The book indeed contains 1,012 questions - counted myself . It starts with a diagnostic test (37q and 41v questions). There are a total of 55 different “drills” targeting various interesting and often neglected areas. The format for Math is not just standard multiple choice, but actually 50% of the quant questions are Data Sufficiency, so one can practice both questions types - PS and DS. Book Contents and Question Split: * Quant: o Arithmetic (terminology, percents, multiples, fractions, ratios, factors, decimals) - 70 questions o Algebra (equations and inequalities, plugging in, pita, quadratics, must be true, Yes/No DS, roots, interest, functions, powers) - 163 questions o Statistics, Probability, and Combinations (averages, median, mode, range, stdev, rate, factorials, probability, permutations and combinations, groups) - 117 questions o Geometry (lines and angles, triangles, quadraliterlas, circles, 3D figures, coordinate geometry, inscribed figures and shaded regions) - 100 questions * Quant Subtotal: 450 * Verbal: o RC - 30 passages and 150 questions (5 questions per passage) o SC (subject/verb agreement, tenses, pronouns, parallel, modifiers, idioms, mixed) - 175 questions o CR (weaken, strengthen, assumption, inference, evaluate, ID reasoning, resolve/explain, mixed) - 159 questionss * Verbal Subtotal: 484 * Total: 934 + diagnostic test (78) = 1,012
I am giving Kudos for these sections: factorials, probability, combinations, groups, Yes/No DS, assumption, and parallel structure questions. These areas are often neglected by test prep companies and I am thrilled to see a guide that actually addresses these. Issues I have with this book: - Random House used cheap paper - as always - RC section is structured by topic (humanities, science, etc rather than by type of questions) - Verbal questions are a bit off (esp. CR) but that’s to be expected - Could use more 700-level questions but there are a few in each section
See my other reviews for overview of the latest GMAT Books:
How does the "Princeton Review 1,012 GMAT Practice Questions" book stack up against getting the Official GMAT review book with 800 real questions?
Are the questions in PR's book representative of actual GMAT questions? How do they stack up difficulty wise?
No book compares to the Official Guide. It is a unique book of its own without question. PR 1012 is just a collection of questions organized by question type and focus - that's the main value.
Hey guys!I just got the PR 1012 and wanted to give my 2 cents on it. The reason I got hold of this book is 'coz I wanted to approach quant in an ORGANISED way.This book helps you do exactly that!It helped me find out which topics I was weak in and vice-versa.I am still in the quant section and the major problem that I am fcing is with theanswer explanations.Priceton relies HEAVILY on the "plug-in" approach and that at times can get on your nerves.But hey!Is'nt that exactly what this forum is for?!I am on the verge of literally posting each question here just to get the "theory" approach!So thanks a lot guys!But yeah this book gives us pretty good sums so at the end of it I am glad I got it!:)
P.s:I also noticed quite a few printing errors in the explanations section..but nothing major..One can live with it;)
Hey guys!I just got the PR 1012 and wanted to give my 2 cents on it. The reason I got hold of this book is 'coz I wanted to approach quant in an ORGANISED way.This book helps you do exactly that!It helped me find out which topics I was weak in and vice-versa.I am still in the quant section and the major problem that I am fcing is with theanswer explanations.Priceton relies HEAVILY on the "plug-in" approach and that at times can get on your nerves.But hey!Is'nt that exactly what this forum is for?!I am on the verge of literally posting each question here just to get the "theory" approach!So thanks a lot guys!But yeah this book gives us pretty good sums so at the end of it I am glad I got it!:)
P.s:I also noticed quite a few printing errors in the explanations section..but nothing major..One can live with it;)
Thank you for your thoughts! Yes - PR is famous for their "trick" approaches, which really don't work well on the test.
People kept asking for my personalized recommendation over and over. So here it is - this post, on the other hand, just tells you what to get The first column lists book categories and the purpose behind them and the other columns list approaches to the GMAT from average to most hardcore.
