Customer Reviews

Cracking the GRE Math Test, 3rd Edition

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I used the 2nd edition book (GRE subject math exam), and from the sounds of other reviews, this book is about the same, which means it is an excellent book to use (and it is an excellent price). I used this book during the summer for several weeks to prepare for the GRE, including making note cards of most definitions and working out all of the practice problems. I then didn't look at this book for 3 months and then my GRE finally came around and I reviewed for a few days with the book, primarily working problems. The problems in this book are tricky and train you to find the tricks for problems on the GRE.

After having taken the GRE (Dec, 2005), I can say I would have faired poorly without the preparation of this book since I would have missed so many little tricks that came in useful and I would have gone through the test without carefully doing every problem. Having used the book, the tricks for nearly every problem on the GRE were easy to see. The book problems seemed to have a general theme: if your approach has overwhelming computations, look at the problem for a trick, as this book will teach you to do (and some of the problems it gives have a trick that can be molded to other problems). Having receiving my scores, I can wholeheartedly say this book helped.

Some other books to consider looking at for subject review (check out from a library -- not worth buying unless you want more info than you need for the GRE):
"Topology" by Munkres (I thought the GRE book was insufficient to get a good feel for topology without previous study.)
"Complex Variables and Applications" by Brown & Churchill (I was a bit fuzzy on residues from the GRE book alone -- Brown & Churchill's book is worth reviewing.)
Both topology and complex are small portions of the exam, so reviewing these topics may not be worth the time unless the GRE book is no help to you.

This is a great book for preparing for the math GRE. Far more useful in terms of reviewing/learning material than the REA book. It has only one full length exam, but many practice problems, and every problem in the book has a detailed solution.

WARNING: This book is essentially the same as the 2nd edition, with some minor errors fixed. As far as I can see, there are no new excercises, and the practice exam is basically the same. I would not recommend getting it if you already have the second edition. This is why I only gave it 3 stars.

this books review sucked. I found 5 mathematical errors in the first 19 pages. Five? I thought this was suppose to be a review book? AFter that I just used old exams to study from. Save yourself some money and don't buy the book.

This book is riddled with errors. If you have a genuine need to review, it will do more harm than good. In the first chapter, I encountered:

* boundary error in the first example problem

* cosine sum/difference formulas swapped

* sign errors in review problems

I used this book to get into grad school. However, I had my department in tears with all the mistakes this book has. One example is page 125. The mapping is a mess and wrong.

If anyone is looking to take the test, make sure you review your abstract. This book has bad absract and number theory review.

The up side to this book is the depth in calculus.

Explanations tend to be good. Easy to follow order and lessons. But beware - has several major typos on formulas in instructional sections.

the material in this book is great review for the exam. unfortunately, there are quite a few typos in this book, but if you already know what you're reading (which you should since this is meant to be a review book) then it shouldn't be an issue. haven't taken the practice test yet; can't comment on it. definitely worth the purchase.

I bought and used this book and also "GRE Mathematics (REA)". The main draw back is that the book contains MANY tipos which make the book a bit unreliable. On the other hand, the book summaries the main topics very good and it also contains an excellent (fully solved!) practive exam.

I would recommend buying this book and also "GRE Mathematics (REA)" (which contains six solved exams). You can use "Cracking the GRE Math" for revising the topics and "GRE Mathematics (REA)" for practicing the exams (which are more difficult than the real GRE).

I would say this is a much more accurate prep for the GRE math subject test than some others I've seen. The review sections are concise and effective. The review problems are fairly well done and reiterate the important material from each section. My major complaints are that the "additional topics" section doesn't have a review problems component and there are not enough practice tests. This practice test seems to be a pretty good copy of the one I saw on the ETS website. My advice is to do the review in this book, including the test, then do the ETS practice test if you are worried about your score.

Basically, this book is so organized that you can prepare for your GRE math test. However, as I am solving Review Tests, there are lots of typos! It's frustrating a lot, so you should buy some other book, if you hate typos. Good luck!