economics-test

6/29/02 I needed Principles of Management for a prerequisite to get into an MBA program. Took the test 3 days ago. Several questions on the test, especially relating to people who'd developed theories, were never covered in the study guide. I think they probably need to release a revised edition. The study guide still describes the test as a #2 pencil, color-the-ballons test. Today it's on computer. I liked the short, direct-to-the-point format of the book. I read it once, working all the problems as I read. Then I read it all again and reviewed the questions before taking the test. I was told that scores range from 20-80. Mine was 78. I don't see why anyone would take a college course when they could buy this study guide, spend 8-10 hours studying, and then pass the CLEP.

to pass the Principles of Management CLEP. I read this book through once, worked all of the practice tests at the end of each chapter and went through the sample tests at the end of the book until I had a good working knowledge of the subject. I took the CLEP this week and passed with 20 points to spare.

I spent less than 2 weeks with this study guide before taking the CLEP.

Pay attention to the theory and the theorist who goes with it. Make sure you really know the definition of each of the management theories (functional, systems, etc) so that you can recognize them on the test. You'll need to know not only what the theory is but also be able to distinguish which theory is being described in a real-life management situation.

Good luck!

I bought this book based on the other reviews I saw here on amazon. I spend about a month reviewing (could have spent less, had finals in the way) and read the book about 4 or 5 times, did all the tests 3 times and ended up with a 71. It's a very short book (about 80 pages of review) and definately worth the cost. There were a few questions on the test that weren't covered, but overall a pretty thorough study guide.

If you have no clue about statistics, then this is the best book your money can money. It is crystal clear.
However, if you've already taken statistics, you might find this book to be too basic.

I only have the fifth edition of this book, but it is probably similar to this edition. I used this book, when I was teaching statistics many years ago. The book is very clear and it explains each statistical concept very thoroughly.

As an online statistics tutor, I find myself referring to it all the time. It has all of the topics that are normally covered in a first course in statistics. It also has some very good chapters on elective topics such as nonparametrics, sample surveys, and quality control. I took many courses in these subjects in undergraduate and graduate school, and I find that this book is a good review for some of the things I've forgotten.

I have many statistics books both elementary and advanced. This is one of only two elementary books that I would purchase again (my teacher's edition is losing the binding!).

It is probably the most complete book on statistics that I have ever read at this level. I would certainly recommend this book to anybody who is taking statistics for the first time. I would also recommend this book to statistics majors who plan to go into teaching and need a good review text.

This is a definately worthwhile learning tool which can aid anyone who is attempting to tackle statistics for the first time. The methods and theories are concise, direct, and most of all, clearly stated. The authors bring you step by step through each procedure and then offer exercises to demonstrate the process while giving you the confidence to go on.

This book was puchased midway through the semester. At that time I was struggling to maintain a C average. With the help of this book I was able to close the semester with an 89% average.

This is an excellent book for people who don't have a lot of experience as an investor. Mead examines notable blue chip companies and walks readers through their history and how it relates to the company stock. She explains what to look for in annual reports and how to figure out which companies are right for different investment needs.

Investing With Giants takes us back to our investing roots and reminds us that investing requires due diligence. Mead helps the reader return to a "think before you leap" model of investing.

As an investment club member for 6 years, I found this book exceptionally helpful in better understanding how to evaluate stocks in this uncertain market. Using the annual report section helped me to review several stocks from a closer vantage point. It helped demystify the numbers. Linda Mead writes in a very readable manner making a dry subject much more interesting.

I bought this book six weeks in advance of taking the GMAT. This book is great for getting you familiar with the test and showing common testing pitfalls. I felt like I needed the most help with the Verbal section and this book helped me to decipher what the GMAT question was really asking me instead of what I thought it was asking me. My unofficial results show an OUTSTANDING grade.

I just rated Kaplan's GMAT book but I feel I need to chime in regarding Arco...because that book was very helpful !

I'm not a native speaker of English and have never taken a standardized test before in my life; yet I scored a 770 (99 percentile) on the GMAT in my first try 3 days ago.

I started out with Arco's 24-hour course. Arco's book is great, and it has quite a bit more stuff on the math and verbal part than Kaplan has. I didn't get the CD rom though since I got an older edition, so I can't rate the software. But the book itself is excellent.

Arco has a lot of useful info on both the math and verbal sections. There are a lot of relevant problems in the book, and their style comes close to the real thing. The book is well written with lots of useful advice. There a very few mistakes and printing errors in the book.

After Arco I went on to tackle the official guide from ETS. Anyone who wants to prepare for the GMAT should work some of the problems in this book. I did them all, but I don't really think that's neccesary -- just do the final third in each section and you'll be fine.

