Product Description
 
If it’s on the GRE, it’s in this book. Cracking the GRE with DVD, 2011 Edition, includes:

• Access to 4 full-length practice tests online, plus more than 300 questions in the book
• Everything you need to know for the current version of the GRE, plus info on changes coming in late 2011
• Detailed explanations for every practice question
• Engaging video tutorials from our top instructors
• Practical information on the what, when, where, and how of the GRE
• Techniques for turning difficult algebra problems into easy arithmetic problems
• Strategies to help you solve even the toughest questions in Text Completions, Reading Comprehension, Quantitative Comparisons, and more
• Online, interactive tutorial lessons with extra practice problems ... Read more

Customer Reviews (85)

GRE-Prep
This book has help me tremendously.It comes w/ the dvd and also a website that you can actually go on and do practice test.I am very well please and you will be as well!!! Good luck!Oh yea!My vocabulary is outstanding now!!!!!

Lots of editorial errors in the book
Don't buy this book. There are lots of editorial mistakes.
Just 1 example:
The Math Applications practice set has 10 questions. The answer key has 8 answers. Where are the answers to questions #9 & 10 (p.266)??? Not here!!
There are more little mistakes here and there - answers getting mixed up in the answer key; equations cited in the answer key don't match the equation cited in the original question, etc. Incredibly irritating.

Very good experience with this
This was my third time with the GRE.I took it twice in the early to mid 90s.This last time was my first time with the computer-based test. Years ago I relied on Barron's books to moderate success. This time I rocked the GRE verbal and written sections. I followed their advice on the essay section to a 't' and ranked in the 96th percentile. My math score was not as glamorous as I had hoped. I think one thing that would be good to have them explain is that the test now focuses somewhat more on the ability to choose a function to solve a problem rather than on solving problems. At least it seemed that way to me. I paired it with Cliff Notes Math Review for Standardized Tests.

Again, I was very pleased with the results following the Princeton Review methods.

Gold Standard
The Gold Standard for the average GRE test taker.If you are aiming for a score below the 90% percentile, this is a fantastic book.Particularly the test taking strategy that focuses on the test itself, rather than the knowledge that is tested.

If you are looking to score above 90%, you have to disregard many of the Princeton Reviews suggested techniques.But then again, if you are shooting for above 90%, you should read it anyway because many of the techniques you should not disregard.

No 5 star because there are not enough practice tests to make me happy.

Great Book
Exactly what I wanted. This book give great instruction on how the GRE test is going to be like and how to handle the questions that will be on the test. ... Read more

Product Description
This manualÂ's new edition offers prospective graduate students intensive preparation for the GRE Graduate Record Exam. Opening chapters provide a perspective on the exam with a GRE overview, advice on effective test-taking tactics, anda diagnostic test to help students pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses. Subsequent chapters review all GRE test areas and include practice exercises for the following topics: antonym, analogy, andsentence-completion questions, reading comprehension, vocabulary, analytical writing, discrete quantitative questions, quantitative comparison questions, data interpretation questions, and math. The math review includes questions in arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. The manualÂ's concluding section presents five full-length model exams that reflect recent GREs in length, question types, and degree of difficulty. All questions are answered and explained. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (90)

Very useful indeed
I had little time to prepare for the GRE. One week before the test-date, I did some practice-tests, on which I scored pretty low on the verbal part (range 300-400) and not high enough on the quantitative part (600-700).

I decided to buy this book (and also the other book, "Essential words for the GRE"), it was delivered by express mail and I studied it for almost a week. My verbal score on the real test was 600 (although I am not a native English speaker), and my quantitative score 780, thank you Barron's!

One remark: if you buy this book, you don't need the "Essential words for the GRE" anymore. This book contains an even more extended word list, as I noticed too late.

Excellent!
I took the GRE three years ago now and swear by Barron's GRE Review.

I studied for about an hour a day for 3 months...alittle here and a little there mainly focusing on this book.I went through it twice, then rented a couple of others from the library.I found this book to be the most helpful of the books I studied and highly recommend it to anyone who is taking the GRE.The math section I highly recommend- it help to review all the math from middle school and high school that had long been moved out of my brain.With that being said, I can't say very much about the English.I was seeking a Master's degree in a math-oriented field so my main focus was on that.The English section did a good job on guiding through the essay along with lot's and lot's of vocab, which again I glanced but barely touched.

Again- great study aid!

if getting overwhelmed is a good practice-strategy...
Barron's is undoubtedly the most rigorous general GRE guide. It is also, in my estimation, pretty excessive. The 3,500 word list is NOT necessary and is not very helpful. Sure, IF you could learn all 3,500 words, you'd hypothetically be in better shape than if you only knew 1,500 of them. Then again, there are only 30 verbal questions on the GRE. Also, you are NOT going to learn all 3,500 vocab words unless you already know most of them (and you probably don't, so it's just overwhelming). Likewise, the math section provides vague, confusing explanations of many answers, and contains many errors. If you can master the math in this book, you can master any math test rescued from a meat grinder originally written by a severely psychotic schizophrenic. Brilliant! But what about the GRE?
If you have spent your last several years intensely studying Victorian literature, ancient Latin and Greek languages, and college algebra/geometry, and you have a "gimme all you got!" attitude, then by all means, this is the way to go. If you're like the rest of us, you want straightforward training that will teach you what you need to know for the actual test (no more, no less), then look elsewhere. Please, look elsewhere. This book hurts my feelings.
Barron's essential words for the GRE is useful, thorough, and user-friendly. Princeton review is great for giving you the basic tools to do okay, and/or is a great introduction to studying for this wretched thing. Kaplan has a couple of nice, slim 'advanced' verbal and math books, which make a good supplement. Nova's GRE math prep course is also a good, thorough math book.
Don't take the GRE so seriously. The point is to score really well, not to be the ubermench of all topics distantly related to GRE success. Barron's general GRE book is an unforgiving slave-driver. Be good to yourself; use books that are more appropriate.

Excellent Condition
Product was quickly shipped to me and in excellent condition. No used pages or written notes anywhere.

Poor Editing, Overall Mediocre Product
Barron's 18th Edition for the GRE will likely help you prepare for the exam better than sitting at home watching paint dry or maybe reading Kaplan's version. This book is poorly edited, mistakes abound and are frustrating to the observant reader, and the format of the examples are not always intuitive. I have noticed errors in several sections, and it has irked me enough that I have stopped studying to write a scathing review. For example, the word definition for "colloquy" in their word list is "informal discussion," when it "informal" should be "formal." The only usage of colloquy in which it would be informal would be related to theological discussions. Another instance of frustrating mistakes is in some of their examples, they simply omit what the correct answer is. On one of their graphic interpretation practice questions, the question is reversed: instead of asking how much less, the question asks for how much more. Only in the answer section do you realize that the author/editor made an oversight, rather than your inability to answer the question.

I will mention again that this book will help you in your preparations for the GRE and possibly more so than Kaplan (in my opinion, which they simply have wrong answers). But that is like saying the urinal smells better than the toilet. However, these books are simply too poorly put together and little care was taken to refine these prep books. I only gave this book 2 stars (vs. 1 star), because I believe it to be marginally better than Kaplan in terms of quality. That is to say, Barron's GRE book is slightly less crappy. The other reason is its "Master Word List" which contains 3500 vocabulary words used commonly. This may be the one redeeming quality of this book, providing mostly accurate definitions with the words used in context on a large volume of vocab words.

Conclusion: This book is not good, but not as bad as comparable products out there. I have not tried Princeton Review products in detail, but they are generally more expensive with essentially the same content. One redeeming quality of Barron's is its word list. If you do purchase this book, buy it for this vocab list. Better yet, if your local library has a copy of these books, borrow it from there.

Update:
Took the GRE again, Verbal score went up 90 points, Quantitative score had no improvement. ... Read more

Product Description
The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test consists of verbal, quantitative, and analytical writing sections. This book is the only test prep guide that contains questions and topics from actual tests administered worldwide. It contains verbal and quantitative questions from seven actual GRE General Tests and sample analytical writing topics from the complete pool of topics for the analytical writing measure. It includes information about the structure of the test, answering procedures, explanations of correct answers for verbal and quantitative questions, sample writing responses with scores, scoring information, a math review, and test-taking strategies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (120)

Good for practicing the test. Poor for reviewing.
This book comes to you from the people that administer the GRE test and, having said that, you will find previously administered GRE tests that will undoubtedly help you in your quest to higher scores. But, this book does not have an extensive math review section and completely lacks a verbal review section.

