4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Basic guide to ratios - not so useful for high scorers, July 29, 2010
This review is from: Fractions, Decimals, and Percents GMAT Preparation Guide, 4th Edition (Manhattan GMAT Preparation Guides) (Manhattan GMAT Preparation Guide: Pre-Algebra) (Paperback)
I self studied and scored a 770 on the GMAT. Here are my thoughts on the Manhattan GMAT Fractions, Decimals, and Percents GMAT guide:
===== OVERVIEW =====
The Manhattan GMAT Fractions, Decimals & Percents guide is the second quant guide of the series of 5 books edited by Manhattan GMAT. The title of the book pretty much sums it up with regards to the content being analyzed. You'll see a theoretical review of the famed part-to-whole relationship in quant, in its three well-known forms: fractions, decimals and percents. Since the concepts that are discussed are not difficult and regularly encountered in day-to-day life (for instance, opinion polls are presented using percents), the book is probably the easiest in the series. As such, it is only recommended for those whose quant is pretty rusty.
The Fractions guide follows the now familiar two-part structure, with one basic-intermediate section and one more advanced one. The first part contains 60 "in action" problems, while the second features 23 such questions. These "in action" problem types are similar to Problem Solving questions, except that the authors do not provide answer choices: you are supposed to figure out a value on your own.
===== PROS =====
*Thorough review of the topics advertised in the title, from the basics and all the way up to more challenging problems involving symbols for operations or digits
*The book is ideal for someone who hasn't had math practice in a while
*You get a decent number of practice items per number of pages, but your main resources for practice are the
The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition (you'll find lists of "to do" problems at the end of the two sections)
*Comes with access to 25 online questions and the 6 Manhattan GMAT tests, some of the most accurate in the industry (supposedly second only to GMATprep tests, those developed by the makers of the GMAT)
===== CONS =====
*Not well suited for those who have had regular exposure to basic math, because the concepts presented are among the simpler ones. It provides an interesting counterpoint to the exhausting "math marathon" that is the Number Properties guide (the first in the series)
*Data Sufficiency is not sufficiently covered (a shared issue of all the Manhattan guides). The focus is almost strictly on reformulating Official Guide problems. I would have loved to see some DS practice problems written by the authors
*Very few challenging problems, mainly because the topic in itself is not difficult. Could have used more problems on symbols and last digits
===== BOTTOM LINE =====
The Manhattan GMAT Fractions, Decimals & Percents guide is not the book for you if you're looking for more advanced practice or theory. It's also probably best to focus on other guides of the series if you're pressed for time. Since problems rarely test the concepts in this book exclusively, I think you might get enough out of simply working through the
The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition. If, however, you find it hard to work with concepts involving the part-whole relationship, this book will definitely help.
About me: Dana Jinaru, 770 GMAT scorer, expert at Beat The GMAT - a community serving 1.5 million+ MBA applicants each year
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Very rudimentry, November 15, 2008
This book can be valuable to those who never did well in grammar school and high school arithmetic or to those whose rudimentry math is extremely rusty. The book covers the simplest portion of GMAT quant section(fractons, decimals, percents). As its name implies, this book covers mostly rudimentry arithmetic which is sure to bore many GMAT takers.
I have found only 7 questions which I personally found somewhat challenging. Worse yet, the real GMAT questions are signficantly (but not substantially) more difficult than the questions presented in this book.
Still, this book provides valuable review of arithmetic. I was going to grant this book 4 stars but the explanation of the answers were really dumbed down to those who would have trouble with rudimentry arithmatic. Given that I could solve most of the problems in this book in my head, I have found book's advocacy of grids to solve basic arithmatic problems to be counterproductive.
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