Customer Reviews

Barron's GRE: Graduate Record Examination

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If you're preparing to take the GRE and trying to determine which book to use, the answer depends on your goal score. If it happens to be in the 500-650 range for either the verbal or quantitative sections, then most any review book should do the trick provided you invest a reasonable amount of time studying. Since the big name reviews (Barron's, Kaplan, PR) generally target this segment, any one of them alone should suffice.

If your goal is 660-800 in either section, and you don't have a natural talent that puts you in that range, then the main ingredient is: lots of studying.

At any goal level, Barron's is the best vocabulary review, hands down. It contains 50 word lists comprised of 3500 words whose usage is prioritized based on retired tests (i.e. if an obscure meaning of a word never came up on the test, the authors omit that definition so you don't waste time). To score consistently above 650, you'll need to know more than just the 333 words on the high-frequency list. To score consistently near 800, you'll need to know most of the 3500 words and be able to handle the tougher inferential questions that come up in high-level reading passages. The math review in this book is well done, but you'll need to look elsewhere for the more challenging math questions seen at the 700+ levels (Barron's is especially shallow on probability / permutations / combinations). The test taking tactics they present are well written and definitely useful. On the down side, the 2009 book doesn't contain significant revision from previous years and fails to include the new verbal and math question formats that ETS is gradually introducing (and which you may see on test day). It's an oversight which the authors ought to correct for 2010, but if you understand the actual material, you can get a great feel for the new formats on the ETS website.

Personally, I used the Barron's book as my main study tool. After digesting it and its practice tests, I moved on to the 2009 PR book. From a content perspective, there is very little in the PR review book that wasn't covered in Barron's and much that PR omits which Barron's covers well. I'd say I gleaned less than 10 new word meanings from PR (that weren't in Barron's), got a slightly better feel for probability from PR than from Barron's (but still not enough for high-end questions), and did learn a few good test tactics not covered in other books. All things said, format is what PR does best. PR understands its audience well, is very user friendly, is much easier to read, and is clearly designed for those with a short to medium attention span. But content is king for higher scores, and PR is definitely lighter in this department with one caveat: the online computer-based tests (included with a book purchase) are some of the best around and worth getting a hold of for this reason alone.

I didn't have the opportunity to review the Kaplan material, so can't give you a good feel except to say I've heard good things (especially about the math section). If you are looking for 700-800 level math, there are a number of off-brand guides available on the internet, including a great one put together by some very diligent (and very talented) Indian students. Best of luck.

At age 51, I was applying to grad school, and had to face the GRE. The English/writing part was no problem, but I had done badly in algebra in 9th grade, and never had trig at all. I had to learn it all in ONE MONTH. This book came through for me. It has very clear explanations of all key math points. I did all the practice problems in the book, pushing myself a little further every day. When I'd gotten through all the math, I tried a practice test. Only got a 250. I had the knowledge, but not the speed. That's where the CD-ROM came in. I took 2 practice tests a day, and slowly got my speed up. (Each time you do the practice tests, they are different. Now and then, there was a question I'd had before, but not often enough to significantly boost my score.) By the time I took the real test, I was getting in the 600s on the practice tests. I had figured out some strategies. Finally, I took the real thing, and got a 720 on both sections, for a total of 1440! I owe it all to the excellent math tutorial and examples in the book, and ESPECIALLY, to the real-time practice tests on the CD-ROM. I just cannot rave enough about this book!!

This book is really really thorough and works well if you plan on studying well ahead of time. There are sections for each type of math problem that appears on the actual test and this was what I found most helpful. I went through each of the specific sections because math was a weakness for me and I wound up getting a 660 in the quantitative section. There is an extensive list of vocabulary words and several sections of review for the verbal section of the exam. Studying the high frequency words was helpful. The tips and hints that are included are great for helping you learn how to take the test and to save time. The amount of time for the test is fairly limited and the book shows you how to do the least amount of work to come to the correct answer. I studied using this book and I received a 1320.

In preparing for the GRE, I used the Princeton Review book, Kaplan vocabulary flash cards, and the Barron's book. Of the three, I feel the Princeton Review was the most useful to overall test prep.

The Barron's book excels at vocabulary: their list of words is extremely large and pretty comprehensive from what I've seen. In addition, they break down roots and stems which makes taking an educated guess on a word you're unsure of or have never seen substantially easier.

I feel the math on the Barron's was much more comprehensive than it needed to be. Often, questions on the Barron's tests were on material that would not show up on the actual test. In addition, their data interpretation questions are plagued with poorly drawn graphs that make it hard to ascertain the values. I had to make approximate guesses on data questions that demanded exact answers simply because the graphs didn't provide adequate labels.

However, unless you are testing on paper, the practice paper tests really don't help much more than provide more practice questions. To get an understanding of the rhythm of a computer-adjusted test, you really need to take computer-adjusted ones! When you can't skip and have limited time, it's important to learn how much time to spend guessing and how important it is to ace the first third of the test. Where Barron's is weak is its lone computer-adjusted test. For this reason, I feel the Barron's book is less helpful than the Princeton Review. If I had to pick one book, I would get the PR because of those extra tests - they make all the difference.

