Category: GMAT Verbal

2018 GMAT Official Guide Bundle – Detailed Analysis

2018 GMAT Official Guide BundleGMAT Genius has thoroughly analyzed the 2018 GMAT Official Guide Bundle and we want to share our insights with you. Feel free to read our detailed analysis of the 2018 GMAT Official Guide Bundle or skip down to our conclusions. Wishing you tremendous success with the GMAT!

Overview of 2018 GMAT Official Guide Bundle

The Official Guides for GMAT Review contain retired real GMAT questions, and are an essential component of your GMAT preparations. The GMAC places questions in order of increasing difficulty, based on its assessment of difficulty. The three books in this bundle have no overlap in practice questions.

Our objective below is to provide a combined analysis of each question type (e.g. combine data for all Problem Solving questions across all books). You will find a list of new questions and detailed question categorization in our prior posts on the individual books:
The 2018 Official Guide for GMAT Review
The 2018 Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review
The 2018 Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review

The 2018 GMAT Official Guide Bundle contains 220 new questions out of the 1,566 total questions (including Integrated Reasoning). Excluding the 100 questions in the Diagnostic Exam section of the main book, the new questions represent 15% new content. These are new questions that we have not encountered before; they are not questions recycled from older GMAC resources.

Problem Solving

The 2018 GMAT Official Guide Bundle contains a total of 430 Problem Solving questions. The GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories as follows:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Easy 185 43% +18
Medium 102 24% (5)
Hard 143 33% (13)

There are 61 new Problem Solving questions, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 37 / 12 / 12. This is in lieu of 61 questions from the 2017 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 19 / 17 / 25.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Our assessment of Problem Solving skews noticeably less difficult / more towards the center and is only 72.1% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, demonstrating tremendous subjectivity involved in assessing question difficulty. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Super Easy 44 10% +2
Easy 125 29% +2
Medium 166 39% (6)
Hard 68 16% (1)
Very Hard 27 6% +3

Although math questions often entail multiple math concepts, GMAT Genius classifies questions based on our assessment of the primary math concept. We break down the 430 Problem Solving questions as follows:

Type Concept Number Percent Change
Arithmetic Basic 26 6% +5
Arithmetic Absolute Value 7 1.6%
Arithmetic Divisibility/Factors/Mult. 24 5.6% (1)
Arithmetic Exponents & Roots 26 6% (5)
Arithmetic Fractions & Ratios 50 11.6% (1)
Arithmetic Percents 32 7.4% (3)
Arithmetic Pos/Neg & Odd/Even 2 0.5% (2)
Arithmetic Primes 4 0.9%
Algebra Inequalities 9 2.1% +1
Algebra Linear Equations 23 5.3% +1
Algebra Quadratics 18 4.2% +2
Algebra Simultaneous Equations 13 3%
Algebra Variables in Answers 13 3% +2
Geometry Circles 8 1.9% (1)
Geometry Coordinate 12 2.8% (1)
Geometry Rectangles 12 2.8%
Geometry Triangles 12 2.8% +2
Geometry Other 11 2.6%
Statistics Averages 32 7.4%
Statistics Other 10 2.3% +1
Word Problems Combinatorics 11 2.6%
Word Problems Functions & Sequences 22 5.1% (1)
Word Problems Groups/Sets 10 2.3% +1
Word Problems Probability 9 2.1% (1)
Word Problems Revenue/Profit/Interest 14 3.3% +2
Word Problems Rate & Work 20 4.7% (1)

Data Sufficiency

The 2018 GMAT Official Guide Bundle contains a total of 322 Data Sufficiency questions. The GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories as follows:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Easy 85 26% +9
Medium 90 28% +8
Hard 147 46% (17)

There are 45 new Data Sufficiency questions, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 13 / 16 / 16. This is in lieu of 45 questions from the 2017 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 4 / 8 / 33.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Our assessment skews significantly easier and is only 61.0% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Super Easy 21 7% +3
Easy 83 26% +5
Medium 144 45% (2)
Hard 62 19% (4)
Very Hard 12 4% (2)

Although many math questions entail multiple math concepts, GMAT Genius classifies questions based on our assessment of the primary math concept. We break down the 322 Data Sufficiency questions as follows:

Type Concept Number Percent Change
Arithmetic Basic 20 6.2% +5
Arithmetic Absolute Value 1 0.3%
Arithmetic Divisibility/Factors/Mult. 17 5.3% +3
Arithmetic Exponents & Roots 26 8.1% (1)
Arithmetic Fractions & Ratios 19 5.9% (2)
Arithmetic Percents 21 6.5% (1)
Arithmetic Pos/Neg & Odd/Even 13 4% (1)
Arithmetic Primes 4 1.2% +1
Algebra Inequalities 26 8.1% +6
Algebra Linear Equations 14 4.3% +1
Algebra Quadratics 10 3.1% +1
Algebra Simultaneous Equations 18 5.6% (6)
Geometry Circles 11 3.4% +1
Geometry Coordinate 11 3.4%
Geometry Rectangles 7 2.2%
Geometry Triangles 13 4%
Geometry Other 7 2.2% (1)
Statistics Averages 20 6.2%
Statistics Other 15 4.7% (1)
Word Problems Functions & Sequences 11 3.4% (1)
Word Problems Groups/Sets 15 4.7% +1
Word Problems Probability 4 1.2% (1)
Word Problems Revenue/Profit/Interest 8 2.5% (2)
Word Problems Rate & Work 11 3.4% (2)

Sentence Correction

The 2018 GMAT Official Guide Bundle contains a total of 158 Sentence Correction questions. The GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories as follows:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Easy 71 26% +5
Medium 75 28% (26)
Hard 125 46% +21

There are 38 new Sentence Correction questions, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 12 / 4 / 22. This is in lieu of 38 questions from the 2017 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 7 / 13 / 18. The GMAC has assigned a different difficulty rating to a total of 17 Sentence Correction questions, upgrading these 17 from Medium to Hard difficulty.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Our assessment skews noticeably easier and is only 59.9% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, clearly demonstrating the subjectivity involved in assessing question difficulty. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Super Easy 7 3% (1)
Easy 77 28% +3
Medium 110 41% (3)
Hard 65 24% +3
Very Hard 12 4% (2)

Although Sentence Correction questions typically entail multiple grammar concepts (as described on our website), GMAT Genius classifies questions based on our assessment of the primary tested concept. We classify the 271 Sentence Correction questions as follows:

Concept Number Percent Change
Verb Agreement 26 9.6% +1
Verb Tense 35 12.9% (1)
Pronoun Ambiguity 21 7.7% +2
Pronoun Agreement 15 5.5%
Parallel Construction 78 28.8% (6)
Misplaced Modifiers 33 12.2% +1
Idioms 19 7% +2
Comparison & Quantity 18 6.6% (1)
Expression & Meaning 26 9.6% +2

Critical Reasoning

The 2018 GMAT Official Guide Bundle contains a total of 224 Critical Reasoning questions. The GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories as follows:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Easy 72 32% (3)
Medium 71 32%
Hard 81 36% +3

There are 31 new Critical Reasoning questions, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 7 / 7 / 17. This is in lieu of 31 questions from the 2017 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 10 / 8 / 13. The GMAC has assigned a different difficulty rating to one Critical Reasoning question.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Our assessment skews slightly more towards the center, yet is only 72.3% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, clearly indicating subjectivity involved in assessing question difficulty. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Super Easy 1 0%
Easy 61 27% (8)
Medium 89 40% +1
Hard 52 23% +5
Very Hard 21 9% +2

We have grouped the questions based on the question type categorization that GMAT Genius uses for Critical Reasoning (as described on our website). We break down the 224 Critical Reasoning questions as follows:

Concept Number Percent Change
Weaken 49 21.9% +3
Strengthen 43 19.2% (3)
Assumption 22 9.8% +2
Reasoning 7 3.1% (1)
Conclusion 16 7.1%
Explain 23 10.3% (1)
Evaluate 22 9.8%
Boldface 13 5.8%
Complete the Passage 29 12.9%

Reading Comprehension

The 2018 GMAT Official Guide Bundle contains a total of 261 Reading Comprehension questions across 52 passages. The GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories as follows:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Easy 89 34% +10
Medium 101 39% (9)
Hard 71 27% (1)

There are 37 new Reading Comprehension questions, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 13 / 18 / 6. This is in lieu of 37 questions from the 2017 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 3 / 23 / 11. The GMAC has assigned a different difficulty rating to a total of 4 Reading Comprehension questions.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Whereas the GMAC assigns the same difficulty to all questions for a given passage (except in the Diagnostic Exam section), GMAT Genius assesses the difficulty of each question individually. Our assessment skews very slightly harder, but is only 58.8% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, in large part due to different difficulty assessment methodologies. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Super Easy 13 5% +1
Easy 65 25% +3
Medium 103 39% (3)
Hard 62 24%
Very Hard 18 7% (1)

We have grouped the questions based on the question type categorization that GMAT Genius uses for Reading Comprehension (as described on our website). We break down the 261 Reading Comprehension questions as follows:

Concept Number Percent Change
Primary Purpose 36 13.8% (2)
Author’s Tone 16 6.1%
Organization 8 3.1% +1
Function 35 13.4% +2
Specific Reference 62 23.8% (1)
Inference 87 33.3% (2)
Critical Reasoning 17 6.5% +2

Integrated Reasoning

The main Official Guide (part of this bundle) includes online access to 58 Integrated Reasoning practice questions. The IR set includes 8 new questions that we have not seen before, plus all 50 questions from the prior 2017 edition. The 58 questions consist of the following four types:
Multi-Source Reasoning – 21 (3 new)
Table Analysis – 7 (1 new)
Graphics Interpretation – 12 (2 new)
Two-Part Analysis – 18 (2 new)

The GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows:
Multi-Source Reasoning – 6 / 7 / 8
Table Analysis – 3 / 1 / 3
Graphics Interpretation – 4 / 3 / 5
Two-Part Analysis – 5 / 7 / 6
Total – 18 / 18 / 22

Out of the 50 questions that carry over from the 2017 edition, the GMAC has reclassified the difficulty of 33 questions. For IR, GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into the same three categories. Except for Two-Part Analysis, our assessment skews significantly easier, and contains notable differences from the GMAC. Our difficulty assessment is only 8.1% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, clearly showing that there is tremendous subjectivity involved in assessing question difficulty. Here’s our breakdown of Easy / Medium / Hard:
Multi-Source Reasoning – 9 / 11 / 1
Table Analysis – 3 / 4 / 0
Graphics Interpretation – 3 / 7 / 2
Two-Part Analysis – 2 / 10 / 6
Total – 17 / 32 / 9

Online Interface

2018 GMAT Official Guide Bundle OnlineEach Official Guide book includes an access code (see inside front covers) that provides 12-month usage of an online version of the book. The online practice interface is the same as it was previously, except that the onerous limit of 10 saved sessions has been increased to 25 saved sessions in Exam Mode plus 25 saved sessions in Practice Mode (which you should not use, as mentioned below). The 100 questions from the Diagnostic Test chapter of the main Official Guide are available in a separate tab that works with Exam Mode functionality.

Since the GMAT is a computer-based test, we believe that it is advisable to work though the questions online. We strongly suggest that you use Exam Mode rather than Practice Mode, since we recommend that students practice using timed question sets that replicate test day conditions. The functionality of the online platform is good overall. You can choose practice sets by question type and difficulty level. Every question lists the corresponding book question number for easy cross-referencing.

Other Notes

The Official Guides are for practicing with real GMAT questions, not for learning the underlying concepts. The 40-page Math Review section provides a very high-level overview of the math concepts tested on the GMAT. This math review will be highly inadequate except perhaps for the most advanced math students. Similarly, the brief introductions to the concepts tested on the verbal section are highly inadequate. We recommend that you use additional study materials to learn the math and verbal concepts.

Although all questions include answer explanations, many GMAT test takers are far from satisfied with these explanations. Math explanations can be brief and hard-to-understand for non-advanced students, and are sometimes convoluted or inefficient. Most GMAT test takers consider the Sentence Correction explanations quite cryptic. The Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension explanations, however, are reasonably good overall.

CONCLUSIONS

The Official Guide Bundle has three primary weaknesses, in our opinion:

  1. An insufficient amount of difficult practice questions, particularly based on GMAT Genius’ assessment of difficulty. We are especially dismayed to see the net loss of 30 Hard-difficulty Quant questions (13 Problem Solving and 17 Data Sufficiency) based on GMAC’s difficulty assessment compared to the 2017 edition.
  2. Math answer explanations that are too often either brief or convoluted and Sentence Correction explanations that are too cryptic.
  3. Contrary to what the back covers of the books claim, questions are not fully presented in order of progressive difficulty for Reading Comprehension in the main OG, for Data Sufficiency in the Quant OG, and for Critical Reasoning and Sentence Correction in the Verbal OG.

