GMAT Official Guide 12th Edition

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GMAT Official Guide 12th Edition: An Overview
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Problem Solving
      
Data Sufficiency
      
Reading Comprehension
      
Critical Reasoning
      
Sentence Correction
      
The 12th Edition: Inside Analysis
     
ManhattanGMAT has performed an in-depth examination of the 12th Edition. We've matched up the 11th and the 12th editions, classified every problem by topic, run the numbers, and drawn out the insights. Download the OG Problem Lists, which categorize new problems by question type, and read the analysis on this series of pages.



Purchase the OG 12th Edition

On March 13, the 12th Edition of the Official Guide for GMAT Review was released. We at Manhattan GMAT have analyzed the book in detail; here are our findings.

Not Radically Different
Only 1/3 of the questions are new. Out of 907 problems, 607 are repeats. The best way to look at the 12th Edition is as a source of 300 great new practice problems.



Much of the book is completely unchanged:

Most explanations for repeated problems have been untouched, though some have been improved.
The Diagnostic Exam, Math Review, Test-Taking Strategies and Directions are unchanged.
Excluding the Diagnostic Exam, sample questions are organized by difficulty, according to the GMAC – just as they are in the 11th edition.
The removed and added problems constitute a slight shift in the relative emphasis of certain topics, but the underlying content is essentially the same as that covered in the 11th Edition.



In fact, of the 300 new problems, some of the new Quant problems can be found in GMATFocus™ (both GMAC products).



It is important to note that you should not over-interpret the changes from the 11th Edition to the 12th Edition! Some variation is to be expected. Nothing in these changes suggests a notable shift in how students should prepare for the exam.

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Data Sufficiency Has Grown
The 12th Edition has 19 more Data Sufficiency problems than the 11th Edition. Moreover, 47% of the Data Sufficiency problems in the 12th Edition are new. For other question formats, turnover is in the 22%-36% range.

In addition, the 12th edition has 19 fewer Problem Solving questions than the 11th Edition. These shifts may suggest an increase in the relative importance of Data Sufficiency, but this is not certain.

Transition If And When You’re Comfortable
If you have been preparing with the 11th Edition, feel free to treat the 12th Edition as a source of additional practice. But you do not need to switch immediately. If your exam is near, you might consider mining the 12th Edition for a few new problems. But your time may be better spent reviewing practice problems you have already encountered, as well as doing online practice with  GMATFocus, or practice exams such as ours.

The Official Guide, 12th Edition: Section By Section
Problem Solving
     
Data Sufficiency
     
Reading Comprehension
     
Critical Reasoning
     
Sentence Correction

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GMAT Official Guide 12th Edition: Sentence Correction
<< Back to 12th Edition Overview
            
Overall Changes
Which Problems Changed?
For an exact list of differences between the 11th and 12th editions, download the Sentence Correction Problem List.The 11th edition has 156 Sentence Correction problems (including 18 Diagnostic problems). In the changeover to the 12th edition, 55 problems were removed, leaving 101 repeats (including all Diagnostics), and 57 problems were added, yielding 158 Sentence Correction problems in the 12th edition – 2 more than in the 11th edition.

The proportion of new Sentence Correction problems (36%) is very nearly the same as the average for all problems (33%).

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Topic Distribution
Classifying Sentence Correction problems under one category is a simplification, since most problems test more than one topic. That said, we have identified the primary topic tested by each problem and computed the total in each category, as shown below.

The proportion of problems in various categories has changed, but only slightly.



The number of Pronoun and Modifier problems has risen somewhat, while the number of Comparisons and Idioms problems has fallen by a similar amount. Parallelism has increased by 2 problems. Otherwise, the net number of problems in various categories has remained the same. Parallelism is still the clear leader as a primary topic, but Modifiers replaces Comparisons in the #2 position.

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Difficulty Distribution
This graph displays the difficulty level of problems that were removed, repeated, and added. Excluding problems in the Diagnostic exam, higher-numbered problems are more difficult, according to the GMAT. On the left, red problems were removed from the 11th edition. On the right, dark-green problems were added to the 12th edition. Light colors represent repeated questions.

Problems were removed from the 11th edition at all levels of difficulty. In some cases, groups of 3 or 4 problems in a row were deleted.



Problems were also added to the 12th edition at all levels of difficulty, but in an extremely regular pattern, with no more than 1 at a time. This pattern is the same as that for new Critical Reasoning problems.



The difficulty of various topics, as measured by position, shifted somewhat. The most substantial changes were among Comparisons, which increased moderately in difficulty, and Meaning/Concision, which fell in difficulty. Odds & Ends has a very small sample size, so the large swing of its position is not that meaningful.

