Barron's GMAT 18th edition by Bobby Umar and similar items

Barron's GMAT 18th edition by Bobby Umar (Author), Carl S. Pyrdum III (Author) Prepping for the GMAT Heptathlon "While the idea of "teaching to the test" is not something that educators at any level like to do, sometimes pragmatism trumps principle -- especially for standardized gatekeeper-type exams for advanced degree programs. When it comes to the GMAT, the multiple sections of the tests call for strategies and tactics tailored to each component -- not unlike the diverse components of the heptathlon. In both cases, effective preparation calls for studying the route, educating yourself on the possible pitfalls and distractions, building stamina and endurance, and becoming attuned to what the judges are seeking. By removing variables and preparing mentally, you provide yourself with ways to clear obstacles from your path and make your test results as competitive as possible. At 747 intensive pages, this book is a single-source preparation manual that encompasses everything from describing the philosophy of the test and how to prepare to practice problems and two full-length sample tests. The authors address how this style of test may impact your mindset, and offer advice on how avoid getting distracted or discouraged. Particularly helpful is their advice on gauging the "discomfort zone" that is on the upper end of your confidence level in the adaptive sections of the test. They follow this up by explaining how practice and familiarity can help you nudge that upper range higher. "[H]ow well you can recognize and manage your discomfort zone will determine how high your score can go," they note. They provide ways to identify patterns and predictability within the test. In addition, they help you to understand the reasoning behind each section of the test and what measurements each section is gathering. They also address such practical matters as practicing with homemade materials resembling the ones you will be limited to during the test, and replicating test conditions as closely as you can. In addition to generalities such as time management and how scoring is calculated, they provide specific strategies and tactics for each section of the test. They dissect how to identify what is being asked, as well as understanding what sort of answer is desired. This is especially helpful for the essay (AWA) section of the test. The overview of the various sections of the test includes a description of how the adaptive sections play out, since they function differently than other standardized tests you may have taken in the past. The initial questions predict the test-taker's skill level and the testing algorithm fine-tunes that prediction by offering questions at that level, and requiring that the test-taker demonstrate content knowledge by answering several questions correctly before ramping up the difficulty of the questions. Here's an example of how the authors not only provide advice, but explain why it matters. They debunk a number of myths about the GMAT, including the one that maintains you are best off by spending relatively more time on earlier questions. Doing so doesn't necessarily mean you'd get more of them right than you would otherwise, they say, and it may cost you the time you could have used to complete as many of the questions in the section as possible. They note that the score-calculation algorithm makes it more costly to miss answering a question than it is to answer a question incorrectly. With the publisher's retail price of this book currently at less than 10 percent of the cost of one session of the GMAT, this book is a sound investment if you are able to commit the time to process the strategies and work through the questions over the span of several weeks so that you will be able to reinforce and encode the authors' strategies and tactics. If your prep time is briefer, the book should still help you perform triage, although less effectively than if you had a longer span of time to prepare."