Despite these flaws, the 2018 GMAT Official Guide Bundle is an essential source of GMAT practice. We believe that every GMAT aspirant must use all three Official Guide books (this or the prior edition). If you already have the 2017 editions of the Official Guides, however, the replacement of 106 math questions and 106 verbal questions is not sufficient to make this edition worth purchasing.

2018 GMAT Verbal Official Guide – Detailed Analysis / Question Categorization

2018 GMAT Verbal Official GuideGMAT Genius has thoroughly analyzed the 2018 GMAT Verbal Official Guide and we want to share our insights with you. Feel free to read our detailed analysis of the 2018 GMAT Verbal Official Guide or skip down to our conclusions. Wishing you tremendous success with the GMAT!

Overview of 2018 GMAT Verbal Official Guide

The Official Guides for GMAT Review contain retired real GMAT questions, and are an essential component of your GMAT preparations. The GMAC places questions in order of increasing difficulty, based on its assessment of difficulty. The 2018 GMAT Verbal Official Guide has no overlap with questions in the main Official Guide.

The 2018 GMAT Verbal Official Guide contains 45 new questions out of the 301 total questions, representing 15% new content. These are new questions that we have not encountered before; they are not questions recycled from older GMAC resources.
 

Sentence Correction

The 2018 GMAT Verbal Official Guide contains 113 Sentence Correction questions. The GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories as follows:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Easy 35 31% +4
Medium 26 23% (25)
Hard 52 46% +21

In the Sentence Correction section, questions are not fully presented in order of progressive difficulty, contrary to what the back cover of the book claims. Based on difficulty levels provided in the online version, Medium and Hard difficulty questions are interspersed. The following table shows the question numbers for each difficulty level:

Difficulty Question #s
Easy 189-223
Medium 224-247, 259, 261
Hard 248-258, 260, 262-301

The Sentence Correction section contains 17 new questions, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 8 / 0 / 9. This is in lieu of 17 questions from the 2017 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 4 / 8 / 5. The GMAC has also upgraded the difficulty of 17 Medium questions from the prior edition to Hard difficulty in this edition.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Our assessment skews towards the easier side, but contains notable differences from the GMAC. Our difficulty assessment is only 63.8% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, clearly showing that there is subjectivity involved in assessing question difficulty. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Super Easy 4 4% (1)
Easy 34 30% +4
Medium 43 38%
Hard 27 24% (1)
Very Hard 5 4% (2)

Although Sentence Correction questions typically entail multiple grammar concepts (as described on our website), GMAT Genius classifies questions based on our assessment of the primary tested concept. We classify the 113 Sentence Correction questions as follows:

Concept Number Percent Change
Verb Agreement 7 6.2%
Verb Tense 13 11.5% (1)
Pronoun Ambiguity 9 8%
Pronoun Agreement 11 9.7%
Parallel Construction 28 24.8% (4)
Misplaced Modifiers 17 15% +2
Idioms 11 9.7% +1
Comparison & Quantity 8 7.1%
Expression & Meaning 9 8% +2

Here’s a list of the 17 new Sentence Correction questions:
198, 202, 204, 207, 209, 211, 212, 220, 267, 268, 270, 274, 284, 285, 286, 292, 293

Here’s a list of the 113 Sentence Correction questions categorized by primary grammar concept:

Concept Question #s
Verb Agreement 202, 203, 229, 242, 269, 284, 287
Verb Tense 200, 201, 204, 219, 221, 223, 228, 250, 262, 266, 276, 278, 289
Pronoun Ambiguity 214, 241, 252, 255, 263, 271, 273, 277, 288
Pronoun Agreement 190, 206, 208, 218, 233, 235, 253, 268, 281, 292, 298
Parallel Construction 191, 193, 194, 196, 205, 210, 212, 213, 226, 227, 244, 245, 246, 248, 249, 251, 254, 256, 265, 270, 279, 280, 285, 293, 294, 296, 297, 301
Misplaced Modifiers 189, 195, 197, 198, 209, 211, 224, 230, 231, 236, 238, 257, 258, 259, 282, 283, 290
Idioms 192, 220, 222, 234, 237, 243, 260, 264, 272, 274, 295
Comparison & Quantity 215, 225, 232, 239, 247, 286, 291, 299
Expression & Meaning 199, 207, 216, 217, 240, 261, 267, 275, 300

Critical Reasoning

The 2018 GMAT Verbal Official Guide contains 83 Critical Reasoning questions. The GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories as follows:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Easy 31 37% (3)
Medium 27 33% +1
Hard 25 30% +2

In the Critical Reasoning section, questions are not fully presented in order of progressive difficulty, contrary to what the back cover of the book claims. Based on difficulty levels provided in the online version, Easy and Medium difficulty questions are interspersed. The following table shows the question numbers for each difficulty level:

Difficulty Question #s
Easy 106-135, 139
Medium 136-138, 140-163
Hard 164-188

The Critical Reasoning section contains 12 new questions, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 1 / 5 / 6. This is in lieu of 12 questions from the 2017 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 4 / 5 / 3. The GMAC has downgraded the difficulty of Hard questions from the prior edition to Medium difficulty in this edition.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Our assessment skews slightly more towards the middle, but contains notable differences from the GMAC. Our difficulty assessment is 70.5% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, clearly indicating subjectivity involved in assessing question difficulty. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Super Easy 1 1%
Easy 18 22% (6)
Medium 40 48% +2
Hard 16 19% +2
Very Hard 8 10% +2

We have grouped the questions based on the question type categorization that GMAT Genius uses for Critical Reasoning (as described on our website). We break down the 83 Critical Reasoning questions as follows:

Concept Number Percent Change
Weaken 20 24.1% +1
Strengthen 16 19.3% (1)
Assumption 7 8.4% +1
Reasoning 3 3.6%
Conclusion 7 8.4%
Explain 5 6% (2)
Evaluate 7 8.4% +1
Boldface 4 4.8%
Complete the Passage 14 16.9%

Here’s a list of the 12 new Critical Reasoning questions: 112, 141, 144, 154, 161, 162, 166, 173, 175, 179, 182, 187

Here’s a list of the 124 Critical Reasoning questions categorized by CR question type:

Concept Question #s
Weaken 122, 124, 125, 128, 131, 136, 141, 143, 159, 164, 168, 171, 173, 176, 177, 179, 182, 185, 186, 187
Strengthen 106, 110, 112, 115, 121, 138, 139, 140, 142, 155, 158, 167, 170, 175, 181, 188
Assumption 119, 144, 156, 166, 172, 180, 184
Reasoning 123, 150, 157
Conclusion 107, 113, 117, 118, 126, 147, 165
Explain 114, 132, 135, 153, 154
Evaluate 111, 120, 146, 149, 162, 163, 178
Boldface 133, 160, 169, 183
Complete the Passage 108, 109, 116, 127, 129, 130, 134, 137, 145, 148, 151, 152, 161, 174

Reading Comprehension

The 2018 GMAT Verbal Official Guide contains 105 Reading Comprehension questions across 19 passages. The GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories as follows:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Easy 34 32% +6
Medium 27 26% (10)
Hard 44 42% +4

The Reading Comprehension section contains 16 new questions in 4 passages, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 6 / 4 / 6. This is in lieu of 16 questions in 3 passages from the 2017 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 0 / 10 / 6. The GMAC has upgraded four Medium questions to Hard.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Whereas the GMAC assigns the same difficulty to all questions for a given passage (except in the Diagnostic Exam section), GMAT Genius assesses the difficulty of each question individually. Our assessment skews easier, but contains notable differences from the GMAC. Our difficulty assessment is only 67.0% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, in large part due to different difficulty assessment methodologies. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Super Easy 6 6%
Easy 32 30% +3
Medium 38 36% (1)
Hard 21 20% (1)
Very Hard 8 8% (1)

We have grouped the questions based on the question type categorization that GMAT Genius uses for Reading Comprehension (as described on our website). We break down the 105 Reading Comprehension questions as follows:

Concept Number Percent Change
Primary Purpose 14 13.3%
Author’s Tone 6 5.7%
Organization 3 2.9%
Function 15 14.3%
Specific Reference 24 22.9% (1)
Inference 40 38.1% +1
Critical Reasoning 3 2.9%

Here’s a list of the 16 new Reading Comprehension questions: 5 to 10, 54 to 57, 89 to 94

We have not provided a list of Reading Comprehension questions by category because it makes sense to practice on one passage at a time, rather than attempting all the Primary Purpose questions (for example) at one go.

Online Interface

2018 GMAT Verbal Official Guide Online InterfaceThe 2018 GMAT Verbal Official Guide includes an access code (see inside front cover) that provides 12-month usage of an online version of this Official Guide. The online practice interface is the same as it was previously, except that the onerous limit of 10 saved sessions has been increased to 25 saved sessions in Exam Mode plus 25 saved sessions in Practice Mode (which you should not use, as mentioned below). The 100 questions from the Diagnostic Test chapter of the main Official Guide, but that are not contained in this printed book, are available in a separate tab that works with Exam Mode functionality.

Since the GMAT is a computer-based test, we believe that it is advisable to work though the questions online. We strongly suggest that you use Exam Mode rather than Practice Mode, since we recommend that students practice using timed question sets that replicate test day conditions. The functionality of the online platform is good overall. You can choose practice sets by question type and difficulty level. Every question lists the corresponding book question number for easy cross-referencing.

Other Notes

The Official Guides are for practicing with real GMAT questions, not for learning the underlying concepts. The brief introductions to the concepts tested on the verbal section are highly inadequate. We recommend that you use additional study materials to learn the verbal concepts.

Although all questions include answer explanations, many GMAT test takers are far from satisfied with these explanations. Most GMAT test takers consider the Sentence Correction explanations quite cryptic. The Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension explanations, however, are reasonably good overall.

Conclusions

The 2018 GMAT Verbal Official Guide has three primary weaknesses, in our opinion:

  1. An insufficient amount of difficult practice questions, particularly based on GMAT Genius’ assessment of difficulty.
  2. Sentence Correction explanations are too cryptic.
  3. In the Critical Reasoning and Sentence Correction sections, questions are not fully presented in order of progressive difficulty, contrary to what the back cover of the book claims.

Despite these flaws, the 2018 GMAT Verbal Official Guide is an essential source of GMAT practice. We believe that every GMAT aspirant must use this book (or the prior edition). For the best value, we recommend purchasing this book as part of the 2018 GMAT Official Guide Bundle. If you already have the 2017 edition of this book, however, the replacement of 45 questions is not sufficient to make this edition worth purchasing.

2018 GMAT Official Guide – Detailed Analysis / Question Categorization

2018 GMAT Official GuideGMAT Genius has thoroughly analyzed the 2018 GMAT Official Guide and we want to share our insights with you. Feel free to read our detailed analysis of the 2018 GMAT Official Guide or skip down to our conclusions. Wishing you tremendous success with the GMAT!

Overview of 2018 GMAT Official Guide

The Official Guides for GMAT Review contain retired real GMAT questions, and are an essential component of your GMAT preparations. The GMAC places questions in order of increasing difficulty, based on its assessment of difficulty. This book has no overlap in practice questions with the Quant and Verbal Official Guides.

The 2018 GMAT Official Guide contains 130 new questions out of the 957 total questions (including Integrated Reasoning). Excluding the 100 questions in the Diagnostic Exam section of the book, the new questions represent just over 15% new content. These are new questions that we have not encountered before; they are not questions recycled from older GMAC resources.