Finally I read the Kaplan book. There was not much in the book that I didn't already know. In fact, Kaplan has much less material than Arco. However, when you start working with Kaplan's CD rom you realize how much info is packed on that disk. There's 18 quizzes with 9 math and 9 verbal and they're all great practice. They actually force you to work *faster* than you'll need for the real test. Also, there are very few errors in the Kaplan material, and their problems come very close to the real ones.

I took the four GMAT CATs on the CD rom and got 700, 780, 660 and 700. There's no question that Kaplan artificially lower your score so you're guaranteed to score higher on the real test, but that's cool as long as it doesn't discourages you. Just know that's the way it is.

I also took the PowerPrep tests, just for practice... but I had already done the problems in the ETS book ! However you definitely should work with PowerPrep to get a sense of the problems and the way they're presented.

Hope this helps. Good luck !!

I used this book as the capstone to a self-taught GMAT course. It provided adequate review of the quantitative and verbal concepts on the exam, challenging practice problems, and good answer explanations. The AWA section was also helpful.

In addition, I used Kaplan's CD and the GMAT PowerPrep software, both were also excellent.

I ordered this book without getting the first book that goes along with it. Make certain you do, this is just a workbook.

This book is for someone that wants an overview style book. It reads as a novel, or loose conversation would be read. Not a textbook style (dry) book.

Dr. Alvarez and Mr. Fridson's book is a MUST READ not only for every finance professional...but for the average investor as well. By the use of real-life examples and fascinating stories, the authors present a compelling behind-the-scenes look at the world of corporate finance, and how financial statements can often deceive. In today's post-Enron world, this book is a must-have for anyone who dabbles in the market, even on a part-time basis.

What I enjoyed most about Financial Statement Analysis-a Practioner's Guide is the tone of the book...rather than your standard dry academic tome, the authors inform us through interesting stories, and speak WITH us rather than AT us. I find their approach extremely effective, given that this is the first finance related book I've ever read that didn't put me to sleep (I actually had a hard time putting it down).

As a financial professional, instructor and investor, I've applied many of the lessons taught in this book, and have begun recommending it to all of my classes, clients and colleagues. As such, I highly recommend it to anyone that is read for an eye-opening look at the world of corporate finance.

This book covers a lot of ground and is easy to follow (sometimes too easy). A lot of the contents can be redundant for those with a background in marketing, finance, etc. but it is well rounded. I compared it to the Dummies equivalent and found this one to be a better read (I usually buy Dummies though - this is my first Idiots guide).

Covers basics and most important things to get you started. The rest you will forget anyway

the fast way to teach mba basics

I must admit I needed a helping hand with my application. The Essays, GMAT, letters of recommendation... sometimes seems like an endless process where you never know if youre wasting your time since you have no guarantee of being accepted (especially at schools where it's getting ridiculously competitive). this book has guided me through the whole process.

First, the book gives you the confidence you need to keep faith. It outlines loads of testimonials of successul candidates (harvard, MIT, Berkeley, Columbia, kellogg...). When you read their stories, you feel that they were like you: people who had accomplished some stuff but obviously had doubts and weaknesses. Then, the game is how you present yourself and how you write succesful essays.

The key is that you should adapt your essays to the various school profiles. The authors have done an outstanding work on the top schools. There are about 50 pages per school outlining the differences between all the schools. If you want to be admitted to Stanford, you obviously don't say the same thing in your essays as if you want to be admitted to Columbia. The great thing about this book is that you get insider information. The other books I bought are just too general, stuff like "smile on the day of your interview"....this is more specific.

You read this book, and the profiles of the schools you want to apply to, and you feel that the game is easier than you thought.

During the business school application process I read countless books on the topic. Of all the books that I read, this was by far the most helpful. I especially found the example essays from other students helpful in giving me ideas and structure for my own essays. If you are considering applying to one of the schools profiled in this book you will be pleased to see a very detailed overview of the program by a student who has attended the program. I had already taken the GMAT by the time I read this book so I didn't focus on that part of the book, but it seemed to be fairly complete.

My only complaint - and this complain is universal to all business school books that I've found - is that it emphasizes applying to the "top" business schools. There are a number of books that profile the "top" 10-15 business schools and do a good job of it, but very few that provide any detailed information on the other 200+ MBA programs. I was focused on applying to MBA programs that are considered by most ranking systems to be ranked 20-50.. There is very little information available beyond what the school provides on these programs. The vast majority of people will be attending schools that aren't considered "top 10".

This book is the second most useful b-school admissions book after "How to Get into Top MBA Programs" (link given above).

