I have also bought other books and I think this is the best one out of the various brands. But, nothing is better then having a coach that has taken or taking a class where you can gain inisight into other people's strenghts and weaknesses. This is a good book-but it should not be the only means of study.

I took the GMAT today and my GMAT score was 90 points lower than my lowest Princeton Review CAT score from the 04 edition of cracking the GMAT.

I made a 770 on both Powerprep tests (however my scores were highly inflated since I answer all of the questions in the ETS Guide before taking the Powerprep tests) and a 720 and 740 on the Princeton Review CATS.

I made a 610 (on diagnostic), 540, 570, 550 on the Kaplan CATs from the 05 edition.

I scored a 640 (46 math 31 verbal) and a 610 (41 math and 32 verbal) respectively on the Peterson CATs. I did not read the Peterson book.

Most importantly, my Peterson CAT scores were almost idential to my real GMAT score.

According to my unofficial GMAT score, I scored a 630: 46 on Math at 79% and 31 on verbal at 62% with an overall 79% ranking (or I scored higher than 79% of all the test takers).

Now if you want to know where you are at presently, take a couple of the Peterson's CATs.

However, I have more work to do if I want to get accepted into a top 10 MBA program for the Fall 2006 semester.

All that you need to be a success on the GMAT is the Princeton Review's book, and the disk that comes with it. However, you must also study the 10th Edition ETS book before utilizing the Princeton Review. This will allow you to get "warmed up" and get the cob webs out of you quantitative ability, and it will also allow you to start getting down a system for attacking GMAT problems. I did every problem in the book at least once. The thing I like about the Princeton Review is that it teaches you how to guess wisely. My score improved by 100 points using the Princeton Review's materials and concepts. This has allowed me to focus on the top ten schools. I will put it to you this way..my neighbor studied using only the Princeton Review, and he attends NYU's Stern School of Business, my good friend used only the Princeton Review and he is starting Stanford this fall! I received the exact same score from the Princeton Review's practice GMATs that I recieved on the actual test. Infact, some of the problems were exactly like the ones I reviewed minutes before I took the actual GMAT! I believe the Princeton Review is a must have if you are serious about doing well on the GMAT!!!!

While I used the Official GMAT as the core of my study efforts, this book is a great supplement, it helps you understand how to think about the questions. I highly recommend using this, I think it helped me with my prep for the GMAT

Contrary to Peterson's "GMAT CAT Success" (which I also reviewed), the strength of this bargain lies in its book and NOT in the tests provided on the CD-ROM and in the Internet site (read on to find out why). There's a solution for this problem ? Princeton offers the same book without the CD. That way you'll be able to avoid the extra money that they charge for the lousy CD.

The Book :
-------------
The math sections -

First and foremost, the book will try helping you to create the state of mind needed to succeed in the GMAT. It goes down hard on ETS - your opponents - whenever it can. It makes you realize and accept the fact that their main goal is to make you fail in the test. It's a war of minds - your mind against the test makers' minds.

Second, it introduces a few powerful techniques such as process of elimination, plugging numbers to the cosmic problems and working backwards, that serve as invaluable source for cracking the hard questions and saving precious time. The examples that follow are very good and help to master these techniques.
Third, the theoretical math material given is extensive but not sufficient. You'll still need to check out other sources such as the free software of ETS to get a complete picture.

The verbal section -

The writers have done a good job in categorizing not only the kinds of questions you're going to meet, but also the kinds of mistakes that are common in this section. Nevertheless, the key for cracking this part is to do as many examples as one can - and that's why other sources are required.

The writing assessment section -

There are 26 pages of a comprehensive guide for this section in the test. It seems that the authors have invested a considerable amount of energy in this section that is overlooked in some books, probably because it doesn't't contribute to the general score in the test.

If you want to focus on this area I recommend buying a book that concentrate on the verbal section to get even more material.

The Internet Extra Help :
------------------------------
This option gives you access to 4 online tests and a GMAT discussion board. The tests are relatively easy; they will not represent your performance on test day, nor will they let you access explanations of mistakes you might have. On the other hand, the discussion board might be of genuine help, as people that have taken the test come over there and share their experience and interest free advices.

The CD-ROM :
-------------------
The CD is the weakest link; Once installed, you'll find warm up questions and 4 tests that don't begin to compare to the level of the actual GMAT. Pay attention that in order to find the answers to the (rather easy) questions you will have to click on the anwer themselves.

To improve their merchandise I would urge Princeton's staff to start thinking of thought-provoking questions. Unless the CD substance changes drastically - this deal is not recommended.