Problem Solving

The 2018 GMAT Official Guide contains 254 Problem Solving questions, including the 24 Problem Solving questions in the Diagnostic Exam portion of the book. The GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories as follows:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Easy 96 38% +14
Medium 59 23% +4
Hard 99 39% (18)

The Problem Solving section contains 35 new questions, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 22 / 7 / 6. This is in lieu of 35 questions from the 2017 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 8 / 3 / 24. Unlike in prior years, the GMAC has not reclassified the difficulty of any question.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Our assessment of this section skews significantly easier, and contains notable differences from the GMAC’s assessment. Our difficulty assessment is only 69.9% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, demonstrating tremendous subjectivity involved in assessing question difficulty. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Super Easy 23 9% +3
Easy 70 28% +2
Medium 104 41% (5)
Hard 38 15% (2)
Very Hard 19 7% +2

Although math questions often entail multiple math concepts, GMAT Genius classifies questions based on our assessment of the primary math concept. We break down the 254 Problem Solving questions as follows:

Type Concept Number Percent Change
Arithmetic Basic 10 3.9% +3
Arithmetic Absolute Value 4 1.6%
Arithmetic Divisibility/Factors/Mult. 17 6.7% +2
Arithmetic Exponents & Roots 18 7.1% (4)
Arithmetic Fractions & Ratios 28 11% (2)
Arithmetic Percents 20 7.9%
Arithmetic Pos/Neg & Odd/Even 1 0.4%
Arithmetic Primes 4 1.6%
Algebra Inequalities 5 2%
Algebra Linear Equations 14 5.5% +1
Algebra Quadratics 8 3.1%
Algebra Simultaneous Equations 7 2.8%
Algebra Variables in Answers 8 3.1% +1
Geometry Circles 4 1.6% (1)
Geometry Coordinate 7 2.8% (1)
Geometry Rectangles 7 2.8%
Geometry Triangles 8 3.1% +2
Geometry Other 7 2.8%
Statistics Averages 18 7.1% (1)
Statistics Other 7 2.8% +1
Word Problems Combinatorics 7 2.8%
Word Problems Functions & Sequences 10 3.9% (1)
Word Problems Groups/Sets 7 2.8%
Word Problems Probability 7 2.8% (1)
Word Problems Revenue/Profit/Interest 9 3.5% +1
Word Problems Rate & Work 12 4.7%

Here’s a list of the 35 new Problem Solving questions:
3, 5, 6, 16, 22, 23, 24, 26, 33, 34, 40, 42, 50, 53, 55, 60, 68, 69, 72, 79, 81, 85, 90, 96, 98, 104, 122, 125, 139, 140, 151, 173, 201, 224, 229

Here’s a list of the 230 Problem Solving questions, excluding those in the Diagnostic Exam, categorized by primary math concept:

Type Concept Question #s
Arithmetic Basic 2, 19, 22, 37, 46, 79, 157, 173, 219
Arithmetic Absolute Value 25, 27, 65, 193
Arithmetic Divisibility/Factors/Mult. 33, 44, 54, 73, 81, 98, 121, 126, 136, 141, 154, 175, 176, 178, 195
Arithmetic Exponents & Roots 66, 68, 71, 74, 90, 92, 112, 147, 161, 180, 200, 209, 213, 216, 223, 230
Arithmetic Fractions & Ratios 3, 4, 5, 28, 30, 36, 45, 59, 63, 72, 75, 82, 91, 97, 103, 124, 131, 133, 135, 139, 160, 163, 189, 192, 203, 220, 222
Arithmetic Percents 1, 6, 10, 15, 55, 70, 80, 86, 87, 89, 94, 106, 108, 119, 122, 125, 153, 169, 172, 207
Arithmetic Pos/Neg & Odd/Even 62
Arithmetic Primes 181, 205
Algebra Inequalities 49, 78, 117, 185, 228
Algebra Linear Equations 7, 12, 31, 42, 53, 67, 83, 85, 109, 111, 128, 134, 179, 184
Algebra Quadratics 51, 93, 110, 127, 155, 168, 188, 226
Algebra Simultaneous Equations 13, 20, 35, 100, 150, 186
Algebra Variables in Answers 9, 16, 48, 57, 61, 144, 167, 190
Geometry Circles 95, 123, 146, 177
Geometry Coordinate 50, 56, 77, 101, 107, 183, 218
Geometry Rectangles 17, 18, 39, 58, 99, 156, 202
Geometry Triangles 26, 29, 43, 145, 174, 224
Geometry Other 32, 34, 114, 159
Statistics Averages 14, 21, 40, 41, 96, 116, 137, 138, 149, 158, 164, 171, 194, 211, 217, 227
Statistics Other 52, 84, 115, 151, 166, 197, 204
Word Problems Combinatorics 140, 148, 182, 187, 201, 214
Word Problems Functions & Sequences 47, 88, 104, 165, 196, 198, 206, 212, 225
Word Problems Groups/Sets 118, 120, 152, 208, 229
Word Problems Probability 11, 142, 162, 170, 221
Word Problems Revenue/Profit/Interest 24, 38, 60, 130, 143, 191, 210, 215
Word Problems Rate & Work 8, 23, 64, 69, 76, 102, 105, 113, 129, 132, 199

Data Sufficiency

The 2018 GMAT Official Guide contains 198 Data Sufficiency questions, including the 24 Data Sufficiency questions in the Diagnostic Exam portion of the book. The GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories as follows:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Easy 58 29% +8
Medium 57 29% +6
Hard 83 42% (14)

The Data Sufficiency section contains 26 new questions, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 11 / 10 / 5. This is in lieu of 26 questions from the 2017 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 3 / 4 / 19. The GMAC has not reclassified the difficulty of any question.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Our assessment skews significantly easier, and contains notable differences from the GMAC’s assessment. Our difficulty assessment is only 56.0% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, demonstrating tremendous subjectivity involved in assessing question difficulty. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Super Easy 9 5% +2
Easy 58 29% +8
Medium 90 45% (2)
Hard 35 18% (6)
Very Hard 6 3% (2)

Although many math questions entail multiple math concepts, GMAT Genius classifies questions based on our assessment of the primary math concept. We break down the 198 Data Sufficiency questions as follows:

Type Concept Number Percent Change
Arithmetic Basic 17 8.6% +7
Arithmetic Divisibility/Factors/Mult. 9 4.5% +1
Arithmetic Exponents & Roots 14 7.1%
Arithmetic Fractions & Ratios 11 5.6% (2)
Arithmetic Percents 15 7.6% (1)
Arithmetic Pos/Neg & Odd/Even 8 4% (1)
Arithmetic Primes 1 0.5%
Algebra Inequalities 14 7.1% +4
Algebra Linear Equations 11 5.6% +1
Algebra Quadratics 3 1.5% (1)
Algebra Simultaneous Equations 9 4.5% (1)
Geometry Circles 5 2.5%
Geometry Coordinate 7 3.5%
Geometry Rectangles 4 2%
Geometry Triangles 10 5.1%
Geometry Other 5 2.5% (1)
Statistics Averages 14 7.1%
Statistics Other 10 5.1% (1)
Word Problems Functions & Sequences 4 2% (1)
Word Problems Groups/Sets 11 5.6%
Word Problems Probability 3 1.5%
Word Problems Revenue/Profit/Interest 6 3% (2)
Word Problems Rate & Work 7 3.5% (2)

Here’s a list of the 26 new Data Sufficiency questions:
233, 258, 260, 262, 266, 267, 273, 274, 276, 277, 278, 282, 284, 287, 288, 292, 293, 300, 306, 313, 326, 334, 339, 376, 382, 391

Here’s a list of the 174 Data Sufficiency questions, excluding those in the Diagnostic Exam, categorized by primary math concept:

Type Concept Question #s
Arithmetic Basic 258, 262, 270, 273, 283, 284, 288, 292, 309, 326, 329, 333, 334, 349, 372, 388, 403
Arithmetic Divisibility/Factors/Mult. 285, 293, 328, 337, 356, 390
Arithmetic Exponents & Roots 240, 243, 249, 281, 289, 330, 342, 350, 365, 370, 399
Arithmetic Fractions & Ratios 233, 256, 275, 312, 325, 335, 354, 368, 387, 402, 404
Arithmetic Percents 239, 253, 259, 269, 286, 313, 318, 319, 321, 324, 332, 340, 362, 397
Arithmetic Pos/Neg & Odd/Even 255, 271, 277, 278, 308, 314, 344
Arithmetic Primes 357
Algebra Inequalities 246, 274, 291, 306, 315, 320, 338, 355, 359, 361, 376, 391, 401
Algebra Linear Equations 234, 247, 252, 280, 290, 310, 339, 351, 352
Algebra Quadratics 279, 323, 366
Algebra Simultaneous Equations 232, 245, 303, 307, 322, 327, 345, 360
Geometry Circles 263, 287, 369, 379
Geometry Coordinate 235, 264, 331, 347, 382, 383
Geometry Rectangles 301, 311, 367
Geometry Triangles 231, 237, 260, 265, 346, 353, 384, 386, 398
Geometry Other 261, 304, 343, 371, 400
Statistics Averages 282, 295, 300, 348, 358, 363, 373, 375, 378, 381, 392, 396
Statistics Other 242, 244, 298, 317, 336, 385, 394, 395
Word Problems Functions & Sequences 241, 257, 364, 377
Word Problems Groups/Sets 248, 254, 266, 267, 276, 294, 305, 316, 389
Word Problems Probability 236, 297, 302
Word Problems Revenue/Profit/Interest 250, 268, 272, 296, 393
Word Problems Rate & Work 238, 251, 299, 341, 374, 380

Sentence Correction

The 2018 GMAT Official Guide contains 158 Sentence Correction questions, including the 18 Sentence Correction questions in the Diagnostic Exam portion of the book. The GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories as follows:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Easy 36 23% +1
Medium 49 31% (1)
Hard 73 46%

The Sentence Correction section contains 21 new questions, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 4 / 4 / 13. This is in lieu of 21 questions from the 2017 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 3 / 5 / 13. The GMAC has not reclassified the difficulty of any question.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Our assessment skews noticeably easier, and contains notable differences from the GMAC. Our difficulty assessment is only 56.8% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, clearly showing that there is subjectivity involved in assessing question difficulty. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Super Easy 3 2%
Easy 43 27% (1)
Medium 67 42% (3)
Hard 38 24% +4
Very Hard 7 4%

Although Sentence Correction questions typically entail multiple grammar concepts (as described on our website), GMAT Genius classifies questions based on our assessment of the primary tested concept. We classify the 158 Sentence Correction questions as follows:

Concept Number Percent Change
Verb Agreement 19 12% +1
Verb Tense 22 13.9%
Pronoun Ambiguity 12 7.6% +2
Pronoun Agreement 4 2.5%
Parallel Construction 50 31.6% (2)
Misplaced Modifiers 16 10.1% (1)
Idioms 8 5.1% +1
Comparison & Quantity 10 6.3% (1)
Expression & Meaning 17 10.8%

Here’s a list of the 21 new Sentence Correction questions:
674, 680, 684, 685, 699, 702, 717, 735, 743, 745, 750, 751, 763, 770, 777, 780, 781, 782, 784, 796, 799

Here’s a list of the 140 Sentence Correction questions, excluding those in the Diagnostic Exam, categorized by primary grammar concept:

Concept Question #s
Verb Agreement 670, 677, 685, 693, 707, 711, 721, 752, 753, 759, 771, 789, 792, 793, 799, 801, 807
Verb Tense 668, 686, 694, 701, 702, 708, 712, 722, 724, 731, 735, 740, 749, 754, 756, 764, 773, 781, 803, 804
Pronoun Ambiguity 671, 719, 743, 774, 775, 777, 778, 779
Pronoun Agreement 688, 738, 762, 765
Parallel Construction 669, 679, 680, 682, 687, 689, 692, 697, 699, 703, 710, 713, 714, 715, 725, 727, 728, 730, 732, 734, 736, 737, 741, 742, 744, 751, 755, 757, 760, 761, 763, 766, 767, 776, 780, 782, 783, 784, 794, 800, 802, 806
Misplaced Modifiers 683, 705, 706, 709, 716, 718, 723, 729, 739, 746, 748, 770, 790, 797, 798
Idioms 672, 695, 698, 717, 788, 795, 796
Comparison & Quantity 676, 678, 691, 704, 745, 758, 769, 772, 791, 805
Expression & Meaning 673, 674, 675, 681, 684, 690, 696, 700, 720, 726, 733, 747, 750, 768, 785, 786, 787

Critical Reasoning

The 2018 GMAT Official Guide contains 141 Critical Reasoning questions, including the 17 Critical Reasoning questions in the Diagnostic Exam portion of the book. The GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories as follows:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Easy 41 29%
Medium 44 31% (1)
Hard 56 40% +1

The Critical Reasoning section contains 19 new questions, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 6 / 2 / 11. This is in lieu of 19 questions from the 2017 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 6 / 3 / 10. The GMAC has not reclassified the difficulty of any question.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Our assessment skews slightly easier, but contains notable differences from the GMAC. Our difficulty assessment is 74.1% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, clearly indicating subjectivity involved in assessing question difficulty. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Super Easy 0 0%
Easy 43 30% (2)
Medium 49 35% (1)
Hard 36 26% +3
Very Hard 13 9%

