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Title: The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 10th Edition ISBN: 0-88685-240-4 Publisher: RSVP Pub. Date: January, 2003 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.12 (16 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent practice problems, but....
Comment: If I were only going to buy one book in order to prepare for the GMAT, this would be it. The 1,400 practice problems taken from real tests were far closer to what I encountered on the actual GMAT than those of competing books. Having said that, I think many of the tips found in the other books I purchased (Kaplan, Princeton, and Arco) were very useful. For best results, I would purchase this book and the Kaplan or Princeton book to compliment it. This book shows you "GMAT math", but the other books give you tips on how to do less math. If I just used GMAT math, I would never have finished the quantitative section.
It would have been nice if the practice problems could have been provided on a CD (it's a pain to create answer sheets, etc) or were rated by difficulty, but overall I don't have any complaints.
This book does duplicate many of the PowerPrep software (downloadable from the GMAT site) questions. I recommend using the two in conjunction.
I took the first PowerPrep CAT test about a month before my GMAT in order to give me a baseline score. I got a 680. I then studied for the month using the Arco, Kaplan, Princeton and the Official guide (I basically went through one a week). I believe the key to doing well is practice and of the four books, the official guide provides the most practice problems.
The night before my GMAT, I took the final PowerPrep CAT test. I got a 770! My score on the actual GMAT was a 750, so the PowerPrep software was the most acurate at measuring my score (My best score on tests I took during the month of study were 680 using Kaplan and 720 on Princeton). A question very similar to one of the difficult quantitative questions on the PowerPrep test appeared on the actual GMAT. I was running out of time and if I hadn't seen the similar problem the night before, I likely would have gotten it wrong.
Rating: 3
Summary: Sorta Good, Sorta Not
Comment: I'm a GMAT tutor with 10+ years of successful students. Here's what I suggest for the GMAT:
1. Use the Kaplan CD (as cheesy as the presentation is, the tests are very good). I've heard complaints that the prep tests from Kaplan are too hard, and I have to disagree with the point being made by these students. The only way, on a computer-adaptive test, to increase your score is to test using HARDER, not easier problems. I may kick ass at medium level questions, but unless I want a medium level score, practicing at a lower level hurts rather than helps.
2. Ignore the Kaplan book. Use The Princeton Review books (either Cracking the GMAT or GMAT Workouts for Math and Verbal) for tricks and psychology. Try the Official Guide for extra problems and basic review issues (but use as much of the Princeton psychology as you can -- the Official Guide encourages you to do the problems straight, and that's a huge waste of time). The Princeton tests are buggy for sure (Hello! Princeton Review! Fix this!) but are still fairly accurate.
3. Take as many practice tests as you can. That means Kaplan, Princeton Review, PowerPrep. Arco, Barrons, Petersons, and Dummies are all awful. Don't bother with their instruction or their tests. On Princeton Review and PowerPrep, knock 30 points off your score, just to be safe.
4. Check out your local library. Many public libraries have crazy collections of old, out of print Official Guides, chock full o paper-and-pencil tests going back a good 20 years. By all means, use these -- they're a goldmine of practice questions.
Good luck!
Rating: 4
Summary: Not the best, but essential
Comment: The Official Guide for GMAT Review is probably one of the most useful guides for your GMAT Prep. It contains about 1400 retired questions from old gmat tests with full explanations. It is extremely helpful to get yourself familiar with GMAT logic, grammar, and reading. The main value of this book is that it is the ONLY book that has REAL GMAT questions. Some of the questions from OG are used in the PowerPrep (PP) which is the most accurate measurement of your official GMAT Score. So, if you go through this book and then take PP, you score is much higher than it would have otherwise been because you have worked through the questions already, and one thing is for sure, after you saw a question, you don't forget it for a long time.
Pros
1. Good introduction to the test
2. Concepts are clearly explained.
3. Good explanations to most of the problems.
Cons
1. Explanations , especially in SC, could have been much better.
2. Most of the questions may not reflect the difficulty level in the actual GMAT. If you are aiming for a 680+, the last 50 or so questions in each section might be worth taking a second look.
Overall, good reference and a great buy.
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Title: Kaplan GMAT 2004 with CD-ROM by Kaplan ISBN: 0743241401 Publisher: Kaplan Press Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $37.00 |
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Title: Verbal Workout for the GMAT (The Princeton Review) by Douglas French ISBN: 0375754172 Publisher: Princeton Review Pub. Date: 23 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Cracking the GMAT with Sample Tests on CD-ROM, 2004 Edition by Princeton Review, Geoff Martz, Adam Robinson ISBN: 0375763244 Publisher: Princeton Review Pub. Date: 17 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.95 |
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Title: Kaplan GMAT Verbal Workbook, Second Edition by Kaplan ISBN: 0743250990 Publisher: Kaplan Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: GMAT Math Workout (Princeton Review Series) by Jack Schieffer ISBN: 0679783733 Publisher: Princeton Review Pub. Date: 29 December, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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