GRE test prep recommendations?

[texjew21]

Kaplan and Princeton Review are expensive, but considering how poor I perform on tests such as these I think it is still worth it.

Anybody know a significant difference between these two prep companies? Any other prep places out there that you'd recommend?

[Dimbulb]

Hi Taxjew21,

I have both of the above mentioned. Here, IMO, is the problem with both: They both merely touch on the math. For me, I really needed a comprehensive explanation to math so I went with Manhattan's book series that also comes with 6 free CAT's.

I was worried about one of my scores and called Manhattan and spoke to a great guy named Taylor (their in house GRE expert) and he took the time to look at my practice tests and gave me sound advice.

I also, for 100 dollars signed up for Magoosh and it it WELL worth it.

I went a little crazy buying test prep books and these 2 are so superior that they are all that i use.

Hope this helps.

[alf10087]

Agreed. Kaplan and Princeton Review will help you get a score in the 150-160 range. If you want to score higher, use Manhattan.

[littleprince_xt]

Hi there,

I was working nonstop until the day I took my test and didn't have enough time for practice. Signed up for a class but then had to go on field work and only attended the first lesson. I bought many books, from ETS to Barron's to Kaplan to Princeton Review, but ended up not doing anything except for the ETS official guide. My weakness was Quant, so I spent about one week (3 hours a day) drilling the Math section in the ETS guide, going through all the review materials presented, practiced both examples and tests twice. For verbal, since I had no time doing any practice test, I spent about two weeks before the actual test learning new words from a book called Verbal Advantage.

Wound up having 160 for V and 165 for Q. Not too bad considering the time I spent for practice (I literally remembered nothing about Maths before I got the ETS guide.)

So to sum it up, if you don't have that much time, I would strongly recommend the Official Guide! Try practicing on POWERPREP on their website, too. It's similar to the book, but gives you a more authentic feel of how the real test goes.

Hope this helps.

Edited October 22, 2012 by littleprince_xt

[Arezoo]

Hi

for a person with no prior knowledge about math, which books do you recommend? i have the 8 sets of Manhattan GRE plus the official guide and Barron's. Thanks.

[cumber1137]

I recently purchased the GRE BenchPrep online review course through Groupon. It was only $25 through Groupon, with a regular price tag of $150. I took the GRE last autumn to very dismal scores and the typical Kaplan Review Book just didn't motivate me to study. I've played around with the flash cards and practice quizzes so far and really like the style.

[iowaguy]

Hi

for a person with no prior knowledge about math, which books do you recommend? i have the 8 sets of Manhattan GRE plus the official guide and Barron's. Thanks.

I have the 8 Manhattan GRE prep books as well - if you learn the material in all of those math books you will ace the Quant portion of the test. Manhattan is considered to be on the more difficult end of the spectrum, I found their quant practice questions harder than the actual test... IMHO if you have Manhattan, you don't need any more math books.

I purchased their 1000 verbal flash cards as well and found them very helpful. Good luck!

Edited October 23, 2012 by iowaguy