Admissions Books

The best features about this book are its science review sections that summarize concepts in Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Organic Chemistry. At least for the 2003 MCAT, the book did a good job of condensing a huge amount of science material into a number of chapters that are easily readable within a few weeks. If you run into any completely new concepts, though, you'll have to refer to outside resources for more explanation.

The verbal and writing review sections are not too helpful, as they're easier than what you'll find on the MCAT. You'll need other resources.

Overall, this review book and set of practice tests definitely can help you prepare for the MCAT, though not as much as more commercial (and pricey) test-prep materials, such as from Kaplan, Princeton Review, or ExamKrackers. I'd recommend NOT BUYING this book, but instead borrowing it from your local library. Also, supplement this book with harder practice tests so you get used to more difficult items.

I already took the MCAT and decided to retake it. This book gives a cursory glance at important info. and sometimes completely leaves out vital concepts. The examples are a little too easy especially for the verbal section. Also, the verbal section has not been updated for the 2003 test as advertised (they have 65 ques. instead of 60). Despite this, I did like the study tips that they give, most of which you can find in the AAMC student manual. It's an "OK" book to have, but the MCAT is way too important for you to risk depending solely on this book.

I have spent a lot of money on study materials to prepare for the National Counselor Exam and believe me, this book was a complete waste of money! I was unable to find one question in this book with any relevence to the NCE. I'm not sure if others have found this book useful (other than the other individual who reviewed this book and reported it germaine to the NCE in Puerto Rico). I assure you it has no merit as a study guide for anyone taking the NCE in Illinois. If I could give this book a lower rating, I would. I was extremely disappointed that I spent over $40 (including shipping) on such worthless material.

It helpp me a lot to take the test for Counselor license in Puerto RIco

I recently started the study for the GMAT and initially I bought the GMAT review book from Barron's, 12th edition. Even though the passages are sometimes too long and too outdated, the review sections of each type of question I have found very helpfull. Together with the Official Review GMAT book I believe I will have a good change to succeed in the test. Also, I just got some software exercises which really should help me master the test.

This book really wastes money because its stuff is outdated and
biased. You will find this book can not improve your scores on actual GMAT test if you are studying GMAT through this book.
In verbal section, SC and RC are very poor because they have
dissimilar with actual test. Really, not buy this book.

It won't allow me to give negative stars, or I would. This book goes through a useful page and a half telling you how the computerized GMAT testing works and how different it is from paper tests, then proceeds to give you five paper tests. What sort of moron publishes a book that announces its own uselessness in the first chapter?

This book is a worthless piece of crap. Don't buy it. Your money is better spent twisting the bills into rolls and setting them on fire. You have a better chance of improving your score by paying $30 to an illiterate homeless person to take the test for you.

I am in the process of contacting Barron's to get my money back.

This book the typical job of explaning the test, and what is going to be tested, and will review you over the basic types of quesitons that the test has. Then the book gives you a pretest to let you know where you stand, and then it begins to give you some review sections.

The review sections are pretty good, but they are not helpful if you are someone that needs to brush up on a subject. In fact, they do tell you they are no substitute to real knowledge. So you might want to keep that in mind.

The next sections of the book are a series of practice tests that are good exercises to go through, but some people claim some of the answers are wrong, and I did find a few typos in the book. So it is a little frustrating to work through.

The computer software disk, is worthless. Other books such as the Princeston review's disk has LOTS of questions. This book computerized the first exam in the book only. Not exactly helpful, not adaptive, so don't look for a lot of help.

Now this book might be good if you just want to sit down and do problems similar to the ones on the exam. If you are looking for a reach coach, or anything that is adaptive, this book isn't much help. Personally, I wouldn't purchase the book, but if someone had a copy laying around, I'd pick it up.

I have quite a few complaints about this book.

1) The CD is an exact copy of the text of the book. I am not quite sure what the point of the book is now that I have the CD.

2) The software doesnt give you a score on your practice tests! Even the free software that is available from GMAT.com will score your practice test! This software also will not score your essay, you are supposed to have a friend score it for you. (Again, the free software at GMAT.com will score it for you).

