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Best GMAT Books

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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   17 Jun 2009, 10:40
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New book is out: Princeton Review 1,012 GMAT Practice Questions (Look up details on Amazon) 4.5 Stars out of 5


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:

* Amazon Reviews
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obamausa8
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   29 Jun 2009, 23:48
Thanks for the feedback. That is very useful.


pret auto
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chinaikchee
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   22 Jul 2009, 07:59
Hi, anyone has any comments on McGraw Hill 6 Practice Tests 2008 edition?
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   22 Jul 2009, 08:13
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chinaikchee wrote:
Hi, anyone has any comments on McGraw Hill 6 Practice Tests 2008 edition?


Yep - don't get it. It is in this same thread, a few posts back.
top-gmat-prep-books-guides-reviews-comments-77703.html#p591560
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dumbasbricks
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   22 Jul 2009, 08:16
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?
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   22 Jul 2009, 08:18
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dumbasbricks wrote:
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.
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tejal777
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   22 Jul 2009, 21:14
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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;)
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   22 Jul 2009, 22:34
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tejal777 wrote:
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.
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   26 Jul 2009, 18:34
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Listing updated - added PR 1012 book and GMAT Simulation booklet
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   05 Aug 2009, 13:45
anyone has feedback for the new The Official GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd Edition?
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   05 Aug 2009, 14:43
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ThrillRide wrote:
anyone has feedback for the new The Official GMAT Verbal Review, 2nd Edition?


Yes - it has not been published yet. Release date is August 17th. :roll:
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   06 Aug 2009, 22:46
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I have added a new book listing....


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 :-D
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 PlanAdvanced PlanUltimate PlanBeyond Hardcore Plan
General Strategy Books
Explain how GMAT works, provide general principles and strategies,
give an idea about weaknesses, provide practice tests		Kaplan Live Online
+ comes with 6 practice tests		Kaplan Live Online
+ comes with 6 practice tests
Kaplan GMAT Advanced
- Poor guidebook, more of a question collection		Kaplan Live Online
+ comes with 6 practice tests
Kaplan GMAT Advanced
- Poor guidebook, more of a question collection
GMAT Test Simulation Booklet
+ Great for practice		Kaplan Live Online
+ comes with 6 practice tests
Kaplan GMAT Advanced
- Poor guidebook, more of a question collection
GMAT Test Simulation Booklet
+ Great for practice
Quant Books
Refresh math principles, fill gaps, and learn patterns		Kaplan Math Workbook
- missing probability and combinations		Kaplan Math Workbook
- missing probability and combinations
MGMAT Number Properties		4 Quant MGMAT Guides
Kaplan Math Foundations		4 Quant MGMAT Guides
Kaplan Math Foundations
Probability and Combinations for Dummies
Verbal Books
Refresh grammar rules, aquire CR and RC strategies		Kaplan Verbal Workbook
OR: PowerScore Verbal Bible		CR: PowerScore CR or MGMAT CR
RC: MGMAT RC
SC: PowerScore SC or MGMAT SC		CR: PowerScore CR or MGMAT CR
RC: MGMAT RC
SC: PowerScore SC or MGMAT SC
SC: Kaplan Verbal Foundations		CR: PowerScore CR or MGMAT CR
CR: LSAT Critical Reasoning
RC: MGMAT RC
RC: LSAT Reading Comprehension
SC: PowerScore SC or MGMAT SC
SC: Doing Grammar
Practice Questions
Additional practice		Official Guide 12th
+ 900 retired real GMAT questions		Official Guide 12th
+ 900 retired real GMAT questions
Verbal Official Guide
+ 300 retired verbal GMAT questions
Quant Official Guide
+ 300 retired quant GMAT questions		Official Guide 12th
+ 900 retired real GMAT questions
Verbal Official Guide
+ 300 retired verbal GMAT questions
Quant Official Guide
+ 300 retired quant GMAT questions
Princeton Review 1012
+ Great target practice		Official Guide 12th
+ 900 retired real GMAT questions
Verbal Official Guide
+ 300 retired verbal GMAT questions
Quant Official Guide
+ 300 retired quant GMAT questions
Princeton Review 1012
+ Great target practice
Paper GMAT Tests
+ Official Retired tests available from GMAC
Tests
Simulated Practice GMAT tests		GMATPrep, Kaplan, Free testsGMATprep, Kaplan, MGMAT, some GMATClub testsGMATprep, PowerPrep, GMAT Focus, Kaplan, MGMAT, GMATClub testsGMATprep, PowerPrep, GMAT Focus, Kaplan, MGMAT, PR, GMATClub tests
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   11 Aug 2009, 11:25
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?
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h2polo
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   13 Aug 2009, 12:45
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Here is my review of Kaplan GMAT Advanced:

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!
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amitprasad84
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   25 Aug 2009, 03:13
This is really awesome. Great work bb.
+1 for you.
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izing
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   28 Aug 2009, 00:16
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?
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   28 Aug 2009, 00:25
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izing wrote:
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....
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   03 Sep 2009, 06:20
ThrillRide wrote:
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.
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   03 Sep 2009, 13:04
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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rahuljaiswal
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink] New post   11 Sep 2009, 00:43
hey ,
i am plannin to study from these books -
1.OG 11th edition
2.kaplan Gmat 800
3. Kaplan math workbook
4. Gmat verbal bible - Powerscore

i have compiled this list based on the various reviews on this forum..do u think it is a good mix?
my english and Quant are not that bad... should i be concentrating on any more books or any other reference material? i am planning at a score of atleast above 720..pl suggest improvements, if any

also pl suggest the order in which i should study the above mentioned books....
a friend of mine who got a 770 suggested starting with princeton review...is tht book good enough?

regards,
rahul
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Re: Best GMAT Books [#permalink]
11 Sep 2009, 00:43
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