Book Review: Veritas Geometry Guide

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Book Review: Veritas Geometry Guide

by kissthegmat » Sun Sep 05, 2010 7:01 pm
In last 2 days I have finished Veritas's Geometry guide and I think I should write about my encounter with this book little bit. I got this book as a prize from the Veritas's as I won competition question challenge which was going on the BTG community few months back.

Overview of the book:

Each section in this book starts with review of basic properties relating to figures followed by the application of more difficult concepts with questions. A limited number of topics are tested on GMAT and all the tested topics are covered in this book.

Total questions in the book = 84 (including 5 drill questions)

Pros:

1. Book covers all the topics tested on GMAT like Lines and Angles, Triangles, Quadrilaterals, Polygons, Circles, Volumes and other 3D figures, Coordinate Geometry and many more.

2. Almost all the problems are near to the real GMAT problems discussed in OGs. One must practice from this book if one is not confident after attempting OG problems.

3. Many problems discuss, tests more than one concept, which is the best thing to train your mind.

4. Solution to the problems with diagrams. One can easily understand complex problem with diagram.

5. Important facts and formulas are listed in the book and in case one forgets formula on the test methods to drive those formulas is also in the book.

Cons:

1. More emphasis is given on PS questions; there are very few DS question. I think, there should be more DS questions are many of the test takers fear DS.

2. Only one problem is discussed on one page, I think Veritas should think on how to save trees! Go Green!

2 Mistakes in the book:

There are 2 mistakes I noticed in the book; though both mistakes are printing mistakes I should mention those mistakes here.

1. In the "Lesson Solution" section (on page no. 119-120) figure explaining question no. 26 is given in the solution of question no. 27.

2. Point P is not mentioned in the answer of question no. 65 (page no. 133)


One formula worth mentioning here is,

Central Angle/360 = Area of Sector/Area of Circle

I think this formula should have be added to book as few questions are based on this formula. Though another formula for calculating the Length of Arc (Central Angle/360 = Length of Arc/Circumference) is given in the book, the above formula should also be added for easy reference.

Final note:

When 4-6 questions of GMAT are going to come from Geometry, who wants to take any chance? One must buy this book, if one is facing any problem with Geometry section. Ok, if you believe in marking the book? I will mark this book as 4.5/5 (-0.5 for wasting so many pages!)
Source: — GMAT Strategy |

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by uwhusky » Sun Sep 05, 2010 7:52 pm
I must agree with you on one of the cons:

2. Only one problem is discussed on one page, I think Veritas should think on how to save trees! Go Green!

I have their Combinatorics book and most of the pages are full of empty spaces, in fact, the book could easily be condensed down to 1/5 of its current number of pages. I would almost recommend people not to buy them for the sake of the trees.

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by kissthegmat » Sun Sep 05, 2010 8:23 pm
But for the sake of knowledge I'll recommend Veritas books.

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by Brian@VeritasPrep » Tue Sep 07, 2010 9:04 am
Thanks for the review, kissthegmat!

Regarding the white space in our books, the environment is certainly nothing that we take lightly, but we've found that student demand is for workbooks that allow for calculations and note-taking during classes and homework sessions. The design of those pages is to allow you space to work through each problem so that you have a well-organized record of your thought processes, mistakes, and takeaways.

We've found the formatting of our books to be functional and to meet student's needs (in fact, we first started printing them that way when a survey of pre-MBA students that led to our beginnings as a company found that students were frustrated that most existing workbooks at the time didn't allow for sufficient note-taking and scratchwork). For those interested in a lighter or more "green" version, we'll soon have our books available in iPad and Kindle formats (and I'll allow the energy-conscious to calculate whether the electrical charge in each device outweighs the paper saved).

I applaud your efforts to save the environment!
Brian Galvin
GMAT Instructor
Chief Academic Officer
Veritas Prep

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