As an American student looking to find work in Europe, this book was absolutely no help to me at all. It is published in Great Britain, and probably 95% of the addresses she gives are in the UK. I found a couple of interesting ones in the U.S., but all the good ones were not American. Also, prices are in pounds, not dollars, which makes it difficult for an American to fully comprehend without a calculator and info on exchange rates. If you are British, this would probably be a great book for you!

Another thing which I found not very helpful is that the book is targeted to people who want to just want to hop from place to place, hence the title. It is geared for the vagabond worker, and assumes that these people will settle for whatever job it takes to stay travelling.

What really turned me off was that the book highly suggested hitchhiking as the primary mode of transportation, and spent a great deal of space discussing the beneftis of hitchhiking. Any other travel book strongly discourages this!

In a nutshell, if you are not British and you do not feel comfortable with hitchhiking, do not buy this book!

While this book is written from a British perspective, it is an excellent guide for anyone who wants to travel around the world on limited funds. The author relies on "been there done that" travelers to supply information and anecdotes from the road and I can vouch from experience that those nuggets show up in revised editions.

I bought this book before my first trip around the world and it led to my first English teaching job--in Istanbul, Turkey. (Griffith's Teaching English Abroad title is a good guide for the teaching path specifically). This is also a good book to read when deciding what you're NOT willing to do. Comparing some of these jobs to working another few months at home instead to save more money puts things in perspective.

Understand that this is a guide to short-term work opportunities, so it does focus on ways to make enough to get to the next destination. It's not an international career guide, but rather an inside scoop on where to get paid while you travel. It's an entertaining read and a good investment for shoestring travelers.

Tim Leffel
author, The World's Cheapest Destinations

I was introduced to an early edition of this book by a couple of English blokes I lived with in Minneapolis in 1989. Above all, it made me realize that travelling around the world for a working class fellow was a realistic option. It gives a lot of specifics on how to find work in different parts of the world. I have seen no other book that comes close to providing the information that a working traveller needs. Being in its tenth edition shows that many others have found it valuable as well.

I spent a year working and travelling in Europe and Africa. Working your way around the world is a good way to educate yourself.

I am a graduate student getting my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. I also work for a company that designs, administers, and interprets personality-based pre-employment tests for use by corporations. I can say, without reservation, that Dr. Hoffman's book is full of misinformation that will not only not help you, but could also hurt your chances at gaining employment.

Dr. Hoffman's premise is that these type of tests are designed to prevent you from getting the job you want. This is not true. The tests do two things (and they do them quite well): 1) identify people who have been problem employees in the past; and 2) compare candidates' basic personality traits with the requirements for success on the job.

1. The basic premise of the the "Honesty" or "Integrity" test is that candidates who will end up stealing from their employer have stolen from their employers in the past. Dishonest candidates get "caught" by the tests because they figure that "since everyone is dishonest, it is stupid to portray yourself as *squeaky clean* and so they admit to these past thefts. Dishonest candidates steal *a lot* more than the average person who has had an occassional moral lapse. Identifying the difference between serious criminals and average people is what these tests do. If you are not a crook, you have nothing to fear from these tests. If you *are* a crook, I think that it is unethical for Dr. Hoffman to abet your criminal activities.

Unfortunately for the honest candidate, Dr. Hoffman does not make it clear that these tests also contain Lie Scales that will catch any attempt to portray yourself as "squeaky clean." Employers know that not everyone is completely honest, and responding to the survey as if you were will probably get your application flagged.

2. I do not understand why Dr. Hoffman would suggest to anyone that they misrepresent themselves on tests of basic personality. All you will get is an offer for a job that will not match your personality, that will make you miserable, and at which you will eventually fail.

Think about it: You decide to apply for a sales job, even though you are an Introvert and do not enjoy meeting new people. You read Hoffman's book and learn how to misrepresent yourself as an Extrovert on a pre-employment test. You fake your way through the interview and get the job. Now what? You've just put yourself in a position where you have to "fake it" Monday through Friday, from 9 to 5. If you had represented yourself honestly, it is possible that you would have received a job offer for an administrative position, i.e. one that better matched your natural style - and one in which you would be happier and more successful.

When you are conducting a job search, the question you should ask yourself is, "Is this the right job for me, i.e. does this job match my talents, skills, and temperament?" By looking at these tests as just another way of answering that question, you can relieve a lot of anxiety you might have about completing these tests. You do not need to waste your money on this rather insubstantial book.

Hoffman does talk about the Lie Scales mentioned by the graduate student. The student does at least reveal a potential conflict of interest: employment with a company that designs these instruments.

