Customer Reviews

Crash Course for the GRE, Second Edition (Graduate School Test Preparation)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this book not because I was running out of time to study, but because I needed a quick brush up on Algebra. I completed the exercises and checked my answers against the guide in the back of the book. I was upset that I missed several of the problems.

Then I checked the explanations that accompany the answers and realized that both the questions and answers contain a considerable number of typos. For example- the question will ask for "the length of the diagonal of a rectangle with a perimeter of 20" then the answer will state that, to help you visualize the problem, you should "draw a rectangle with a perimeter of 16".

Sometimes, equations are missing from the text entirely. On a quant comp on page 146, given that "3 is the remainder when f is divided by 9. 6 is the remainder when g is divided by 9" you are asked to compare "3" to "the remainder when is divided by 6." This statement makes no sense until you look to the answer and realize the question should read "The remainder when F+G is divided by 6."

I contacted Princeton Review's editorial support to make them aware of the errors, and they seemed rather blasé about the unacceptable state of their book, saying that it is impossible to prevent errors in post production. That statement is, of course, ridiculous.

This book and the editors of this book are extremely frustrating. I do not recommend buying the book or reading the book.

I highly recomend this book. After reading this short book, download the practice tests and you can decide if you need an additional book for vocabulary review. I believe my 5.5 out of a possible 6 on the essays is due to the tips in this book. It is short but to the point. You may need more than a week to absorb the math if you are out of practice. Also, it can not make up for a lack of vocabulary.

I decided to apply to graduate school on October 31. I had to take the GRE really soon to meet the application deadlines, and since I registered at the last minute the best test date I could get was November 25. That gave me less than one month to prepare! I went shopping for test preparation materials and one of the books I found was "Crash Course for the GRE." That seemed perfect for my needs. The book is organized around the "ten steps to the GRE," basically one step for each type of question to be found on the test. I found the steps for the verbal section of the GRE (analogies, sentence completion, antonyms, and reading comprehension) to be extremely practical and I got a score I was quite pleased with. However, the strategies for the math section (numbers/vocabulary, figures, equations I/estimating, and equations II/plugging in) were less effective for me and I decided to take the test a second time (I contacted the schools to which I was applying to request that they accept a second set of late GRE scores). The tips for the analytical writing section (issue essay and argument essay) were helpful, as was the general information on the GRE.

I highly recommend this book for an overview of the GRE, for general GRE test taking strategies, and for its test taking strategies for the verbal section. The math strategies might be helpful if you are really weak in math, but I suggest supplementing the Crash Course with another book (I used "GRE Exam 2004" by Kaplan). Also, I used "Word Smart for the GRE" to help with vocabulary. Note that the Crash Course has practice problems but it does not provide any sample tests; you should download the free POWERPREP software from the GRE Web site, and you may want to get a book with sample tests (such as "GRE Exam 2004"). But if you only have time for one GRE test preparation book, I'd recommend the Crash Course.

This is a great book to browse through right before you try tackling other long winded GRE references. It very effectively summarises study tips. Additional practice material is definitely needed though. The book does not provide word or root lists to help with the verbal section. Use this only to get a quick overview of the GRE, or for even quicker study tips.

This book was short, easy to follow and to the point. It gave VERY practical advise for the format of the GRE exam as well as some sample practice problems. I used it as my only preparation source, except for some sample vocab lists from the web, and I did very well on the exam. (If I remember right I got somewhere between 960-1000.) This book is an excellent help for someone who doesn't have alot of free time to be messing around with loooong review books. Definitely worth the money.

I decided to apply to graduate school three weeks before the application deadline and did an utter crash course in the GREs. With no time to enroll in a test prep class, I picked this book up on a whim with one other. This book was immensely helpful in raising my math and essay skills before the big test. The tips on what they looked for in essays was really helpful in letting me wrap my head around how to really answer the essays. The tips on how to think quickly through the math questions worked well with me and helped my scores go from the 670 to 730 range. My verbal scores turned out so-so, but you can't build a solid vocabulary in three weeks.

I highly recommend that anyone use this book in tandem with another test book that has lots of practice tests on paper and online. Combining this with the free GRE tests online will also be helpful. This book is slender, simple and surprisingly very useful.