3) When "reading the book" from the CD, the format is awful. For example, the math review section is 97 pages long. The controls are "Forward" and "Back". If you dont read it all in one sitting, you have to click "Next" until you get to where you stopped.

My advice: Buy another book, and download the free software from GMAT.com.

I bought this book at the spur of the moment at a local bookstore. This book is terrible. It has numerous flaws. The reasoning doesn't make sense. The analysis of the sample tests doesn't give you any tips on how to quickly arrive at the solution. This book is cheap compare other GMAT Prep book but it is still a waste of money.

I think competitors are much ahead of creating a CD which simulates the real exam. Also, I think that the emphasis on a computer based exam should be the computer trainings rather than the book examples. May be it is worth saying that the verbal part is a bit different from what competitors present and with this book in addition one can excel the GMAT exam

I wasted two weeks with this book before I realized that it was full of errors. Every answer key has at least a few mistakes in it, and sometimes the answer explanations would say C) but then go on to describe why B) was the correct answer.

This book also does not mention the fact that it is a computer based test and that getting correct answers results in harder questions coming up - and that getting the early questions correct is the only way to get a higher score.

This book ALSO gives 5 practice tests that are organized into 7 sections - THIS IS NOT THE FORMAT OF THE GMAT EXAM. And I checked with a friend who confirmed that when he took the GMAT in 1999 it was in the same format it is now.

I'm not upset that I wasted $20 on this book, but I'm very upset that I wasted my time. This book very well could have hurt my score and my chances to get into a certain MBA program.

This book is truly unusual and therefore a terrible place to start studying. The quantitative review pays no heed to the fact that you are sitting for a timed test and therefore must work efficiently, using shortcuts when possible. This book tells you the long way to get to the answer. For that, it is a decent way to go if you want to really re-learn the math that underlies the problems (for example, I found the Princeton Review book to have too many "tricks" and not enough real math review). I did learn a few things from it, but eventually abandoned it for Kapan and GMAC guides. Not a complete waste of time, but certainly not where I'd recommend beginning or ending your GMAT study adventure.

Boy, did I learn the hard way!

I bought this book at a bookstore before checking the reviews on this (and all GMAT Prep books) and boy, am I sorry.

$29.99 and countless hours of frustration, aggravation and tears, and then I logged in and read the other reviews. I wasn't stupid or crazy!

The tests were ridiculous. The answers were worse. I sent a sample question to three of the smartest people I know, and I mean Engineer-MBA-can't-beat'em-at-trivial-pursuit-and-know-everything-about-history-politics-religion-everything smart... and they scored as poorly as I did. Out of 6 questions on one reading comprehension sample, no one got more than 3 of them correct.

Then, when I turned to the answer key, the answer made no sense at all. I found myself turning pages and saying out loud: Is this the same question?? Am I on the wrong page? IT DOESN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THIS IN THIS READING!!! etc.

Whoever was responsible for editing this book must have been on vacation that day.

This book almost caused me to toss the idea of going back to school altogether. I graduated college 4 years ago, and after a few hours with this book was sure that I lost all brain cells in those 4 years.

This is the hands-down worst book you'll ever buy -- save yourself the time and money. Check out ALL reviews that Amazon offers -- so far, it looks like the Official Guide for the GMAT review looks best. Excellent reviews and lots of 'em.

Don't buy Barrons ANYTHING. Don't be fooled like me into believing they're a reputable name, so surely their book will be helpful. This book made me want to chuck myself over a bridge.

Reading reviews and purchasing based on that may be the SMARTEST THING YOU CAN DO.

oh and PS - DON'T BUY THIS BOOK!! (did I mention that??)

I was disappointed that the sample GMAT questions in this book were not real GMAT questions. I found the publication produced by GMAC (which does include real questions) much more useful. I also had problems with the software and when I was taking the sample test I got the same question twice. I did not have this problem with the GMAC Powerprep software. In addition, the test taking strategies outlined in the book are very basic. I would be suprised to learn that any real MBA candidate was not familiar with Process of Elimination.