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Qualitative Observations
Like the other problem types, Sentence Correction has not changed greatly from the 11th to the 12th editions. Do not forget this point as you study the nuances of new problems.
The GMAT continues to look for ways to penalize unwarranted shortcuts. Certain awkward expressions are often but not always wrong, and the GMAT has included problems that force you to choose these expressions, such as being (in #101) or the fact that (in #83). Remember that the right answer is not necessarily graceful, but it must be grammatically correct.
Explanations for repeated problems have generally remained the same, but occasional changes have been made that may indicate a slight refinement in the GMAT's thinking on particular issues. For instance, the explanation for problem #7 in the 11th edition condemns the use of which in restrictive clauses and instead insists on the use of that. This problem has been preserved verbatim as #10 in the 12th edition, but now the explanation says that the rule against which in restrictive clauses is "controversial." As it turns out, none of the wrong answers in the problem fail solely on this basis. Nevertheless, with its new explanation, the GMAT has signaled that it will almost certainly never write wrong answer choices that can only be eliminated with the which rule.
A few idioms have been added or returned to the working lexicon of GMAT Sentence Correction. Some of these, such as not just X but also Y, are variations of well-known idioms. Of course, you must be extremely careful not to draw too many analogies with idioms, which by definition resist classification. For instance, one new problem (#140) uses the word dated, which must go with at, not to be, when you express an age: This fossil has been dated AT 10,000 years old, not TO BE 10,000 years old. In contrast, a seemingly similar word, estimated, must be used in precisely the opposite way with ages (This fossil has been estimated TO BE 10,000 years old, not AT 10,000 years old), as is tested by problem #27 (#21 in the 11th edition).

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GMAT Official Guide 12th Edition: Critical Reasoning
<< Back to 12th Edition Overview
            
Overall Changes
Which Problems Changed?
For an exact list of differences between the 11th and 12th editions, download the Critical Reasoning Problem List.The 11th edition has 141 Critical Reasoning problems (including 17 Diagnostic problems). In the changeover to the 12th edition, 50 problems were removed, leaving 91 repeats (including all Diagnostics), and 50 problems were added, yielding 141 Critical Reasoning problems in the 12th edition – the same number as in the 11th edition.

The proportion of new Critical Reasoning problems (35%) is very nearly the same as the average for all problems (33%).

Topic Distribution

The proportion of problems in various categories has changed somewhat.



Two minor question types have substantially increased in number: Analyze the Argument Structure (from 3 to 13) and Evaluate the Conclusion (from 6 to 14). Analyze the Argument Structure problems include “boldface statement” problems, in which 1 or (usually) 2 statements within an argument are displayed in boldface, and you are asked to describe the role these statements play within the argument. The GMAT has added 9 such problems. Evaluate the Conclusion problems ask you to choose the best way to evaluate the validity of a conclusion, e.g. what information would be most useful to know. These increased numbers may indicate that the GMAT is emphasizing these particular types of problems more than before.



Among major question types, Weaken the Conclusion has fallen the most in number (from 51 to 37); however, it is still the most numerous question type. Both Find the Assumption and Draw a Conclusion have also registered declines; in fact, in the 12th edition, they are not much more prevalent than the growing minor types mentioned earlier. However, Find the Assumption and Draw a Conclusion should still be classified as major types, given their logical importance.

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Difficulty Distribution
This graph displays the difficulty level of problems that were removed, repeated, and added. Excluding problems in the Diagnostic exam, higher-numbered problems are more difficult, according to the GMAT. On the left, red problems were removed from the 11th edition. On the right, dark-green problems were added to the 12th edition. Light colors represent repeated questions.

Problems were removed from the 11th edition at all levels of difficulty. Every instance in which 2 or 3 questions were asked about 1 argument was eliminated. In some cases, every question was removed; in other cases, one question was preserved.



Problems were also added to the 12th edition at all levels of difficulty, but in an absolutely regular pattern, with no more than 1 at a time.



As for the difficulty of various question types, the average difficulty of Analyze the Argument and Evaluate the Conclusion fell, because more problems of each type were added throughout. Evaluate the Conclusion fell the most, since many low-numbered problems of this type were added. Among the major question types, Find the Assumption and Draw a Conclusion became moderately harder.


Qualitative Observations
The most interesting shift is the growth of the minor types, particularly Analyze the Argument Structure, as mentioned above. Analyze the Structure problems were under-represented in the 11th edition (in fact, only one boldface statement problem exists – and it’s in the Verbal Supplement, not the 11th edition itself). This problem type is generally difficult, since the arguments are generally long and complex, and the answer choices are often worded in confusing ways. Students should be sure to practice problems of this type. Also, Evaluate the Conclusion deserves additional attention, although the new problems are concentrated in the lower (easier) numbers.
An interesting new structure appeared in one Explain the Event problem (#22). In this problem, a plan is outlined, together with the result (the failure of the plan). Finally, further information is provided. This further information allows you to rule out some possible explanations for the failure of the plan.
Several new problems contain rather long chains of cause and effect (e.g., #49, 62, 112). Students will continue to need effective techniques for keeping track of complex arguments.

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GMAT Official Guide 12th Ed: Reading Comprehension
<< Back to 12th Edition Overview
            
Overall Changes
Which Problems Changed?
For an exact list of differences between the 11th and 12th editions, download the Reading Comprehension Problem List.The 11th edition has 158 Reading Comprehension questions in 27 passages. In the changeover to the 12th edition, 45 problems and 7 passages were removed, leaving 113 repeated problems and 20 passages (including all Diagnostic problems and passages). 43 problems and 7 passages were then added, bringing the total to 156 questions and 27 passages—almost exactly the same as in the 11th edition.

Among the problem formats, Reading Comprehension has the second lowest proportion of new problems (28%). New passages constitute a similar portion of the whole (26%).

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Distribution of Questions and Passages
General vs. Specific Questions

The General/Specific split has not changed very much. Within the Specific category, there is a slight shift away from Detail questions (lookups) toward Inference questions, which require not only a lookup but also some degree of interpretation or further thinking.

Passage Length


Two long passages (>300 words) were replaced by two short passages (<250 words). However, the overall proportion is essentially unchanged, with a rough balance between long and short.