Best GRE prep books?

[CG145]

what are the best books/materials to study for the GRE?

 

I recently bought Kaplan GRE 2014 strategies....

 

maybe you could recommend me some other books which might be helpful?

 

English is not my first language, so I am a little worried that I can have some problems with the vocab - what could you recommend?

and what about the writing section?

 

thanks in advance =)

[ginagirl]

I used Manhattan prep almost exclusively, and would highly recommend them. They have vocab flashcards (basic and advanced sets) and also a couple verbal strategy guides. As a note, each strategy guide gives you online access to 6 of their full tests, which is a pretty good deal for 20 dollars. So you could pick one in an area you want to focus on and still benefit from full test practice.

http://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/store.cfm

[awells27]

Magoosh - drop the 100 - Manhattan minus the TC/SE vol 7, Kaplan verbal only,  and ETS book and Manhattan 5lb practice book after you have studied the previous 3.  Read the Magoosh blogs also, as they have many more practice questions.    Also, quizlet has tons of GRE vocabulary flashcards.  I would learn the Magoosh 1000 and the Barons and Kaplin combined 1579 words.  

[ccc376]

I really loved Kaplan, but mostly for their online resources and practice sections. I mostly used their verbal practice, so I can't comment on the strength of their quant preparation. I stuck to their writing strategies as much as I could and scored a 5.5.

[awells27]

Kaplan is good for verbal and writing, but their math does not equal the difficulty of real GRE questions.    

[dicapino]

Magoosh - drop the 100 - Manhattan minus the TC/SE vol 7, Kaplan verbal only,  and ETS book and Manhattan 5lb practice book after you have studied the previous 3.  Read the Magoosh blogs also, as they have many more practice questions.    Also, quizlet has tons of GRE vocabulary flashcards.  I would learn the Magoosh 1000 and the Barons and Kaplin combined 1579 words.  

 

why did you say Manhattan minus the TC/SE ......i have been reading through this bool and the problems and words are just out of this world. i am finding this book recondite. its harder than problems in my ETS guide.

 

SO awells.......should i stop reading it.

[bsharpe269]

I used magoosh and really liked it

[Bombaygunner]

I went through a range of them. Here's what I found:

 

Manhattan - head and shoulders above the others in terms of range of topics covered, range of drill set difficult and depth of analysis. Challenging Practice Tests. 

Princeton 1014 - Great problem sets. Just power through this entire book. Practice Tests are easy. 

Kaplan - too easy, move on.

ETS - Decent books, very realistic practice tests. 

Barron's - Only tackle these if you really need grounding in basic concepts. Otherwise go straight to Manhattan/Princeton.

Word Power Made Easy (Vocab) - truly excellent book. Finish this before you start your other vocab learning. Your English will improve manifold in the long term because of this book. 

 

I think if you're already there or thereabouts as far as Verbal and Maths go, do the Word Power, Manhattan and Princetoon books and then the Princeton, Manhattan and ETS Practice tests. Take a month off and get off social media. You'll be fine. 

Edited May 28, 2014 by Patrick Bateman

[astroyogi]

Just a tip, there are a lot of these that can be found online, as well as huge question banks which I found helpful, if you're willing to google search for (maybe slightly less than legitimate at times  ) PDFs 

[maelia8]

I only used the official ETS book and one of those lists of 500 vocabulary words. i took all of the practice tests, although I didn't write any essays, just read the essay examples.

[Persis]

Does the manhattan 5Ib book comes with the 6 online practice test or just the 8 books?.  I bought the 5Ib book and registered online, but i do not see the 6 practice test.

[AuldReekie]

Does the manhattan 5Ib book comes with the 6 online practice test or just the 8 books?.  I bought the 5Ib book and registered online, but i do not see the 6 practice test.

 

 

No, you need to buy one of their other books for that.

 

Hey guyz...Have you tried using mobile App for GRE exam preparation. Their are lot of them available in the market like Gradestack, Magoosh etc. The Best part is you can prepare for the GRE exam on the go.

 

Isn't this almost verging on spam?

Edited June 5, 2014 by RLemkin

[lab ratta-tat-tat]

I use the Kaplan GRE book (2nd edition) which is good for the practice test but not great on explanations.

For great explanations and strategies I use "GRE, a strategic approach" the publishing company is REA it has great explanations and strategies for reading comprehension to minimize errors.

 

I also use quiz let for root words, vocal words and the math equations.

Numer2.com is great for vocal as it is also simulated, that is the words become more difficult as you answer correctly and if you answer wrong, it gives you the word  of both the right and wrong answers so you can look at synonyms and antonyms.

 

Hope this helps.

[Scarf in the wind]

Magoosh's service and Manhattan's prep books are both a must. Also, check out Barron's 1,000 words book, and Manhattan's 5 pound work book Furthermore, buying any of the Manhattan prep books gives you access to 6 online tests.

[Scarf in the wind]

why did you say Manhattan minus the TC/SE ......i have been reading through this bool and the problems and words are just out of this world. i am finding this book recondite. its harder than problems in my ETS guide.