While this book did offer general CAT test-taking strategies (though none of them earth-shattering), I was displeased with the quality of the CD-rom tests.

First, questions were repeated throughout the three exams, as well as online and in the book. What is the point in "testing" yourself if you have already studied the answer to a question or have read the reading comprehension paragraph before?

Second, despite relatively consistent raw scoring, my scores were so wildly divergent (750, 330!, and 650) that I never got an accurate measure of my ability. Okay, I may be a bit inconsistent in my testing, but come on!

Third, the clock malfunctioned on each and every exam.

PR should expect to receive a phone call and letter from me very soon!

The only helpful section in the book was the writing portion. The CD was pitiful. The built-in clock didn't work, the CAT lacked a sufficient number of problems, and some answers were incorrect. Overall, the test gives a false sense of security. I recommend a GMAT course, but not with Princeton Review or Kaplan. A local college extension may provide a more cost-effective course with good results. My score increased by 15% as a result of the course. This book and CD are a waste of money!

This book has good strategies. The CD ROM has some defects, for example, if I want to redo a test, I need to reinstall the software, which is not a big deal. The clock works well on my three computers. I got consistent scores 640,710,690,670 I have bought Cat PrepSoftware from another big shot (Kaplan or Alan Stewart, forgot), you did the tests but you dont know the score. PR gives me an environment that most mimics the real. In one or 2 of the four tests, there is a repitition, but so what? That is in the end of the test which wont change your score.The last test does have a few wrong answers, but overall, this CATPrep is the best one I have ever had and now I am ready for the real test.

The book is O.K., but the CD-Rom that Princeton Review puts out is terrible. I echo the other comments on this page. Luckily, I didn't pay for mine - but my roommate did. Don't waste your money - buy Kaplan's.

Firstly, the questions are much easier than in other books, such as Kaplan. Although it may be argued that Kaplan is harder than the actual test, there's nothing like being prepared for hard questions and then breezing through the real test.

Secondly, I thought the book was too focused on being able to "out-psyche" the test-makers, giving you tips on recognizing how the test-makers try to fool you with wrong answer choices. This may be good if you are completely lost on how to solve most problems. But these strategies don't work on a great many real GMAT questions (the test-makers know of these strategies, I assume), so I'm a big fan of a tutorial telling me how to find the right answer rather than how to find the wrong ones.

But the worst thing about this book would have to be the Practice Tests on the CD-ROM. With the computer-adaptive GMAT, it is very helpful to practice on good computer tests. The ones on this CD-ROM have a look and feel that is different from the real test. But hands down, the biggest frustration was when a popup box (like when you try to 'Open' a file in Word) opened in the middle of a test and asked me locate the missing file q0.cst or some such nonsense. The test malfunctioned after that and the last two and a half hours of my life were wasted. I couldn't even find out if I had answered the previous questions successfully or not.

My advice: work through the Official Guide and Kaplan first. Then, if you have time, look at this book.

I 100% do not recommend this book. The tests were filled with errors that are unacceptable. If you're taking the tests to simulate the actual exam experience, then you will be in for a serious letdown. Here are examples of the problems that I encountered:

1. The actual GMAT allows for a 5-minute break in between the Math and Verbal sections. The PR test allowed for a 1-minute break. If you have yet to take a practice test, this might not seem like a big deal, but those full 5 minutes are just enough time to run to the bathroom, eat a quick snack, stretch your legs, and clear your head before the next section begins.

2. On one prep exam, the software indicated that I answered a problem incorrectly; however, its explanation for how to solve the problem resulted in the same answer that I chose! This one question difference can possibly result in a 10-point higher score. Also, this made me wonder that if it indicated that I got answers wrong when they were correct, then did I get answers correct when they were wrong.

3. The verbal section on one prep exam was full of errors. All of the following errors occurred on one prep exam: 1) One question was repeated twice. 2) Similar to above, one question was marked incorrect when, according to the software's explanation, it was in fact correct. 3) The answer choices for a Sentence Correction question did not have the same part underlined as did the original sentence.

