Books for Prep | |
 - Beats the other prep books, truly prepares you for the real testI bought a ton of GRE prep. books (Kaplan, Arco, Kaplan verbal workout, ETS official practice guide) but ended up ditching all of them for Barrons. Why? Because Barrons realizes that the only way to succeed on the GRE is with a healthy understanding of the facts and a ton of practice. Barrons succeeds wonderfully as a prep book because they force you to realize that success can only come from hard work. Just flip through the book and you'll know what I mean. It is COMPREHENSIVE. It doesn't have hundreds of pages of tips and tricks like Kaplan does. There's actual material to learn from, and bunch of practice problems. Barron's verbal preparation section is the strongest aspect of this book, by far. Besides have over 50 practice problems per question type (analogies, antontyms, reading comp, and sentence completions), they include 3000+ vocabulary words taken from over 20 years of practice tests and other sources. I knew that if I wanted to get a good verbal score, I had to memorize vocabulary words, and the ONLY test prep company to provide this many words in a handy guide was Barrons. I spent 2-4 hours a day for 74 days memorizing all 3000+ words and it paid off beautifully on the real test. I started out at a meager 570 on the verbal, my real score on the test was a 730 (99%). Basically, I knew the definitions to all the words I encountered on the test, and I have Barrons to thank. The math portion doesn't measure up with the verbal section in this book. But it isn't bad either. Again, you get facts galore when you review the math section. However, it can get confusing because of poor organization. Plus, it seems like there is too much material on each page. It can be really be an eyesore, but its helpful nontheless. They do a good job covering what you'll see on the actual test. Finally, there are the 5(!) practice exams at the end of the book. Practice is everything if you want to do well on the GRE, and Barrons provides it. I can say that the practice tests are somewhat accurate in portraying the actual test, but moreso for the verbal than the math section. Since the GRE is a CAT exam, the actual math questions change (harder) as you get more correct. That is, by the end of the test, the questions get pretty hard, much harder than Barrons would lead you believe. The software is mediocre, probably not as good as Kaplans and far less comprehensive than the ETS's powerprep software. Use it for the CAT practice test. From experience, I can say that if nothing else, this book truly PREPARES you for the test. I was never all that great at math, nor was I anything special in the verbal section. My target score was about 1350, and I fully expected to score that. But, after 2.5 months of Barrons (and powerprep), I scored a 1450. Thanks Barron's. Rating:  - Horrible math review!!!!I bought this book two months before I took the GRE. I began with the diagnostic test in which I scored >600 on Verbal but <400 on Math. Math is definitely not my strong point but I didn't think I was THAT bad at it. I began to study a little each night and went through the entire math review. I hated it - the explanations and questions were very confusing and often convoluted. I felt like I was getting nowhere. I practiced with the CDROM and I consistently got math scores of 400 or below!! It was very discouraging. One day I decided to try my luck with the POWERPREP software that ETS sends when you register for the GRE. I took a practice test and suddenly I had a 600 Verbal and 670 MATH SCORE!!! It was 300 points higher than my Barron's score!! The questions on the ETS software were much, much, MUCH easier and explanation of incorrect answers was clear, unlike Barrons. I will take the test next week, but I trust that the ETS software is more representative of the actual GRE since they are the actual makers of the test. Barron's math is very difficult and has very poor explanations. The verbal review is helpful and the questions are actually similar to ones on the test. Barrons also includes a word list with 3000 words and definitions and even pinpoints the most frequently used words on the GRE. EDIT 8-31-06: I took the GRE today and got 580V and 700M. I would have performed better on the Verbal had I not spent so much time mudding through Barron's math review after it told me I was performing at a 390 level. All and all I am pleased with my score but I would not buy this book again. Rating: - Way more complicated than it needed to beI used both the Barron guide and the Princeton guide to study for the GRE, and the Princeton book is a much better buy. I'm an English Literature major and I suck at Math, (and hate it from the core and ground of my very being) so I needed all the help I could get to study for the GRE. I found Barron's example problems, explanations, and math "tricks" to be ridiculously confusing. Princeton's approach is much more down-to-earth, funny, and genuinely helpful way to review. The Math on the GRE is little more than a rehash of what you learned in high school, with a little statistics thrown into the mix. A review of basic math concepts, algebra, and especially geometry is what is needed--not complicated and novel ways of solving problems, or goofy tricks that do little but eat up time during the test. For instance, the Barron's guide has instructions on how to construct a ruler and a protractor out of the few precious sheets of scrap paper you're given at the beginning of the test, to use as tools in guessing answers you don't have a clue how to solve. Are they kidding? The language used in the Barron's guide really aggravated me as well. In explaining how answers were arrived at during the practice math problems, I hated how most of the answers would say something like, "clearly, the answer is..." Really? I don't think so. Nothing about the math section of this lousy guide was clear to me, and more than once I wanted to pitch the book out the nearest window. I didn't buy the books for the verbal sections and only sampled them, but both Barron's and Princeton's seemed about the same to me in content--probably both would be helpful if you need the practice, especially if your vocabulary is weak. Barron's seems to have a larger vocabulary list. But fair warning: the vocabulary lists in both books are extensive. If vocabulary is a weak point for you, make sure to give yourself plenty of time to study the lists. I just took the test and got a 780 verbal, 540 math. Since math and I have never mixed well, I didn't expect a score any higher than that, so I'm satisfied--for English Lit, I don't need the math section anyway. But the little that I WAS able to accomplish on the math section I owe to the Princeton guide, not Barrons. Rating:  - No good for the math sectionI used this book as well as the CD to study for both sections of the test. It definitely helped with the verbal section - the word list is great! The math part, however, is a whole different ball game. The math questions in this book are extremely easy and I got consistent high-700's scores on the practice tests. On the real GRE, however, the questions were MUCH more difficult and I ended up getting in the low 700's and making LOTS of guesses. This book is simply way too easy and does not reflect the more time-consuming problems on the GRE. Due to this fault, I was unprepared and may have to take the test again. Thanks a lot, Barron's :( Rating: - At least there aren't any mistakes on the cover.Are all GRE prep books this poorly written? If so, how exactly does anyone ever manage to do well on these tests? This book is full of spelling errors, usage errors, and loads of incorrectly scored answers. Every time I sit down to study with it I find more and more problems. The Math section is particularly rediculous. Steps are skipped, numbers are introduced from nowhere, and answers seem to just be made up from some writer's imagination. There's very little in the way of explanation given, yet nearly a page is spent on such advanced subjects like "Draw a diagram when you need to" or "Use scratch paper to solve answers." Don't even bother with this one. It's the first I've tried, so I can't recommend anything better. In association with Amazon.com | |