Good for Verbal not for Math
The official ETS guide is more useful for studying and practicing the verbal section than for the math section. The tests are all from the early 90s and certainly the testing standards have gone up for the MATH questions on the CAT. The book is very economically priced and you get what you pay for. This book does not have any elegant explanations or strategies. It's a collection of old exams that are useful practice. It is important to note that the format of the GRE has changed quite a bit. The GRE back in the day had 2 verbal and 2 math sections - we only have one section each now and of course its computer adaptive! The reading comprehension passages are a bit tricked up off late - you will notice that most of the reading comprehension from the official guide is challenging no doubt but not tricked up to deliberately mislead.

This book is a good supplement to the GRE study shelf but by itself is by no means sufficient. Barrons and Kaplan are excellent overall study guides. Princeton Review is a bit too simplistic and not ideal for someone who really wants to ace the GRE! Kaplan has the better software compared to Barrons, as well as some cool online tests, quizes and stuff. Barrons has some very relevant questions and the Barrons word list is the industry gold standard for vocabulary preparation. If possible both Kaplan and Barrons should be read cover to cover. NOVA Math is excellent for mastering the QUANT for those who are looking for that 750+ QUANT score. The verbal tests on this ETS guide can help round off a good solid gre preparation. These books combined with the free PowerPrep official ETS software should be enough to tackle the GRE.

very helpful
i realy appreciate the quickness of the service, and the book is perfect for GRE preparation at most in quantitative section where i scored high. It alsogives you an accurate and clear idea about the verbal. Thanks to your team

gre review
the condition of the book was fine. no ink or pencil marks; pretty clean.
on the other hand, the GRE Prep book on its own is not good. expected more from the official handbook.course content is sparse and only the first practice test has explanations for the correct answers. haven't taken the test before but the verbal part was extremely difficult and confusing.

Lots of helpful practice tests
I just took the GRE and did really well, and this book was necessity for me. Everybody studies differently, and different things work for different people. I found taking lots of practice tests to be extremely helpful. Nobody can duplicate real GRE questions. Only the ETS can write those distinctive questions, and this is the only book that contains real, ETS-written, GRE questions. It does contain only paper-based practice exams, which are a little different than the computer-based exam that most of us now take. However, it's just the format that's different- not the questions. The questions in this book are just like the questions I saw on the actual test. I studied a lot, and did every single practice exam in this book over the course of time. I did this after going through the Princeton Review's Cracking the GRE, Barron's Essential Words for the GRE and GRE for Dummies. I also got a computer program from Kaplan, which contained no new info but helped me prep for doing the test on a computer. Cracking the GRE and GRE for Dummies both contain detailed breakdowns of the computer-based GRE format, so as long as you familiarize yourself with it, all that matters is understanding the content on the GRE, which is the same on the paper-based as it is on the computer-based. I would highly recommend downloading the PowerPrep software from the ETS website- it's free and has two computer-based practice tests.
Definitely start timing yourself about a month before you take the test- the timing was the hardest part for me. You have to be REALLY fast.
All in all, this book was quite helpful to me- used in conjunction with other materials. ... Read more

Product Description
An extensive working vocabulary is a prerequisite for test-taking success on the GRE Graduate Record Exam. This revised and updated test preparation guide presents 800 college-graduate-level words with definitions that frequently appear on the exam, while also familiarizing test takers with how the words are generally used in various contexts. Additional features include a pretest that serves as a diagnostic, a lengthy word list with extensive sentence-completion exercises, and a chapter that discusses and analyzes essential word roots. The book concludes with a detailed posttest. Answers are provided for all exercises and for all questions in the posttest. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (37)

Great book!
This book has a tons of words. I mean TONS! and each word has an example sentence which actually makes sense a lot and makes me remember. The sentence example choices are awesome.
I am an ESL student and am sure I have disadvantage on vocab,
but this book has been very helpful to me.
Especially the last half. Its got the suffix list! It is great!
I know Latin a bit so it makes sense a lot of time.

One thing I have to say about this book is that
the each exercise unit is not really simulating the actual test.
The book does not contain antonym either.
So for that reason, I give 4 stars.

Very useful indeed
I had little time to prepare for the GRE. One week before the test-date, I did some practice-tests, on which I scored pretty low on the verbal part (range 300-400) and not high enough on the quantitative part (600-700).

I decided to buy this book (and also the other book, "Barron's GRE"), it was delivered by express mail and I studied it for almost a week. My verbal score on the real test was 600 (although I am not a native English speaker), and my quantitative score 780, thank you Barron's!

GRE Prep
This book provides a good overview of what you will encounter on the GRE examination.

good book, poor selection of words
I like this book for two reasons. First, unlike other GRE vocab books, it provides reinforcing exercises after every set of words. Secondly, 800 words seems like a sensible middle ground between Barron's full 3,500 word list and the 300 word lists of other publishers.

The bad news is that this book didn't provide the words I needed. This book covers words across the entire spectrum of the GRE, from really simple to totally obscure terms and everything in between. Unfortunately this means that this book is of very limited use to any individual test taker.

I highly recommend that you work with a vocab list that is targeted at your current level. If you already have a strong vocabulary, this book won't be challenging enough. If you are a non-native speaker studying for the GRE, this book does not have enough "easy" words to provide a solid foundation.

My own story: As a non-native speaker, I had some significant gaps in vocabulary that needed to be filled. After I bought this book, I took the first PowerPrep exam and wrote down a list of ~50 unfamiliar vocab words that I encountered on the exam. This book contained only 7 of those words, but Sparknotes' 1000 Words for the SAT had over 30! (Yes, that's right: SAT vocab.) I studied primarily from Sparknotes and raised my score from 480 on the first PowerPrep exam to 620 on the test day.

the best vocab resource for the GRE, no question
Get this. Don't only use this, but get this. It's the best. You probably know a number of the words, but that's okay. Just get it, use it, score high. ... Read more

Product Description

• NEW! Details and practice for the new question type
• Hundreds of test-like practice questions
• Detailed answer explanations
• Proven score-raising strategies
• Tactics for solving all question types
• Review of core math concepts

Customer Reviews (54)

Great price, helpful resource, but contains a ridiculous number of errors and formatting problems. Review of the KINDLE version
Overall, this book is helpful for reviewing math. It has more practice problem sets than some other GRE review books that I've tried, and since I tend to learn better by actually doing problems than by reading instructions on how to do them, it seems to be helping me prepare.

HOWEVER, the Kindle version has numerous formatting problems and typographical errors. Some of the problems contain figures that are too small to see on the 6" Kindle screen (and are not standard text but instead formatted as images, so you can't just increase the text size, and zooming only makes a minor difference but not enough to make some of the TINY figures visible - they become too small for the pixels to even make an identifiable shape, no matter how good your eyesight is). Using it on a Kindle for Mac or Kindle for PC application might help these size problems.

The problem sets also contain some typographical errors - some are minor, but at least one question is completely illogical - missing words and utter nonsense in the syntax make some problems lose so much information that they become utter nonsense such that you can't do them or use them for practice.
(I don't know whether these errors also exist in the print version or not.)

That being said, the Kindle version was still relatively inexpensive, and this prep resource is still helpful, but it's not perfect. Someone needs to reformat the Kindle version and fix the errors and, more importantly, make sure that all of the Kindle version's text and figures are large enough to be legible on a 6" Kindle. (That clear failure to check that the Kindle-programmed version could even be read in full is what frustrates me the most.)

Useful and thorough
I am almost done with this book and it has been very helpful in reinforcing the important GRE concepts. Detailed answer explanations to the practice sets are great, and help clarify if I am stuck. I recommend this is you need some brushing up.

Good Math Review and Exercises, but not Advanced
Okay, the thing I liked in this product is that it has lots of intermediate and upper intermediate level questions you might find in actual test. As you might guess, the key to do well in any standardized test is to practice, and this book gives you that. I used only this book, and believe that it helped me to increase my speed in solving problems.