4. This is the weirdest and most frustrating error of all. On a Verbal section on a prep exam, I answered a question and hit the `next' button. This resulted in a pop-up window appearing on the screen asking me to open a file in the Princeton Review folder on my hard drive (similar to when you select `Open' within Word or Excel). I cancelled out of the option and was returned to the exam. The exam then only gave me 40 questions for the Verbal instead of 41.

5. While the writing section is not considered as important by many test takers, it is still a part of the exam and must be completed. On one exam, I finished the first essay as time expired. When this happens on the real exam, you are asked by the exam if you wish to submit that essay and proceed to the next essay. The PR exam gave me the options of either exiting the test or proceeding to the next section, i.e., going straight to the Math section and not doing the next essay. The GMAT is an endurance test and to subtract a 30-minute essay is to reduce the timed test by nearly 15%. Once again, I was give only one minute for a break when I should have been allowed five minutes.

You want your test experiences to simulate the real experience as closely as possible. You want your test scores to simulate the real scores as possible. The errors mentioned above can throw you out of rhythm when you expect something to occur and it doesn't. Or worse, something doesn't occur when you thought it would.

I highly recommend the Official Guide for GMAT Study. This book is a must for all test takers. I would definitely pick up a Kaplan book to learn the test tips, but not for using their practice tests. The Prep software available from the GMAT web site (MBA.com) contains two tests. If you want additional tests, then I would certainly not recommend PR and I don't think I would recommend Kaplan (way more difficult than the actual exam and their scoring system is about 60 - 100 points lower than the actual). I used PR and Kaplan tests and wish I would have chosen another guide.

I took the exam a few days ago, got 720. I bought 4 books from Amazon to help me study. Which are "Insider's", "Kaplan 800", "Crash Course" and this one. Since "Crash Course" is designed for last-minute review so let's count it out. Of other 3 books, "Cracking the GMAT" is the worst. It tends to make things too complicated and its sample questions are not well-designed. Not to mention the CD that comes with the book is [bad]. You can easily tell that Princeton Review didn't pay much attention to make this book a good one. Since if you fail to get a high score from reviewing with this book yourself, you end up register their more expensive taught courses.

So, anyone wants to get a good score at GMAT, here is my sequence: Insider's (read it all) --> Kaplan 800 (the CD is really great, comapring to Cracking's) --> Princeton Review (only practice the questions) Trust me! I just spent 1 month with an average study time of less than 3 hours a day. And I got 720!...

I took the GMAT a few days ago and scored 690. Good but not good enough for the top 5 schools. May try again in a few days time. I used Princeton Review and Kaplan for practice and like you will see mentioned in several other reviews here, the Princeton Review's questions are a tad easier than the real exam. Kaplan on the other hand is way tougher than the real exam and I find it quite hard to complete the sections on time in their exams. The Princeton Review is a better written book and gives you some insider tips while Kaplan is more politically correct. For instance The Princeton Review tells you that "size does matter" on the AWA section whereas Kaplan doesnt. I also found the essay templates suggested by Princeton a good idea and Kaplan doesnt have anything like that. The essay templates make the AWA a breeze once you have brainstormed and arrived at the arguments you are going to make. It preconstructs the essay structure for you and saves you time. Its a particularly useful tool for people who dont have much dexterity with words and see the AWA as a pain in the neck. In Kaplan's defense, I have to say that though the tests are much tougher than the real GMAT, they are useful in helping you clearly see the areas where you need to improve. It may also help you improve your speed a little. That said, I must complain that the tutorials in Kaplan are quite useless, all that multimedia and jazz notwithstanding. Conclusion : Get both Kaplan and Princeton Review and take tests from both, from Kaplan alone if you dont have the time for both. Use Princeton Review more for the verbal and AWA sections.

Go straight for the Official Guide to GMAT Review from ETS. I spent a month working through Cracking the GMAT from Princeton Review and now find myself 3 weeks away from test time and completely ill prepared. Princeton Review tests told me I was doing great - when I started working on real GMAT problems I was completely lost. Half of the techniques taught are not unsed on the real test and the concepts taught in the Princeton Review are so rudimentary it is laughable. Skip this book - waste of time.

