Posted in. The following book review was written by Dana Jinaru.

• Manhattan Gmat Sentence Correction Guide Pdf Download

Dana is currently a finance student in Europe and also serves as a moderator for Beat The GMAT. On May 13, 2009 she scored a 770 on the GMAT. Here is Dana’s analysis of the Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction guide. Overview, is one of the most popular resources on the market for mastering GMAT grammar. This is because many non-native test takers do not have access to prep courses and, in their effort to get a high score with self prep, they will often be brought down by the cruel English grammar tested on the GMAT.

As a company, Manhattan GMAT has built a very strong reputation in the test prep industry. For most of its history, the company focused exclusively on the GMAT and no other standardized test (the company began serving the in 2008). In this respect, it has published a set of 8 GMAT guides which should cover not only the basic GMAT topics, but also the advanced issues that the GMAT test taker will face. The SC guide is by far their most popular product, often described as a “must have” in online study forums. The book is structured in two parts: General (10 chapters) and Advanced (3 chapters). It also includes a handy Official Guide List and Matrix, where you will find a breakdown of topics tested in each of the questions found on the (OG) and 1 st Edition. Note that Manhattan GMAT published this 4 th edition shortly after the release of the OG 12 th, in spring, before the 2 nd edition of the Verbal Review was released later that summer.

This is important because the current Manhattan GMAT SC edition references the OG 12 th edition and OG Verbal 1 st edition, so you should plan your GMAT shopping list accordingly. Pros. Good analysis of common error types, excellent for non-native speakers of English interested in taking the test. The book covers the Sentence Correction concepts with amazing depth. Comes with a one-year access to 6 online computer-adaptive practice tests (CATs), which I consider to be pretty decent estimators of your score, second only to the GMATprep software from MBA.com. The CATs are sold at $39 on their official site, so you’d be getting these tests and the book at a fraction of the cost. Structured according to error types, so if you feel you’re having trouble with a certain question type, you can hone in on your weak spot by reading through the corresponding section.

Even if you’re an advanced test taker, this book is still worth your time. Unlike some general strategy guides, it does not neglect this advanced test taking demographic. This is one of the advantages of having a targeted book at hand. While the book’s focus is Sentence Correction, the grammar lessons will also help you in the Analytical Writing Assessment section of the GMAT. Even though the score for the AWA does not count towards your general GMAT score, feeling confident about grammar will help ease the stress of writing your essays on the test Cons. HUGE MINUS: not enough practice questions. Each chapter has “In Action” problem sets and you also get access to 25 questions online, but that is not nearly enough GMAT practice.

You will however find an Official Guide for GMAT Review reference list at the end of each chapter as well as the matrix described above. The book’s structure could be improved, in my opinion. The writing does not “flow” as easily as in the PowerScore Critical Reasoning Bible, for example. You need to allocate significant time to review this book. The multitude of rules and tips it presents will likely form a dark cloud in your head unless you take the time to properly digest the material Bottom Line If GMAT sentence correction is causing you nightmares, this book will surely help you get rid of some of those bad dreams. Besides the grammar improvement, access to the CATs means that you’ll have decent tools to assess your progress.

If you’re interested in purchasing the Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction GMAT Preparation Guide, 4th Edition,. Read more book reviews in the Beat The GMAT section. On November 17th, 2009 at 2:11 pm Well, I've only gone through 2 of the 6 CATs offered by MGMAT.

I'd say their quant is a bit tougher than GMAT quant, but that's not necessarily a bad thing since if you can deal with harder stuff you'll be breezing through the normal questions. I can't remember anything solid about their verbal section, just that my verbal score was sort of in line with my previous GMATprep scores. Kaplan tests have a not-so-perfect scoring algorithm, usually focus on straightforward math problems and have really, really hard and convoluted RCs. I'd say they're good practice though! I personally liked them. I have not taken any Princeton Review tests, so I can't comment.

From what I've seen around the forum, people tend to consider these tests as being easier than the real thing. On March 11th, 2010 at 10:29 pm I can't say for sure, because I haven't had time to look over the RC book from MGMAT. It's planned for later on this month.

I suspect either book is just fine - but I'm slightly leaning towards the Kaplan book for a few reasons: - in MGMAT RC there are no reference lists to the OG simply because it's not like SC, where each concept is tested, like verb-noun and parallelisms. Each passage typically has one main point question, one or two inferences and stuff like that - you also get some more practice questions for CR and SC Of course, the MGMAT RC book is a lot bigger than the corresponding section of the Kaplan book, so it might be a more thorough review of the subject. In the end, it's your choice! On March 13th, 2010 at 4:21 am Hey Dana, sorry for bothering you, but this is very important. I just got my TOEFL iBT scores.I got a 110: 23 reading, 28 writing, 29 and 30 on listening and speaking respectively. Do you recommend I would study the MGMAT sentence correction?