The downside of the book is that, if you are a top-scorer like me (I got 800 in quantitative part), you will not find advanced questions on some topics like probability, analytic geometry, permutation and combination. If you are doing really good on the exam (which means you are above 700), you will probably find harder questions on those topics. For example, I got 1 upper level combination question and 3 upper level analytic geometry questions in the actual test, and this book does not give you the tools to tackle with those kinds of problems.

The Princeton Review's 1014 GRE Questions book also has good questions at basic, intermediate, and advanced level. You might want to take a look at that, too. However, it does not cover hard problems on probability, analytic geometry, permutation and combination either. I have not looked at Kaplan GRE Exam Advanced Math, and it might include hard problems on those topics. You might want to check it out. However, the ratings for that book is very bad, and people say it has lots of typos. What I say is that you can check out the book at a local bookstore, and if you like, you can then buy it. By the way, do not believe in the ratings always because people also say this book has many errors too, but in fact it has nearly no errors because I have gone through all the problems.

Good luck on the test.

perfect
perfect for anyone looking to brush up on their math.I have had extensive math training as an undergraduate but fairly infrequently have been asked for the area of a cone- Thats where this book comes in... It is not here to teach you the basics its here to hone your abilities- It did so.

Inapplicable
Yeah, I agree with some comments that the chapters and initial practice problems don't lay a foundation to do the intermediate or advanced problems. The short chapters explain the basics with only one example problem a piece before throwing much harder problems at you. Seemingly, if you can make these giant leaps in what the book has taught and the questions they ask, then I doubt how much a person really needed the book in the first place. I would love for someone to tell what would work better for someone with real difficulties in Math. Something really basic that assumes I remember almost nothing about the math I didn't understand too well the first time around. ... Read more

Product Description
This manualÂ's new edition offers prospective graduate students intensive preparation for the GRE Graduate Record Exam. Opening chapters provide a perspective on the exam with a GRE overview, advice on effective test-taking tactics, anda diagnostic test to help students pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses. Subsequent chapters review all GRE test areas and include practice exercises for the following topics: antonym, analogy, andsentence-completion questions, reading comprehension, vocabulary, analytical writing, discrete quantitative questions, quantitative comparison questions, data interpretation questions, and math. The math review includes questions in arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. The manualÂ's concluding section presents five full-length model exams that reflect recent GREs in length, question types, and degree of difficulty. All questions are answered and explained. The book comes with an enclosed CD-ROM that presents two brand-new computer-adaptive model GREs.The computer-adaptive tests (or CATs) simulate actual test-taking conditions, and provide automatic scoring, as well as answers and explanations for all questions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Great GRE prep aid
Barron's is a a great product to review/prep for the GRE. I love how it gives you step by step details on how they come up with the answer. Most prep books don't do this. I am still on the verbal section right now and I am impressed. I have not gotten to the math section yet and I have not checked the cd yet to see if it works either

Not a Stand Alone
To prepare for the GRE I studied with the latest Princeton Review and Barron's. The pros of this book is that it goes into a lot of detail and there are a lot of practice problems right after you learn a technique. The vocab section is great and includes a really good dictionary. My issue with Barrons is the math section. If you are poor at math like I was I do not suggest using this book alone. For some things it goes into great detail and on others it shows you one step and then thenext without any explanation. I would recommend this book for people that have a decent background in math, but if you don't unless you want to spend countless hours trying to determine how they got the answers they did I would not recommend it without buying something else to refer to when you get stumped!

Practice Tests are too difficult
My actual score the GRE, taken SEP 2010
Verbal: 680 (96%)
Quant: 790 (91%)

My average score on Barron's practice tests
Verbal: 560 (77%)
Quant: 700 (71%)

That is way off.20% percentiles!I get the concept of making practice harder than the real thing, but Barron goes too far.

ETS's pratice CAT GREs, available for free on its website, predicted my score within +/- 5% percentiles.

The desert island GRE book... with a few caveats
Well, I suppose if someone was on a desert island with a looming GRE appointment, he or she might just decide to stay on the island. Jesting aside, Barron's has compiled an impressive collection of practice problems, as well as the single best source on vocabulary words, the Barron's 3500 word list. (I don't consider Nova's 4500 a contender as there are too many words that are poorly defined.)

The strategies Barron's gives you on anything from analogies to complex geometry are helpful and clearly explained. And Barron's (unlike Princeton Review) isn't parsimonious with the number of questions it gives you. Math especially is filled with dozens of questions that are very similar in concept and tone to those from the ETS PowerPrep test. Indeed, the problems in the Barron's Math are even more challenging, and cutting your teeth on them will make the real test that much easier. The accompanying CD (as long as it works) is consistent with the hardcopy. That is, the quality of math questions is of a high caliber. The verbal, on the other hand, is a little too easy. In the end, you may score about 50 points lower in math than on the real test and about 50 points higher on the verbal.

Where Barron's is similar to Princeton Review is on the verbal section. Here you will find sentence completions that are about the level of those found on the SAT. The reading comprehension passages too are dumbed down. Anyone looking to break 600 in Verbal will be in for a bit of a shock. (Analogies and antonyms while not exactly 700+ are a little more up to snuff.) Still, there are plenty of verbal practice problems and learning new words can't hurt.

In the end, the best paper-based verbal practice out there is the ETS guide. While dated, this guide was written by the same company that concocts the very questions you will see test day. Even then, the verbal has changed a little bit so that the best overall practice is the powerprep software, downloadable from the ETS site.

Still, Barron's gives you a solid math grounding together with more advanced problems. Throw in the most comprehensive vocabulary list around and you have one of the best overall prep sources (outside of ETS) on the market.

Chris Lele of nostressprep.com.

GOLDEN!
This is a fantastic book! At the start of my GRE prep a couple of months ago I purchased a new barrons copy and solved it cover to cover. A week before the test I decided to purchase a used copy that had little to no markings on it in order to solve the exercises again. This was really useful because the Math concepts get reinforced - especially the quantitative comparisons. Why waste 1000s of dollars on expensive classes when you can master all the math concepts by shelling out less than 10 dollars! Books like Barrons certainly help people who cannot afford to enroll in expensive classes. The material is very well presented. ... Read more

Product Description
Comprehensive Prep for GRE Math.

Every year, students pay $1,000 and more to test prep companies to prepare for the math section of the GRE. Now you can get the same preparation in a book.

Although the GRE math section is difficult, it is very learnable. GRE Math Prep Course presents a thorough analysis of GRE math and introduces numerous analytic techniques that will help you immensely, not only on the GRE but in graduate school as well.

Features:

Comprehensive Review: Twenty-three chapters provide the most thorough review of GRE math available.

Practice: Includes 164 examples and more than 600 exercises! Arranged from easy to medium to hard to very hard.

Diagnostic Test: The diagnostic test measures your strengths and weaknesses and directs you to areas you need to study more.

Duals: These are pairs of similar problems in which only one property is different. They illustrate the process of creating GRE questions.

If your target is a 700+ score, this is the book.

Please note that some students preparing for the GMAT have been buying the GRE Math Prep Course. We are pleased to announce that we publish two books expressly for the GMAT math section: GMAT Math Prep Course and GMAT Data Sufficiency Prep Course, both available here at Amazon. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

one of a kind
The most comprehensive GRE maths prep book I have ever read.Though I have not taken the GRE yet but with the book I'm higly confident that I'm going to do well in the quantitative section.

Found this book obtuse with large errors present
I bought this book because it was so highly reviewed by others.I was not a math major in my undergraduate career and have been out of college for 3 years.This means the last time I had truly comprehensive math instruction was in high school.Thankfully, I have retained most of what I learned in high school to the point that I am able to tutor SAT math for current high school students.I bought this book hoping it would strengthen my skills in areas I was weak in and give me enough instruction to work with skills I was never taught, such as ratios, and chords, tangents, and such with circles. (My high school math courses never completed their curricula by the end of the year, meaning there are holes in my mathematical knowledge.)I have been highly disappointed.I do not believe this book will help me increase my score in the GRE.

