Others say...

"Great source for practice questions, but not good for theory review"
This book should be the first one you buy during your GMAT prep as it contains retired GMAT questions from past exams - this gives you a much better feel for the types of questions you are likely to encounter on the day. There are plenty of questions to practice with in both the quant and verbal sections - although beware that if you are also purchasing the old exams from the [...] that some of these will be replicated.

The real weakness with this book is with the level of detail in reviews. Particularly in the maths section, it does assume a level of knowledge and some topics are not well covered at all (e.g. combinations, permutations). If, like me, you are someone who has not touched high-school maths in 10 years, then it may be worth purchasing a couple of specific maths review books to aid you in this section.

The only other flaw is the lack of time practice available with this book, but it can be mitigated by downloading the free GmatPrep software [...] or by purchasing the old paper exams from the same website. If you cluster the maths and english sections, it will give you a very good feel for how to manage your time on the day.

I had only a few months to prepare for the GMAT, and bought this book, the Princeton Review, Kaplan, as well as the old tests and diagnostic tools on the MBA website. These all helped me to get a score of 710 on the first go. The official GMAT tools are much better to rely on, but the others are a good source of additional practice questions.

"No longer useful as it once was"
GMAT has changed a lot over the last 3 years and the materials in this book are no longer as useful as they once was. Most of the questions in this book are over 10 years old and they share approximately 90% of the questions with the 10th edition.

The result is the difficulty level and types of questions contained in this book are no longer fully reflective of the questions one will receive in the real GMAT. If you need proof, download GMAT Prep (just google it) from the providers of the GMAT and you will see the GMAT Prep questions are substantially different and more difficult than the questions from these guides.

The 1400 questions contained in these guides, however, are still somewhat useful, particularly if you are shooting for a lower end (450-620) score range.

If anything, GMAT Prep, which is provided free by the makers of GMAT, is a far better reflection of the real GMAT. Although GMAT Prep does not provide solutions (only answers) to the problems, it contains hundreds of questions in its data bank which will help you prepare for the tougher GMAT problems.


"All well,positive review!"
The product was in excellent condition, fairly fast delivered,no issues at all,would use again without doubt!

"The Key to Success"
I used the Kaplan guide and the official GMAT study guide to prepare for the GMAT. I first went throught the Kaplan guide cover to cover. I found the math review to be very helpful, and some of the test taking tips were useful. However, once I began reviewing the official GMAT study guide it became apparent that the practice questions in the Kaplan quide weren't quite accurate reflections of what the actual questions would look like. Practicing questions is the key to success in taking the GMAT. I've read some reviews in which people say you should only study the harder questions in the official review guide if you are finding the questions too easy, but I disagree. The key to doing well is to understand how the question writers try to trip you up, and you can only get to this point by practicing as many questions as possible. I went through every question in the GMAT study guide and by the end I could really begin to anticipate what the question writers were looking for. I ended up getting a 740. To summarize: the math review and some of the tips in the Kaplan guide are somewhat helpful, but I wouldn't waste much time on their practice questions. The practice questions in the official guide are indespensable - complete every one and review your incorrect answers and you will do well. I noticed a few reviews where people dismissed the value of the official GMAT guide because one or two questions had incorrect answers. They are nuts to devalue the book because it has a couple typos. Trust me - this book is the key to doing well.

"What can you say? Your GMAT starts here..."
I used this book more than any other study resource, and I took no prep course. I scored 770 (49Q 48V). Obviously I can't say for sure what would have happened without this book, but I feel it helped.

The majority of the questions tend to be on the easy side, with only a small percentage of hard questions. I recommend going over the harder questions with a fine-toothed comb, you will need to know them cold.