About the Authors
Lisa Zimmer Hatch, M.A. and Scott A. Hatch, J.D. have prepared teens and adults since 1987 to excel on standardized tests, gain admission to colleges of their choice, and secure challenging and lucrative professional careers. For virtually 30 years, they have created and administered award-winning standardized test preparation and professional career courses worldwide for live lecture, online, and other formats through more than 500 universities worldwide.
Scott and Lisa have written the curriculum for all formats, and their books have been translated for international markets. Additionally, they wrote, produced, and appeared in the landmark weekly PBS “Law for Life” series. They continue to develop new courses for a variety of careers and extend their college admissions expertise to assist those seeking advanced degrees in law, business, and other professions. Together they have authored numerous law and standardized test prep texts, including ACT For Dummies, 1,001 ACT Practice Problems For Dummies, LSAT For Dummies, SAT II U.S. History For Dummies, SAT II Biology For Dummies, SAT II Math For Dummies, Catholic High School Entrance Exams For Dummies, and Paralegal Career For Dummies (Wiley).
Lisa is currently an independent educational consultant and the president of College Primers, where she applies her expertise to guiding high-school and college students through the undergraduate and graduate admissions and financial aid processes and prepares students for entrance exams through individualized coaching and small group courses. She prides herself in maximizing her students’ financial aid packages and dedicates herself to helping them gain admission to the universities or programs that best fit their goals, personalities, and financial resources. She graduated with honors in English from the University of Puget Sound and received a master’s degree in humanities with a literature emphasis from California State University. She holds a certificate in college counseling from UCLA and is for a member of the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA) and the Rocky Mountain Association of College Admissions Counselors (RMACAC).
Scott received his undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado and his Juris Doctorate from Southwestern University School of Law. He is listed in Who’s Who in California and Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities and is one of the Outstanding Young Men of America as determined by the United States Jaycees. He was also a contributing editor to McGraw-Hill’s Judicial Profiler series and The Colorado Law Annotated series published by Lawyers Cooperative Publishing. He also served as editor of the Freedom of Information Committee Newsletter and functioned as editor of several national award-winning periodicals. His current law books include A Legal Guide to Probate and Estate Planning and A Legal Guide to Family Law in B & B Legal Publication’s Learn the Law series.
In addition to writing law books, periodical articles, television scripts, and college curricula, Scott was editor of his law school’s nationally award-winning legal periodical, winner of two first-place awards from the Columbia University School of Journalism, and another first-place award from the American Bar Association. He also contributed to Los Angeles’s daily newspaper, The Metropolitan News, was an editorial assistant during the formation of the Los Angeles Press Club’s Education Foundation, and served on the Faculty of Law at the City University of Los Angeles.
Dedication
We dedicate GMAT For Dummies to our children, Alison, Andrew, Zachary, and Zoe and to Dan, Paige, and Ryan Welch, Miarra Jackson, and John Gilchrist. Our family demonstrated patience, understanding, and editorial assistance while we wrote this book, and we’re very blessed to have them in our lives.
Authors’ Acknowledgments
This book would not be possible without the contributions of Julia Brabant, Hank Zimmer, Jackson Sutherland, Zachary Hatch, and Zoe Hatch, who provided practice test material and helpful input. We also acknowledge the input of thousands of our students who have completed our test preparation courses over the last 30 years. The classroom and online contributions offered by these dedicated and motivated learners have provided us with a significant amount of information about those subject areas that require the greatest amount of preparation for success on the GMAT.
Our project organization and attempts at wit were greatly facilitated by the editing professionals at Wiley. Our thanks go out to Chrissy Guthrie for her patience and guidance throughout the editing process and to copy editor Christy Pingleton. Thanks also to technical editor Bill Kenworthy for his attention to detail and helpful suggestions during the editing process.
Finally, we wish to thank our literary agent, Margo Maley Hutchinson, at Waterside Productions in Cardiff for her support and assistance and for introducing us to the innovative For Dummies series.
We thrive on feedback from our students and encourage our readers to provide comments and critiques at [email protected].
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
Executive Editor: Lindsay Sandman Lefevere
Editorial Project Manager and Development Editor: Christina N. Guthrie
Copy Editor: Christine Pingleton
Technical Editor: Bill Kenworthy
Production Editor: Antony Sami
Cover Photos: ©phototechno/iStockphoto