The only study guide with more than 800 past GMAT® questions—and their answers

843 Pages·2012·6.45 MB·English

more than 1 million copies sold worldwide

12th EDITION

REVIEW
The only study guide with

®
more than 800 past GMAT

questions—and their

answers——by the creators

of the test.

THE OFFICIAL GUIDE FOR

®
GMAT REVIEW, 12TH EDITION

• Actual questions from past GMAT tests
• Diagnostic section helps you assess where to focus
your test-prep efforts

• Insights into the GMAT exam that debunk test-taking myths
®
From the Graduate Management Admission Council

®
GMAT
~ ~
OFFICIAL
Guide

The
more than 1 million copies sold worldwide
12th EDITION
REVIEW
The only study guide with
®
more than 800 past GMAT
questions—and their
answers——by the creators
of the test.
THE OFFICIAL GUIDE FOR
®
GMAT REVIEW, 12TH EDITION
• Actual questions from past GMAT tests
• Diagnostic section helps you assess where to focus
your test-prep efforts
• Insights into the GMAT exam that debunk test-taking myths
®
From the Graduate Management Admission Council

®
GMAT
~ ~
OFFICIAL
Guide
The
®
THE OFFICIAL GUIDE FOR GMAT REVIEW, 12TH EDITION
Copyright © 2009 by the Graduate Management Admission Council®. All rights reserved.
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ISBN: 978-0-470-44974-5
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Table of Contents 1.0 What Is the GMAT ? 6
®
1.1 Why Take the GMAT Test? 7
®
1.2 GMAT Test Format 8
1.3 What Is the Content of the Test Like? 10
1.4 Quantitative Section 10
1.5 Verbal Section 10
1.6 What Computer Skills Will I Need? 11
1.7 What Are the Test Centers Like? 11
1.8 How Are Scores Calculated? 11
1.9 Analytical Writing Assessment Scores 12
1.10 Test Development Process 13
2.0 How to Prepare 14
2.1 How Can I Best Prepare to Take the Test? 15
2.2 What About Practice Tests? 15
2.3 How Should I Use the Diagnostic Test? 16
2.4 Where Can I Get Additional Practice? 16
2.5 General Test-Taking Suggestions 16
3.0 Diagnostic Test 18
3.1 Quantitative Sample Questions 20
3.2 Verbal Sample Questions 27
3.3 Quantitative and Verbal Answer Keys 45
3.4 Interpretive Guide 45
3.5 Quantitative Answer Explanations 46
3.6 Verbal Answer Explanations 65
4.0 Math Review 106
4.1 Arithmetic 108
4.2 Algebra 120
4.3 Geometry 127
4.4 Word Problems 140
5.0 Problem Solving 148
5.1 Test-Taking Strategies 150
5.2 The Directions 150
5.3 Sample Questions 152
5.4 Answer Key 186
5.5 Answer Explanations 188
6.0 Data Sufficiency 266
6.1 Test-Taking Strategies 268
6.2 The Directions 270
6.3 Sample Questions 272
6.4 Answer Key 289
6.5 Answer Explanations 290
7.0 Reading Comprehension 352
7.1 What Is Measured 354
7.2 Test-Taking Strategies 356
7.3 The Directions 357
7.4 Sample Questions 358
7.5 Answer Key 408
7.6 Answer Explanations 409
8.0 Critical Reasoning 482
8.1 What Is Measured 484
8.2 Test-Taking Strategies 484
8.3 The Directions 485
8.4 Sample Questions 486
8.5 Answer Key 525
8.6 Answer Explanations 526
9.0 Sentence Correction 650
9.1 Basic English Grammar Rules 651
9.2 Study Suggestions 656
9.3 What Is Measured 656
9.4 Test-Taking Strategies 656
9.5 The Directions 657
9.6 Sample Questions 658
9.7 Answer Key 684
9.8 Answer Explanations 685
10.0 Analytical Writing Assessment 758
10.1 What Is Measured 759
10.2 Test-Taking Strategies 760
10.3 The Directions 761
®
10.4 GMAT Scoring Guide: Analysis of an Issue 762
10.5 Sample: Analysis of an Issue 764
10.6 Analysis of an Issue Sample Topics 769
®
10.7 GMAT Scoring Guide: Analysis of an Argument 790
10.8 Sample: Analysis of an Argument 792
10.9 Analysis of an Argument Sample Topics 796
Appendix A Percentile Ranking Tables 828
Appendix B Answer Sheets 834
Diagnostic Answer Sheet 835
Problem Solving Answer Sheet 836
Data Sufficiency Answer Sheet 837
Reading Comprehension Answer Sheet 838
Critical Reasoning Answer Sheet 839
Sentence Correction Answer Sheet 840
Dear Future Business Leader,
By using this book to prepare for the GMAT® test, you are taking a very important step toward
gaining admission to a high-quality business or management program and achieving a rewarding
career in management. I applaud your decision.
T e Graduate Management Admission Council® developed the GMAT test more than 50 years
ago to help leading graduate schools of business and management choose the applicants who best
suit their programs. Today, the test is used by more than 1,800 graduate programs and is given to
test takers daily in more than 110 countries around the world. Programs that use GMAT scores in
selective admissions have helped establish the MBA degree as a hallmark of excellence worldwide.
Why do GMAT scores matter so much? Other admissions factors—such as work experience,
grades, admissions essays, and interviews—can say something about who you are and what you have
done in your career, but only your GMAT scores can tell schools how you are likely to perform
academically in the business school courses that are fundamental to the MBA degree. In fact, the
test has been proven reliable as a predictor of academic performance for more than half a century.
In other words, business schools that require you to take the GMAT really care about the
quality of their student body. And excellent MBA students mean a stronger MBA program, a
more enriching learning environment, and a more valuable degree for you to take into the business
world. By enrolling in a school that uses the GMAT test for your graduate business degree, you
will maximize the value of your degree, and that value will pay off in many ways, throughout
your career.
I wish you great success in preparing for this important next step in your professional education,
and I wish you a very rewarding management career.
Sincerely
David A. Wilson
President and CEO
Graduate Management Admission Council®
®
1.0 What Is the GMAT ?
6
1.0 What Is the GMAT®?
®
1.0 What Is the GMAT ?
T e Graduate Management Admission Test® (GMAT®) is a standardized, three-part test delivered
in English. T e test was designed to help admissions officers evaluate how suitable individual
