best book for the new GREW

[Basic_Space]

Had anyone purchased any of the books for the new GRE? If so, what are your thoughts?

[sollee]

I used the new Princeton Review book to study briefly for it, and the book had some strengths and weaknesses:

Pro: If you're overwhelmed by standardized tests, it has a lot of "how to approach this type of problem" walk-through sections.

Con: These sections can get very tedious if you're already generally comfortable with the standardized test presentation.

Con: Not a lot of practice problems and only two full-length tests in the back of the book.

Pro: The practice problems they do offer you are grouped sensible (esp. in the Quantitative section) and they offer very detailed explanations of the answers and even some alternative ways to love them.

Pro: Only $12 if you buy the book without the DVD (which I did).

Con: Several typos and misprints - you need to read carefully and use your best common sense to determine if they've made a mistake, don't just assume you don't understand something.

A lot of the reviewers on Amazon.com are annoyed that PR deleted the vocab section in this new book, but this is in response to the revised version of the GRE which does not demand so much familiarity with straight definitions but, instead, asks you to choose words within a context. If you feel like you have a weak vocabulary I think you could invest in one of the small Barrons vocab books (or flashcards) to introduce yourself to new words, but I didn't think the omission of that worked against the PR book as a whole.

I can't speak for any other prep materials as I only studied for a few hours total - I used the PowerPrep software to take the practice tests on my computer and found that helpful, but of course they don't offer any explanations or review of anything. Good luck!

[Phillrodrigues79]

Princeton's more intuitive, use it as first reading material. Its strategies are better, trust me (my score range is percentile 95th).

After you are through with the book, take Kaplan's workbooks for practice.

Most important of all: take the practice tests!!!!! They train you for the real deal and give a reasonable idea of where you stand score-wise.

[crater21]

I'm finding Princeton Review's 1014 Practice questions pretty helpful. It breaks down the quantitative problems into types of problems (number properties, ratios, probability, algebra, etc, etc), which is useful because it tells you where you need more help.

[Insei]

Just took the new GRE today. I used Kaplan's Premier GRE guide, it comes with 6 (!) practice tests and a CD with oodles more individual practice sections. The practice tests alone are worth the price of the book; they provide detailed analysis concerning which types of questions you missed in each section, very good for pinpointing your weaknesses so you can study smarter, not harder. I'm starting to sound like a commercial, so I'll stop

Median score on first practice test, before any prep: 1250 (700V, 550Q)

Median score today: 1450 (680V, 770Q)

Yeah, Kaplan's system whipped my math into shape, it's a damn good resource. Repeated retrieval (i.e. practice tests) is the best way to go about studying for the GRE, in my opinion. Plus, can't beat the price; I paid $20 for a 200 point score boost. That's like, a dime per point. Sweet.

Edit: The xx is a kickass band, Basic_Space. Best of luck to you.

Edited August 16, 2011 by Insei