It's just that i would rather spend the time studying that book in practicing verbal and learning from mistakes rather than spending two days going through the basics. I'm short on time and very weak in quantitative, which i would like to spend most of the time tackling. What do you recommend? On March 13th, 2010 at 4:44 am From your scores, you might want to focus more on RC than on anything else in verbal right now.

Of course, if quant is a greater weakness that verbal, then go for a less dense book on SC (such as the Kaplan Verbal Workbook) and spend any extra time on quant improvement. On a side note, congrats for the TOEFL score! It would be very nice if you could also start a thread in the language tests section of our forum, with a few details regarding your experience (I posted mine in there too). On April 7th, 2010 at 6:51 am Hi Dana, I have gone through the MGMAT SC guide in detail, and it helped in building the basics / structures for SC. Just wanted your opinion on a few things based on your SC prep. I am currently getting abt 85% - 90% accuracy on OG SC without timed conditions. I am feeling that there are some qs on the OG (20-25%) that are based on rules beyond what is discussed on the MGMAT SC guide.

Would you agree? How many qs would you have done?

Did you stick to the MGMAT / OG 10,11,12 qs or did you look elsewhere also? How advanced do you find the OG qs? After the basic rules are covered, did you find that you were raising your SC bar more by quality (doing the same qs multiple times to see subtle patterns the way you recommended on CR) or by doing more practice qs? Johnson outboard service. On April 7th, 2010 at 7:21 am I think you'd better start practicing with a timer as soon as possible - timing is essential in the GMAT!

Not answering all the questions will usually lead you into trouble! I think the book is as complete as it gets out there. They might have missed a few rules, but a percentage of 20-25% seems a bit too much.

Are you sure it's not just a feeling? Could this have to do with idioms? They're pretty hard to learn. I worked through the OG 11 and verbal supplement, plus Kaplan Premier and Advanced. You can always browse the forums for more questions if you feel the need for more practice. The verbal you'll find in the OG is representative of the stuff you'll see on the GMAT, that's all I can say. Especially in CR!

They're not particularly difficult, but SC has always been a weakness for me. It's worth mentioning that the level of difficulty of one question or another is pretty subjective measure. Actually, both methods described by you refer to quantity. IMHO, quality on the GMAT is more about concepts and answers review. Fact is, SC is very different from CR, at least in my opinion (note that SC is my weakness). Subtle arguments are pretty hard to grasp, but grammar is the same over and over again. That's why you won't see me complaining about the quality of the SC questions in Kaplan, but you will see me complaining about the quality of their CR questions!

I think either method of practicing is reasonably good, as long as you don't simply memorize answers through your review, but actually recognize patterns. On April 10th, 2010 at 12:47 am I think I did the good thing for CR (focus on reading the CR Bible and carefully digesting all the explanations) but the bad thing on SC (simply went through more problems). That's what probably cost me those 4 points in verbal: if I were to take take the test again, I'd focus on quality in the last few days. Practice is important, and I am a fervent supporter of that, but quality has to be your main concern right before your tests (I'd say something like 10 days or so before).

Manhattan Gmat Sentence Correction Guide Pdf Download

On April 17th, 2010 at 12:00 am Unfortunately, I can't help you with this one simply because I have not reviewed the PowerScore SC Bible. I have reviewed the PowerScore Verbal Bible, though, and found its CR section to be a cut-down version of the CR Bible. I am a massive PowerScore fan, don't get me wrong. I really loved their materials, particularly the CR Bible. So here's what I'd do if I were you: for CR, I'd buy the CR Bible since it's the most complete, but for SC I'd buy the MGMAT guide, since it also grants access to the MGMAT online tests.

I know this doesn't answer your question, but I'm hoping it is at least marginally helpful. On June 21st, 2011 at 4:43 am Hi Dana, I have a specific question about the MGMAT SC book and the Aristotle SC Grail. I have gone through half of the MGMAT SC book. Although I liked the exhaustive nature of this book, I did not find it as easy to digest as, say for instance, the Powerscore CR!

I recently heard about the Aristotle SC Grail from a friend and some of the reviews claim that it breaks down the grammar rules in an easy to assimilate format. Are you aware of this book and if so do you think it is worth spending time on both the books? I have approximately 1.5 months for my test.

PS: I have so far based most of my GMAT Prep on your review and that is the reason I am very keen to know your thoughts on this one too.