applicants are for their graduate business and management programs. It measures basic verbal,
mathematical, and analytical writing skills that a test taker has developed over a long period of time
through education and work.
T e GMAT test does not a measure a person’s knowledge of specific fields of study. Graduate
business and management programs enroll people from many diff erent undergraduate and work
backgrounds, so rather than test your mastery of any particular subject area, the GMAT test will
assess your acquired skills. Your GMAT score will give admissions officers a statistically reliable
measure of how well you are likely to perform academically in the core curriculum of a graduate
business program.
Of course, there are many other qualifications that can help people succeed in business school and in
their careers—for instance, job experience, leadership ability, motivation, and interpersonal skills.
T e GMAT test does not gauge these qualities. T at is why your GMAT score is intended to be
used as one standard admissions criterion among other, more subjective, criteria, such as admissions
essays and interviews.
®
1.1 Why Take the GMAT Test?
GMAT scores are used by admissions officers in roughly 1,800 graduate business and management
programs worldwide. Schools that require prospective students to submit GMAT scores in the
application process are generally interested in
admitting the best-qualified applicants for their
programs, which means that you may find a more -vs- FACT
beneficial learning environment at schools that
require GMAT scores as part of your application. – If I don’t score in the 90th
percentile, I won’t get into
any school I choose.
Because the GMAT test gauges skills that are
important to successful study of business and
F – Very few people get very
management at the graduate level, your scores will
high scores.
give you a good indication of how well prepared
you are to succeed academically in a graduate Fewer than 50 of the more than 200,000
management program; how well you do on the test people taking the GMAT test each year
get a perfect score of 800. Thus, while
may also help you choose the business schools to
you may be exceptionally capable, the odds
which you apply. Furthermore, the percentile table are against your achieving a perfect score.
you receive with your scores will tell you how your Also, the GMAT test is just one piece of
your application packet. Admissions offi cers
performance on the test compares to the use GMAT scores in conjunction with
performance of other test takers, giving you one undergraduate records, application essays,
interviews, letters of recommendation, and
way to gauge your competition for admission to
other information when deciding whom to
business school. accept into their programs.
7
The Offi cial Guide for GMAT® Review 12th Edition
Schools consider many diff erent aspects of an application before making an admissions decision, so
even if you score well on the GMAT test, you should contact the schools that interest you to learn
more about them and to ask about how they use GMAT scores and other admissions criteria (such
as your undergraduate grades, essays, and letters of recommendation) to evaluate candidates for
admission. School admissions offices, school Web sites, and materials published by the school are
the best sources for you to tap when you are doing research about where you might want to go to
business school.
For more information about how schools should use GMAT scores in admissions decisions,
please read Appendix A of this book. For more information on the GMAT, registering to take
the test, sending your scores to schools, and applying to business school, please visit our Web site
at www.mba.com.
®
1.2 GMAT Test Format
T e GMAT test consists of four separately timed sections (see the table on the next page).
You start the test with two 30-minute Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) questions that
require you to type your responses using the computer keyboard. T e writing section is followed by
two 75-minute, multiple-choice sections: the Quantitative and Verbal sections of the test.
T e GMAT is a computer-adaptive test (CAT),
which means that in the multiple-choice sections -vs- FACT
of the test, the computer constantly gauges how
well you are doing on the test and presents you – Getting an easier question
with questions that are appropriate to your ability means I answered the last one
level. T ese questions are drawn from a huge pool wrong.
of possible test questions. So, although we talk
F – Getting an easier question
about the GMAT as one test, the GMAT test you
does not necessarily mean you
take may be completely diff erent from the test of
got the previous question
the person sitting next to you.
wrong.
Here’s how it works. At the start of each GMAT To ensure that everyone receives the same
multiple-choice section (Verbal and Quantitative), content, the test selects a specifi c number
of questions of each type. The test may call
you will be presented with a question of moderate
for your next question to be a relatively
difficulty. T e computer uses your response to that hard problem-solving item involving
first question to determine which question to arithmetic operations. But, if there are no
more relatively diffi cult problem-solving
present next. If you respond correctly, the test items involving arithmetic, you might be
usually will give you questions of increasing given an easier item.
difficulty. If you respond incorrectly, the next
Most people are not skilled at estimating
question you see usually will be easier than the one item diffi culty, so don’t worry when taking
you answered incorrectly. As you continue to the test or waste valuable time trying to
determine the diffi culty of the questions
respond to the questions presented, the computer
you are answering.
will narrow your score to the number that best
characterizes your ability. When you complete
each section, the computer will have an accurate
assessment of your ability.
8