After carefully reviewing each section and solving the example problems, then verifying the answers with their written explanations, I turned to the question sets.I became more and more frustrated as I moved through.The instruction and examples did not prepare me for some of the types of questions asked in the sets.Some questions were poorly worded.More often, the solutions at the end of the sets used what seemed to me to be the most obtuse logic possible to reach the results.I found these solutions to be very difficult and not at all suitable for the tight time on the GRE math section.I ended up asking my friends who are math teachers for simpler solutions to these problems that I could understand and remember.Very frustrating for someone who is able to tutor SAT math confidently.

The final straw came in the middle of the graph section.While reviewing my answers, I noticed that question 11 in the problem set and question 11 in the solution for the set were entirely different.As in, the question I was asked was "In what year was the exam least difficult?" (according to the graph's data).The solution I was given was for "Which exam was the second most difficult?"This simple, but major mistake on the writer's part has now made me suspect the accuracy of the book as a whole.For that reason as well as the obtuse logic used in several problems, I can not recommend this book to anyone who feels that they have definite math weaknesses.I am highly disappointed in it, given the high reviews I read from other parties.

Comprehensive guide to math section
I've finished this book in one week by working on it everyday for about 5 hours. This book really helps to remind you all school math course. My pencil wrote on it smoothly, so I could write just on it. Also if you just sit and try to start it is addictive, you want to continue and can forget about time. Really if you wanna completely prepare for math section this book is highly recommended. My score when I first time took GRE without any preparation was 720, but now it's about > 750. So it's almost average for most top schools. Right now I'm starting to work on Verbal section, which is really hard to me, because I'm foreign student who's first language is not English.
To conclude just start to solve the problems on this book, and after some time you will feel more confidence in math than before. Like Nike's credo: "Just do it". Good luck with math :)

Excellent Practice!
Great practice. Make sure you give yourself enough time to study, it's a very thorough guide with tons of problems!

Excellent choice
At first I thought I should try the name brand books, Kaplan, Barron's and Princeton Review but this by far is the best book if you want to do well. You will probably need to buy Barron's GRE exam book to get basic review of math or the Kaplan GRE exam workbook if you are a little rusty. But after reviewing these books, definitely get this one. I have gone over this book for the past four weeks and my math skills have dramtically improved. The name brands may get you to an average score but this book will definitely get you scoring highly (700+). I took a practice test last week and did very poorly and in just a week of intense review of this book (timing myself rather than just going through the book slowly to understand the concepts) my score has gone up by 100 points! I hope to keep improving since I have yet to master every concept in this book, but I believe that with each concept I master my score will defintely improve.

If you are planning to take the GRE exam this is an excellent book. I found it extremelly helpful. Comparing it with all the other books out there (Kaplans etc) it is the best! Full of useful information, math notes, all chapters one must review before taking the test! I m very happy I bought this book!! ... Read more

Product Description
Students preparing to take the Graduate Record Exam will appreciate this set of flash cards as a study aid to hone their test-taking proficiency. Vocabulary, definitions, and questions, as well as terms, formulas, and equations on each card come with answers and explanations on the reverse side. Cards cover topics that appear on the GRE, including antonyms, analogies, sentence-completion questions, discrete quantitative questions, quantitative comparison questions, data interpretation questions, questions based on knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, and geometry, and more. The cards measure4 1/2"x2 3/4" and have a corner hole to accommodate an enclosed metal key-ring-style card holder. The ring allows students to arrange the flash cards for the Q & A study sessions in any sequence that suits their needs. This flash card set makes a useful complement to BarronÂ's GREÂ--2008 test prep manual. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Good supplemental aid
I got these flash cards along with the Barron's math workbook and the Barron's vocab workbook. Out of the three products, I used these the least, mostly because I just ran out of time.

I think it's more important to work through the books with the examples and sample questions than sift through a bunch of flash cards, especially for the math section. I found them to be more helpful for a final review, making sure that I knew the formulas for the quantitative section.

As you can tell, I focused a lot more on the quantitative section. If you're looking to memorize 250 words for the exam, then these flash cards would most likely be very helpful. However, if you want to just focus on quantitative stuff, I'd stick to a book with lots of examples and questions, use the powerprep software, and save the dough on these. My score was in the 1200s, so take my advice with that in mind.

That being said, the flashcards are high quality and durable. Comes with a little ring to keep them on and a nice box to store them in. My opinion, more helpful for the verbal than the quantitative section.

very nice addition to Kaplan's 500 words vocab in a box
I definitely like the cards. And I love the fact that they come with a metal ring so I can take the bunch that I am focusing on for that week and review them while I'm at work, etc. However the Kaplan 500 Vocabulary in a box has way more words than the Barron's so I am actually using them together. They have some of the same words and I feel that their definitions and examples complement each other very nicely.

Watch Out For Defects!!!
Vocab #1-187 and then repeats #124-187. I have to return it and get a new one. Annoying.

The best GRE study aide I bought
I bought 4 study aides for the GRE (two books and two sets of flashcards) and these were my favorite. The cards themselves are sturdy and contain a lot of great information. There are 250 vocabulary cards, which have the word and a context clue on the front, and definitions, antonyms, a sample sentence completion and a sample analogy (with explanation) on the back. I ran into some of those 250 words on the actual GRE, but of course it would be impossible to know every word that will be on the test. There are also 250 math flashcards: 75 math Facts, 25 Math Strategies, 75 Multiple Choice problems, and 75 Quantitative Comparison questions. Each have detailed explanations. I hadn't taken a math class other than Statistics since high school, and needed a refresher course on things like the laws of exponents, which were in the books and on these cards. The cards were sturdy (unlike the Kaplan cards, which are extremely flimsy) and each had a hole punched in the bottom left corner. The cards come with a metal ring so you can put as many as you want on the ring to make them more portable and keep them all together. Overall, I couldn't recommend these cards more, and I really think they helped me achieve my scores (720 in math, 700 in verbal).

Great Product!
Helpful. Clear. Organized. Good price. Simply offers you more than regular flashcards. (i.e. the vocab words are used in different ways for full understanding). ... Read more

Product Description
With just a few minutes to analyze, organize, outline, and compose your essay responses, you need all the preparation you can get before test day.GRE Answers to the Real Essay Questionsprovides sample responses from more than 200 actual GRE essay questions, along with a comprehensive review of what test graders expect from your writing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great Overview
This book provides a great overview for the essay portion of the GRE.

The beginning of the book explains what you should expect and what you should or should not do. It also goes into what the readers are looking for and how you should consider writing your essays.

The author provides a plethora of essays to go through. Of course, I think unless you have endless amounts of time, it would be tedious to go through all of them. However, I think a good idea would be scan through and if you see a topic that you're scratching your head about, it would be a good idea to read through the essay. If you want to know what the exact issue statement was for reference, you can always go to the GRE's official website and go to the issue topic list. Once you're there, you can always "ctrl+f" the bolded phrase they provide for you in the book.

Generally, I would recommend that one goes through the issue essays more than the argument essays. The latter seem much easier to write, whereas the former can be rather difficult. Why? The issue topics vary greatly and what is very easy to one person may be incredibly difficult for another. My only concern with some of the issue essays in this book is that some of them seem way too over prepared---almost to the point of "fluff." Otherwise, I found it to be a valuable tool.

Everything you need.
This book quickly outlined the kind of things graders will be looking for in your essay and how to give it to them. 270 pages were just devoted to sample responses. I read a fair amount of both the issue and argument task ones and skimmed a few more. The first 30 pages or so is where the real meat is. I don't know what I would have gotten had I used other prep materials, but I got a 6.0 with this.

Indispensable
For those preparing themselves for the GRE, this book offers an indispensable study guide for the two essays on the exam. The topics, writing samples, essay construction guides, and helpful guidance are, by far, the most useful essay-writing help I have seen on bookshelves. The research is thorough, informative, easy to understand, well-written and organized.

If you're planning on taking the GRE and want to improve your score on the essay portions, this book is well worth the price. I'd buy it again, hands down.

Good practice
Gives a good review of the GRE essay and how to write them.Plenty of practice questions.What we need is a program that we can use to grade our essays so we don't have to guess!

