Gmat Cat: Answers to the Real Essay Questions [Paperback]

Mark Alan Stewart (Author), Frederick J. O'Toole (Author), Linda Bomstad (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 13, 1998

Every GMAT-taker s dream come true! Now for the first time, the test-makers are releasing all 150 real GMAT essay questions in advance -- and ARCO is ready with sample answers to every question! GMAT-takers everywhere who must face the dreaded essay section will be clamoring for this exclusive new guide -- and it s sure to fly off your bookstore shelves! Features include: _ 10 strategies to add points to essay scores _ Inside tips on what the graders are looking for _ Expert coaching from test-prep pros Mark Alan Stewart is a California-based test-prep coach and the author of numerous ARCO study guides. Frederick J. O Toole is a professor of philosophy at California State Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

While some business schools show little interest in the AWA (analytical writing assessment) portion of your GMAT, other schools use the results to help distinguish between the hundreds of students competing for placement in their programs. If your schools of choice consider AWA results when selecting students, you'll need to devote time to your essays as well as to your math and verbal skills. When you take your GMAT, the computer randomly selects two essay questions from its question bank. GMAT CAT: Answers to the Real Essay Questions can help you prepare for all of them. No book is allowed to publish the questions (though this book's appendix will tell you how to download the 180 official AWA questions from the EST's web site)-- but this book does provide you with sample answers to all 180 questions. The authors warn you not to try to use their answers on the exam, as the GMAT readers feel pretty strongly about plagiarism--instead, they provide you with tools to help you compose your own high-scoring GMAT essays and a "scorecard" to help you score your practice essays. The book also offers advice on how to answer both the "analysis of an issue" and "analysis of an argument" questions, and truly practical information about the basic structure of the exam and even the word-processing program you'll be using on your test. Filled with such useful advice, GMAT CAT: Answers to the Real Essay Questions would be a great addition to the serious student's GMAT preparation. --C.B. Delaney

About the Author

Mark Alan Stewart is a California-based test-prep coach and the author of several ARCO guides for the GRE, GMAT, and LSAT.

Frederick J. O'Toole, Ph.D., and Linda Bomstad, Ph.D., are professors of philosophy at California State Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, California. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan General Reference (March 13, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028622847
• ISBN-13: 978-0028622842
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,211,345 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good book--but is it really necessary?, June 24, 2000

By 

TestMagic Inc. (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gmat-Cat : Answers to the Real Essay Questions (Paperback)

Hey, let's face it--who is going to read 150 GMAT essays? Not me, maybe not you, maybe only a GMAT essay scorer. Most people can do fine with the samples included in the Official GMAT book or with the review included in other books.

Furthermore, most schools don't really care too much about your GMAT essay score--they care most about your Verbal and Quantitative scores. Most of the schools that really care about your writing ability will look at your answers to the essay questions in the MBA application.

However, if you are the kind of person who really, really *loves* to study as much as possible for a test, this book is good, *and*, it is the only book on the market with this many sample GMAT essays.

All the essays are well-written and they would receive high scores on the GMAT. This book is good for people who learn from examples or for people who really have no idea what to write. Non-native speakers of English should take a look at this book if they feel like their writing style is not similar to the English writing style.

In short, this book is full of examples and is good for people who are not sure of what to write. Since GMAT has said that all essays will come from these topics, studying this book is good for people who are nervous about their essay scores.

80 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good for non-native english speakers, people who never write, August 3, 2000

By 

O. Lee "nycreader" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gmat-Cat : Answers to the Real Essay Questions (Paperback)

Very simply, this book is for two kinds of people: 1. People for whom English are not their first language or 2. People who don't read OR write formal documents in their workplace. The trick to the essay questions is pretty straightforward. Rather than reading essays that "worked", a person is better off reading the op/ed page in the New York Times and/or practicing what I would call the 5-paragraph rule. I used this (made-up) rule to get a 6 on the essay section with no preparation; (the essay is scored 1-6, 6 being the highest). Basically, the exam states a very simple statement, either ridiculously agreeable or ridiculously disagreeable. All you have to do is say why you agree/disagree with the statement. So what you can do is break it up as follows: paragraph 1 - State your opinions very clearly, e.g. I agree with this statement because of reason 1, reason 2 and reason 3. Paragraph 2 - Support reason 1, reason 1 makes sense because blah blah blah. Paragraph 3, same as the second paragraph. Paragraph 4 - optional, you don't need 3 reasons. I had 3 for one essay on 2 for the other. Paragraph 5 - wrap it up by re-iterating your reasons for agreeing/disagreeing with the statement, e.g. In conclusion, I agree with this statement because of reason 1, reason 2 etc. Voila! Practice this method with a couple of incredibly simple statements. It's more of how you structure the essays than the content. Remember that one of the two graders is a computer. Here is a practice statement: 1. Women were given the right to vote in the latter half of the 20th century. The presidents from this time period have caused more mass destruction than from the first half of the century. Thus, women should not have the right to vote. (Yes, some of the statements are this stupid.)

50 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars for non-native english speakers &people who don't write much, August 3, 2000

By 

O. Lee "nycreader" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gmat Cat: Answers to the Real Essay Questions (Paperback)

Very simply, this book is for two kinds of people: 1. People for whom English are not their first language or 2. People who don't read OR write formal documents in their workplace. The trick to the essay questions is pretty straightforward. Rather than reading essays that "worked", a person is better off reading the op/ed page in the New York Times and/or practicing what I would call the 5-paragraph rule. I used this (made-up) rule to get a 6 on the essay section with no preparation; (the essay is scored 1-6, 6 being the highest). Basically, the exam states a very simple statement, either ridiculously agreeable or ridiculously disagreeable. All you have to do is say why you agree/disagree with the statement. So what you can do is break it up as follows: paragraph 1 - State your opinions very clearly, e.g. I agree with this statement because of reason 1, reason 2 and reason 3. Paragraph 2 - Support reason 1, reason 1 makes sense because blah blah blah. Paragraph 3, same as the second paragraph. Paragraph 4 - optional, you don't need 3 reasons. I had 3 for one essay on 2 for the other. Paragraph 5 - wrap it up by re-iterating your reasons for agreeing/disagreeing with the statement, e.g. In conclusion, I agree with this statement because of reason 1, reason 2 etc. Voila! Practice this method with a couple of incredibly simple statements. It's more of how you structure the essays than the content. Remember that one of the two graders is a computer. Here is a practice statement: 1. Women were given the right to vote in the latter half of the 20th century. The presidents from this time period have caused more mass destruction than from the first half of the century. Thus, women should not have the right to vote. (Yes, some of the statements are this stupid.)