Customer Reviews

Cracking the GRE Psychology Subject Test, 7th Edition

5 star:		(3)
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I studied from two books: The Princeton Review's Cracking the GRE and Kaplan's GRE Psychology. I never had a psychology class in college - I'm a chemist - most of this was new. But I scored an 800 on the test, apparently, 99th percentile. Here were my impressions:

Cracking the GRE - I enjoyed the presentation and the organization of the material. It was straightforward, covered the basics, and clean with upbeat, if cheesy, dialogue and photos. It made it easier to learn, but left out a lot that was in Kaplan. This is a quick review for someone without much time, but NOT for someone, like me, who knows nothing about psychology.

Kaplan - Much more thorough than Princeton Review's; it was very dense and seemed to try to touch on every concept that might be a question on the test. This can be a bit overwhelming and certainly confusing, as I noticed numerous typos, contradictions, and other errors that sent me to the web for clarification and correction. The book's organization is poorer for review than The Princeton Review's, so keep your own notes and keep them organized.

Both books contained some information not found in the other (this was more true for Kaplan than "Cracking"). Also, there were questions on the test wholly unrelated to anything I'd studied in either book. I suspect then, no prep book can prepare you completely for the test. Likewise, the books' sample tests will not reliably predict your performance, since the questions on the books' practice tests rarely require knowledge not supplied in the books.
If you're crunched for time, just get Kaplan's book and move on to "Cracking" if you've mastered the first. If you're really crunched for time, say a week or two, just go for "Cracking". But if you have the time, get both books. I found they supported each other and I learned enough to score better than most. Read "Cracking" first to get the test material straight in your mind, then Kaplan to fill in the gaps. In taking book practice tests, and the official ETS one (an absolute MUST since it seems more difficult), don't get too upset if you don't have a clue on some questions. I skipped about 5 questions on the actual test and I guessed on at least 10 more and I still did well.

Good luck.

The chapter reviews in this book were concise and to the point...definitely meant for a person who is reviewing psychology material rather than learning for the first time. Very concerning, however, was the fact that I found several pieces of wrong information (wrong names, etc.). The practice test at the end of the book was a great review. I found it to be, however, much easier than the actual GRE. I did well on my subject test (score of 710) but scored almost perfectly on the practice test in this book. Not sure if this book contributed to my score but I definitely felt like it was a good review for the test.

I used this book in conjunction with Kaplan GRE Psychology, 2007-2008 Edition (Kaplan Gre Psychology)These books combined totally prepared me for the Oct 07 psychology subject GRE. I found that there is no single book that does the job, but these two together were perfect.

I just got out of the test and was cursing this book the whole time. The information in this book is not even close to sufficient for what you need to know on the exam.

I took the April 2008 Psych GRE and scored a 750. I studied psychology as an undergraduate but have been out of school for 6 years. I studied intensively for probably 2 weeks prior to the exam. I used the Kaplan book, the Princeton Review book and also a general psychology text (which if you buy a recently revised edition, you can find for under [...] on amazon or[...].

The Princeton Review book was well organized and its outline/list format made it easy to follow. The book covered a greater array of topics than the Kaplan book, but in MUCH less detail. In fact, I often noted topics that were so glossed-over and summarized that they might actually misrepresent the term/concept to the reader unless he/she had a prior knowledge of the subject or did some additional studying.

The Kaplan book covered fewer topics but provided *slightly* more detail in its explanation. I found the content in the Kaplan book to align better with the content presented in the general psych text that I used (Gleitman's "Psychology"). Although it covers fewer specifics, it provides a much better review of main concepts.

In the end, I used both texts to make my own study guide by working through them both, section by section, and creating a combined list of terms/concepts I needed to study. I did most of my actual studying using the general psychology book.

I would highly recommend using these two books to inform your study plan but do not rely on them to provide a complete review. I found the general psychology text to be far more useful than either of these texts. Let the review books guide your review by filtering the huge amount of information in the general psych book.

If you are very familiar with the material and just need a quick review, I would buy the Princeton Review book, as it presents more material overall.

If you are somewhat familiar with the material but need some serious review, I would at least buy the Kaplan book, as it provides better explanation of major concepts.

If you have the time, buy them both and invest in a general psych text.

Neither text can completely prepare you for the test. There were quite a few questions on the test that were not covered by either of the books and quite a bit of material that was heavily covered by both texts that did not appear on the test. I'm sure ETS studies these books too. Best of luck!

Good luck!

This book is great in that it consolidates an overwhelming amount of information into concise paragraphs and chapters. It's very readable, and easy to get to the next "chapter" so you can bite off small bits at a time. However, it is lacking in depth explanation on most subjects. I worked my way through the Kaplan, then through Cracking, and then took the practice test from ETS. This took me about 6 weeks, and I did really well. I know that the books are kind of expensive, but remember that if you buy This book and the Kaplan, some of the cost will be absorbed by the free shipping. I really liked Cracking--it helped clarify (or summarize) the concepts I was a little "iffy" on, and was a great way to see if I had really absorbed anything from all the other studying I'd been doing. Good luck!

I started preparing for the test with this book, Cracking the GRE, and have since moved on to the Kaplan book. I wish I'd started with the Kaplan. Cracking the GRE reads like a grocery list, whereas the Kaplan book reads like a textbook. If you prefer strict word-pair memorization as a method of study, Cracking the GRE is fine. But if you're like me, and find it easier to remember a term if you feel you understand the term's full meaning, go with the Kaplan book. It just has way more information, which really helps me remember things.

Don't get me wrong, this book will probably help you score more points on the test, but I feel the Kaplan book helped me much more. Plus, it was a better read, and I may have actually learned something about Psychology in the process.

This book was ideal for last-minue studying for the GRE psych exam. It provides a solid review and was basically a bullet-point list of almost everything you need. As a review, great but if you need more in-depth explanations you will need to find more information elsewhere. I used this in conjunction with Kaplan's book and did quite well on the exam. Definitely buy this if you are going to take the psych gre!

This prep book gave a decent review of the topic areas that appear on the psychology GRE, despite how brief it is. I used this in conjunction with Kaplan's book and did quite well. Definitely buy this if you are going to take the psych gre!

This was basically a bullet-point list of almost everything you need to know for the GRE psychology subtest. Great for review, but if you need more in-depth explanation of the myriad topics on the test, you will need to find more information elsewhere. I took the GRE Psychology test on Saturday, October 8th, and there were a few things not covered in this book on the test. I suggest you supplement with other materials and use this a guide/review. Definitely worth the money; a great time saver and cram reference. An all-around well written book.