We have grouped the questions based on the question type categorization that GMAT Genius uses for Critical Reasoning (as described on our website). We break down the 141 Critical Reasoning questions as follows:

Concept Number Percent Change
Weaken 29 20.6% +2
Strengthen 27 19.1% (2)
Assumption 15 10.6% +1
Reasoning 4 2.8% (1)
Conclusion 9 6.4%
Explain 18 12.8% +1
Evaluate 15 10.6% (1)
Boldface 9 6.4%
Complete the Passage 15 10.6%

Here’s a list of the 19 new Critical Reasoning questions:
546, 550, 554, 556, 561, 575, 589, 599, 626, 627, 631, 634, 635, 640, 643, 651, 656, 660, 661

Here’s a list of the 124 Critical Reasoning questions, excluding those in the Diagnostic Exam, categorized by CR question type:

Concept Question #s
Weaken 546, 549, 574, 575, 583, 588, 600, 606, 615, 617, 619, 620, 622, 625, 627, 629, 642, 646, 654, 658, 664, 666, 667
Strengthen 545, 547, 548, 552, 562, 566, 569, 570, 572, 576, 589, 592, 594, 595, 597, 598, 602, 604, 610, 611, 624, 631, 641, 648, 649
Assumption 555, 580, 584, 590, 607, 608, 614, 628, 635, 637, 645, 650, 655, 657
Reasoning 560, 567, 578, 633
Conclusion 544, 581, 591, 618, 634, 653, 662
Explain 551, 553, 556, 557, 558, 568, 586, 596, 613, 616, 621, 630, 640, 656, 660, 665
Evaluate 554, 559, 571, 573, 579, 585, 632, 636, 638, 643, 644, 663
Boldface 561, 565, 599, 623, 639, 647, 651, 652, 659
Complete the Passage 550, 563, 564, 577, 582, 587, 593, 601, 603, 605, 609, 612, 626, 661

Reading Comprehension

The 2018 GMAT Official Guide contains 156 Reading Comprehension questions across 33 passages, including the 17 Reading Comprehension questions in 3 passages in the Diagnostic Exam portion of the book. The GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories as follows:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Easy 55 35% +4
Medium 74 47% +1
Hard 27 17% (5)

In the Reading Comprehension section, questions are not fully presented in order of progressive difficulty, contrary to what the back cover of the book claims. Based on difficulty levels provided in the online version, Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulty questions are interspersed. The following table shows the question numbers for each difficulty level:

Difficulty Question #s
Easy 405-438, 442-455
Medium 439-441, 456-516, 537-540
Hard 517-536, 541-543

The Reading Comprehension section contains 21 new questions in 6 passages, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 7 / 14 / 0. This is in lieu of 21 questions in 4 passages from the 2017 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 3 / 13 / 5. The GMAC has not reclassified the difficulty of any question.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Whereas the GMAC assigns the same difficulty to all questions for a given passage (except in the Diagnostic Exam section), GMAT Genius assesses the difficulty of each question individually. Our assessment skews slightly harder, but contains notable differences from the GMAC. Our difficulty assessment is only 57.6% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, in large part due to different difficulty assessment methodologies. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Percent Change
Super Easy 7 4% +1
Easy 33 21%
Medium 65 42% (2)
Hard 41 26% +1
Very Hard 10 6%

We have grouped the questions based on the question type categorization that GMAT Genius uses for Reading Comprehension (as described on our website). We break down the 156 Reading Comprehension questions as follows:

Concept Number Percent Change
Primary Purpose 22 14.1% (2)
Author’s Tone 10 6.4%
Organization 5 3.2% +1
Function 20 12.8% +2
Specific Reference 38 24.4%
Inference 47 30.1% (3)
Critical Reasoning 14 9% +2

Here’s a list of the 21 new Reading Comprehension questions: 412 to 418, 439 to 441, 467 to 470, 514 to 516, 537 to 540

We have not provided a list of Reading Comprehension questions by category because it makes sense to practice on one passage at a time, rather than attempting all the Primary Purpose questions (for example) at one go.

Integrated Reasoning

The 2018 GMAT Official Guide includes online access to 58 Integrated Reasoning practice questions. The IR set includes 8 new questions that we have not seen before, plus all 50 questions from the prior 2017 edition. The 58 questions consist of the following four types:
Multi-Source Reasoning – 21 (3 new)
Table Analysis – 7 (1 new)
Graphics Interpretation – 12 (2 new)
Two-Part Analysis – 18 (2 new)

The GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows:
Multi-Source Reasoning – 6 / 7 / 8
Table Analysis – 3 / 1 / 3
Graphics Interpretation – 4 / 3 / 5
Two-Part Analysis – 5 / 7 / 6
Total – 18 / 18 / 22

Out of the 50 questions that carry over from the 2017 edition, the GMAC has reclassified the difficulty of 33 questions. For IR, GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into the same three categories. Except for Two-Part Analysis, our assessment skews significantly easier, and contains notable differences from the GMAC. Our difficulty assessment is only 8.1% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, clearly showing that there is tremendous subjectivity involved in assessing question difficulty. Here’s our breakdown of Easy / Medium / Hard:
Multi-Source Reasoning – 9 / 11 / 1
Table Analysis – 3 / 4 / 0
Graphics Interpretation – 3 / 7 / 2
Two-Part Analysis – 2 / 10 / 6
Total – 17 / 32 / 9

Online Interface

2018 GMAT Official Guide Online InterfaceThe 2018 GMAT Official Guide includes an access code (see inside front cover) that provides 12-month usage of an online version of this Official Guide. The online practice interface is the same as it was previously, except that the onerous limit of 10 saved sessions has been increased to 25 saved sessions in Exam Mode plus 25 saved sessions in Practice Mode (which you should not use, as mentioned below). The 100 questions from the Diagnostic Test chapter are available in a separate tab that works with Exam Mode functionality.

Since the GMAT is a computer-based test, we believe that it is advisable to work though the questions online. We strongly suggest that you use Exam Mode rather than Practice Mode, since we recommend that students practice using timed question sets that replicate test day conditions. The functionality of the online platform is good overall. You can choose practice sets by question type and difficulty level. Every question lists the corresponding book question number for easy cross-referencing.

Other Notes

The Official Guides are for practicing with real GMAT questions, not for learning the underlying concepts. The book contains a 40-page Math Review section that provides a very high-level overview of the math concepts tested on the GMAT. This math review will be highly inadequate except perhaps for the most advanced math students. Similarly, the brief introductions to the concepts tested on the verbal section are highly inadequate. We recommend that you use additional study materials to learn the math and verbal concepts.

Although all questions include answer explanations, many GMAT test takers are far from satisfied with these explanations. Math explanations can be brief and hard-to-understand for non-advanced students, and are sometimes convoluted or inefficient. Most GMAT test takers consider the Sentence Correction explanations quite cryptic. The Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension explanations, however, are reasonably good overall.

Conclusions

The 2018 GMAT Official Guide has three primary weaknesses, in our opinion:

  1. An insufficient amount of difficult practice questions, particularly based on GMAT Genius’ assessment of difficulty. We are especially dismayed to see the net loss of 32 Hard-difficulty Quant questions (18 Problem Solving and 14 Data Sufficiency) based on GMAC’s difficulty assessment compared to the 2017 edition.
  2. Math answer explanations that are too often either brief or convoluted and Sentence Correction explanations that are too cryptic.
  3. In the Reading Comprehension section, questions are not fully presented in order of progressive difficulty, contrary to what the back cover of the book claims.

Despite these flaws, the 2018 GMAT Official Guide is an essential source of GMAT practice. We believe that every GMAT aspirant must use this book (or the prior edition). For the best value, we recommend purchasing this book as part of 2018 GMAT Official Guide Bundle. If you already have the 2017 edition of this book, however, the replacement of 61 math questions and 61 verbal questions is not sufficient to make this edition worth purchasing.

Preview of 2017 GMAT Official Guide Verbal

2017 GMAT Official GuideGMAT Genius has been working closely with the publisher of the Official Guides for GMAT Review over the past few weeks, in advance of tomorrow’s official release of the 2017 editions, to help improve the online version of the Official Guides. In this fourth post of this series of exclusive previews of the 2017 GMAT Official Guides, we now turn to the verbal section of the main Official Guide. We will focus on how the 2017 GMAT Official Guide differs from the 2016 edition in terms of verbal question difficulty and math concepts.

Sentence Correction – Difficulty

Both the 2017 and 2016 editions of the GMAT Official Guide contain 158 Sentence Correction questions, including the identical 18 Sentence Correction questions in the Diagnostic Exam portion of the guides. The allocation of question difficulty, as assigned by the GMAC, has slightly shifted away from Hard.

Difficulty 2017 2016 Change
Easy 35 35
Medium 50 45 +5
Hard 73 78 (5)
Total 158 158

A total of 21 new Sentence Correction questions, which we have never seen before, appear in the 2017 GMAT Official Guide, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 7 / 9 / 5. This is in lieu of 21 questions from the 2016 edition that have been removed, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 7 / 4 / 10. The GMAC has not reclassified the difficulty of any question, so these new and removed questions alone account for the differences in the number of questions per difficulty level.

Sentence Correction – Concepts

Let’s now consider changes in the concepts of the 21 new (in 2017) and the 21 removed (from 2016) Sentence Correction questions. We have categorized these questions based on the primary grammar concepts that are tested on Sentence Correction.

Concept 2017 2016 Change
Verb Agreement 3 3
Verb Tense 4 4
Pronoun Ambiguity 0 1 (1)
Pronoun Agreement 2 0 +2
Parallel Construction 6 2 +4
Misplaced Modifiers 3 1 +2
Idioms 1 2 (1)
Comparison & Quantity 0 3 (3)
Expression & Meaning 2 5 (3)

Although we cannot draw definite conclusions from this data about question composition on the GMAT, what stands out is the decrease in the Comparison & Quantity and the Expression & Meaning categories, offset by the increase in Parallel Construction related questions . The increase in the Parallel Construction category exactly offsets the decrease in these types of questions in the 2017 Verbal Official Guide.

Critical Reasoning – Difficulty

Both the 2017 and 2016 editions of the GMAT Official Guide contain 141 Critical Reasoning questions, including the identical 17 Critical Reasoning questions in the Diagnostic Exam portion of the guides. The allocation of question difficulty has very slightly shifted away from Hard.

Difficulty 2017 2016 Change
Easy 41 40 +1
Medium 45 45
Hard 55 56 (1)
Total 141 141

A total of 19 new Critical Reasoning questions, which we have never seen before, appear in the 2017 GMAT Official Guide, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 4 / 11 / 4. This is in lieu of 19 questions from the 2016 edition that have been removed, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 3 / 11 / 5. The GMAC has not reclassified the difficulty of any question, so these new and removed questions alone account for the differences in the number of questions per difficulty level.

Critical Reasoning – Concepts

Let’s now consider changes in the concepts of the 19 new (in 2017) and the 19 removed (from 2016) Critical Reasoning questions. We have grouped these questions based on the question type categorization that GMAT Genius uses for Critical Reasoning.

Concept 2017 2016 Change
Weaken 5 3 +2
Strengthen 6 3 +3
Assumption 2 4 (2)
Reasoning 0 3 (3)
Conclusion 3 1 +2
Explain 2 1 +1
Evaluate 0 2 (2)
Boldface 0 0
Complete the Passage 1 2 (1)

Although we cannot draw definite conclusions from this data about question composition on the GMAT, what stands out most is an increase in the Strengthen category offset by a decrease in the Reasoning category.

Reading Comprehension – Difficulty

Both the 2017 and 2016 editions of the GMAT Official Guide contain 156 Reading Comprehension questions, including the identical 17 Reading Comprehension questions in the Diagnostic Exam portion of the guides. The allocation of question difficulty has noticeably shifted towards Medium. This is a bit misleading, however, because the GMAC has upgraded two passages with 11 questions from Easy to Medium, and downgraded two passages with 10 questions form Hard to Medium.

Difficulty 2017 2016 Change
Easy 51 54 (3)
Medium 73 65 +8
Hard 32 37 (5)
Total 156 156

A total of 21 new Reading Comprehension questions, which we have never seen before, appear in the 2017 GMAT Official Guide, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 13 / 3 / 5. These 21 questions are in five new passages with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 3 / 1 / 1.

