The first step towards a good GMAT score is choosing suitable prep material. I have reviewed several notable GMAT prep books over the years. However, I recently noticed no excellent reviews for what is perhaps the most comprehensive book set for GMAT prep.
Veritas Prep Complete GMAT Course Set is a combination of 12 books covering every nook and cranny of the GMAT test. I have never come across a more detailed GMAT set anywhere in my years teaching and reviewing GMAT books. Moreover, originally the Veritas Prep GMAT book set contained 15 books instead of 12. Veritas reduced the number of books by 3 in 2013 when they released a revised version.
The closest comparison to Veritas GMAT book set, I can think of, is Manhattan’s Complete GMAT Strategy Guide Set that contains 10 books. If you have been around GMAT forums, you will know that the Manhattan GMAT Set is often the go-to choice for many students.
Hence, throughout this review, I will be making comparisons between the two sets where necessary.
In this Article
What Does Veritas Prep GMAT Course Set Offer?
Right of the bat, this is a hefty book set. The first thing to catch my attention is the package’s quality and how the book set is presented. The book pages and covers are incredibly high quality, and I can’t help but admire the books’ minimalistic look. Usually, prep books are colorful and flashy, with text strewn about the covers. However, this is not the case with Veritas.
As for the contents of the book set, there are a total of 12 books:
- Foundations of GMAT Logic
- Arithmetic
- Critical Reasoning
- Algebra
- Sentence Correction
- Geometry
- Reading Comprehension
- Data Sufficiency
- Advanced Verbal Strategy
- Statistics and Combinatorics
- Advanced Word Problems
- AWA & Integrated Reasoning
As you can see, each book is dedicated to a single GMAT topic and contains around 100 practice questions. You get a combined number of more than 1000 practice questions in the whole set. Moreover, you will find access to Veritas online portal to solve one adaptive GMAT full-length practice test.
Concepts and Explanations
I will not go through each book individually because that will make this review needlessly long. The 12 books have a similar structure, and you will find specific details under the cons and pros part of the review below.
As far as the lessons are concerned, I found Veritas books to be extremely detailed. The topic explanations go into so much detail that, at times, I felt like it was unwarranted. However, don’t get me wrong. Generally speaking, in-depth lessons are better than those that only cover the basics.
Moreover, detailed diagrams and tables accompany the many topics, which I found to be helpful. Each topic is broken into step-by-step explanations and is followed by useful examples.
Suppose we are to compare the concept explanations to that of the Manhattan Set. I think Veritas easily wins when it comes to the sheer detail of the lessons.
Each book starts with a general introduction of its respective topic and then covers all the sub-topics one by one. Every book will give you a detailed overview of the relevant section and question types. Everything from time duration to scoring system is covered at length, and you won’t feel the need to look up anything on the internet.
The Math Essentials book starts with a diagnostic test that consists of 48 questions. Solving the diagnostic test before continuing with the lessons will help you understand your strengths and weaknesses.
Overall, I am impressed by the quality of the lessons and the book set’s detailed nature. However, at the same time, there are few downsides, which I will cover below.
Some typos
The lessons, as well as the practice questions, are riddled with typos and incorrect wording. This was not apparent initially, but I came across several mistakes in almost all the books as I kept reading. For example, in the geometry guide on pages 119-120, the figure explaining question 26 appears under the solution for question 27.
Moreover, there are minor miss-spellings throughout the various books, which may not seem like a big deal, but in my opinion, it takes away from the learning experience.
No Updated Versions
Major test prep companies revise and update their books every year. Take any of the reputable companies such as Kaplan, Princeton Review, Manhattan, and GMAC. All of them release updated versions of their books annually. However, the Veritas GMAT book set was released back in 2009 and was subsequently only revised once in 2013.
This is why the mistakes and typos mentioned above have never been corrected. Moreover, the practice questions have also remained the same for more than a decade, and no revisions have been made.
Detailed Topic Explanations
If you overlook the sporadic mistakes, the topic explanations are undoubtedly comprehensive. I found the explanations to be incredibly detailed, and they cover every aspect of a given topic at length. The frequent figures are also beneficial and help with understanding; however, as I mentioned, they do appear under wrong headings sometimes.
If someone is interested in learning the various GMAT topics from scratch, they will find the book set very helpful. You won’t feel as if your understanding of GMAT topics is incomplete.
However, I would advise that you read up on Manhattan’s GMAT book set before making the purchase. Manhattan books are also cheaper than Veritas Prep.
Sure, Manhattan’s topic explanations aren’t as thorough as Veritas, but you get so much for your money that justifying buying Veritas becomes difficult.
High-Quality Practice Questions
As far as the quality of the practice questions is concerned, I would admit that they do an excellent job replicating actual GMAT questions. In fact, you would find a lot of difficult questions in this book set, which is a huge plus for those who are willing to score in the upper 90th percentiles.
Bottom Line
My initial impressions of the Veritas GMAT course set are tremendously positive. The one thing I can applaud is Veritas’s attention to detail regarding the topic explanations. I am reasonably impressed with how each topic is carefully dismantled. The spelling mistakes throughout the book does cause a dent in the overall learning experience.
If you want a comprehensive GMAT book set, I will suggest that you buy Manhattan’s Complete GMAT Strategy Guide Set instead. Overall, you will get better value for the money you spent and will find high-quality practice questions with answer explanations as well as six full-length practice tests.