General GRE Test Preparation Advice

[TheHymenAnnihilator]

Hi all,

Before the GRE general test changes later this year, I will be retaking it (my scores from 2006 unfortunately expired!). I'm currently looking into review books, test preparation, etc. Do any of you have personal experience with purchasing a review book? If so, which ones? What were the strengths and weaknesses of them?

Also, I plan to purchase the book in the near future, so I would appreciate timely responses.

Thanks.

[hermeneut]

Hey laconic,

I had a great deal of success using Barron's comprehensive set of flash cards (you can find them online here: http://quizlet.com/223824/barrons-gre-vocab-flash-cards/), the Kaplan GRE Exam Advanced Verbal: Your Only Guide to an 800 workbook(see http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-GRE-Exam-Advanced-Verbal/dp/1607144964/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1301501259&sr=8-1), and Princeton Review's Cracking the GRE for strategies for the quantitative and writing sections (see http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-2011-Graduate-School-Preparation/dp/0375429786/ref=pd_sim_b_9).

Those three resources should get you far. It takes a long time to study the vocab, but its worth it (IMHO).

Best wishes as you prepare.

Joe

[fenderpete]

As an overall guide, Barron's is definitely the best. Covers pretty much all the maths you need and the high frequency word list. For quantitative, I'm finding Nova's GRE Math Prep invaluable. I've been studying with those for around 6 weeks and got 740Q, 680V in Powerprep today. I'm hoping to break 700 in both, but the verbal is a lot more luck of the draw depending on what words you get on test day. If you want another book for overall practice, Kaplan's is worth it just to get the extra practice tests, as they're widely seen as the next best after Powerprep.

If you've never taken it before, the main skills are computational speed, elimination tactics and getting used to taking the test. If you have bad timing on the test it can completely throw you, as penalties are really high for unanswered questions. If you apply yourself and have the time, getting a decent score should be within your grasp.

Any other questions, or an idea of your strengths/weaknesses/desired score and I'm happy to post back.

Good luck!

Edited March 30, 2011 by fenderpete

[newms]

I found the Princeton Review's book to be pretty good, I haven't seen the Barron's book so I can't compare the two.

[GutLogic]

For vocab, I can't say enough good things about this flashcard program: http://www.brain-scape.com/. Instead of just flipping through flashcards, it has the words divided into manageable decks, and as you get to each card it has you rate how well you knew the answer. The rating determines how soon you see the card again, and you can watch your overall mastery of the deck increase as you go, which is encouraging. It was way more efficient than normal flashcards or vocab lists, and since it gave me more reinforcement for words I didn't know as well, I ended up remembering the words a lot longer. I also found the list matched up really well with what was actually tested.

[fenderpete]

I found the Princeton Review's book to be pretty good, I haven't seen the Barron's book so I can't compare the two.

It's a bit easy for the math, but some of their test strategies are really good. I'd maybe say get it as a supplemental book, but don't rely on it alone. Their practice tests can also be really misleading.

[Teelee]

Barrons is the closest to the actual GRE questions in difficulty.

You can understand concepts easily using Princeton books, however, their questions are designed so you can use the techniques that you just learned through the book. The questions in the princeton book for quant is much easier than the actual GRE.

ETS GRE prep book, the "actual exams" are almost 20 years old and not useful in prepping for current 2011 exams. It's a good book to use, if you want to teach yourself timing during exam.

Kaplan is similar to Princeton, questions are ok but not great.

[hermeneut]

I forgot to mention, I found the powerprep practice exams predicted my scores more accurately than the ones that came with the Princeton review Cracking book. They also give you a feel for what the test is actually like.

[fenderpete]

Very good point that I somehow forgot to mention Powerprep is the only software out there that accurately represents the GRE itself and can be indicative of your final score. There are only two tests on Powerprep though, so most people tend to take one about four weeks out and one a few days before their real test. If you take it multiple times it obviously won't be as accurate at predicting your score.