105 of 112 people found the following review helpful
Clear, Concise and Replete with Errors,
October 21, 1999 briggsnc@bellsouth.net (Nashville, Tennessee) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cracking the MAT, 2nd Edition (Princeton Review: Cracking the MAT) (Paperback)
The strengths of this book include clear and succinct reviews of test-taking strategies specific to the MAT and of many domains of general information (e.g. art, music, literature, mythology) tapped by the test. Quizzes that accompany each section have helped me to reinforce the material covered.Unfortunately, the book is so replete with erroneous information, that I've starting to question the credibility of the company that published it. Just a few examples:P. 85 "Alexander Hamilton: First head of the U.S. Treasury, his face is on the twenty dollar bill." [If you believe that, I'll give you a Hamilton for every Jackson you give me.]P. 97 "Veins: The tubes that carry blood to the heart, the most major of which is the jugular vein, in your neck." [Good thing you're not taking the MCAT. In actuality, the internal jugular veins, of which there are two, join the subclavian veins to form the brachiocephalic veins, and the two...Read more
42 of 43 people found the following review helpful
Good study guides, but there are errors in the answer keys!,
March 1, 1998 Sarah (Tulsa, OK USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cracking the MAT, 2nd Edition (Princeton Review: Cracking the MAT) (Paperback)
This book consists of sections where they tell you how to figure out the questions and how to "out think" the test writers. This part was informative, but if you've ever taken any kind of standardized test before, this is all second nature. The part I found the most useful was the actual "study guides". They had a vocab section with words and definitions, a science where they went over the major information on the MAT, a culture section, where they reviewed famous authors, artists, etc (the most useful to me, since I didn't know any of that stuff!!). I took a practice test before I did the little review sections, and the tests after I studied the review sections showed huge improvements in my score. However, **BE CAREFUL WITH THE ANSWER KEY! THERE ARE ERRORS!** I've found several so far, am I'm not done with the book yet!!! However, they're fairly easy to spot, if you use common sense. If you sincerely doubt an answer's validity, look it up. I found the...Read more