Are The Princeton review gmat books any good?

Question

Hi all,

I am a 700+ scorer and I use multiple brands to prepare for the gmat, like the official guides, Manhattan, Kaplan, Princeton review, powerscore... but I am having a terrible experience with Princeton review's CR questions. I am achieving only 70% accuracy while for all other brands I am at 90% or above. Moreover, I find some questions completely ridiculous and correct answer choices that make no sense. I am experiencing this with the 1138 gmat questions book by Princeton review. I am wondering, am I the only one having such a bad outcome with their questions or are they really not that good?. Please advice me, I am getting scared seeing my 70% accuracy.

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pintukr · Answer

Will advise to use Official Guide, prior to study of other prescribed Books.

Borkica · Answer

It is mentioned in my post that I did use the official guide and score above 90% on CR section. My question was if anyone else had the same experience with the Princeton review book I am referring to in the post.

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bb · Answer

Think about the GMAT as a dish. Think about it as a nice juicy steak or nicely cooked pasta. You do not need to cook it for two days for it to taste great and the longer you cook it the taste will not be better. Similarly, the more ingredients you put in, the the stranger, the taste, and you’re not even sure what it taste so I could be entered with all the conflicting flavors.

That is sort of where you ended up, using multiple sources, and now you got yourself stumped… there is plenty of official questions and plenty of Kaplan questions. That’s at least three or 4000 of questions 😱 Don’t try to solve all the questions in the world. There’s little value past the first thousand or two. Not sure why you even went to Princeton review. I’m not sure which book you’re referring to, but being familiar with their main GMAT book, I wouldn’t use the strategies. The questions tend to be easier and a little weird so there you go.

PS.

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Borkica,

If your overall accuracy while working through practice questions is so high, then you likely do not need to do a lot of additional practice at this point. Before I can offer you any additional advice for your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) Have you taken the Official GMAT? If you have, then how did you score (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
2) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
3) Have you used any other study materials besides the books that you listed?
4) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
5) What is your overall goal score?
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Borkica,

I'm curious. Have you taken any official MBA.com practice exams? If so, how did you handle the CR questions on those exams?

Borkica · Answer

Thanks a lot. So I did take the gmat twice in the past. I scored 660 (quant was 48 and the verbal was somewhere around 32, i am not sure atm) first and then 680(quant 49 verbal around 34 i think). This is when I applied for my MSc degree 4 years ago. Now I am taking it because I need it for my PhD application at NHH in Norway. To be competitive applicant I need 730 but I aim at 750 (that's the goal I have set for myself and of course I will give my best to even score more). Also goal is to score at least 50 on Quant and the rest on Verbal.

For my other two attempts I have studied for 3 months plus additional 1 month for the second attempt. Now I am already studying for over 2 months and my exam is on 12th December. The difference however is that I spent additional two years in an English speaking institution and reading advanced academic material, so I already feel more confident than before. I study at least 1 hour each day monday to Friday and 4 hours each day during the weekend and holiday. I have also gotten 2 weeks off work before my exam, so those two weeks I will practice even more.

I currently have 6 official practice tests that I am keeping for the last moment because they are more accurate, 6 Manhatten prep, 6 Kaplan. I've done 4 of the Kaplan tests and I score 700+ all the time. Quant is stable at 49 or 50, verbal ranges from 38 to 43.

Regarding material, I have every book that's available in Europe. 
- So the 2022 official guides including the Verbal and Quant book, as well as the advanced question official book
- Manhatten prep "all the Verbal" book and advanced Quant.
- Kaplan 800 book, the main guide book, Verbal workbook and Quant workbook
- powerscore CR SC and RC Bible books. This is where I learned the theory and follow their strategies for the Verbal section
- Princeton review gmat premium and the 1138 questions book (but I have now decided to put a hold on these books as they are confusing me rather than helping me)

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Borkica, I've sent you a PM with some notes and additional questions. GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made, Rich Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

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