Review of PowerScore GMAT Verbal Bible - 3 Stars out of 5
This book review is a part of GMAT Club’s comprehensive GMAT Book analysis
Powerscore GMAT Verbal Bible (order from Amazon) builds upon success of Powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible and Powerscore Sentence Correction Bible but with those two great books out there, this book does not add up. The only advantage I see is the Reading Comprehension section (new; there are no Powerscore books covering RC) but with only a few passages and questions, it does not justify purchasing the book. Here is a detailed analysis of the book:
Verbal Bible Advantages:
+ Great SC Material
+ Great CR Material
+ Great RC strategies
+ Condenses information into all-in-one verbal workbook that competes well against Kaplan GMAT Verbal Workbook
Verbal Bible Disadvantages:
- Less practice/instruction than SC Book
- Less practice/instruction than CR Book
- Almost no Reading Comprehension practice (section includes only 2 passages with 4 questions each)
- Overall could use more practice questions (true about all PowerScore books)
The book does contain about 125 GMAT questions and 85 Mini-drills (these are non-gmat style questions but still very helpful for practicing and nailing down the strategies). Out of the 125 GMAT questions, 50 are in CR section, 8 in RC, and 77 in SC.
Bottom Line:
If you are looking for a great all-in-one Verbal workbook that you can cover in a few weeks, this is a great choice - it condenses 700 pages of PowerScore books into 400. However, minuscule number of practice questions, especially in the RC section, make it unattractive.
If you are looking for a 700+ score, I would recommend getting the separate Powerscore CR and Powerscore SC books and getting Manhattan GMAT for RC. This will have the entire Verbal section covered.
Alternatively, look into getting the Kaplan Verbal Workbook. It also has quality material but more practice questions. Just keep in mind that the questions overlap with the Kaplan Premier Program book.
Look up Powerscore Verbal Bible on Amazon
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-BB, founder of GMAT Club.