I found the book very helpful in demystifying a tool that businesses use to screen out, rather than dealing with individuals. I haven't stolen from my employers, nor am I likely to "go postal", but I do fear these tests, along with everything else that's intended to make sheep out of American employees.

As for an introvert cheating on a personality test so that he/she can get a sales job, I suspect an interview will catch the intelligence problem.

I must react to those who have taken the high moral ground in this debate relative to "Tell the Truth, etc." We're talking corporations here, and not Ben and Jerry's. Any person who has any idea of their own inner world and motivations knows that we are complex and frequently conflicted beings. We may crave notoriety or we may struggle with a naturally shy personality, but we have free will and thus we behave as we must to survive. Like the vegetable vendor who sells his bushel of fruit by placing the perfect pieces on the top; if you want cash for your tomatos, learn how to do likewise. And the honesty, if it is to be maintained, is a two way process is it not? But do the employers stipulate what sort of personality-types they are seeking?
Frankly, the fact that psychology- a healing discipline- is perjured in this manner is unsettling. The individual subordinated to the workplace agenda.
If people did not manipulate their scores, the shy and the 'honest' would be shuttled to the streets. Only an honest person would admit to stealing or cheating or other 'red flags.' If this author is correct- they would be disqualified. One of my questions was do I wish people would seek my autograph? Honestly- yes, if I wrote a great book or if I negotiated peace somewhere- but do I wish I were Brittney or any celebrity gracing People magazine? Frankly, not at all. So, what do you answer? Well you answer- yes, if you wish to be interpreted as a go-getter extrovert. If the author is correct, and my hunch says that he is, most employers are seeking a workaholic, extraverted, squeaky clean, visionary. How's that for a nightmare co-worker?

My advice is to read the book, get the job and be as good a person as you can. As to the moralists- Only the out-of-work preachers may apply.

I am going against the grain of the other reviews here, but this book was a waste of time for me. I was very disciplined in completing the ability tests, and followed all the advice about the personality and motivation portions. I really tried to approach this will an honest an open mind, otherwise you risk doing yourself an injustice (e.g., it's better to answer how you ARE instead of how you WISH TO BE).

What did I learn? I got a "B" in four different abilities (no A's). You are only supposed to spike in one or two. I have "average" motivation in all seven motivation categories, and I am a "Specialist" or "Free Agent" personality (one of the four personality variables was down the middle).

There are dozens of combinations of skills/aptitude/motivation groups that I could try to analyze in order to conclude something. No thank you. A built-in excuse of any author of this type of book is that "I don't really know myself", but isn't that what this book was designed to solve?

In all fairness, there are some pearls of wisdom in this book and it would probably serve a new grad well. Plus, I like the idea of not just evaluating personality (which is common), but also to add the elements of abilities and motivation. The authors convinced me that these three dimensions are important in harmony with a career.

However, the ability tests were ineffective of finding my strengths. The motivation test didn't identify anything significant. The personality test is interesting, but the various Meyers-Briggs books have much more richness, examples and suggestions than the FLAG analysis. This book is cheap, so you may want take this just for the heck of it. But don't count on it working as well as it does for others. Maybe it will, maybe not!

The questions on the tests were fairly obvious (example: "are you a leader?") A lot of the questions were hard to answer, because you didn't know what context they were in, so they could be either way. I ended up directly in the middle for most of the personality and motivation tests because of this. However, I found the text after the questions to be very helpful, and that's why I'd reccomend this book. You have to look at what they say after the tests to really figure out what type of person you are for different jobs.. that part was really helpful, but the tests werent.

I had been injured at my previous occupation, and was eligible for vocational rehabilitation. My employer and VR were willing to help me, but I had a big decision to make. WHAT KIND OF JOB / CAREER SHOULD I CHOOSE? I hit the bookstores and there are dozens of these kinds of books. However, this one is different. It not only tests your aptitude (like other books do and then stop) but also your personality and your motivation. For me this book made all the difference in the world. In other books, I always scored high in two areas. The titles of these areas might be different in every book, so I will use research and practical. "TEST YOUR OWN JOB APTITUDE" goes one step further and crossed referenced results like this. I researched all the choices and decided on a career in Biomedical Engineering Technology. I completed a two-year degree and now have a job that I LOVE. I love to fix things, I love to help people, and I hate being tied to a desk. This career was tailor made for me. I hope this helps you, I have recommended this book to many others over the last 3 years. Some have even changed their majors because of it. I also recommend that a friend help you answer the personality section. I was depressed when I did it by myself and it threw the results way off. A friend who knew me before the accident "corrected" some of my answers. By the way - I am a 41 year-old female and 20 years ago would never have dreamed I could become an Engineer!!!