The Classic Edition Scam!

[SusanWhite]

The Classic Edition Scam!

I have thoroughly researched many test-prep books that were published over the last ten years and I thought it would be interesting to tell everyone what I found out. As per my study, the majority of books (including the OG, Barron's, etc) come up with a new edition almost every year.

Surprisingly, the test prep industry is pretty much following the footprints of the auto industry, where they come up with a new edition/model every year. In fact some of the test prep books have already released the 2010 edition, and I won't be surprised to see 2011 somewhere.

Let me be very clear, all this is nothing more than the old classic marketing gimmick. About 95% or more of these books has the same text as they had ten years ago. Don't believe me - fine - go to a library and try to locate any 2000 and 2009 edition - you will see that both have exactly the same text, same concepts, same questions, same explanations - all in the same words. They have even been carrying forward most of their typos/errors in their books year after year. Yes, however, they do try to change the color or font style of their covers every year - that's the most creative they can get.

Hence, my advice to you is not to fall for this trap, if you have an older edition, there is absolutely no need to buy the new one. Of course, if you are out to buy a test prep book for the first time, it may make sense to buy the latest edition, but be aware that even the older edition would give you the same stuff.

I sincerely hope that these test prep companies write a small disclosure, which says: This is the same book we have been publishing for the last tens of years with 95% or more of the text exactly same, but we do like to experiment with new colors every year. I think this would be very helpful to people like us.

If you are serious about getting a high score, I'd recommend doing the following:
-Buy the latest edition of OG.
-Buy Barron's book as this is a good all-in-one review book (except the CD).
-Do the free practice test on mba.com (highly recommended).
-Solve any free practice problems you can find on the internet.
-Lastly - If you are aiming for a high score and if you are weak in your content areas and need more practice with a variety of questions of different difficulty level - buy the EZ Solutions series. This by far the most thorough review/practice material I've laid my hands on - just wish they had the verbal books too!

Thanks for reading this post and good luck in your test!

[Bara]

Yes, it's true. The OG just adds a certain number of questions to their tests each year, which means they update their edition every so often. The test prep companies are more likely to have yearly editions in the stores, but these don't really change so much - - nor does the course material change 'that' much.

To be fair, while the 'editions' seem rather unnecessary, the test prep consumer is very different from the car-consumer. The Test Prep industry doesn't expect the SAME people to keep taking the test year after year, so for the GMAC putting out new books, their material reflects the new questions that they integrate as a result of the experimental questions they put on the test. And the books available react to this. Course material usually has an addendum that they hand out or cover in classes. The bookstore versions put the year, to make them sexier and seem more updated for the consumer choosing between um-teen books.

The bulk of the 'explanations' and question types stay the same, and the OG actually seems to change MORE than the commercially available books out there.

So it's not really the 'latest' and 'greatest' to acquire all the books over time, it really is just the goal to take the test and move on, whatever material you decide to use.

There is also an abundance of used material one can find on forums like this, craigslist or freecycle...so you can get older material cheaply, then augment by the latest OG.