Great!
The best way to learn to write is to immerse oneself in good writing. This book allows you to do that! It has great recommendations for how to improve your score on the essays. It makes the analysis essay a piece of cake and explains the logical flaws that the GRE test makers are fond of.I'll write more once I get my score :) I anticipate that I did quite well. ... Read more

Product Description
A totally effective and surprisingly fun guide to the Graduate Record Examination

In Fall 2007, the GRE Program is planning to implement significant changes to the verbal measure, quantitative measure, and analytical writing sections of the GRE. This easy-to-use, refreshingly irreverent revision shares inside information on what to expect with these changes, helping both recent graduates and workforce veterans prepare for the revised test, maximize their score, and get into the graduate program of their choice. It includes all of the secrets of the Internet-based test (iBT)-in which the computer generates unique questions according to correct or incorrect answers-as well as brush-up reviews on math and grammar, two complete practice tests, and proven time-management techniques that make test-prep fun and simple.

Suzee Vlk wrote For Dummies guides to the ACT, SAT, GRE, and GMAT and taught test preparation classes for more than 25 years. Michelle Gilman (Solana, CA) is the founder and CEO of Fusion Learning Center. Veronica Saydak (Solana, CA) is Director of student curricula at Fusion and has been tutoring test preparation at all levels for several years.Amazon.com Review
It goes without saying that if you're taking the GRE you'renot really a dummy. But GRE scores are an important part of anygraduate-school application--so you need to do your best. Suzee Vlk,long time test-prep specialist and author of several Dummies books,can help. The GRE for Dummies is packed with useful informationand strategies to help you prepare for the test. The book includesadvice on how to use the book efficiently (Vlk estimates you'll need31 hours to work through it), review chapters for all three sectionsof the exam, and two complete practice exams. Vlk also discusses thepros and cons of taking the GRE by computer or with paper and penciland special advice for those who choose to take the computer-basedtest. In familiar Dummies style, Vlk includes a handy tear-out "CheatSheet" with a summary of the most important information and a "Part ofTens" section with 10 "wrong rumors" about the GRE and 10 relaxationtechniques to use before and during the exam. With its witty writing,helpful icons in the margins pointing out important information, anduseful vocabulary scattered throughout, The GRE for Dummiesmakes test preparation easy and relativelypainless. --C. B. Delaney ... Read more

Customer Reviews (78)

User-Friendly
The writers have done a great job in explaining the different modules of GRE using informal, easy-going, day-to-day language with a tint of humor. Great book written with great style. Feels like you are having an informal rendezvous with the authors, face-to-face.

great no problems
great no problems.... makes the GRE prep process feel extremely manageable ... in the first few pages you realize the secret (it doesn't take much to earn the score you need... if you understand how the exam is engineered)

Great book
A solid resource to walk you through--step by step--what to expect on this exam.Well laid out, and easy to read.

Great x Helpful book!
Studied it for 2 days and gained a good score!...if i utilized it more i would've had a superb score!...I recommend

If I could score 1420, anyone can...with this book
Can't praise this book enough. I really am a dummy, but scored a 1420.

Yesterday at work I saw someone carrying another GRE prep book and told him about this one, which brought me to Amazon to find it again. (With a name like Vlk, it wasn't hard.)

Maybe 1420 isn't the score you aspire to, but for me it was just fine, as I took the test at age 51 (in the mid-90s) and decades after graduating from college.

I took the exam not to get into a graduate program, but to see if and how much I'd declined over the years. Of all the exam prep books out there, I was lucky to stumble on Ms Vlk's and was the only one I used.

I'm sure the book added 500 points to my score. Maybe not so much on the verbal (720) as we're always using and enjoying our great language, but certainly on the math (700), where all you need most of the time is simple addition and subtraction.

This isn't a book of practice questions. It's more as if you had a teacher at your side giving and then explaining the fundamentals, followed by questions to ensure you understood them, followed by explanations if you didn't.

Which means you have to work through the book. I recall it taking me about three or four months, an hour or so a day. As with most good things in life, you'll get out of it what you put into it.

I still have my copy...in case any of my grandchildren ever decide to take the test. And hoping they beat my score.

... Read more

Product Description
This comprehensive guide includes:

• NEW! Comprehensive details on the new question type
• Hundreds of practice questions 
• Detailed answer explanations 
• Kaplan-exclusive strategies for all question types
• Powerful vocabulary-building method
• Complete chapter dedicated to the Analytical Writing Section

Customer Reviews (28)

GRE Review
Product is great! Has so many options of preparation for the GRE exam. Definitely would recommend.

I haven't received the books for a month, and still waiting for them.
The system sent me email said the books were shipped out on Jun 18th, and today is July 16th, I am still waiting for my books.

My suggestion, DON'T PURCHASE BOOKS FROM THEM AT ALL.

Slow Shipping
The item is great! I love the book. It helped me a lot. The only thing is that the shipment took 2 weeks. I was hoping to get it sooner.

GRE Verbal
The practice tests and helpful hints throughout the book have really helped me a lot.

Deja Vu.I have answered these questions before
I purchased the Kaplan Premier 2009 book.Currently I am reviewing the verbal portion of the GRE.I picked up this Kaplan Verbal Workbook because I want a stellar score.I am finding that many, if not most of the questions in this verbal workbook are questions I have seen before in the premier quide.

Kaplan, I am grant you one star for your indolence.Hopefully when I take the full GRE practice tests, all of the questions will be fresh.

An additional criticism of the Kaplan Premier 2009 book is their predilection towards Windows.There are technologies that are OS independent, ie. HTML/Java/Flash.Your programming foundation excludes Mac and Linux users.I am able to use the CD, as I own a Windows box and use Parallels on my MacBook Pro.

Not sure if I will give the Quantitative review a look or not.I may have to physically review the quantitative book in a store to see if there were as lazy as I have noticed in this book. ... Read more

Product Description
The best way to prepare for standardized tests is to practice, and this resource offers you plenty of opportunities to do just that. 1,014 GRE Practice Questions includes:

*over 1,000 practice questions
*detailed answer explanations for all practice questions
*a focused and informative overview of what’s on the GRE and how it’s tested ... Read more

Customer Reviews (32)

Do NOT buy this book
I am pleased to see that I am not the only person who complains about how riddled this book is with mistakes. DO NOT purchase this book, unless of course, instead of studying for the GRE's you would like to learn how to become an editor.

Here is just one, of many examples, of flagrant mistakes made in the book:

pg. 66

Question 12 of 20

Grief: Keen

a. glee: chortle
b. jejune: blanch
c. elongated: yawn
d. genteel: fumble
e: ingenuous: deceive

listed correct answer: A

explanation on pg. 89

Make a defining sentence: Keen means to express grief [...] The best answer is choice (A) because RECOIL is what someone does in a GHASTLY stiuation

Very frustrating. Not worth valuable study time distinguishing when you are wrong, and when the book is wrong.

Math errors are the least of its problems
Many reviewers have remarked on the number of errors this book has in its math sections, and while those errors are certainly annoying, I believe that the verbal sections are even worse.Many of the questions and answers in this book were, in my opinion, poorly designed.Frequently, the verbal questions in this book have two or three answers that sort of fit, but none that really stand out as the correct answer.Therefore, choosing one answer over the other often comes down to splitting hairs, and many of the explanations they give for the "correct" answers seemed totally arbitrary.

Some of the questions were just flat-out unfair.Look at this antonyms question:

RIPE:
A) antediluvian
B) inchoate
C) indefatigable
D) emergent
E) infelicitous

According to the book, "ripe" means NOT fully-formed, so the solution is (B), because a secondary definition of "inchoate" is fully-formed.That's funny because most dictionaries define ripe as meaning fully-formed and don't even include that secondary definition of "inchoate".I didn't know "inchoate" had a secondary meaning that was the exact opposite of its primary definition.Did you?

Here is another antonyms question:

OBDURATE:
A) caustic
B) tractable
C) obsequious
D) recalcitrant
E) onerous

Here, both (B) and (C) seem like solutions.The correct solution, according to the book, is (B) "tractable" because "obsequious", like "obdurate", has a negative connotation.

I've only highlighted two examples from the antonyms section, but the rest of the verbal sections are equally bad, if not worse.The day before I took the GRE, I tried doing some of these drills and found that I routinely missed 25% to 40% of the questions.Yet, on the real exam, I got a 780 verbal score.The real GRE felt easy by comparison because the correct solution was always clear and unambiguous.

