The GMAT for Dummies

So far the book has been easy to read with lots of helpful tips. My advisor recommended this book for my GMAT studies.

After going through all the GMAT books, here is my honest opinion about some of the most popular GMAT books: Official Guide: Pros - Excellent source of GMAT questions. Very well organized with real test like questions. Cons - No review of any math content or test-taking strategies. Not enough explanations of practice questions. Overall, the Official Guide is a must have for all test-takers. It will give you a good idea about the type of questions to expect on the GMAT; however, if you need more than just a bank of questions, you need to look at some other source. Kaplan: Pros - Good for additional practice questions as a supplement Cons - Review of math content is not thorough but just the very basics. Not enough explanation of test taking strategies. Full of guessing techniques with no real mathematical solutions. Not good enough explanations of practice questions. Unrealistic questions. Princeton: Pros - Good for additional practice questions as a supplement Cons - Review of math content is not thorough but just the very basics. Not enough explanation of test taking strategies. Full of guessing techniques with no real mathematical solutions. Not good enough explanations of practice questions. Weird sense of humor. Barrons: Pros - Good math review. Big list of questions. Good test taking strategies. Very well organized. This is by far the best of the all-in-one kinds of books. Cons - Although the book has a good math review, it doesn't go deep enough into each concept. Not enough explanations to practice questions. Does not have a good section for logical reasoning (permutation, combination, probability, etc) questions, which is one of the most important question-type. Does not break down the concepts/questions step by step. EZ Solutions Series of Books: Pros - Thorough math review from A to Z. Effective test taking strategies. Abundant solved examples. Numerous practice exercises. Great practice question bank in basic and advanced workbooks. As with most books, you are expected to already have a good knowledge about the various match concepts, but with these books, you can literally start from scratch and reach the most advanced level of the GMAT. Cons - To get the best result from these books, you have to invest in buying several books (set of 9 books), but if you compare the cost and benefits, the benefits outweigh the cost, or you can buy a few not all. Missing the verbal section. This is not a good option if you are looking for a mediocre score or just looking for a very basic brush-up. Recommended for serious test takers only. Some of the other books has no real content; whereas, there are some other books that I haven't yet had an opportunity to review, but may be some of them are good supplementary aids. I hope my review will help some of you in making the right decision.

Would absolutely recommend for anyone applying to graduate school. Very helpful, easy to read, and great tips for exam day. Kudos!

The GMAT prep books can be overwhelming, especially for those of us who have been out of college more than 5 years! I tried starting w/ the OG and my moral was crushed! This "dummies" book, like all "dummies" books is very straightforward and simply written. Which is a good thing! If you have the luxury of having at least 2 months to study and therefore have the time to work through this book, invest in it! it is a good book to start with to not only explain the test, but to also give you some basic practice questions, some tips on strategy and some decent solution explanations. Good confidence builder prior to moving onto the OG, Kaplan, Barrons, EZ Solutions. From this book(again assuming you have at least 2 months to study) I would move onto Crackin the Gmat, then onto Kaplan and Official Guide(OG), for extra practice throw in Barrons and for subject specific help, look into EZ Solutions and PowerScore...=)

The previous reviews must be about an earlier edition of this book because I thought it was an excellent study aid for the GMAT. There were no typos that I could see, and the material was right on relevant to the way the questions are presented on the GMAT test. The book was easy to read and actually (gasp!) made studying for the GMAT enjoyable. The practice test seemed to be at the same level as the actual GMAT, not harder and not easier. This is a great prep tool. Check out this new edition by new authors. You won't be disappointed!