This book asks some good questions. There are important points that each couple should be talking about, however, the scoring for the test is very confusing. Also, my boyfriends parents are both deceased. Many of the questions are about your parents and family. The questions do not take into account the different circumstances in many people's lives. The questions are geared toward a young couple in an ideal situation. What about adoption or foster care families? We ended up being very frustrated after doing 2 chapters of the book. We decided to read the questions to each other and not score it. This way we use it to get to know each other.

This book is a nice start for Christian couples (not recommended for people looking for a general, nonreligious/spiritual view) in that it raises important issues and encourages you to keep the discussion open afterward. The book is organized into topics such as Finance, Family Planning etc...and your future spouse answers the questions separately from you, guessing how you might answer, as well as answering for him/herself. Then the book asks you to grade how many questions you answered wrong/right, and sign a covenent on each subject based on things discussed. As thorough as this might be, there are some issues to keep in mind while reading this: 1) The language assumes certain roles and biases, which you may or may not agree with whether or not you are a Christian. E.g. "My father usually left a good tip for the waitress/waiter in restaurants," or irrelevant questions such as questions assuming your parents are still together or their relationship was consistent throughout their marriage. Some of the questions don't seem to have been updated for several decades. 2) You have to answer true or false, though many of the statements are not that easily answered. My fiancee and I ended up disregarding the scoring process, and discussing statements we thought were partly true or partly false rather than simplifying things to a T or F. The point is not to get a certain score after all, the point is to grow and learn about each other. 3) The chapter on finances is somewhat unspecific, so my fiancee and I are going to read a guide to finance next. There are other topics that are broad as well, but this book is designed that way. It's up to you to follow through to the next steps. If you think finishing this book prepares you for marriage, you possibly are walking into marriage short-sighted. It is a good vehicle, however, for starting the conversation that you and your future spouse will continue to have for the rest of your lives. Good luck!

This is a wonderful tool to help you really get to know the perosn you are about to marry. It is full of practical disscussion questions that help you get to know your mate's views on virtually everyhting from who does the finances to background information baout each of your families. Great book I highly reccommend it to anyone considering marriage.

This is a fantastic book that I use in my counseling practice. It is amazing the number of couples who do not really know each other before they get married, although they think they really do.

I also use Michael Webb's 1000 Questions for Couples as it is more thorough in the questions it actually covers.