I concur with most of what has been written. This book is awful. I'm taking the GRE and wanted to review material that I haven't used in many years. The abundance of exercises impressed me and so I purchased the book. There are so many errors that the publisher should be embarrassed to be associated with it. Even worse, while the writer obviously knows his math, he is completely lacking in teaching skills. He often begins with unnecessarily convoluted explanations that will only intimidate readers who haven't used this material in a while. The Kaplan book has been much more helpful. TAKE THIS BOOK OFF THE MARKET!

As everyone else has said, the book is chock full of errors. Almost to the point one wonders if anyone took the time to edit. STAY AWAY!!!!!

Yes, it is true, this book has many simple errors. However, the great number of practice examples offered in this book makes up for many of the simple errors. Plus, most of the errors in this book should not fool even the most deficient of math students. I believe that those planning to take the gre or gmat should not put of buying this book.

I am preparing for my GMAT and needed a basic math and algebra review book. It has been at least 12 years for me without using any of these skills and I thought this book may fit with my studying, however, when I started working problems and trying to compare my answers to the solutions I was finding they were not even close at times. I started to work back from his answers and found and extreme number of errors in this book. I cannot believe no one proof-read this material before releasing it to publishing. I am amazed that the author would want his name printed on the front of this book as the quality of work in this text would put most people to shame. If you need a basic GMAT math review look elsewhere. I am considering writing to the publisher and requesting a refund for the cost of this horribly incorrect text.

I have to say that on a basic level this book definitely refreshed basic math skills that I had forgotten. However, the errors prevalent through the book made me doubt myself greatly. I liked how the lessons were structured so I could get a step-by-step course, but again, after so many errors, it was hard to determine what I was getting correct in the end. If I'd have known earlier and had more time to get a new book, I would have. Do more research than I did and save yourself the worry and doubt, along with whatever money you'd planned to waste on this book.

People should really avoid this book unless you have too much money, time and effort to waste. Aside from this book only provides limited strategies on cracking the logic questions, it has way way way too many bloodly obvious mistakes in it answer keys. It only does two things: confuses you--because you will never understand the inference process since the answers are wrong; or frustrates you--one MORE mistake is found! I eventually got so frustrated that I had to abandon using this book after getting through about 1/5 of the book. Strongly recommend avoiding using this book.

I would avoid this book simply because the answer keys have too many errors, thus making it difficult to gauge your success on the test questions.

I looked at this book while preparing for the LSAT.

It deals only with very easy questions and even includes errors in the answer key and explanations. The logical reasoning section is quite horrendous, only introuding questions of mild complexity.

I would look elsewhere for a preparation book.

I bought this book hoping it would help me for the LSAT, but I was disappointed. It is a little simplistic (although this could help a person get used to the games), but it's biggest flaw is the mistakes in the text. Throughout the exercises, there are msitakes. This drove me crazy when I was trying to solve the sample problems becasue I could never be sure if I just wasn't getting it, or if there was another mistake in the book.

I don't know about the other tests but this book is useless for the LSAT. It is too easy and has too many mistakes! Simple things like replacing "could" with "must" in the answers mess up the whole outcome and this book makes those simple mistakes. I also understand the concept of choosing the lesser of the evils but this book takes it to the extreme! Answers for inference questions are things that really can't be implied any more than what they consider "wrong". The LSAT doesn't do that. So far i suggest getting the actual past tests and there are plenty of other prep book out there. I suppose you could use this book to boost you confidence, so i will give it stars for that.

I wasted one whole week on this book (and that was four weeks before the LSAT) before I realized it was doing nothing for me. The chapters on the arguments section are worthless--the simulated LSAT questions in this book are much more difficult than the real ones, which serves only to confuse and discourage you. The chapter on the games section will help you with the most simple games, which account for one or two out of four games on the real test. Don't make the same mistake I did (I wish I had read some reader reviews before buying the book). In my opinon, the only LSAT prep books worth buying are the two PowerScore bibles. Plus, of course all the real LSATs you have time for. After working through the Princeton book, I was scoring 10 of 24 on the games. After practicing hard with the PowerScore Games Bible, I scored 22/24.

