Powerscore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible

good book!

Let me add a brief about me so that you can better decide how to use this review. I have a GMAT score of 770 and have been teaching GMAT for the last three years, including 19 months at a US based GMAT prep firm. I have read Manhattan CR book and Powerscore CR Bible for the CR section (I was told not to waste time by reading any other book on CR). I think the primary confusion for test takers also lies between these two books since both have good reviews. So, I'll share my understanding about these books in comparison to each other. In a gist, I would say that for an Indian or for any non-native, I would recommend Powerscore CR very highly over Manhattan CR. Now, let's come to why. 1. Powerscore covers fundamentals of GMAT CR in much more detail (in terms of number of pages and content) than Manhattan CR. Now, unlike natives who start learning CR from their primary school (My friend in the US has a daughter studying in 3rd class, and she is learning some of the basic concepts of CR.), non-natives do not have fundamentals of CR in place. So, non-natives require a book which focuses more on building fundamentals rather than just teaches different concepts tested on GMAT. Analogically, non-natives need pillars to build their building while native already have pillars in place. This need of non-natives is satisfied by Powerscore, and not by Manhattan. Actually, all Manhattan books are written for natives. They have 5 books for Quant and 3 books for Verbal, reflecting the needs of natives who are stronger in verbal and weaker in quant than non-natives. 2. The process of answering questions, a critical element to succeed in GMAT and actually all aspects of life, is way better and more in-line with the purpose of GMAT in Powerscore than in Manhattan. The difference is especially important for non-natives. The difference is that powerscore emphasizes more on understanding and digesting the argument (the book also asks the student to prephrase the answer before looking at the option statement) while Manhattan emphasizes more on quickly solving the question (many a time proving detrimental to the non-natives who try solving the questions without completely understanding the stimulus). The prephrasing recommended in Powerscore helps a lot in better understanding the arguments and the underlying reasoning (and in my experience in the GMAT prep space, this prephrasing - which I and my previous company also recommend - helps non-natives greatly).

I used it to study for the GMAT

Not affordable for South African rands, too expensive. Maybe because of shipping

This is an excellent and thorough grounding in techniques to conquer the GMAT CR sections. I am yet to reap the rewards but feel that there is a clear and effective methodology described here. There are exercises and a definite breakdown into question types and approaches. I haven't seen the Manhattan guide for CR, but this was more highly recommended and doesn't really need supplementation except with the usual OG books. I also invested in the Veritas books and online course which are on a par with this, as well as the other MGMAT guides. Stick with MGMAT, this for CR and lots of online practice!