The math sections may be riddled with errors, but I found them more useful than the verbal sections. Overall, this book is not entirely useless, but it should be used with a great deal of caution.

Warning!Do Not Buy!
Do not buy this book.It is riddled with errors.GRE math is confusing enough when the answers match the questions.The Princeton Review is making far too much money to let a heinous mistake like this book go to print.Do yourself a favor.Look elsewhere.

The most frustrating book ever
I hadn't read any reviews on this book at the time I bought it and I'm suffering for it right now.The book is full of discrepancies between what is asked in the question and the answers that are presented.Getting questions wrong because the editor was unable to catch these blatant errors is so irksome I want to scream.Do not buy this book, do not give it as a gift and protest the purchase of all Random House publications.This book is terrible!!!!!!!!!

Fantastic Book
This is a great book.Among all the books I used for GRE, this offered the toughest and most challenging problems.In GRE test, if you get first 10 questions correct, then the questions keep on coming harder and harder.At that time, you wanna have experienced this book tot tackle the hard GRE problems.I got 1430 and all thanks to this book.I really suggest to do 1014 problems, and try to do as many on your own.Also try to understand how the questions are written.It's important get into questioner's mind in order to tackle such standardized tests. ... Read more

Product Description

Complete GRE preparation for your exam success!

The GRE is crucial forgraduate school entrance--and McGraw-Hill’s GRE isthe comprehensive study tool you need to succeed.Created by test-preparation specialists atAdvantage Education, it gives you the most up-to-date information on each section of the test. Frompractice tests and skill-building techniques to expertcoaching, essay help and online practice, you willhave all the guidance you need—right at your fingertips.

Customer Reviews (2)

Exactly what I needed
Just what I needed. It was much easier (and more affordable) than having to take a class.

Target oriented.
I like the book, it is cool.Target oriented.And i got what i wanted.

Mek ... Read more

Product Description
Comprehensive, Rigorous Prep for the GRE.

Every year, students pay $900 and more to test prep companies to prepare for the GRE. Now you can get the same preparation in a book. GRE Prep Course provides the equivalent of a 2-month, 50-hour course.

Although the GRE is a difficult test, it is a very learnable test. GRE Prep Course presents a thorough analysis of the GRE and introduces numerous analytic techniques that will help you immensely, not only on the GRE but in graduate school as well.

Features:

Math: Twenty-two chapters provide comprehensive review of GRE math.

Verbal: Develop the ability to spot places from which questions are likely to be drawn as you read a passage (pivotal words, counter-premises, etc.). Also, learn the 4000 essential GRE words.

Writing: Comprehensive analysis of the writing task, including writing techniques, punctuation, grammar, rhetoric, and style.

Also includes a Comprehensive, Free Online Course!

Course Features:

Ask Questions! Our instructors login to StudyDesk to answer your questions. StudyDesk also records the step where you make a mistake or ask a question. This is just one of many powerful educational tools in StudyDesk.

Highly Interactive: You can search the course for any topic, take notes, view solutions, view reports, etc.

Versatile: You can access the course from any computer at any time.

Also includes GRE test prep software!

Software features:

Mentor Mode: In Mentor Mode, you are immediately told whether you answered a problem correctly, and you can immediately view a detailed solution of the problem.

Test Mode: In Test Mode, you can take a GRE test timed and scored by the program. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

GRE prep
Very fast shipping. Item exactly as described. It has very good information for preparing for the GRE test.

Excellent GRE perp book!
This is an excellent prep book. First off the MATH section is first rate and has lots of problems that will help reinforce a number of frequently tested concepts on the GRE. The VERBAL section is not as good as the MATH but still has some very useful stuff. I found the RC's to be a bit vague and some of the explanations to the RC questions were a bit dicey and ambiguous but the technique that was suggested was sound and effective. The 4000 world list is also pretty exhaustive. I did not read the writing section at all - so no comments on the writing section. Overall I felt that this book helped provide some tougher material that helps one to feel like they are actually well prepared to tackle the GRE. This is also not a book with a lot of fluff (like Princeton Review books) - it is 600 pages of solid material. This book is geared towards students who are motivated - so it treats the reader as an intelligent college graduate. Some of the books like the Princeton Review are written for 5th graders - they lack the bite and the depth in the material and assume that their readers have a very short attention span and a very limited intelligence. Credit to the NOVA team for authoring a good text book geared towards college graduates. NOVA's online companion is definitely not as good as Kaplan's online content. Kaplan has the best online stuff. The ideal combination would be to own the NOVA text books and the Kaplan CD.

Great
Book was in a good condition, the price was excellent. Shipping took a lil' bit longer than I'd expected but not bad.

Great prep, especially math
This book is by far the best GRE prep book out there, and trust me, I've looked through Kaplan, McGraw-Hill (which is way too easy compared to the actual GRE), and the ETS prep book. This book has an incredibly strong quantitative review that is targeted for those who want to get the 800. It kind of skimps on the easy stuff (doesn't really explain easy arithmetic.. which most would know anyway). It includes word problems (such as a train leaves from A at 3 pm traveling 45 mph . . . ) and how to calculate standard deviations and probabilities, which are the more difficult questions on the GRE. All explanations are followed by ~20 practice problems complete with answers and explanations to those problems, which I found extremely helpful. The author also seems to genuinely want you to get your highest score, so he gives some very helpful tips on how to deduce when the GRE question is trying to trick you, and how to avoid obvious answers. This book definitely helped me.

I found the analytical writing section to also be helpful. The author shows how to identify what the prompt is asking you, and how to craft an essay around it. Basically, he gives you a cookie-cutter thesis filled with blanks that you fill in according to the prompt (example: I believe Item A, ______, is better than Item B, ______ because 1)______, 2)_______, 3)_______). Although this is helpful, I felt like this type of thesis would only lead to an essay that does not require as critical of thinking as a 6 essay would require. This would probably work for a 5, though.

The Verbal was also very helpful. The book lists the "Ubiquitous 400" GRE words (I liked how they used a GRE word in the title of this section), followed by the top 4000 GRE words. These are helpful, but about as helpful as any other prep book's verbal section.

Also, the CD and free online stuff is pretty much fake. They include the exact same questions that are in the book. These are useless. However, this does allow you to do the practice problems in a variety of fashions (CD with no internet connection, Internet so you don't have to check the anwers at the end of each section, etc.) so I guess I can see the advantages in including them with the book.

They say to spend 2 months on the book, but you can really spend a lot less. I did the quantative section (about 400 pages) in 3 days and felt very confident. The GRE words will, of course, take much longer, but you expect that when studying for the GRE at all. Overall, good book. Highly recommend.

GRE Prep Course with software and Online Course
This book is very good in Explaining of Math.
I recommende it for who need to remember the math problem solving.
It has many many trainning of math operations ... Read more

Customer Reviews (61)

It's not going to teach you anything
I took the GRE already and though I did okay - I felt like I could have done better since I hadn't taken a math class in over 10 years.I picked up this book to help me out all around while retaking a handful of math classes.First of all - this is not a book that is going to teach you anything, if you have never seen a unit circle - you aren't going to learn how to work with them here.

What I did find it useful for was learning the format of the test, and finding out what areas I needed to spend more time working on.I was a bit disappointed with the CD Rom and their only giving you a few online practice tests... I would have liked more of those and feel that the online practice tests were actually the strongest part of the book.

The reality is you either know how to do the stuff or you don't, skim one of these books to figure out what you need help on - buy it if you want to take a few practice tests.The questions I encountered dealing with this book were very similar to the ones I remember from taking the GRE a few months ago.

Not the best out there
My wife is actually preparing to enter the master's program so we thought she would try this.

In preparing for the GRE, I was hopeful that this book would help me get reacquainted with my outdated math skills.I actually liked the book...Until I got my hands on a few others.This book ended up serving as a coaster on my coffee table after comparing it with other popular GRE prep texts.I was also looking forward to using the CD to practice taking the test, but the manner in which it is set up is inconvenient.In order to see a score (at least from what I experienced - perhaps there's another way to get around this), you have to finish the entire 30-minute test. Personally, I like to see the correct answer after I submit mine to help remember/learn incorrect choices.Also, rarely do I have time to sit for a 30-minute chunk to practice a section.It would have been great if you could pause the test, or check your answers at any given time if you have to get up and leave the test.If you don't finish the whole section, you can't find out any of your results.