In short, the Barron's will overprepare you for the math and provide a comprehensive word list. It's great at preparing you for specific questions. However, it doesn't do a very good job of preparing you to TAKE the test, which is the most important aspect of acing the GRE. For that, I would recommend another book, especially the Princeton Review's.

This book is good for people who need a general review, but aren't necessarily aiming for the topmost scores. This was one of several GRE prep books/CDs I ordered. The writing style is very basic and down-to-earth; it assumes you know next to nothing about math or taking tests. A couple other books (esp. the Princeton Review) had more sophisticated techniques that I found helpful.

I found the software a bit ugly. The graphs on the quantitative practice problems were much more difficult to read than the actual GRE was, and the interface was a little clunky. Still, it's good for additional content review.

After going through a number of different GRE books, I find this to be the worst by far. Will it help you? Sure! But it's not going to help you nearly as much as, say, the Kaplan book. Whereas the Kaplan book works you through many of the though processes necessary to do well on the GRE, the Barron's book just gives you a few examples. Where the Kaplan book explains (perhaps to excess) the reasoning behind each and every question, including on the electronic practice tests, the Barron's book has explanations like "The answer is C." ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? What's the point in even having an explanation section when all you put is that? Even worse, the so-called Computer Adaptive Practice Test will give you the same questions more than once in the SAME test. Stay away. Use a better resource and you'll fair much better in the end.

I studied for the GREs from October 1st 2007 to November 17th 2007 (the day of my exam). Though some would call me crazy with such a short time studying; I studied nearly everyday, all day long (at least 10 hours a day). This book is perfect and is more or less all you need to study the GREs. The books organization is spot on, and I suggest following it as it is. Like any diet or exercise program, as long as you follow your plan (in this case the book's plan) you will unquestionably see satisfying results in the end.

I also suggest to make sure that you take the Diagnostic test at the beginning of the book in order to make sure, in the very beginning of your studies, what is most necessary for you to study and concentrate on. I didn't realize what the diagnostic test was for and did not take it until midway through my studies. A mistake. For the Verbal, I studied (with flash cards and all) the 333 High Frequency Word List. Do the same, a surprising number of these words were indeed on the GRE. I began to go through the 3,500-Word master list, but with time constraints soon realized that this would be ineffective.

The math section, in this book, is also organized quite well. Follow it. Like math we learned as secondary school students, it builds and builds to an end which is a complication of every thing previously learned.

Lastly, as many out there are concerned mostly with the math I suggest a supplementary book on the math alone. I basically used all of the sample problems in this book and would have easily done more if I had more time.

I do wish I took at least another month to study for this exam. While I am fairly happy with my GRE score, with that extra month I would have had that slightly extra edge in my graduate school applications.

This book is sure to help. Goodluck.

I looked at many publications before settling on the Barron's GRE guide for my preparation for the GRE. The guide features 6 full length tests (including diagnostic) as well as a CAT test at the end. There are a ton of math exercises and I recommend doing every one. There is also a massive list of words--you can decide to memorize the bold ones, I did not. However, I did do every verbal exercise. My scores on two tests that I took before reading the book average 540 V and 560 Q, my scores on the GRE were 670 V and 740 V, that is an overall score increase of 310 points and is the difference between being in the top 30 percent for my major and the top 2 percent for my major. The average GRE for admission to the Psych PhD program at Harvard is 1388 (not that I have any intention of applying, just making a point)--the book can make your GRE score a very valuable tool in your application process. Buy it!

I bought this book more for the CD than anything else. I never read the book or used their methods, I only used the diagnostic and computer adaptive tests on the CD. In that respect, they were very good. Barron's did a wonderful job recreating the computer-adaptive test environment, and there were no surprises when I went to take the GRE.

When I was shopping for books I wanted to know a few things:

1)Is it harder or easier than the real thing?
The Barrons is a little harder in the sense that the questions are slightly trickier. Seems that it's the Barrons philosophy to do the "learn to run before walking, so walking will be easier to do later."

2)Is it accurate?
Some questions are close to the real thing, some are much harder. For example the graph questions on the math section are MUCH easier on the real test. The graphs on the Barrons books don't show tick marks and often you get the question wrong because the data point looks like it could be anything from 10 to 15 and if you approximate too much in either direction you'll come up with the wrong answer.

Basically- accurate enough for practice. If you can do these you should be fine for the test.

3)Do I need to buy anything else?
I would recommend the Kaplan vocabulary flash cards. I find flash cards work way better than the wall of text that is included in the Barron's vocab section. I skipped over the barron's vocab section in its entirety so I cannot say how good or bad it is. (Only that I found it annoying to read)

4)Barrons vs. Real thing
During the weekend before the GRE I took the last 2 practice tests. On one I got something like 1370, the other 1410. I did way better than both of those on the real GRE.

5)What to buy with this-
Kaplan vocabulary cards and use the free software you get when you register for the GRE. The CD-rom isn't nearly as close to the real test as the powerprep software.

Bottom line- if I were able to go back in time I'd tell myself to buy this book. :)