A total of 21 questions have been removed from the 2016 edition, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 5 / 16 / 0. This represents three passages with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 1 / 2 / 0. Let’s further break down how each of these difficulty categories has changed.

Easy Reading Comprehension

Additions:
13 new questions

Subtractions:
5 question removed
11 upgraded to Medium

Net change: -3 questions

Medium Reading Comprehension

Additions:
3 new questions
11 upgraded from Easy
10 downgraded from Hard

Subtractions:
16 questions removed

Net change: +8 questions

Hard Reading Comprehension

Additions:
5 new questions

Subtractions:
10 downgraded to Medium

Net change: -5 questions

Reading Comprehension – Concepts

Let’s now consider changes in the concepts of the 21 new (in 2017) and the 21 removed (from 2016) Reading Comprehension questions. We have grouped these questions based on the question type categorization that GMAT Genius uses for Reading Comprehension.

Concept 2017 2016 Change
Primary Purpose 3 3
Author’s Tone 0 0
Organization 0 0
Function 1 3 (2)
Specific Reference 5 8 (3)
Inference 9 7 +2
Critical Reasoning 3 0 +3

Although we cannot draw definite conclusions from this data about question composition on the GMAT, what stands out most is the decrease in the Specific Reference category and the increase in the Critical Reasoning category.

Removed Questions

Here is the list of the verbal questions in the 2016 edition of the GMAT Official Guide that have been removed . We’ll soon publish a list of the new verbal questions in the 2017 GMAT Official Guides.

Sentence Correction – 21 questions removed:

5, 6, 15, 16, 20, 24, 26, 34, 44, 45, 65, 76, 82, 83, 88, 89, 92, 93, 108, 109, 122

Critical Reasoning – 19 questions removed:

6, 13, 19, 40, 44, 45, 46, 47, 50, 51, 52, 56, 61, 62, 80, 95, 96, 98, 99

Reading Comprehension – 21 questions removed:

26 to 30, 48 to 54, 78 to 86

Summary

In the 2017 GMAT Official Guide, the GMAC has replaced a total of 61 Verbal questions, representing just over 15% of the questions (excluding the Diagnostic Exam section). The changes in this edition are far less significant than the changes we saw between the 2015 to the 2016 editions of this book. Next up from GMAT Genius — look for detailed reviews and analysis of the 2017 GMAT Official Guides.

Preview of 2017 GMAT Verbal Official Guide

2017 GMAT Verbal Official GuideGMAT Genius has been working closely with the publisher of the Official Guides for GMAT Review over the past few weeks, in advance of the June 7 release of the 2017 editions, to help improve the online version of the Official Guides. In doing so, we have thoroughly analyzed the 2017 versions of the GMAT Official Guides, and want to give you an overview of what to expect. In this post, we will focus specifically on how the 2017 GMAT Verbal Official Guide differs from the 2016 edition in terms of question difficulty and math concepts.

Sentence Correction – Difficulty

Both the 2017 and 2016 editions of the GMAT Verbal Official Guide contain 113 Sentence Correction questions. The allocation of GMAC question difficulty remains unchanged.

Difficulty 2017 2016 Change
Easy 31 31
Medium 51 51
Hard 31 31
Total 113 113

A total of 17 new Sentence Correction questions, which we have never seen before, appear in the 2017 GMAT Verbal Official Guide, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 6 / 7 / 4. This is in lieu of 17 questions from the 2016 edition that have been removed, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 5 / 6 / 6. The GMAC has also upgraded the difficulty of three questions (#31, #81, and #82 in the 2016 edition).

Among the six Hard questions removed, we consider four Very Hard (a difficulty rating that we assign to less than 10% of the questions). These are questions #87, #90, #107, and #113 (in the 2016 edition). Unfortunately none of the newly-added questions qualify as Very Hard. Let’s further break down how each of the GMAC difficulty categories has changed.

Easy Sentence Correction

Additions:
6 new questions

Subtractions:
5 questions removed
1 upgraded to Medium

Net change:

Medium Sentence Correction

Additions:
7 new questions
1 upgraded from Easy

Subtractions:
6 questions removed
2 upgraded to Hard

Net change:

Hard Sentence Correction

Additions:
4 new questions
2 upgraded from Medium

Subtractions:
6 questions removed

Net change:

Sentence Correction – Concepts

Let’s now consider changes in the concepts of the 17 new (in 2017) and the 17 removed (from 2016) Sentence Correction questions. We have categorized these questions based on the primary grammar concepts that are tested on Sentence Correction.

Concept 2017 2016 Change
Verb Agreement 0 1 (1)
Verb Tense 3 1 +2
Pronoun Ambiguity 1 3 (2)
Pronoun Agreement 3 3
Parallel Construction 2 6 (4)
Misplaced Modifiers 3 0 +3
Idioms 3 1 +2
Comparison & Quantity 1 1
Expression & Meaning 1 1

Although we cannot draw definite conclusions from this data about question composition on the GMAT, we clearly see a decrease in parallelism-related questions. This isn’t overly surprising, however, because Parallel Construction was and remains the biggest grammar category.

Critical Reasoning – Difficulty

Both the 2017 and 2016 editions of the GMAT Verbal Official Guide contain 83 Critical Reasoning questions. The allocation of question difficulty, as assigned by the GMAC, remains unchanged.

Difficulty 2017 2016 Change
Easy 34 34
Medium 26 26
Hard 23 23
Total 83 83

A total of 13 new Critical Reasoning questions, which we have never seen before, appear in the 2017 GMAT Verbal Official Guide, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 6 / 3 / 4. This is in lieu of 13 questions from the 2016 edition that have been removed, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 7 / 3 / 3. In our assessment, the overall difficulty of the newly-added questions is harder than that of the removed questions. The GMAC has also downgraded the difficulty of two questions (#35 and #61in the 2016 edition). Let’s further break down how each of these difficulty categories has changed.

Easy Critical Reasoning

Additions:
6 new questions
1 downgraded from Medium

Subtractions:
7 question removed

Net change:

Medium Critical Reasoning

Additions:
3 new questions
1 downgraded from Hard

Subtractions:
3 questions removed
1 downgraded to Easy

Net change:

Hard Critical Reasoning

Additions:
4 new questions

Subtractions:
3 questions removed
1 downgraded to Easy

Net change:

Critical Reasoning – Concepts

Let’s now consider changes in the concepts of the 13 new (in 2017) and the 13 removed (from 2016) Critical Reasoning questions. We have grouped these questions based on the question type categorization that GMAT Genius uses for Critical Reasoning.

Concept 2017 2016 Change
Weaken 2 4 (2)
Strengthen 3 4 (1)
Assumption 1 2 (1)
Reasoning 1 0 +1
Conclusion 1 1
Explain 1 0 +1
Evaluate 1 2 (1)
Boldface 1 0 +1
Complete the Passage 2 0 +2

Although we cannot draw definite conclusions from this data about question composition on the GMAT, what stands out most is the increase in the Complete the Passage category.

Reading Comprehension – Difficulty

Both the 2017 and 2016 editions of the GMAT Verbal Official Guide contain 105 Reading Comprehension questions. The allocation of question difficulty, as assigned by the GMAC, has noticeably shifted towards Hard. This is a bit misleading, however, because the GMAC has upgraded one passage with eight questions from Medium to Hard.

Difficulty 2017 2016 Change
Easy 28 26 +2
Medium 37 47 (10)
Hard 40 32 +8
Total 105 105

A total of 15 new Reading Comprehension questions, which we have never seen before, appear in the 2017 GMAT Verbal Official Guide, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 6 / 9 / 0. These 15 questions are in two new passages, one rated Easy difficulty and one rated Medium. A total of 15 questions from the 2016 edition have been removed, all with Medium difficulty rating. This represents three passages. Let’s further break down how each of these difficulty categories has changed.

Easy Reading Comprehension

Additions:
6 new questions

Subtractions:
4 upgraded to Medium

Net change: +2 questions

Medium Reading Comprehension

Additions:
9 new questions
4 upgraded from Easy

Subtractions:
15 questions removed
8 upgraded to Hard

Net change: -10 questions

Hard Reading Comprehension

Additions:
8 upgraded from Medium

Subtractions:
none

Net change: +8 questions

Reading Comprehension – Concepts

Let’s now consider changes in the concepts of the 15 new (in 2017) and the 15 removed (from 2016) Reading Comprehension questions. We have grouped these questions based on the question type categorization that GMAT Genius uses for Reading Comprehension.

Concept 2017 2016 Change
Primary Purpose 1 2 (1)
Author’s Tone 1 1
Organization 0 0
Function 1 2 (1)
Specific Reference 4 6 (2)
Inference 7 4 +3
Critical Reasoning 1 0 +1

Although we cannot draw definite conclusions from this data about question composition on the GMAT, what stands out most is the increase in the Inference category.

Removed Questions

Here is the list of the questions that have been removed from the 2016 edition of the GMAT Verbal Official Guide. We’ll publish a list of the new questions in the 2017 GMAT Verbal Official Guide after it publicly releases.

Sentence Correction – 17 questions removed:

4, 10, 17, 22, 29, 36, 41, 54, 58, 75, 78, 87, 90, 102, 107, 110, 113

Critical Reasoning – 13 questions removed:

4, 5, 8, 12, 26, 31, 32, 45, 49, 51, 65, 76, 77

Reading Comprehension – 15 questions removed:

36 to 38, 43 to 48, 49 to 54

Summary

In the 2017 GMAT Verbal Official Guide, the GMAC has replaced a total of 45 questions, representing 15% of the questions. The changes in this edition are far less significant than the changes we saw between the 2015 to the 2016 editions of this book. GMAT Genius will offer much more detailed analysis and critique of the 2017 GMAT Official Guides in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

Review of 2016 GMAT Official Guide

2016 GMAT Official GuideGMAT Genius worked closely with the publishers of the 2016 GMAT Official Guide, upon their request, in the weeks leading up to the release of the book to help improve the online versions of the Official Guides. This gave us an opportunity to thoroughly analyze the 2016 GMAT Official Guide, and we want to share our insights with you. Feel free to read our detailed analysis or to skip down to our conclusions.

Overview of the 2016 GMAT Official Guide

The Official Guides for GMAT Review contain retired real GMAT questions, and are an essential component of your GMAT preparations. The GMAC places questions in order of increasing difficulty, based on its assessment of difficulty. This book has no overlap of practice questions with the Quant and Verbal Official Guides.

Unlike the 2015 edition, which contained no new questions, the 2016 GMAT Official Guide contains 201 new questions out of the 907 total questions. Excluding the 100 questions in the Diagnostic Exam section of the book, the new questions represent 25% new content as promised by the GMAC. These are brand new questions that we have not encountered before; they are not questions recycled from older GMAC resources.

