Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
 Maybe too optimistic, but nothing helps as much as basics September 27, 2009
GMATClub.com (USA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I got 99th percentile on my GMAT 750(49, 42) and i used 3 books: this one, Kaplan's book with CD and Verbal Workbook. I had access to PR book and PP, but I did only tests from those. I found Kaplan's materials of quality and difficulty. Some whine that Kaplan is too hard, but that's good - if you can handle Kaplan, you can handle old good GMAT.
PROS:
- Very short and condensed math reviews - straight to the point
- No smart-aleck advice about some stupid tricks - only math review - exactly what I needed
- Solid problems that illustrate a lot of traps and multiple ways of solving them
- Starts with the basics - arithmetic, integers, primes, etc - the stuff that anybody can uses a review of. A lot of applicants underestimate how much they forgot the basics and skim/skip them. I would not do that, and that book does not either.
- Finally, the number of questions and quizzes in this book is impressive. I am giving a short summary of some of the sections of the book and number of quizzes and test questions. Quiz questions are math only; Test questions are GMAT-type questions.
CONS:
- No probability or combinations review, which would be very helpful. Get something. I bombed my probability question on the GMAT.
- I went through this book at least 3 times (helping others) and I found that solutions don't include some of the most genius ways to handle the problems. I think the authors of the questions went beyond themselves.
- Errors (even though this is the 6th edition and it barely changed compared to the 1st and 2nd, there are a few typos and just careless errors - it's a shame)
Arithmetic
-Number operations (15 quiz questions and 15 test questions)
-Number properties (15, 19)
-Averages (10, 19)
-Ratios (10, 24)
-Percents (25, 25)
-Powers and Roots (12, 17)
Algebra
-Level One (20, 26)
-Level Two (15, 15)
Word Problems
-Level One (10, 26)
-Level Two (37)
-Test (40)
Geometry
-Lines (6, 14)
-Triangles (16, 21)
-Quadrilaterals (15, 19)
-Circles (19, 13)
-Multiple Figures (4, 15)
-Solids (6, 8)
Data Sufficiency
-Test 1 (25)
-Test 2 (25)
Also, here is the list of the Most Interesting GMAT questions from this book (some are hard and others require an unusual approach) - make sure you can answer every one of them and know how to solve them by heart:
Number properties test: 8, 13, 14, 17, 19
Averages test: 4, 6
Ratios: 22
Percents: 4, 7, 8, 22
Powers and Roots: 5, 12
Algebra test 2: 2, 6
Basic Word Problem Exercise (p. 131): 6, 8, 9
Word Problems Test 1: 4, 19, 24
Percents, Ratios, and Rates: 34
General WP Test: 31, 35, 40
Geometry
Triangles Exercise: 7, 11
Triangles Test: 2, 15, 18
Quadraliterals and other polygons: 14, 16, 17
Circles: 2, 5, 10
Multiple Figures: 2, 6, 9, 14
Solids: 5
DS1: 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24
DS2: 3, 7, 9, 10, 15, 21, 23, 24
Great Supplement April 23, 2008
Katie Louis (Missouri, United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I think this book is a great supplement to the Official GMAT Review. While the Official GMAT Review provides loads of practice questions, this book does a better job of explaining the math concepts that will be tested on the GMAT. This is especially helpful as the GMAT tests math concepts that most of us haven't reviewed since high school.
I would recommend this book, especially if you're someone who is not typically satisfied by the short answers and explanations to math questions that most review books contain.
GMAT study guide March 26, 2007
Sarah Gibson (Cedar Rapids, IA)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
The book walks you through all the problems which I find very helpful. I definitely recommend!
Great Book for someone out of school for 8 years April 20, 2010
Melissa Diaz (washington, dc)
I bought this book last summer (2009) and completed every practice and word question in the book which took me about 3 months taking my sweet time - you may do it much quicker. I BOMBED the Data Sufficiency portion even after all that studying and had no idea what I was going to do about the essays, so I enrolled in the Kaplan Online Course (the second cheapest option they offer at $599). The Online Course allows you to go through all of their "Core Courses" plus extra practice/-in-depth questions that help refine your knowledge in each subject. The other nice thing is that it comes with 6 full CAT tests (in addition to the free ones provided by [...]). Great tool - I am so glad I didn't pay for the more expensive courses and I will always keep this book around for reference. P.S. I ultimately scored 100 points higher (640) than my diagnostic on my final GMAT.
 Surprisingly useful August 24, 2006
Jeff Sackmann (Astoria, New York, USA)
21 out of 24 found this review helpful
For years, Kaplan produced a math workbook that covered both GRE and GMAT material, which was an endless source of confusion for students. While those two tests have a lot of similarities, the question types and difficulty levels merited separate books, and Kaplan has finally provided that.
I hadn't seen this book before this week (it was published just this month) and I was impressed. It's not designed for the very high scorer, though I've worked with very few students who wouldn't benefit from it. The best aspects of this book are the content drills--problem sets that aren't GMAT-style questions, but ensure that you know the basics, such as dividing fractions and manipulating exponents.
There isn't a great deal of helpful explanatory material, but the math tutorials are quite a bit better than the equivalent chapters in The Official Guide for GMAT Math Review. If you're at a very remedial level in math, you probably need a tutor and/or a couple friendly algebra and geometry books, but if you remember the basics, this volume should be enough to get you up to speed.
Best of all, there's more practice in this book than just about any other GMAT resource. With about 600 questions, it'll quickly show you where your strengths and weaknesses lie. I strongly recommend this book for anyone currently scoring a 550 or less, or anyone just starting out who is uncomfortable with the GMAT Math they've seen so far.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
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