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 - Book never receivedThis was the worst service ever! I have written Amazon and The Book Community, with no success. I would think that a book company could get this book to me, but they now say they can't. Never Amazon again! Rating:  - Good for everything but the math sectionI just took the TEA this morning and can say that the actual test was much different in two of three sections. First, the verbal paragraphs are much shorter on the actual exam and ask different questions about the paragraph than just the standard "the paragraph most likely supports the statement that..." You also have to know what the paragraph does not stand for as well. I actually thought the verbal in this book was more advanced than the test I took. The problems for investigation sections in this book are spot on. I felt 100% prepared for that section and feel as though I did well. The main problem with this book...and this is a HUGE problem, is that the actual math section on my TEA exam had maybe 25% of what this book presented as being on the exam. There were NO tax, proportion, wage/commission questions, distance, or equation questions. The ratio question I had was 20x harder that any example in the book. The practice exams in this book are very misleading as to the type of math you can expect, as well as the difficulty. I felt as though there were new concepts presented on the actual test (i.e. cubic centimeter area questions and a complicated km/hour as opposed to mph question). I literally guessed on most of the questions after having spent 8 weeks reviewing the math in this book. Instead of leaving the test feeling excited, I, as well as the other people in there with me, felt very unprepared for the math section once we talked afterward. This book is fine for the verbal and investigative questions, but buyer beware: the math can be misleading. One last gripe about this book is that my TEA did not have a self-evaluation section on it. This book says that the 3rd practice test (also very misleading as it isn't actually the same as the previous two tests in there) is a self inventory. I am wondering why this is in a 2006 book since it is no longer on the actual TEA? (Maybe my exam was different?) This part of the book was a total waste of time. If not for the misleading math and self inventory sections in this book, I might have given it 4 stars, but I think two is well warranted in light of my personal experience. Rating: - Not as helpful as you may thinkI recently took the TEA exam and I didn't feel prepared after numerous hours of studying the ARCO study guide. Not sure if I am the only one that feels this way, but it seemed like most of the questions on the actual TEA were nothing like the practice tests in the study guide. To the guides credit, it does mention the actual test is harder, but it still hardly prepares one for the test. Not sure if I would recommend purchasing this guide. Shop around diligently first!! Rating:  - Examination OverviewThe ARCO book is definitely the best option for preparing for the TEA exam. The other book is almost worthless. To score well I would suggest being able to do the questions in half the time provided in this study guide. The questions on the actual test are much more difficult and while under pressure there seems to be less time available. It is a fairly good study guide, it does contain a lot of worthless generic information in the front of the book. The only downside is that there are not more practical exercises. Overall, I wouldn't have passed the TEA without studying and this book definitely aided me. Rating:  - Good in some areas but not in othersI purchased the book just to study for the Treasury Agent exam. I did not read its information on applying for a job. The Verbal Reasoning section is okay although it is much easier than the actual exam. To its credit, the book says that the actual exam is much harder. There really are no tricks. I would have preferred more in depth reasons as to why an answer was correct or incorrect. That is explain answer by answer why it is right or wrong. Just practice the problems and practice pacing. The arthimatic reasoning was fairly close to the book also. This section is fairly straight forward. This is the one section that it is hard to wing, especially if you have not done algebra in a while. If there is one thing that is a take away, is master algebraic equations. The investigative section is also fairly acurate. But once again I would have preferred a step by step reasoning as to why each answer was right or wrong. Sometimes the book just assumes an aswer is so obvious that no explanation is needed. That is great if you got that answer. Lastly, the person inventory section is nothing like the book. There is nothing to work study for, but that section is also timed, and pacing is also important. In association with Amazon.com | |