 2008-11-26 - Poor preparation material
This book begins by stating that it is virtually all you will need in order to score well on the GMAT. I went through the book backwards and forwards - again and again and again. Mind you, I have an MBA from a very good school already and am well able to study and master material. Upon taking the GMAT for my PhD program, the test had nothing even remotely similar to what this book prepared me for. Certainly, there are basic math principles involved, but the overall format and question types in this book didn't at all resemble what I was tested over on the actual GMAT. Outside of that, I was amazed at the number of grammatical errors in the book, especially as it is an 11th edition. Many of the exercises have incorrect verbiage and/or signage as it relates to math problems. If you are getting prepared to take the GMAT, you had better not leave it to this product.
 2008-11-19 - USEFUL FOR BEGINNERS!
This book is very good for people who wuold like to start their preparation for the GMAT. You have enough exercices and and a useful section (explanations) about math, algebra and geometry.
After, if you need a more brilliant preparation you need to practice on GMAT 800.
I'm Italian and when I started to read GMAT 800 (by KEPLAN) I found it harder (contents and language).
 2008-11-17 - so-so
I wasnt totally happy w/ this book. As other readers have posted there are countless errors in the math sections. For example on page 335 of the 11th edition they say (xr)^2 = x^(2r). This is hard to look over as a typo - as are other errors.
There are also no full-length exams in this book. I mean, come-on, why are the GMAC guys such tight-wads with their questions. I dont really like they way they run the show...
2008-11-10 - Good book but with some typo's
Math section has many typo's (more than 10 for sure), use google to find the corrections. Apart from that its good.
2008-11-10 - 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.
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