Problem Solving

The 2016 GMAT Official Guide contains 254 Problem Solving questions, including the 24 Problem Solving questions in the Diagnostic Exam portion of the book. Here’s how the GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories, along with the changes by category from the 2015 edition:

Difficulty Number Change
Easy 63 +18
Medium 60 (41)
Hard 131 +23

The Problem Solving section contains 57 new questions, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 21 / 24 / 12. This is in lieu of 57 questions from the 2015 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 12 / 20 / 25. A total of 45 questions have been assigned a different difficulty than they were in the 2015 edition. Specifically, 9 Medium questions have been downgraded to Easy and 36 Medium questions have been upgraded to Hard.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Our assessment of this section skews significantly easier, and contains notable differences from the GMAC’s assessment. Our difficulty assessment is only 55.5% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, demonstrating tremendous subjectivity involved in assessing question difficulty. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Change
Super Easy 11 (4)
Easy 71 (3)
Medium 116
Hard 41 +6
Very Hard 15 +1

Although many math questions entail multiple math concepts, GMAT Genius classifies questions based on our assessment of the primary math concept. What stands out most is the increase in statistical average questions. Here’s how we classify the 254 Problem Solving questions by concept, along with the changes from the 2015 edition:

Type Concept Number Change
Arithmetic Basic 6 (1)
Arithmetic Absolute Value 3 (1)
Arithmetic Divisibility 6 (2)
Arithmetic Exponents & Roots 22 +1
Arithmetic Factors & Multiples 10 +1
Arithmetic Fractions 20
Arithmetic Percents 21 +2
Arithmetic Pos/Neg & Odd/Even 2
Arithmetic Primes 4 (1)
Arithmetic Ratios 13 (3)
Algebra Formulas 6 +2
Algebra Inequalities 3 (3)
Algebra Linear Equations 8 (1)
Algebra Quadratics 8
Algebra Simultaneous Equations 8 (3)
Algebra Variables in Answers 5 +1
Geometry 3D 6
Geometry Circles 5 +1
Geometry Coordinate 8
Geometry Rectangles 7 +1
Geometry Triangles 7 +1
Geometry Other 1 (2)
Statistics Averages 18 +4
Statistics Other 4
Word Problems Combinatorics 6 +1
Word Problems Functions & Sequences 11 +2
Word Problems Groups / Sets 8
Word Problems Interest 4 +1
Word Problems Mixture 0 (1)
Word Problems Probability 8
Word Problems Revenue & Profit 4 +1
Word Problems Rate & Work 12 (1)

Here’s a list of the 57 new Problem Solving questions: 1, 2, 3, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21, 25, 27, 30, 31, 33, 38, 39, 43, 44, 45, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 63, 66 to 70, 73, 76, 82, 83, 85 to 89, 91, 97, 99, 107, 108, 111, 114, 117, 122, 125, 134, 136, 137, 139, 142, 153

Data Sufficiency

The 2016 GMAT Official Guide contains 198 Data Sufficiency questions, including the 24 Data Sufficiency questions in the Diagnostic Exam portion of the book. Here’s how the GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories, along with the changes by category from the 2015 edition:

Difficulty Number Change
Easy 46 +14
Medium 41 (30)
Hard 111 +16

The Data Sufficiency section contains 44 new questions, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 17 / 12 / 15. This is in lieu of 44 questions from the 2015 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 10 / 11 / 23. A total of 31 questions have been assigned a different difficulty than they were in the 2015 edition. Specifically, 7 Medium questions have been downgraded to Easy and 24 Medium questions have been upgraded to Hard.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Our assessment skews significantly easier, and contains notable differences from the GMAC’s assessment. Our difficulty assessment is only 56.4% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, demonstrating tremendous subjectivity involved in assessing question difficulty. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Change
Super Easy 8
Easy 49 +2
Medium 95 (8)
Hard 40 +7
Very Hard 6 (1)

Although many math questions entail multiple math concepts, GMAT Genius classifies questions based on our assessment of the primary math concept. What stands out most is the decrease in simultaneous equation questions. Here’s how we classify the 198 Data Sufficiency questions by concept, along with the changes from the 2015 edition:

Type Concept Number Change
Arithmetic Basic 10 (3)
Arithmetic Absolute Value 0 (1)
Arithmetic Divisibility 5
Arithmetic Exponents & Roots 12 +2
Arithmetic Factors & Multiples 3
Arithmetic Fractions & Ratios 11 (2)
Arithmetic Odd/Even 6 (1)
Arithmetic Percents 15 +4
Arithmetic Positive/Negative 6 +1
Algebra Inequalities 11 +1
Algebra Linear Equations 9 +1
Algebra Quadratics 6
Algebra Simultaneous Equations 10 (7)
Geometry Circles 7
Geometry Coordinate 7 +2
Geometry Rectangles 4 +2
Geometry Triangles 8 (2)
Geometry Other 5 +1
Statistics Averages 14 (1)
Statistics Other 10 +2
Word Problems Functions & Sequences 5
Word Problems Groups / Sets 12 +1
Word Problems Interest 4
Word Problems Probability 3
Word Problems Revenue & Profit 7 +1
Word Problems Rate & Work 8 (1)

Here’s a list of the 44 new Data Sufficiency questions: 7, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18 to 21, 23, 26, 27, 29, 34, 37 to 41, 46, 48, 49, 51, 54, 55, 60, 64, 67, 73, 77, 80, 83, 84, 86, 92, 94, 115, 121, 134 to 137, 150

Sentence Correction

The 2016 GMAT Official Guide contains 158 Sentence Correction questions, including the 18 Sentence Correction questions in the Diagnostic Exam portion of the book. Here’s how the GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories, along with the changes by category from the 2015 edition:

Difficulty Number Change
Easy 35 +3
Medium 45 (25)
Hard 78 +22

The Sentence Correction section contains 35 new questions, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 10 / 8 / 17. This is in lieu of 35 questions from the 2015 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 2 / 16 / 17. A total of 33 questions have been assigned a different difficulty than they were in the 2015 edition, including 23 Medium questions (in the 2015 edition) that have been upgraded to Hard.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Our assessment skews noticeably easier, and contains notable differences from the GMAC. Our difficulty assessment is only 56.7% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, clearly showing that there is subjectivity involved in assessing question difficulty. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Change
Super Easy 1 +1
Easy 49 +3
Medium 62 (2)
Hard 39 (3)
Very Hard 7 +1

Although Sentence Correction questions typically entail multiple grammar concepts, GMAT Genius classifies questions based on our assessment of the primary tested concept. Parallel construction clearly stands out as the most prominent category. Here’s how we classify the 158 Sentence Correction questions by concept, along with the changes from the 2015 edition:

Concept Number Change
Verb Agreement 18 +2
Verb Tense 21
Pronoun Ambiguity 11 (1)
Pronoun Agreement 2 (1)
Parallel Construction 48 (2)
Misplaced Modifiers 14 +2
Idioms 8 (3)
Comparison & Quantity 15
Expression & Meaning 21 +3

Here’s a list of the 35 new Sentence Correction questions: 2, 4, 7, 10, 13, 18, 21, 23, 27, 28, 31, 35, 37, 42, 46, 52, 63, 66, 73, 80, 86, 90, 97, 101, 111, 116, 120, 124, 126, 128, 132, 133, 136, 137, 138

Critical Reasoning

The 2016 GMAT Official Guide contains 141 Critical Reasoning questions, including the 17 Critical Reasoning questions in the Diagnostic Exam portion of the book. Here’s how the GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories, along with the changes by category from the 2015 edition:

Difficulty Number Change
Easy 40 (1)
Medium 45 (6)
Hard 56 +7

The Critical Reasoning section contains 34 new questions, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 7 / 16 / 11. This is in lieu of 34 questions from the 2015 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 7 / 14 / 13. A total of 12 questions have been assigned a different difficulty than they were in the 2015 edition, including 10 Medium questions (in the 2015 edition) that have been upgraded to Hard.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Our assessment skews slightly easier, but contains notable differences from the GMAC. Our difficulty assessment is 72.8% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, clearly indicating subjectivity involved in assessing question difficulty. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Change
Super Easy 0
Easy 45 +5
Medium 51 (3)
Hard 33 (5)
Very Hard 12 +3

We have grouped the questions based on the question type categorization that GMAT Genius uses for Critical Reasoning. Weaken and Strengthen questions continue to dominate, but Assumption has noticeably increased. Here’s how we classify the 141 Critical Reasoning questions by concept, along with the changes from the 2015 edition:

Concept Number Change
Weaken 25 (2)
Strengthen 25
Assumption 16 +4
Reasoning 8
Conclusion 7 (3)
Explain 18 +1
Evaluate 17 (1)
Boldface 9
Complete the Passage 16 +1

Here’s a list of the 34 new Critical Reasoning questions: 1 to 4, 8, 21, 30, 37, 39, 41, 43, 48, 49, 53, 55, 57, 58, 60, 63, 65, 67, 70, 76, 77, 79, 81, 84, 94, 97, 100, 106, 109, 121, 124

Reading Comprehension

The 2016 GMAT Official Guide contains 156 Reading Comprehension questions across 29 passages, including the 17 Reading Comprehension questions in 3 passages in the Diagnostic Exam portion of the book. Here’s how the GMAC classifies question difficulty into three categories, along with the changes by category from the 2015 edition:

Difficulty Number Change
Easy 54 +24
Medium 65 (15)
Hard 37 (9)

The Reading Comprehension section contains 31 new questions in 6 passages, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 9 / 6 / 16. This is in lieu of 31 questions in 6 passages from the 2015 edition that have been removed, with difficulty of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 3 / 8 / 20. In this edition, the GMAC has downgraded the difficulty level of 23 questions.

GMAT Genius classifies question difficulty into five categories. Whereas the GMAC assigns the same difficulty to all questions for a given passage (except in the Diagnostic Exam section), GMAT Genius assesses the difficulty of each question individually. Our assessment skews slightly harder, but contains notable differences from the GMAC. Our difficulty assessment is only 48.9% correlated with the GMAC’s assessment, in large part due to different difficulty assessment methodologies. Here’s our breakdown:

Difficulty Number Change
Super Easy 5 (2)
Easy 28 +4
Medium 73 (2)
Hard 42
Very Hard 8

We have grouped the questions based on the question type categorization that GMAT Genius uses for Reading Comprehension. Specific Reference and Inference questions continue to dominate, but Specific Reference declined noticeably. Here’s how we classify the 156 Reading Comprehension questions by concept, along with the changes from the 2015 edition:

Concept Number Change
Primary Purpose 24 +1
Author’s Tone 10 +2
Organization 4 +1
Function 20 +4
Specific Reference 60 (8)
Inference 30
Critical Reasoning 8

Here’s a list of the 31 new Reading Comprehension questions: 8 to 10, 42 to 47, 96 to 101, 107 to 112, 130 to 139

Integrated Reasoning

The 2016 GMAT Official Guide provides an 11-page overview of the Integrated Reasoning section, along with online access to 50 Integrated Reasoning practice questions. The IR set includes 12 new questions that we have not seen before, replacing 12 questions that were in the 2015 edition. The 50 questions consist of the following four types:

Question Type Number New Qs
Graphics Interpretation 10 4
Multi-Source Reasoning 18 4
Table Analysis 6 1
Two-Part Analysis 16 3

Here’s a list of the 12 new Integrated Reasoning questions: 12 to 15, 22, 29, 32, 33, 34, 44, 49, 50

Other Notes

The 2016 GMAT Official Guide contains a 40-page Math Review section that provides a very high-level overview of the math concepts tested on the GMAT. This math review will be highly inadequate except perhaps for the most advanced math students. Similarly, the brief introductions to the concepts tested on the verbal section are highly inadequate. We recommend that you use additional study materials to learn the math and verbal concepts.

Although all questions include answer explanations, many GMAT test takers are far from satisfied with these explanations. Math explanations can be brief and hard-to-understand for non-advanced students, and are sometimes convoluted or inefficient. Most GMAT test takers consider the Sentence Correction explanations quite cryptic. The Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension explanations, however, are reasonably good overall.

The book includes an access code that provides 12-month usage of an online version of this Official Guide. Since the GMAT is a computer-based test, we believe that it is advisable to work though the questions online. We recommend that you use Exam Mode rather than Practice Mode, since we recommend that students practice using timed question sets.

The online practice interface has improved from last year’s version. The publishers implemented some of our recommendations, but they did not incorporate many of our functionality improvement suggestions. One major flaw that we discussed with the book publishers, but that has not been fixed, is the inaccurate timing for “Previous Sessions.” Timing statistics are accurate when you initially review a question set, but the timing per question data is inaccurate when you later access the same question set.

If you already have the 2015 edition of this book, it is debatable whether the addition of 101 new math questions and 100 new verbal questions makes this book worth purchasing. Our opinion is that advanced students will not find enough additional challenging practice to justify the purchase, but other students could purchase the book for additional practice given the relatively low cost.

Conclusions

The 2016 GMAT Official Guide has three primary weaknesses, in our opinion:
1) An insufficient amount of difficult practice questions, particularly based on GMAT Genius’ assessment of difficulty
2) Math answer explanations that are too often either brief or convoluted and Sentence Correction explanations that are too cryptic
3) Inaccurate timing data for Previous Sessions and inadequate functionality in the online practice interface

Despite its flaws, the 2016 GMAT Official Guide is an essential source of GMAT practice. We are pleased to see 25% brand new questions in the 2016 edition. We believe that every GMAT aspirant must use this book (or the prior edition). For these reasons, we give this book a 5-star rating. For the best value, we recommend purchasing this book as part of the 2016 GMAT Official Guide Bundle.

You can read this review on Amazon. If you find our review and analysis helpful, please let other Amazon customers know by clicking the Yes button at the bottom of our review.

Analysis of 2016 GMAT Official Guide Verbal

2016 GMAT Official GuideI worked closely with the publisher of the Official Guide for GMAT Review in the weeks leading up to the June 8 release of the 2016 editions, to help improve the online version of the Official Guides. In the fourth post of this series of analysis of the 2016 GMAT Official Guides, we now turn to the verbal section of the main Official Guide. We will focus on how the 2016 GMAT Official Guide differs from the 2015 edition in terms of verbal question difficulty and verbal concepts.