Long story short - I suppose it could be helpful to some if they have no other options, but there are much better choices for the GRE test prep out there.

Not very good
These practice questions are awful, the online resource is even worse and you pay a lot of money for this guide.The problem with study guides is that they are about the same, so you may consider to get a cheaper one.

Helpful but with shortcomings
I received this product through Amazon Vine, and I used it to study for the GRE, which I took last Thursday.I didn't use any other test preparation material besides the PowerPrep software which ETS provides for free.

The good: Kaplan provides helpful test-taking strategies for the GRE in general and for each section of the test (verbal, quantitative, and analytical writing, abbreviated Q, V, and A).They break down each type of question and clearly what the test makers are looking for and the best ways to answer within the short time allotted for each question.After describing aquestion type and solving a sample one for you, the book offers you three or four practice questions of that type with answers.For both the Q and V sections, the book includes practice sets of 60 questions each with explanations of the answers, which was good review.The quantitative section I found particularly useful (math is my weaker area for the GRE): the book has review sections by each math concept likely to be necessary, which is great if (like me) it's been a few years since you took your last math class.

The bad: often, I found that the answer explanations for the math problems were too brief to be very useful.They would run you through the process without providing enough clarification.This product includes a CD with several practice tests and sample questions.Unfortunately, it's not really worth using.The questions frequently repeat. For example, if you do "Verbal Practice Set 1," which contains 30 questions or so, you notice that about half of the questions in "Verbal Practice Set 2" are repeated from the first one.The same goes for the practice test.The user interface is very similar to the actual test, but the free ETS PowerPrep software does the same thing.

Using this product, I got a 1400 (710V, 690Q) on the GRE.My score would definitely have been lower had I not studied.Kaplan provides very helpful strategy information and review for both sections of the test.But with its shortcomings, it can't be any better than other test preparation products out there.Bottom line: if you're taking the GRE, use something to study with, but don't necessarily get Kaplan.

CD doesn't work in Windows 7 64-bit
Like others, I found myself unable to use the included software in Windows 7 thanks to a request for (now ancient) MCI drivers. For a supposedly updated 2010-2011 version, I question the relevance of information this old and recommend you look elsewhere. ... Read more

Product Description

Turn your iPod into a GRE vocabulary review class for on-the-go learning

Customer Reviews (3)

Pretty Cool!
I was a little hesitant in purchasing this item as there were only 2 reviews. I thought it was an interesting concept and thought I'd give it a try. I'm glad I did! This is a neat way of learning the words. It is for audio AND visual learners! I love that I can hear the words in sentences. I think this will really help with the GRE!

works great
I got this to listen in my car during my commute. It plays on my car cd player and the words spell out on the display. The readers are clear and easy to understand. Great poduct!

Great Product
This is a good product that I have recently begun using.I do not know if it is very effective; I will not even take the test until next year.However, it does provide everything it says it does.You do not even have to make special playlists because they are already titled on the CD.I am very impressed and look forward to continuing studying on-the-go.Great Product. ... Read more

Product Description

• The latest information on the November 2007 updates, including samples of the two new question types with detailed answer explanations.
• Full-length practice test
• Hundreds of additional practice questions
• Detailed answer explanations
• Diagnostic test to target areas for score improvement
• Kaplan-exclusive score-raising strategies
• Essential tactics for the computer-adaptive test (CAT) format

Customer Reviews (56)

Pathetic
Pros: It's a book. If you get cold you can burn it for heat.

Cons: CD does NOT work with VISTA. This is a known issue that they don't give a **** about and have no intention of fixing. They have a canned message when you email their support. Over half the practice tests are on the CD and they have NO intention of patching it or even trying to make it work with Vista.

From their customer support:
"Thank you for contacting Kaplan's Books and Software division. The CD's are not fully compatible with Windows Vista 32-bit. It is not compatible with Windows Vista 64-bit."

If it doesn't work with Vista god help you if you try to make it work with Windows 7.

You have to email their support. They do not have a phoneline. They will not answer the phones. If you try to call a different section they will tell you to email that department and they can not help you.

DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT. Kaplan has lost all respect for their customers and resorted to cheap tricks to try and sell their courses. They do not care at all about their books. The latest editions are riddled with errors. Kaplan does NOT care about their books, only getting you into their thousand dollar courses. I say they need to learn to treat their customers with respect.

One of the better options to prepare for GRE
This one is a good choice for GRE prep.

Verbal - I am particularly happy with this part. Instead of Baron's approach of going through endless word list, Kaplan focuses on the idea that to ace GRE, you need not necessarily know each meaning, but you should be able to club them with other synonyms or antonyms. The book has an entire section to that effect. I highly recommend using this book for math portion.

Quants - It is okay okay! In the actual exams, I got much tougher problems than is mentioned anywhere in this book. I would recommnend if you are looking at 750+ scores, then this book is not the best choice for quants. I have heard princeton is good with quants, but would not swear for this statement.

Overall, I managed 780 in Quants and 630 in verbal, so if someone buys only one book, then I will recommed buying the KAPLAN.

I didn't expect this thing to really help .... glad I was wrong.
Like the title says, I really wasn't expecting from this book. Most of the SAT books I read back in high school didn't do much but reinforce things I already knew. Kaplan's book stands above the rest because it doesn't focus on testing test materials. Instead the book focuses on test strategies, which I found to be VERY helpful.

Good at math? Don't get this.
This book contains a math preparation section, but it assumes that you have only average math skills. There is a section in the back of the book that reviews more difficult math ideas, but does not provide any strategy. It states that you'll only see these problems if you're doing really well. I was doing well, so they were the only problems I saw. So, if you're good at math, don't get this book. I would actually recommend studying from a GMAT prep book, instead.

Very Good
The only think that stopped this from being a 5 start was that the book I ordered comes with an online study guide that can only be registered once.Since the book did not include the log in information for the study guide I was not able to log into this valuable tool.The book was in good condition and the CD works great! The shipping was fast and this was a very smooth transaction.Just be aware that any books that have an online guide, may not be accesible more then once, this was worth the costs and though I don't have my scores yet I am learning a lot and I feel better about taking the exam! ... Read more

Product Description
Graduate Record Exam test takers who feel the need for extra help with math will value this brand-new workbook. Opening chapters present a general description of the GREÂ's General Math Exam, explaining its structure, questions types, and scoring, and advising on strategies for problem solving. Following chapters present detailed practice and review with hundreds of problems and solutions that focus on numbers and number theory, algebra, data analysis, and geometry. The workbook concludes with two full-length math sample sections followed by explained answers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Wish I had read reviews..
I wish I had read the reviews prior to purchasing this book in the bookstore.There are way too many typos in the written word and the mathematical problems.I went to their website and sent them an email describing all of the errors, and it came right back without a response.I will never purchase another Barron study manual!!

Do not buy!! Riddled with errors, will confuse and frustrate!!
I am taking the GRE to apply to Psychology PhD programs. So, math has never been my field of study. I got this workbook and the Barron's General GRE (18th edition) to brush up on both areas, verbal and math.


The math workbook is RIDDLED with errors; in the chapters, the practice problems, AND in the solutions!!! For a student like me, who is not adept at math, this was VERY VERY VERY confusing and frustrating. I'd labor over a problem, check my answer, and be shocked that I got it wrong. It wasn't until I got outside help that we figured out that the BOOK WAS WRONG.

Typos, missing symbols, the wrong signs (+ instead of -, > instead of <, random "?" marks instead of lord knows what).

Please please PLEASE do not buy this book. I am going to buy the Kaplan math workbook tomorrow in hopes that it is better than this (it has 4/5 stars on Amazon).

The publishers and authors should be ashamed. The GRE is often the gateway, or barrier, to a person's entire future and career. And they "prep" you with this garbage, only to confuse and frustrate.

Waste of my time and money, and jeopardizes my GRE plans. Thankfully, I decided to ditch this book and I've got 5 weeks until my test date.

