The Official Guide for GMAT Review (10th Edition) [Paperback]

Educational Testing Service Staff (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0446396664 | ISBN-13: 978-0446396660 | Publication Date: December 2000 | Edition: 10th

The only study guide with real GMAT questions:

*More than 1,400 GMAT questions with answers explained by test authors

*Actual essay topics, sample responses, and scoring information

*Comprehensive math review

*Test-taking tips and strategies

* Test tutorials

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Graduate Management Admission; 10th edition (December 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446396664
• ISBN-13: 978-0446396660
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #438,525 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

263 of 268 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It doesn't get any better, January 31, 2002

By 

Steven Schneider (Great Falls) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Official Guide for GMAT Review (10th Edition) (Paperback)

I purchased several books and software programs (Kaplan software, Princeton Review Prep book, Barrons, Kaplan, etc) when studying for my GMAT and by far this book was the most useful in preparing for the test. This book doesn't contain much instruction, it mainly contains old GMAT questions. I studied quite a bit and got through most of the questions by the time I took the GMAT. Couple of hints:

1. Don't start with this book. Pick up a book on test strategies from the Princeton Review or Kaplan and work through the material in those first. They will teach you test strategies and the formulas/tricks that you need to know. For example, you should memorize a list of idioms before tackling too much of the verbal..This will help you to realize why certain answers are right... The answers at the back of the book will sometimes simply say "unidiomatic".. If you don't understand what that means and what many of the common idioms are that won't mean much.

2. When you sign up for the GMAT they will send you a CD with two sample tests on it. Those sample tests contain questions that are found in this book! That can result in a slightly skewed diagnostic test score so keep that in mind. You aren't going to run into questions on the actual test that are in this book! (except for the essays - see below)

3. The essays in the back of the book appear to be the same ones that are asked on the actual test! I don't know if this is a 100% guarentee but I've heard from several people that the essay questions that they were asked on the test could be found in the back of the book. Now there are hundreds listed - but it still is valuable to spend a few hours going through them and make sure you can come up with an approach to them.

3. This book has tons of problems, so you may start to forget what you've done and what you haven't. When working through the problems I marked problems that I got wrong the first time around. About a month later I went back through the book and re-did those problems to see if I could do them. Trust me - you won't remember most of the problems the second time around if you're studying for the test over a several month time period like I did.

Have fun preparing! If you have any questions about other books or the GMAT itself feel free to email.. I feel like I've been through an exhaustive process (GMAT and application process) and would be happy to help anyone who needs it. I did pretty well on my GMAT too.

120 of 126 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The real thing, August 13, 2002

By 

Eric Wang "hillybilly2" (New Hyde Park, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Official Guide for GMAT Review (10th Edition) (Paperback)

You won't find it in most book stores, but this book, combined with the Power Prep software and the Kaplan review, helped me score in the 99th percentile on my first try. Here are my thoughts and observations:
(1) Kaplan offers great test taking strategies. Go straight to the CD and take the diagnostic and devise a study plan. (If you get less than 600, consider going through the review sessions in the book first). Hone your basic math and verbal skills but concentrate on developing your internal clock.
(2) Some of Kaplan's toughest questions are designed to confuse you. Some questions have more than one "good" answers. Do not delve too deeply into Kaplan's test psyche.
(3) Midway through your Kaplan study program, take your first Power prep exam. In general, your score will be higher than your Kaplan scores so far. Note the discrepancy.
(4) Begin working through the Official Guide. Clock yourself and try to do a few more questions per session than required on the CAT. Keep an error log and review it often. Read the official explanations for questions you guessed on or missed.
(5) Take the second Power prep exam half way through the official guide. You may encounter questions that you have encountered during practice. So keep in mind that your score may be skewed. This should be your ideal score.
(6) Devote the last week to your weakest links. Review your error log frequently. Take the rest of the Kaplan exams. Try to complete all questions before time expires. Expect to make incremental improvement but don't worry if these scores remain lower than your power prep results.
(7) Rest. Visit your test center in advance.
Good luck. Let me know whether you find these thoughts helpful.

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The MOST important GMAT book to buy!!, December 26, 2001

By 

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

This review is from: The Official Guide for GMAT Review (10th Edition) (Paperback)

Getting ready to take the GMAT? This book will give you a good idea of what to expect on the test. First, if you are unfamiliar with the test, the GMAT consists of three sections: one verbal section, one math section, and the essays. In the verbal section, you'll have 41 questions consisting of approximately equal parts of reading, grammar, and something GMAT calls `critical reasoning.' You will see three or four reading passages (like those on most standardized tests), some grammar questions (which require you to figure out what is the best way to put a sentence in English), and some critical reasoning questions, which are basically logic questions.

On the math section, you'll see 37 questions. You only need to know algebra and geometry to answer these questions, but some of them are pretty tricky. There is no trigonometry or calculus on the GMAT. Some of the questions that you will have to answer are `data sufficiency' questions. These questions present you with some information, and you have to decide whether a math problem can be solved with this information.

Finally, the GMAT requires you to write two essays; one of them is a standard essay, and the other one requires you to analyze the reasoning of an argument (most schools pay more attention to your verbal and math scores than they do to your essay scores, though). All in all, the test will take you at least three and a half hours to finish, pretty long for most of us!!

Now, about this book. BEFORE you buy a test prep book, BEFORE you take a test prep class, BEFORE you buy other books, you need this book. This is simply the best book on the market, and the only one that contains official questions. (An important note: If you want to save some money, and don't mind the inconvenience of reading the questions in the software, you can actually download the official GMAT software for free from the official web site; all the questions that appear in this book also appear in the free software. The main difference is that you don't have the same easy access to the questions that you have when you buy the book).

I have been using this book, and its predecessor the 9th edition, for several years and can offer these comments:
FIRST and MOST IMPORTANT: The questions in this book are generally EASIER than the questions you'll see on the real test, especially the math questions. In the last year or so, GMAT has started including more probability and permutations questions on the real GMAT, especially for people who are scoring pretty high in math, and you won't find too many of these types of questions in this book. If you are really good at math, the questions in this book will most likely seem too easy for you. For harder math questions, I highly recommend the Kaplan book with the CD-ROM (make sure you get the book with the CD-ROM--the hard questions are contained on the CD-ROM, not in the book).

One of the best things about this book is simply that it doesn't contain typos, or at least very few (I haven't found any yet, but there might be one or two; there was at least one obvious one in the previous edition). This may seem a minor point, but imagine that you are studying hard, you are confused, and you go to check your answer, and the answer is listed incorrectly. You may not realize it, but many of the books from Kaplan, Princeton Review, Barron's, Peterson's, etc., are FULL of typos, especially in the answers listed in the backs of the books.

Whew! That's a lot of info, huh? I hope it's helped. Good luck on your test, and trust me--this is the first book you should buy!!