Sentence Correction – Difficulty

Both the 2015 and 2016 editions of the GMAT Official Guide contain 140 Sentence Correction questions, excluding the identical 18 Sentence Correction questions in the Diagnostic Exam portion of the guides. But the allocation of question difficulty, as assigned by the GMAC, has noticeably shifted away from Medium. A big portion of these change resulted from the GMAC upgrading 23 questions from Medium difficulty (in the 2015 edition) to Hard (in the 2016 edition).

Difficulty 2016 2015 Change
Easy 29 26 +3
Medium 39 64 (25)
Hard 72 50 +22
Total 140 140

A total of 35 brand new questions, which we have never seen before, appear in the 2016 GMAT Official Guide, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 10 / 8 / 17. This is in lieu of 35 questions from the 2015 edition that have been removed, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 2 / 16 / 17. Let’s further break down how each of these difficulty categories has changed.

Easy Sentence Correction

Additions:
10 new questions
2 downgraded from Medium

Subtractions:
2 questions removed
7 upgraded to Medium

Net change: +3 questions

Medium Sentence Correction

Additions:
8 new questions
7 upgraded from Easy
1 downgraded from Hard

Subtractions:
16 questions removed
2 downgraded to Easy
23 upgraded to Hard

Net change: -25 questions

Hard Sentence Correction

Additions:
17 new questions
23 upgraded from Medium

Subtractions:
17 questions removed
1 downgraded to Medium

Net change: +22 questions

Sentence Correction – Concepts

Let’s now consider changes in the concepts of the 35 new (in 2016) and the 35 removed (from 2015) Sentence Correction questions. We have categorized these questions based on the primary grammar concepts that are tested on Sentence Correction.

Concept 2016 2015 Change
Verb Agreement 4 2 2
Verb Tense 3 3
Pronoun Ambiguity 1 2 (1)
Pronoun Agreement 0 1 (1)
Parallel Construction 10 12 (2)
Misplaced Modifiers 4 2 2
Idioms 2 5 (3)
Comparison & Quantity 5 5
Expression & Meaning 6 3 3

Although we cannot draw definite conclusions from this data about question composition on the GMAT, what stands out is the decrease in idioms-related questions and the increase in expression / meaning.

Critical Reasoning – Difficulty

Both the 2015 and 2016 editions of the GMAT Official Guide contain 124 Critical Reasoning questions, excluding the identical 17 Critical Reasoning questions in the Diagnostic Exam portion of the guides. The allocation of question difficulty has slightly shifted towards Hard. This change has primarily resulted from the GMAC upgrading 10 Medium questions (in the 2015 edition) to Hard (in the 2016 edition).

Difficulty 2016 2015 Change
Easy 35 36 (1)
Medium 41 47 (6)
Hard 48 41 +7
Total 124 124

A total of 34 brand new questions, which we have never seen before, appear in the 2016 GMAT Official Guide, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 7 / 16 / 11. This is in lieu of 34 questions from the 2015 edition that have been removed, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 7 / 14 / 13. Let’s further break down how each of these difficulty categories has changed.

Easy Critical Reasoning

Additions:
7 new questions

Subtractions:
7 question removed
1 upgraded to Medium

Net change: -1 questions

Medium Critical Reasoning

Additions:
16 new questions
1 upgraded from Easy
1 downgraded from Hard

Subtractions:
14 questions removed
10 upgraded to Hard

Net change: -6 questions

Hard Critical Reasoning

Additions:
11 new questions
10 upgraded from Medium

Subtractions:
13 questions removed
1 downgraded to Medium

Net change: +7 questions

Critical Reasoning – Concepts

Let’s now consider changes in the concepts of the 34 new (in 2016) and the 34 removed (from 2015) Critical Reasoning questions. We have grouped these questions based on the question type categorization that GMAT Genius uses for Critical Reasoning.

Concept 2016 2015 Change
Weaken 11 13 (2)
Strengthen 9 9
Assumption 7 3 4
Reasoning 0 0
Conclusion 2 5 (3)
Explain 2 1 1
Evaluate 1 2 (1)
Boldface 1 1
Complete the Passage 1 0 1

Although we cannot draw definite conclusions from this data about question composition on the GMAT, what stands out is an increase in the Assumption category offset by a decrease in the Conclusion category.

Reading Comprehension – Difficulty

Both the 2015 and 2016 editions of the GMAT Official Guide contain 139 Reading Comprehension questions, excluding the identical 17 Reading Comprehension questions in the Diagnostic Exam portion of the guides. The allocation of question difficulty has noticeably shifted towards Easy, although the 2015 edition was admittedly underweighted in Easy questions. The GMAT downgraded 18 questions from Medium (in 2015) to Easy (in 2016), and 5 questions from Hard (in 2015) to Medium (in 2016). These downgrades account for most of the changes in question difficulty.

Difficulty 2016 2015 Change
Easy 47 23 +24
Medium 59 74 (15)
Hard 33 42 (9)
Total 139 139

A total of 31 brand new questions, which we have never seen before, appear in the 2016 GMAT Official Guide, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 9 / 6 / 16. These 31 questions are in 6 new passages with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 2 / 1 / 3.

A total of 31 questions have been removed from the 2015 edition, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 3 / 8 / 20. This represents 6 passages with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 1 / 2 / 3. Let’s further break down how each of these difficulty categories has changed.

Easy Reading Comprehension

Additions:
9 new questions
18 downgraded from Medium

Subtractions:
3 question removed

Net change: +24 questions

Medium Reading Comprehension

Additions:
6 new questions
5 downgraded from Hard

Subtractions:
8 questions removed
18 downgraded to Easy

Net change: -15 questions

Hard Reading Comprehension

Additions:
16 new questions

Subtractions:
20 questions removed
5 downgraded to Medium

Net change: -9 questions

Reading Comprehension – Concepts

Let’s now consider changes in the concepts of the 31 new (in 2016) and the 31 removed (from 2015) Reading Comprehension questions. We have grouped these questions based on the question type categorization that GMAT Genius uses for Reading Comprehension.

Concept 2016 2015 Change
Primary Purpose 4 3 1
Author’s Tone 3 1 2
Organization 1 0 1
Function 6 2 4
Specific Reference 9 17 (8)
Inference 6 6
Critical Reasoning 2 2

Although we cannot draw definite conclusions from this data about question composition on the GMAT, what clearly stands out is the big decrease in the Specific Reference category and the increase in the Function category.

Removed Questions

Here is the list of the verbal questions in the 2015 edition of the GMAT Official Guide that have been removed . We’ll soon publish a list of the new verbal questions in the 2016 GMAT Official Guides.

Sentence Correction – 35 questions removed:

11, 18, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 37, 44, 45, 66, 77, 80, 82, 83, 85, 88, 89, 98, 108, 110, 113, 117, 119, 121, 122, 123, 125, 127, 129, 130, 131, 134, 135, 137

Critical Reasoning – 34 questions removed:

4, 16, 21, 23, 25, 26, 32, 49, 53, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 64, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 80, 87, 96, 103, 105, 108, 110, 112, 117, 118, 119, 120, 122, 123

Reading Comprehension – 31 questions removed:

8 to 10, 42 to 44, 93 to 98, 104 to 139

Key Takeaways

We cannot draw firm conclusions about the GMAC’s intent in making changes to the verbal question composition in the 2016 GMAT Official Guide. That said, we can observe certain trends and speculate on what those changes may imply.

By downgrading 23 Reading Comprehension questions without upgrading any questions, the GMAC seems to imply a greater rigor within Reading Comprehension. On the other hand, by upgrading 23 Sentence Correction questions and 10 Critical Reasoning questions from Medium to Hard, the GMAC implies slightly less rigor in these areas than perhaps it did previously.

A shift from idioms-related questions towards expression & meaning in Sentence Correction is consistent with the GMAC’s greater emphasis on understanding sentence structure rather than just learning grammatical rules. A shift from Conclusion to Assumption questions in Critical Reasoning and a shift from Specific Reference to Function questions in Reading Comprehension provide further evidence that the GMAC seems to be placing greater emphasis on analytical reasoning skills to solve CR and RC questions.

Next up from GMAT Genius — look for detailed reviews of the 2016 GMAT Official Guides. Please leave a comment or get in touch if you have any questions.

Preview of 2016 GMAT Verbal Official Guide

2016 GMAT Verbal Official GuideI have been working closely with the publisher of the Official Guide for GMAT Review over the past few weeks, in advance of the June 8 release of the 2016 editions, to help improve the online version of the Official Guides. As with my prior post on the Quantitative Guide, I want to give you an overview of how the 2016 GMAT Verbal Official Guide differs from the 2015 edition in terms of question difficulty and concepts.

Sentence Correction – Difficulty

Both the 2015 and 2016 editions of the GMAT Verbal Official Guide contain 113 Sentence Correction questions. But the allocation of question difficulty, as assigned by the GMAC, has noticeably shifted. In particular, the Easy and Medium categories have expanded whereas the Hard category has shrunk. A big portion of these change resulted from the GMAC downgrading 12 questions from Hard difficulty (in the 2015 edition) to Medium (in the 2016 edition). Interestingly, two Hard questions (#70 and #111 in the 2015 edition) have also been downgraded all the way to Easy.

Difficulty 2016 2015 Change
Easy 31 26 +5
Medium 51 38 +13
Hard 31 49 (18)
Total 113 113

A total of 25 brand new questions, which we have never seen before, appear in the 2016 GMAT Verbal Official Guide, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 9 / 13 / 3. This is in lieu of 25 questions from the 2015 edition that have been removed, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 6 / 12 / 7. Let’s further break down how each of these difficulty categories has changed.

Easy Sentence Correction

Additions:
9 new questions
1 downgraded from Medium
2 downgraded from Hard

Subtractions:
6 questions removed
1 upgraded to Medium

Net change: +5 questions

Medium Sentence Correction

Additions:
13 new questions
1 upgraded from Easy
12 downgraded from Hard

Subtractions:
12 questions removed
1 downgraded to Easy

Net change: +13 questions

Hard Sentence Correction

Additions:
3 new questions

Subtractions:
7 questions removed
2 downgraded to Easy
12 downgraded to Medium

Net change: -18 questions

Sentence Correction – Concepts

Let’s now consider changes in the concepts of the 25 new (in 2016) and the 25 removed (from 2015) Sentence Correction questions. We have categorized these questions based on the primary grammar concepts that are tested on Sentence Correction.

Concept 2016 2015 Change
Verb Agreement 1 3 (2)
Verb Tense 4 5 (1)
Pronoun Ambiguity 0 1 (1)
Pronoun Agreement 2 2
Parallel Construction 8 9 (1)
Misplaced Modifiers 2 0 2
Idioms 2 1 1
Comparison & Quantity 2 1 1
Expression & Meaning 4 3 1

Although we cannot draw definite conclusions from this data about question composition on the GMAT, we are surprised by the decrease in verb-related questions.

Critical Reasoning – Difficulty

Both the 2015 and 2016 editions of the GMAT Verbal Official Guide contain 83 Critical Reasoning questions. The allocation of question difficulty has noticeably shifted away from Medium. A whopping 21 questions (more than 25%) have been assigned a different difficulty level, including four Hard questions (#64, #72, #79, #80 in the 2015 edition) that have been downgraded all the way to Easy.

Difficulty 2016 2015 Change
Easy 34 25 +9
Medium 26 38 (12)
Hard 23 20 +3
Total 83 83

A total of 25 brand new questions, which we have never seen before, appear in the 2016 GMAT Verbal Official Guide, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 7 / 9 / 9. This is in lieu of 25 questions from the 2015 edition that have been removed, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 6 / 14 / 5. Let’s further break down how each of these difficulty categories has changed.

Easy Critical Reasoning

Additions:
7 new questions
7 downgraded from Medium
4 downgraded from Hard

Subtractions:
6 question removed
3 upgraded to Medium

Net change: +9 questions

Medium Critical Reasoning

Additions:
9 new questions
3 upgraded from Easy
2 downgraded from Hard

Subtractions:
14 questions removed
7 downgraded to Easy
5 upgraded to Hard

Net change: -12 questions

Hard Critical Reasoning

Additions:
9 new questions
5 upgraded from Medium

Subtractions:
5 questions removed
4 downgraded to Easy
2 downgraded to Medium

Net change: +3 questions

Critical Reasoning – Concepts

Let’s now consider changes in the concepts of the 25 new (in 2016) and the 25 removed (from 2015) Critical Reasoning questions. We have grouped these questions based on the question type categorization that GMAT Genius uses for Critical Reasoning.