This book is horrible -- it prompted me to write my first review!
The other reviews sum it up nicely -- I don't mind the presentation, formatting, etc., but the number and nature of the mistakes are absolutely inexcusable.It is clear that no one proof-read this.Completely shameful for anyone to charge money for this.It makes me want to Google-stalk the author and berate them soundly, perhaps even offering a few virtual ruler-on-the-knuckles lessons.

don't bother
Lousy with typos. It's like they didn't even edit it. You've got enough headaches, right?
Poorly organized.
Answers to exercise questions difficult to locate, poorly labelled.

Middle School status
The Math Workbook is okay.The teaching style is very much like middle school math.Certain things are not really explained at all, while other things that are absolutely a given are fully described.There are also a bunch of typo's in the book which are a little distracting, but it's obvious that they are typo's and shouldn't teach you incorrectly.I wonder who edits these books.Overall it does the job for the price. ... Read more

Product Description

• 500 of the hardest and most-tested GRE vocabulary words
• Sample sentences provide the words in context
• Includes synonyms and a pronunciation key

Customer Reviews (6)

Buy "Barron's Essential Words for the GRE" instead
This book has poor definitions for words.There are less than 500 words in this book, it doesn't have review activities, and there are many typos.Many of the definitions for words are only one or two words long--grossly oversimplifying the meaning of the word.Some of the definitions are even misleading.
On the bright side, it only costs $4 to ship the book back to the company with the receipt and they will refund your misguided purchase, though not the shipping.

Instead of the Kaplan book, I would recommend:

Barron's Essential Words for the GRE
It has 800 words, longer and better definitions, multiple example sentences, and a review every 10 words.The review consists of 10 matching questions, 10 fill-in-the-blank, and 5 questions asking whether the vocab word is used appropriately in a given sentence.After the 800 words there are 300 word roots that also have review activities.

If you want to another book for additional review, I would recommend:

The Princeton Review's Word Smart for the GRE
It is similar to Barron's but the only review activities are matching, and the definitions are slightly inferior.However, it has some words that are not in Barron's top 800.

used it a few yrs back
I hated vocabulary .... but this helped me so much that I bought it for my sis this time without hesitation.
The book's advantage OR the purpose of this book's existence is to not make the head hurt when read. Simple as that. The math workbook is also very good. I scored 800/800 on math ...

Never Received it
I ordered this product in mid-November and it was to arrived at the latest by Dec. 10 and I never received it.Furthermore, I filed a claim and gave negative seller feedback nearly a week ago and have STILL HEARD NOTHING.And, I still have not received the book.I finally had to give up and purchase it from a local bookstore.So, in essence, I had to buy it TWICE instead of saving money by purchasing it used.

FAIL Amazon.

Excellent selection
This is agreat tool to cram before the GRE. It contains an awesome word selection.

Indeed, it's a score-raising book!
I have been working with the vocabulary in this book and it is very useful if you make vocabulary flashcards, writing the synonyms and your own sentence using the word. Thus, you raise your GRE vocabulary so you do well on the verbal section of the GRE and also helps you start actually using those words in your own writing.

As an International Student, I can say this Kaplan GRE Vocab Workbook helps you raising your score. If you have a GRE study group, it can be quite fun to practice writing your own sentences and sharing with your friends. ... Read more

Product Description
Kaplan GRE & GMAT Exams Writing Workbook includes:

• 8 priciples of writing effective essays
• Strategies for outlining and organizing your essays
• Writing basics, including grammar, mechanics, style, and word choice
• Methods for managing your time on test day
• 50 GMAT and 50 GRE sample prompts for extra writing practice
• 20 sample high-scoring essays

Customer Reviews (4)

GMAT: Only get it if you really need help with AWA
The book is great, and will do a fantastic job if you need a lot of help with your essays on the GMAT. However, most people don't, and don't need to spend their time on the AWA section. Admissions don't really care about you essay scores and unless you get less than 4.0, your essays will never be reviewed mentioned or touched by the MBA admissions committee.
Most MBA applicants spend 1 - 2 days on AWA. All you need to do is to memorize a couple of templates (one for each of the essay type - issue and argument). Here are the templates I would suggest to use:

ARGUMENT ESSAY:

Intro:
The argument claims that ....(restate)
Stated in this way the argument:
a) manipulates facts and conveys a distorted view of the situation
b) reveals examples of leap of faith, poor reasoning and ill-defined terminology
c) fails to mention several key factors, on the basis of which it could be evaluated
The conclusion of the argument relies on assumptions for which there is no clear evidence. Hence, the argument is weak/unconvincing and has several flaws.

1st Para:
First, the argument readily assumes that......
This statement is a stretch....
For example,...
Clearly,...
The argument could have been much clearer if it explicitly stated that...

2nd Para:
Second, the argument claims that....
This is again a very weak and unsupported claim as the argument does not demonstrate any correlation between....and...
To illustrate,...
While,...
However,....indeed....
In fact, it is not at all clear...rather....
If the argument had provided evidence that.....then the argument would have been a lot more convincing.

3rd Para:
Finally,...
(pose some questions for the argument).....Without convincing answers to these questions, one is left with the impression that the claim is more of a wishful thinking rather than substantive evidence.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, the argument is flawed for the above-mentioned reasons and is therefore unconvincing. It could be considerably strengthened if the author clearly mentioned all the relevant facts....
In order to assess the merits of a certain situation/decision, it is essential to have full knowledge of all contributing factors. In this particular case....
Without this information, the argument remains unsubstantiated and open to debate.


ISSUE ESSAY:

Intro:
Many/some people think that....Others.....(restate)
The issue is a controversial one but a closer examination reveals that....(take a position)...for several reasons.

1st Para:
One reason is that/for...
For example,...
Furthermore,...
Clearly,...

2nd Para:
Another reason is that/for...
To illustrate,...
As a result,...

3rd Para:
Perhaps the best reason is (that)....
Specifically,...
Moreover/In addition....
In fact,....
Therefore,....

Conclusion:
In summary, while there are arguments to be made for both sides, it is clear that there are greater advantages to....(repeat the reasons).
Certainly,.....outweigh.......
Hence,....(re-affirm your position)


***Final tips for essay writing***
- During the tutorial type in a few sentences in the mock essay window to get used to the keyboard.
- Again during the tutorial, jot down on your notebook the basic structure of your essays or the opening sentences in case you get too nervous and forget them when the clock starts ticking.
- Write as much as you can. Try to write at least 500 words per essay.
- Always have the e-rater in mind as your potential reviewer. Remember that the human rater will make every effort to grade just like the e-rater. In that sense, keep your structure and volume in mind over actual quality/content.
- Be careful of spelling mistakes. Double check words that you normally know you misspell (e.g. exercise). Try to finish 2-3 minutes before time is up so you can slowly re-read your essay for the purposes of spell checking. Do not reorganize/delete sentences/paragraphs with less than 2 min left.
- No matter how great you thought your essays went, try to stay humble and focused - remember this was just a warm-up and the real stuff hasn't started yet!
- Write the essays during your practice tests (this will help build your stamina)

BB - Founder of GMAT Club
GMAT Score 750 (49, 42)
Let me know if you have any questions about GMAT books - I have read and reviewed all of them.

Used it 4 yrs back
The quality should be there are there is not much change warranted for the content. This time, I bought it for my sis. Easy read for those with not-too-big-a-brain. I am not saying it is not of good quality. What I am saying is it doesn't make you tired unlike Barrons and stuff.

Not perfect, but it will help you get ready for the Analytical Writing section
This book won't help you write the great american novel, but it will get you ready for the GRE Analytical Writing section.

It is a great workbook. I borrowed several books on this subject (including Peterson's Writing Skills for the GRE) from the library before settling on [buying] this one.
It helped me understand the mechanics of the Writing section and how to tackle the essays effectively.Each chapter is organized in sections that present a topic and end with a short practice exercise.The practice exercises are numerous, just one chapter has 25 of them.There are many sample essay prompts for writing practice too.

Poorly writen test prep
This book is supposed to give readers exmaples of good writing styles and manners. However, there are ample grammar mistakes, typos and junk spoken English.Even in the answers to the practices, I could find poorly writen sentence like:

"Many people are obsessed with video games and television, which I believe are relatively harmless wastes of time."

For God's sake, it just talked about good grammar a few pages before this!

This book is just another junk to make money but not to help readers.I am wondering if I read the whole book, my score will go up or go down! ... Read more