This book is like driving on a West Virginia highway. You're going along fine and WHAM-THUDDA-THUDDA... pothole city. The book has a unified tone and style, but sections, and even analysis of question types goes from good and detailed to hurried and worthless. Have just about thrown this book out the window a couple of times in frustration at the breezy and conversational, yet empty and repetitive text that fills pages but gives absolutely no insight into the test.

Go with Powerscore Logic Games Bible and Logical Reasoning Bible instead!

This LSAT Prep book is boring!!! If you want a general overview of the LSAT and a brief overview of some techniques, then maybe this would help you a little bit. The strategies they recommend are too time-consuming for me. Beware, this book didn't help me that much, if any, and the strategies are a little weird. I'd recommend buying PrepTests from LSAC and practicing with real tests rather than the ones provided here. There are plenty of better prep books than this one.

This prep book is a mixed bag. It's strongest on the Arguments and Games sections, weakest on Reading Comprehension. PR's method of diagramming Games is better than the methods found in other prep books: it's clear, intuitive, and easily and quickly grasped; helps avoid confusion during the panic of a real live test. PR's strategy for tackling the Arguments section is also very effective. But PR is WAY OFF in its advice for attacking the Reading Comprehension section. Do NOT follow PR's advice about reading the questions before reading the passage during the test. This stupid strategy wastes precious time and you probably won't be able to keep the six or seven questions in mind as you read the passage. Instead, in the four or five weeks before you take the test, familiarize yourself with the half-dozen TYPES of questions asked in the RC section of the LSAT (Main Idea, Description, Extension, Application, Structure, and Tone). Once you have internalized them, you will automatically mark the passage as you read it (by circling the Pivotal Words and annotating briefly in the margins), so that you can quickly refer to it as you answer the actual questions during the test.

Do not waste your time with the silly CD-ROM: the LSAT is a paper-and-pencil test, so get used to working in that medium. (Besides, PR's CD-ROM is full of bugs.) Get a whole bunch of Actual, Official LSATs, xerox them, and practice, practice, practice.

So, to recap: PR is good for diagramming Games, good for Arguments, and lousy for Reading Comp.

If you have to choose only one prep book, I'd recommend Jeff Kolby's "Master the LSAT". I also like PowerScore's "Logic Games Bible": its classification scheme is a little complicated at first, but if you learn it well, it will pay off handsomely come test time. Using these three prep books, plus Kaplan's "LSAT 180", and studying hard every day for two months, I was able to score a 174 on the last LSAT.

This is a very...book and the questions are so easy and simple. It might be ok if you are in the 500-650 range, but if you want more, go for Kaplan and Princeton Review.

The tests in this books are pathetic - I was not able to understand a lot of critical reasoning questioning, let alone answer them (fyi, my GRE anlytical score is 760/800). The introduction to the verbal section was somewhat useful, but the practice tests will really dampen your spirits.

I just began it with the first two chapters and found that I could hardly get it through. There seem some errors in the book and the tests differ from the real ETS tests so much! If you have a lot of money, try to get other books instead of this one. Don't waste your time on it.

I took the GMAT yesterday and I wish I had read these reviews beforehand!

The questions in the verbal section were, as others have noted, EXTREMELY arbitrary. I was consistently scoring dismally low (55-65%) on the practice exams, but achieved a ranking in the ninety-first percentile for the actual exam.

On the other hand, the focus of the math questions made me think it would be easier than it actually was, and I was somewhat unprepared -- only seventy-fifth percentile for the actual exam!

I'm donating mine to the library because the newest one they have is from 1997, but I'm writing inside the cover first -- telling everyone to go buy a different book!

I bought over ten GMAT prep books. This one has terrible questions and does not resemble actual tests. I did not bother to finish reading it. I would definitely suggest ets, princeton review, kaplan's, dummie's guide, and arco over this.