Concept 2016 2015 Change
Weaken 6 8 (2)
Strengthen 4 3 1
Assumption 1 3 (2)
Reasoning 1 0 1
Conclusion 1 2 (1)
Explain 3 3
Evaluate 2 4 (2)
Boldface 2 1 1
Complete the Passage 5 1 4

Although we cannot draw definite conclusions from this data about question composition on the GMAT, what clearly stands out is the increase in the Complete the Passage category.

Reading Comprehension – Difficulty

The 2016 edition of the GMAT Verbal Official Guide contains 105 Reading Comprehension questions, one more than in the 2015 edition. The allocation of question difficulty has noticeably shifted from Medium to Easy. Surprisingly, 35 questions (over 30%) have swapped difficulty from Medium to Hard or vice versa.

Difficulty 2016 2015 Change
Easy 26 17 +9
Medium 47 55 (8)
Hard 32 32
Total 105 104 +1

A total of 26 brand new questions, which we have never seen before, appear in the 2016 GMAT Verbal Official Guide, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 15 / 4 / 7. These 26 questions are in 5 new passages with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 3 / 1 / 1.

A total of 25 questions have been removed from the 2015 edition, with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 6 / 11 / 8. This represents 4 passages with difficulty ratings of Easy / Medium / Hard as follows: 1 / 2 / 1. Let’s further break down how each of these difficulty categories has changed.

Easy Reading Comprehension

Additions:
15 new questions

Subtractions:
6 question removed

Net change: +9 questions

Medium Reading Comprehension

Additions:
4 new questions
17 downgraded from Hard

Subtractions:
11 questions removed
18 upgraded to Hard

Net change: -8 questions

Hard Reading Comprehension

Additions:
7 new questions
18 upgraded from Medium

Subtractions:
8 questions removed
17 downgraded to Medium

Net change:

Reading Comprehension – Concepts

Let’s now consider changes in the concepts of the 26 new (in 2016) and the 25 removed (from 2015) Reading Comprehension questions. We have grouped these questions based on the question type categorization that GMAT Genius uses for Reading Comprehension.

Concept 2016 2015 Change
Primary Purpose 3 2 1
Author’s Tone 0 1 (1)
Organization 1 3 (2)
Function 3 1 2
Specific Reference 9 10 (1)
Inference 10 5 5
Critical Reasoning 0 3 (3)

Although we cannot draw definite conclusions from this data about question composition on the GMAT, what clearly stands out is the increase in the Inference category and the decrease in the Critical Reasoning category.

Removed Questions

Here is the list of the questions that have been removed from the 2015 edition of the GMAT Verbal Official Guide. We’ll publish a list of the new questions in the 2016 GMAT Verbal Official Guide after it publicly releases.

Sentence Correction – 25 questions removed:

3, 6, 7, 8, 20, 21, 27, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 47, 51, 61, 62, 72, 76, 81, 93, 99, 101, 112

Critical Reasoning – 25 questions removed:

4, 7, 16, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 30, 36, 37, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 53, 58, 60, 62, 66, 69, 71, 73, 75

Reading Comprehension – 25 questions removed:

12 to 17, 33 to 38, 56 to 60, 77 to 84

Key Takeaways

We cannot draw firm conclusions about the GMAC’s intent in making changes to the question composition in the 2016 GMAT Verbal Official Guide. That said, we can observe certain trends and speculate on what those changes may imply.

By downgrading 14 Hard Sentence Correction questions without upgrading any questions to Hard, the GMAC seems to imply a greater rigor within Sentence Correction. The big shifts in question difficulty within Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension seem to imply that the GMAC is more closely assessing Verbal question difficulty than perhaps it did previously.

The changes in Sentence Correction concepts are not significant enough for us to reach any conclusions. The increases in the Complete the Passage category for Critical Reasoning and in the Inference category for Reading Comprehension seem to indicate that the GMAC is placing greater emphasis on analytical reasoning skills to solve CR and RC questions.

Look for more detailed analysis and critique of the 2016 GMAT Official Guides in the coming weeks from GMAT Genius.

Like Versus Such As

Like vs Such AsIdioms are one grammatical component of GMAT sentence correction problems. Furthermore, the GMAT tests meaning, part of which is appropriate word choice. One issue that the GMAT has previously tested is the usage of like versus such as. When giving an example, we should use such as: John collects pictures of sports cars made by companies such as Lamborghini and Maserati. When indicating similarity, we should use like: A giraffe’s neck is like that of a brachiosaurus.

Difference Between Like and Such As

Although like has come to be used synonymously with such as in common usage, there is an important distinction that is too often overlooked. In particular, like implies similarity but exclusion whereas such as implies inclusion. Using like is appropriate only if the action pertains to nouns similar to our referenced noun but specifically excludes the referenced noun. As an example: Movies today often feature heroic actors like John Wayne. This usage is correct because movies today feature actors similar to John Wayne, but do not feature John Wayne himself. On the other hand, we could say: Movies today often feature heroic actors such as Brad Pitt. In this sentence, such as is appropriate because Brad Pitt is both an example of a heroic actor and is included in the list of heroic actors today. Here is an interesting article from Grammar Girl that expands on this point.

Incorrect Usages of Like

In October alone, I have come across at least 100 incorrect usages of the word like in the context of providing an example. In every one of these instances, such as would be a better choice. To me, hearing the work like used in this manner is like hearing fingernails scratching a chalkboard. Here are just a few examples that I have come across, including a couple which appropriately use such as:

  • An October 8 article about Samsung in The Wall Street Journal: “Samsung has evaluated startups such as Unity Technologies … and Green Throttle Games.” Yet the next sentence of the same article states: “It has also considered gaming pioneer Atari Inc., which Samsung could have used to offer classic games like Asteroids and Ping Pong.”
  • A Google help page for its AdWords product: “Choose words or phrases relevant to your product or service so your ads appear when customers use those terms to search on Google or search partner sites, like AOL.”
  • An article in the October issue of Entrepreneur magazine about the OwnerListens app: “After 15 years of building companies such as Hotbar.com and SmartShopper.com, Oren Dobronsky checked out of technology and into hummus.”
  • The next article in the same issue of Entrepreneur magazine, written by the exact same author: “Ephraim signed on with London-based GoSquared, an analytics platform designed to demonstrate how people use a site, tracking key information like where individual visitors are from, what brought them to the site and how they view a page.”
  • An earthquake preparedness flyer from ReadyOC: “Your bucket list consists of basic items you’ll need in case of emergency – like an earthquake or wildfire.”
  • An article about cruising from the November/December issue of AAA magazine Westways: “On some luxury lines, items like bar drinks, tips, and even shore excursions are included.”
  • The featured article in the Personal Journal section of the October 30 issue of The Wall Street Journal: “Marc Forgione creates a tableside ‘cloud’ of truffle broth with dishes like squash ravioli and rabbit Bolognese at his New York restaurant.”
  • An article about study-abroad programs, also in the October 30 issue of The Wall Street Journal: “But students might be missing out on some important life experiences, like learning to be self-reliant and adaptable…”
  • The privacy policy of another GMAT preparation company: “Our site’s secure registration form requires users to give us contact information, like their name and email address.” “We do not store financial information like credit card numbers or personal information like social security numbers on this site.”

Correct Usages of Like

Does the word like ever get used correctly? Here are two usages that appropriately convey that one noun is similar to another. This is typically how we see the word like used correctly on GMAT Sentence Correction.

  • An article in the October 28 issue of Forbes about the 50 best small companies: “Like j2, Stamps.com rediscovered its greatest strength in a core business.”
  • An article in the October issue of Inc. magazine: “Innovative culture is like karaoke.”

Like a sunny day, all good things, such as this article, must come to an end. So I’ll leave you with this final thought: When taking a standardized test such as the GMAT, avoid using the word like to indicate an example.

My New GMAT Score: 770

GMAT Score 770I retook the GMAT in late May, because I had not yet taken the Next Gen GMAT with Integrated Reasoning. My new GMAT score is 770, same as my prior score. My scaled section scores are Q51 and V42. My AWA score remains a perfect 6 and my IR score is a perfect 8. Based on this testing experience, there are some observations that I can share. Obviously I cannot share information about specific questions that I saw in my examination. Please also keep in mind that because every GMAT administration is different, your experience may vary.

Pre-Test Experience

My test day didn’t start off well, as my son woke me up more than an hour earlier than usual. So I was a bit tired and cranky, despite having gone to sleep early the prior night. For breakfast, I ate two Sausage McMuffins with Egg from McDonald’s. Not the healthiest breakfast, but I recommend lots of protein for mental concentration. I then completed a few light errands, avoiding anything that would be mentally taxing. I then drove to the testing center, stopping at a different McDonald’s for a light lunch; I ate only the grilled chicken inside a McWrap. I also drank a Coke Zero, as I needed some caffeine after the early awakening.

My test time was 12:15 pm at the Pearson center in Lake Forest, CA. I liked the Lake Forest location more than Pearson center in Anaheim, where I have gone previously. The Lake Forest location seemed quieter, calmer, brighter, and more welcoming than I remember the Anaheim location to be. The Pearson staff was very friendly and helpful. I arrived at the center 30 minutes in advance of my appointment time, as recommended. I was promptly checked in, and since a workstation was available, I was seated for my test around noon. Although I felt a little nervous before the test, some deep breaths and positive affirmations helped me quickly overcome any stress and focus fully on the test.

During the GMAT

During the 8-minute breaks, it took about one minute each time for the test proctor to notice that my hand was raised and to come escort me out of the testing room. I had already scoped out the restroom and asked permission to use it during the breaks. My break routines followed exactly what is outlined on our Taking the GMAT page, with the entire routine taking about five minutes each time. For each snack, I had half a cheese stick and a few sips of Gatorade. I made sure to get checked in and escorted back to my workstation with at least one minute to spare each time.

On test day, Integrated Reasoning, the entire math section, and Reading Comprehension turned out easier than I expected. On the other hand, Sentence Correction and Critical Reasoning were harder than I expected. This is reflected in a lower verbal scaled score than I expected (especially compared to the V49 that I received using GMATPrep). My expectations were based primarily on my familiarity with GMATPrep and the Official Guide. Keep in mind that I was expecting very hard questions on the adaptive math and verbal sections, consistent with a 99 percentile score. Yet the difficulty of some SC and CR questions still surprised me. Let me elaborate a bit for each section.

Observations About Test Sections

AWA

The Analysis of an Argument essay was very straightforward, as expected. The most helpful form of AWA preparation is to write full essays for several prompts picked at random from the Official List of essay topics.

Integrated Reasoning

As described in my prior post about the 105 official GMAC practice IR questions, difficulty for the practice questions varies but includes some very challenging questions. The IR questions in some third-party (non-GMAC) diagnostics are even harder and far more calculation-intensive. In my practice, I had consistently found it challenging to complete 12 IR questions within the 30-minute time limit. By contrast, the 12 IR questions that I saw on the real GMAT were relatively straightforward. I would not rate a single of these questions as difficult. No question took more than 3 minutes to complete. Based on the GMAC practice questions, I was not expecting to use the calculator much. In fact, I only used the calculator for some basic calculations on two of the 12 questions.

Math

Question difficulty overall was easier than I expected, although still challenging. I had faced harder questions in GMATPrep and elsewhere. Due to careless errors and other mistakes, Q50 was the highest I had scored with practice diagnostics. Since several questions on the real test seemed quite straightforward and because the math section is adaptive, at times I wondered whether I messed up along the way. Fortunately this was not the case. The easier difficulty was seen in both Problem Solving and Data Sufficiency questions, and across all types of math concepts.

Verbal

Reading Comprehension was a bit easier than expected, mainly because three of the four passages were shorter than diagnostic test passages. Some RC questions were subtle but not extraordinarily difficult. Sentence Correction and Critical Reasoning, however, contained some very challenging questions. Fatigue may have set in by the time I reached the Verbal section, compounding the difficulty. A few tricky SC questions underlined only a few words, and I struggled to determine the best construction between two possible answers. On a few tricky CR questions, none of the answers seemed appropriate (a situation I have rarely faced) and I needed to make a best guess. I was hoping that these were experimental questions, but based on my final verbal score, that doesn’t seem to have been the case.

Final Notes

As a final note, the free preparation advice on the GMAT Genius website is completely solid – nothing changes based on my test experience. I followed the advice that we offer, and this advice served me very well. Similarly, the math and verbal concepts that we teach to our clients remain perfectly applicable. No additional concepts were required to answer the questions that I saw, nor does our material contain extraneous content. Every GMAT experience is different, but hopefully these insights will help in your preparations.