Book Bundles and Study Plans at a Glance
Standard Plan
Advanced Plan
Ultimate Plan
Beyond Hardcore Plan
General Strategy Books Explain how GMAT works, provide general principles and strategies, give an idea about weaknesses, provide practice tests
Just wanted to say thanks for all the help... I decided to take the GMAT and wanted to approach it in the best possible way (goal of 750+). I made the mistake when taking the Series 7 exam to not read the forums (still passed in 4 weeks). So thank you very much for your insight!
ps should i go through generalized books first and see where my weaknesses are before getting all the Manhattan books?
h2polo
Re: Top GMAT Prep Books/Guides Reviews & Comments [#permalink]
Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:45 pm
Manager
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2009 Posts: 214 Schools:Sloan Followers: 2
I have been studying the GMAT for over six months now and I have exhausted all of OG 11th edition. So when I looked for a book to really push my limits, the Kaplan GMAT Advanced sounded perfect.
BLUF: The book was good for getting some extra practice, but I would definitely emphasize that the vast majority of the problems you will see are at the 600-700 level. Most of the "strategies" are bogus and it seems like "backsolving" is the solution to most quantitative problems. So if you are looking for strategies on how to trackle the hardest problems in GMAT or a good review of difficult concepts, don't come running to this book.
Here is the breakdown of exactly what you will get: 28 Critical Reasoning Problems 31 Reading Comprehension Problems 152 Sentence Correction Problems 98 Problem Solving Problems 37 Data Sufficiency Problems
I don't know about the rest of you, but for an "advanced" book, I expected much more practice on the Data Sufficiency problems - they are usually the hardest for me.
Let me know if this helps!
amitprasad84
Re: Top GMAT Prep Books/Guides Reviews & Comments [#permalink]
I see that the reviews of OG12, OG Quant and OG Verbal - all include weakness: "3. Mostly low and medium difficulty questions. Not very helpful to a person aiming to get above 700."
So even the highest difficulty question toward the end do not go beyond 700 level?
bb
Re: Top GMAT Prep Books/Guides Reviews & Comments [#permalink]
Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 12:25 am
Founder
Affiliations: UA1K, SPG & HH Gold Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2002 Posts: 10351 Location: United States (WA) GMAT 1: 750 Q49 V42
GPA: 3.5 WE: Information Technology (Hospitality and Tourism) Followers: 726
I see that the reviews of OG12, OG Quant and OG Verbal - all include weakness: "3. Mostly low and medium difficulty questions. Not very helpful to a person aiming to get above 700."
So even the highest difficulty question toward the end do not go beyond 700 level?
Thank you. That does need to be clarified - both guides do contain hard Verbal questions, but there are only a handful. OG 12 has a greater number and proportion of difficult questions than OG Verbal. In my experience OG verbal was not very helpful (neither first or second edition that just came out). Probably 10-15 questions in each section are 700 level. That's my experience - anyone has different opinion?
Hard Verbal questions are rare exotic items items. Other than OG 12, I don't know where to find them. Perhaps GMATPrep if you take it over and over....
anyone has feedback for the new The Official GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd Edition?
I have ordered new The Official GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd Edition, today from Amazon along with the Manhattan Sentence Correction (4th Edition). The only difference I can see from the description listed is, it has 75 new questions from the past GMAT exams. I will let you know what I find though.
GMATxpert
Re: Top GMAT Prep Books/Guides Reviews & Comments [#permalink]
What really surprised me about 12OG was the number of repeat questions. I think the prudent route to go is 11OG since you can save so much money and get about the same benefit.
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. It starts with a diagnostic test (37q and 41v questions). There are a total of 55 different “drills” targeting various interesting and often neglected areas. The format for Math is not just standard multiple choice, but actually 50% of the quant questions are Data Sufficiency, so one can practice both questions types - PS and DS.
