Start Here 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 1
Icons Used in This Book 2
Where to Go from Here 2
Block 1: GMAT Overview in 20 Minutes 3
Signing Up for the GMAT 3
Deciding where to take the test 3
Registering for the GMAT 4
Knowing What’s on the Test 4
Checking out how the GMAT is structured 5
Knowing what you’re being tested for 5
Navigating the computerized test 6
Preparing for the GMAT 7
Getting Up to Speed on GMAT Scoring 8
Interpreting your score 8
Deciding whether to retake the test 9
Block 2: Vanquishing the Verbal Section 11
Acing the Reading Comprehension Questions 11
Knowing what reading comprehension questions look like 11
Approaching reading passages 12
Sticking to the subject: Types of passages 13
Approaching reading comprehension questions 14
Reading comprehension practice questions with answer explanations 20
Sharpening Your Critical Reasoning Skills 25
Focusing on “critical” concepts: An overview 25
Making a case: Essentials of informal logic 26
Thinking inside the box: Question types 29
Stalking your prey: How to approach each question type 30
Critical reasoning practice questions and answer explanations 41
Block 3: Conquering the Quantitative Section 47
Juggling Numbers and Operations 47
Just your type: Kinds of numbers 47
It’s not brain surgery: Basic operations 48
Working with bases and exponents 52
Checking out the ancestry: Roots 54
Following the order of operations 55
Splitting up: Fractions, decimals, and percents 56
Making comparisons: Ratios and proportions 61
Playing the numbers: Scientific notation 62
Considering All the Variables: Algebra 63
Defining the elements: Algebraic terminology 63
Mastering algebraic operations 65
Extracting information: Factoring polynomials 70
Minding your Ps and Qs: Functions 71
Putting on your thinking cap: Problem solving 75
Seeing is believing: The coordinate plane 87
Slip-sliding away: Slope and linear equations 89
Manipulating Statistics and Sets 91
Joining a clique: Groups 92
Setting up sets 93
Dealing with permutations and combinations 94
Meeting in the middle: Mean, median, and mode 97
Solving range and standard deviation problems 99
Predicting the future: Probability 101
Tackling Problem-Solving Questions 105
Block 4: Excelling on the Data Insights Section 107
Knowing What to Expect: Four Key Integrated Reasoning Question Types 107
Understanding what the IR questions are all about 107
Approaching each question type 110
Extracting Insights from Graphic Data 122
Mastering graphics-focused questions with five simple steps 122
Translating information in tables 123
Making comparisons with bar graphs 123
Honing in on histograms 126
Looking at line graphs 127
Perusing stem-and-leaf plots 130
Clarifying circle graphs (also known as pie charts) 130
Venturing into Venn diagrams 131
Taking on Data Sufficiency Questions 133
You don’t need the solution to find the answer 133
Steps to approaching data sufficiency questions 134
Block 5: Taking a (Shortened) Practice Test 139
Section 1: Data Insights 140
Section 2: Quantitative 145
Section 3: Verbal 148
Answer and Explanations 152
Section 1: Data Insights 152
Section 2: Quantitative 155
Section 3: Verbal 159
Answer Key 162
Block 6: Ten Tips for Scoring Higher on the GMAT 163
Pace Yourself 163
Guess and Move On 164
Take Advantage of the Review and Edit Option 164
Finish It! Completing Each Section 164
Give Each Question Equal Treatment 165
Make Time for the Last Ten Questions 165
Use the Process of Elimination to Improve Your Odds 166
Maintain Your Focus 166
Take Time to Read the Questions 166
Don’t Sink All Your Time into the Hard Questions 167
Index 169
