Books for Prep | |
 - Very good overallGRE sample test scores before using this book for review: Verbal - 450 Quantitative - 620 Test scores after studying with this book: Verbal - 620 Quantitative - 710 As you can see, there's quite a difference. The book covers all important topics tested on the GRE and has numerous practice questions. It has a list of 333 high-frequency words and a master list of 3,500 vocabulary words. I studied all the words at a rate of 10 words a day for several months. An important concept briefly mentioned in the book is that on the test, it is important to quickly skip difficult questions and move on to the ones you can answer. From experience, doing so can dramatically improve your scores. The key to the quantitative section on the GRE is to realize that most of the questions are easy if you can remember the basic concept being tested on that question. Each question can be solved in about 1-3 minutes, except the data interpretation questions which usually take longer. Out of 28 questions, there are 4 data interpretation questions. Take the practice tests (there are 6 of them) to see which questions take you the most time. Then you may choose to skip (guess on) those questions on the actual exam and focus on the ones where you do best. I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5 because it did not give enough strategy for the analogies and reading comprehension on the verbal section. For example, how does one improve reading and comprehension speed under exam conditions? The reading questions can take long to answer, so a bit more study and exam strategy would have helped. But overall, it was a very good review book. Rating: - Pretty solid prep bookThis is a solid overall prep book -- I used this and the Princeton Review book, and between those two and the free materials ETS offers online, it was more than enough to self-prepare for the test. Rating:  - Awesome!This is the single best review book for the GRE on the market, at least as far as quantitative review and vocabulary. I recommend using this book's information along with another book that teaches you a bit more about the format of the GRE and tactics, like Kaplan, but DON'T depend on Kaplan for a good review of math, they only help with tactics. The math review in this book is very dense and can be hard to sift through. -But if you dedicate yourself and learn all the concepts, you'll be all set for quantitative! If anyone out there is in need of ramping up their quantitative score and is willing to put in the hard work, this is my study plan and I highly recommend it. It involves 3 books; this book, the Arco GRE/GMAT Math Review book and the Kaplan GRE & GMAT Exams Math Workbook (I recommend 3rd or 4th edition). 1) Go through the arithmetic chapter in the Arco GRE/GMAT Math Review book. Take notes if necessary, and do all the practice problems. This is an excellent BASIC review. 2) Go through the arithmetic chapter in this book (Barron's). Again, take notes if necessary and do all problems. If you get any of them wrong, review them until you know how to get the right answer. 3) Go through the arithmetic chapter in Kaplan GRE/GMAT Math review book. This is NOT so much for you to review math concepts; you already did that with ARCO & Barron's. This is just for you to REINFORCE what you learned from the previous two books. 4) Take one of the math tests in the ARCO book. 5) Repeat steps 1-4 for every math subject chapter (ie algebra, geometry, word problems, etc.) There should be 6 math tests in the arco book which is perfect for the roughly 6 sections of math review in all three books. I am intending to complete this plan in a month with roughly 1.5 hours of study per weekday and a little more on the weekend. You may not need as much time for review if you are good at math and know your weak points. If so, then just work on your weak points. ALSO, don't forget to go over CAT strategies before the test and TAKE SOME CAT tests to help you with your timing! Be sure to do your powerprep! Rating: - Good Thats a great book to have a general idea about the test. It was a great help Rating: - A Thorough Study GuideAfter studying with this book my GRE verbal score increased by 140 points. The high frequency word list was particularly helpful. However, if you want to study all the words it would take weeks. In association with Amazon.com | |