Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding, outstanding, outstanding
Review: Having taken a couple of practice GMATs, I had the math down cold but needed some help on the verbal. I hadn't written an essay in about 7 years (since college). I bought this book and it paid off. I ended up acing the GMAT. To practice for the verbal, I ...1) mercilessly drilled idioms
2) learned every verb tense and the proper use (from an English as a Second Language website)
3) did every problem in this book. drill, drill, drill. I studied for about 40 hours, at least, but it was worth it. 760 total and a 5.0 on the AWA. Good luck on GMAT!
Rating:
Summary: A Big Help
Review: I first took the GMAT and got a 41 on the Verbal section. After using this book, I got a 47, and I credit most of my gain to this book. My main advice is to give yourself enough time to use the whole book the way they intended. I also recommend the Official Guide from ETS, which gives you loads of real questions.
Rating: 
Summary: Good one!
Review: I found this quite good. No match for this in the verbal section in the available book market.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: I just had to prepare for the verbals and I think this was the book for me. It helped me reduce the number of mistakes for 15/41 to around 7/41. I have not yet given GMAT but I guess this book did help me a lot.
Rating:
Summary: Throw a rock at me if you know a better verbal guide
Review: I would give 4.5 out of 5
Not 5 because it could use a few more reading passages for additional practice. The book is very good. Even though it has a few questions from the Kaplan CD (not more than 5), it makes a good practice. Here are the main strengths:
1. Good strategy Guide and source of questions; it is very well written and pleasant to read
2. Reading and Critical Reasoning are explained in more depth than in the Kaplan GMAT Guide with CD. I would recommend to get this book in addition to the Kaplan's Guide if you are having troubles with verbal (who doesn't you may ask). I improved RC only after i got this book.
3. However, probably the most helpful part of this book is the Idiom section. It is indispensable for International Students; I think this is the only guide that has so many USEFUL idioms, about 70 with explanations and examples. It is not crammed with all sorts of useless expressions as many idiom dictionaries are and it is not limited to top 5 either. I like the ballance. The book does not come with any software but has many questions and one verbal section of a practice test. And, yes, the questions are hard. It is Kaplan :)
Rating:
Summary: Sorry... this review doesn't correspond to this book.
Review: It corresponds to the comprehensive, Verbal+Math book by Kaplan ================ This books in the beginning helps you to familiarize yourself with the test at large: how many different sections are part of it, how many questions to expect in each, how long does it section last, ect. Then it goes into specifics for each of the sections with tips and techniques on how to best tackle each of them. Each chapter on a section of the test finishes with a quiz with real test-like questions which allows you to practice your recently acquired skills. Also, for those who haven't done any math in a while, there's a very comprehensive Math reference and finally there's a complete written practice test, just like the one you'll be taking. The book wraps up with sections on how to make it into MBA Schools. However, as we all know, the meat of the GMAT consists in being able to tackle the CAT (Computer Adaptive Test), which gives you harder or easier questions depending on how well you did with the previous questions. The CD-ROM this book comes with allows you to become fully familiar with this concept, and contains TONS of study lessons. IT first takes you through an introduction to the test (so you could actually only use the CD-ROM and you could also study for the test), following which you take a diagnostic test aimed at detecting your strengths and weaknesses: very good feature, I must say! As a result, you're presented with a coherent study plan which helps you improve in your weak areas (and you do improve!) after which you're presented with another test to see how better you're able to do with the lessons learned. In my diagnostic I obtained 620, and I hit 690 in my final (was shooting for 650+). I will let you know once I take the real thing, but so far, this book/CD-ROM has made me gain the comfort I didn't have when I started to prepare myself for the GMAT. If you need more in-depth study for the verbal or math sections, get the Kaplan Workbooks. They're every bit as good as this one and go into more depth within the sections they deal with.
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive review with tough questions
Review: Pros (in the order of personal preference):
- #1 by far is the questions: tough as nails, at least as difficult as the ones in the GMAT 800 book (also by Kaplan);
- Idiom reference and their GMAT-specific usage (i.e.: "consider to be" will never be correct on the GMAT, but "consider" will be);
- More comprehensive discussion of strategies for all of the questions types. In fact I would skip the verbal section of Kaplan's general GMAT guide (the one with the CD) in favor of this workbook. Con:
- A couple of questions on the sample verbal section test appear in the other Kaplan guides. Overall, the best guide to the verbal section of the GMAT I have seen. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Very good book with great examples and test material
Review: This book is a great place to start for reviewing for the verbal sections of the GMAT. The strategies covered are very helpful and the examples are first rate. After getting through it, I was able to get a better score on the GMAT and felt more confident going into the test. If it's been a while since you looked at grammar in detail, get a copy of Warriner's "English Composition and Grammar." Not that Kaplan's book was lacking, but I found using it in conjunction with Warriner's book helped to fill in any gaps in grammar that Kaplan did not fully explore. In short the best verbal workbook I found for the GMAT.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Have!
Review: This book is absolutely worth every penny that it cost. Considering how much you can get out of a quality MBA program, it pays to invest into getting into the best possible school. This book is great for anyone who did well on the math sections of the SATs/GREs, but needed improvement on the verbal section because this book focuses specifically on that. While it provides great and practical good tips for the average test-taker to score higher, it is not a miracle worker. It isn't a quick fix, and will not double your score. Having said that, I still consider this book a must have. You will be thankful that you used it. I was. Good luck on your GMATs.
Rating:
Summary: Only if you need additional practice for the verbal sections
Review: This book is very helpful as long as what you're needing is additional practice to build up your performance and confidence for the verbal sections of the GMAT (note that it covers the Analytical Writing section as well, however it does not do so as well as it covers the other verbal sections). It takes you through each of the three types of verbal sections (Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning and Sentence Correction), with strategies on how to excel at each. But the basics you need for each can be found in the GMAT with CD-ROM book by Kaplan. Get this book only if you really need to improve in any of the three verbal sections, as you will be able to take a set of practice questions and three additional practice sets for each of them, followed by a comprehensive verbal section that should bring you up to speed even if your idioms and your grammar is a little rusty. Rounding up the book are precisely a Gramma Reference, a Guide to GMAT's most common idioms and a Guide to Usage and Style.
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