. What's CATs? :-)
Online GMAT-like practice tests, difficulty of the questions changes dependent on your answers, as on real test. I believe you should have gotten some from Manhattan
And the book cracking the GMAT worth? Should I buy it?
No. If you are weak in quant, try GMAT Quantum. It's probably the best quant course. That coupled with the books and you'll score 700+ but it does depend on how bad you want it!
GMAT Quantum has free solution videos for OG 2017 so do check them out. Will give you an insight
This is the official guide - it contains real GMAT questions, so yeah, I'd say it's a good source, but the explanations are a little light, and there's no test taking strategy. So if you're going through questions and aren't improving much, you may need another source to emphasize strategy and then use the book to test your progress. The other OGs ("official guides") are pretty redundant. There are more questions, sure, but it's not different material and doesn't have any additional strategy related resources. There's not really a reason to get all 3, and around 1/2 of the questions are repeated anyway. Basically, the GMAC puts out a new guide every year refreshed with some of the more recent retired questions. Just get the most recent one (which you have).
I recommend using this book for sure, but supplementing with something that covers strategy. I found magoosh really helpful (www.magoosh.com) but people swear by other resources. Try beatthegmat.com or gmatclub.com for more gmat specific guides, advice, and resources.
Omnis consequatur fugiat animi quaerat qui. Deleniti beatae dolorem voluptatum deserunt nisi sequi et. Maxime nesciunt tenetur deleniti et tenetur. Excepturi qui impedit velit ad quaerat.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...