Hi. Having seen the previous editions (the last 3 or 4) there have been only cosmetic changes done to the books. You can buy one from 2007 and still have the exact same questions that are in the 2014 edition.
This one is no exception. here is my review of it:
3.0 out of 5 stars Poor Guidebook but a Good Question Collection, April 7, 2014
By GMAT Club (Expert) "BB"
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Kaplan GMAT 800: Advanced Prep for Advanced Students (Kaplan Test Prep) (Paperback)
I am not blasting this book - I am giving you a rating based on the expectation that the description of this book sets. It does not live up and you are bound to be disappointed. However, it is actually a valuable book but you need to be aware of what you are buying and probably how to use it best when you buy it:
As a pure guidebook - 1 star
As a question collection - 4 stars
What You Will Find Inside:
28 Critical reasoning questions
31 Reading comprehension questions
110 Sentence correction questions
107 Problem solving questions (only 7 of which cover combinations and probability)
37 Data Sufficiency questions
100 + questions in the online question bank
***** CONS *****
* No review of math principles or grammar rules. This book assumes that you have gone through the Kaplan's main GMAT book. If you need help with basics look into getting the Math or Verbal Workbooks before getting this one.
* Illogical structure. Instead of the typical approach of providing a rule and then questions to practice that rule on, this book just lists questions in each of the sections. All of the valuable information and tips are scattered around the explanations section. The book assumes you will read/review explanations for every question. In defense, the main point is often emphasized, so they are not too hard to find.
* Question difficulty. Fewer than 50 people per year score 800 on the GMAT, and most of the lucky guys get past 700. To appeal to a broad audience, Kaplan designed this book at a 650/700-level
* Math section is fairly easy and lacks meaningful practice in advanced subjects such as probability, combinations, or coordinate geometry, statistics. If these are your weak areas, you should look elsewhere
* No Integrated Reasoning
***** PROS *****
* The book does what it was supposed to do - provide advanced selection of questions, giving the necessary practice with relevant questions. Though Kaplan's questions are not one-for-one official GMAT questions, I found them fairly close overall. I also liked the explanations - they were very detailed
* Good verbal section with valuable RC practice; huge selection of SC's
* Good quality publishing and paper; good layout
* Price - I thought it was worth every penny
Bottom Line: This is not a guidebook or a book to start with - if you need to get better in a certain question type, then get it but don't expect it to be sufficient to give you the background often needed to score 700+.
[+++] Here is the list of the hardest questions in the book (if this is all you are looking for).
CR tough questions:
Chapter 2: Prob # 3, 7
Chapter 3: #9,10,11
Chapter 4: #1,2,4,7,9,10,13,16,20,21,27
RC tough questions:
Chapter5: Has no questions
Chapter6: Passage 1: #1, #4, Passage 2: #1, #3, Passage 3: #4, Passage 4: #3
Chapter7: Passage 1: #2, Passage 2:None, Passage 3: #3, #4, Passage 4: #1, #2.
Sentence Correction
Chapter 8- no questions
Chapter 9: Ques #: 8,10,13,15,16,19,20,25,27,29,32,35,36,37
Chapter10: Ques #: 44,45,46,49,57,58,59,60,62,63,64,66,67,68,72
Chapter 11: Ques #: 2,6,11,14,16,23,25,27,29,34,35,36,37,39
QUANT/MATH
Chapter 12: no questions
Chapter 13: #14
Chapter 14: #3
Chapter 15: #13
Chapter 16: no questions
Chapter 17: #3,16,17,27,28,29,36
Chapter 18: #9
Chapter 19: #1,3,7
Chapter 20: No questions
Chapter 21: #7
Chapter 22: #4,8,16,17,18
FYI: This book is the re-branded edition of a book previously called Kaplan GMAT Advanced
The two books are identical in terms of content (very minor changes); for exact changes see:
CHANGES IN THIS EDITION:
* No changes have been spotted in the book from the 8th edition
* Online question bank access was added with 100 or so questions