 

SO awells.......should i stop reading it.

 

It's short, and there's a limited question pool. For a rigorous workout, take a look at Magoosh's service and Manhattan's 5 pound book. Also, Barron's 1,000 words book. Manhattan's verbal book is good primarily for the lists of words, but it doesn't provided the necessary workout.

[Scarf in the wind]

Here's a better answer. The following was written by myself on the Practice vs Actual scores thread:

 

In my opinion, Manhattan's Text Completion/Sentence Equivalence book pales in comparison to the rigorous workout you'll receieve from both Magoosh and Manhattan's 5 pound book. Manhattan's textbook on TC and SE lacks any breadth with a small amount of questions for both sections. The best part of the book is the Vocab lists in the back of the book. I found Magoosh's verbal workout more thorough and akin to the actual tests. Note that Reading Comprehension is packaged in another book alongside Essays, and will not appear in the TC/SE book. Furthermore, Manhattan's 5 pound book has abundant questions for Text Completion, Sentence Equivalence, Reading Comprehension and Logic-based Reading Comprehension, though no lessons. It is, through and through, a workout book. For lessons, I again recommend Magoosh. However, were you to purchase the books off Amazon they will be significantly cheaper than if they were purchased one by one from Manhattan's site, so for a lesser price you could obtain the TC/SE book and get access to the Vocab lists. Furthermore, I recommend Barron's 1,000 word list or something to that effect. I forgot the complete title name but it is similar to that.

 

Good luck.

[Persis]

Here's a better answer. The following was written by myself on the Practice vs Actual scores thread:

 

In my opinion, Manhattan's Text Completion/Sentence Equivalence book pales in comparison to the rigorous workout you'll receieve from both Magoosh and Manhattan's 5 pound book. Manhattan's textbook on TC and SE lacks any breadth with a small amount of questions for both sections. The best part of the book is the Vocab lists in the back of the book. I found Magoosh's verbal workout more thorough and akin to the actual tests. Note that Reading Comprehension is packaged in another book alongside Essays, and will not appear in the TC/SE book. Furthermore, Manhattan's 5 pound book has abundant questions for Text Completion, Sentence Equivalence, Reading Comprehension and Logic-based Reading Comprehension, though no lessons. It is, through and through, a workout book. For lessons, I again recommend Magoosh. However, were you to purchase the books off Amazon they will be significantly cheaper than if they were purchased one by one from Manhattan's site, so for a lesser price you could obtain the TC/SE book and get access to the Vocab lists. Furthermore, I recommend Barron's 1,000 word list or something to that effect. I forgot the complete title name but it is similar to that.

 

Good luck.

Are the vocabulary list at the back of the Manhattan TC/SE book the same as their flashcards?

[Scarf in the wind]

Are the vocabulary list at the back of the Manhattan TC/SE book the same as their flashcards?

 

Um, I don't know. I never bought flashcards from any of the prep companies.

[jayem]

Manhattan Prep. has the most comprehensive and helpful books I have encountered, although Princeton Review's explanation on statistics was actually more helpful as a shortcut to solve problems.

[VinceKotchian]

I'm a GRE tutor. Manhattan's material is the best. Of course, make sure to use ETS's too - they have a book of quantitative and a book of verbal practice questions coming out on July 18th.

[DDsoc]

I practiced exclusively from Kaplan, and expected to do much better on Math than Verbal. I ended up doing much better on verbal than math! So definitely look to outside sources for math problems... maybe take a few ETS practice tests to make sure your bases are covered?

[mekong]

Manhattan prep is really good. Haven't used Magoosh, but have looked at their free material and it is really quite good. For hard problems, I tried the free chiprime (dot) com resources - under the resources section of their website (free quizzes and book excerpts with quizzes in them!). This is really cool. No need to fear the quant section any more with these three resources. I did try Kaplan too, but wonder if their questions are as similar to what is really on the GRE.

 

BTW, if you really want to grind on your math skills for that high score, there is also a free app from ChiPrime on the google app store. Called "Grade School Math X" - questions are all GRE style - I solved them all - and boy do they make you think! What I didn't like with this one is that they only have an android version, no version on apple store - I don't understand why they would do this, but the content is really good, especially since you can use it on the go - in a subway train or anywhere, from any android smartphone.

[newatusa]

The best prep books for the new GRE exam are the 

Kaplan GRE Premier 2014 and Cracking the GRE (Preinceton Review)

Also tray to get the Manhattan Vocabulary flash cards, they are very useful in the exam.

 

[Meglet]

I found the ETS guide best for understanding what was going to be on the test (not all of the prep companies have updated their materials!).  The strategies in the Manhattan guides also helped me tweak my scores and understand better what certain question types were looking for.  ETS practice tests are the most accurate, and the Manhattan ones are killer, plus not always well-written.

[ImjBee]

Found this online https://sellfy.com/p/Yrpo/

 

Extensive Collection of Books,Videos,Notes,and practice tests to prepare anyone for the GRE! Must have for anyone planning to take the GRE and wants to be well prepared & well informed. Studying has never been so easy!