Customer Reviews

GRE: Practicing to Take the General Test (Practicing to Take the GRE General Test)

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

 

 

Since I was studying for the GRE on a shoestring budget, I skipped the expensive test prep courses and bought this book, along with 2 others, to help me prep for the test. My initial concern when I ordered this book was that it wouldn't be able to accurately predict what kind of score I would get on the computer based test, since the entire book is (obviously) full of paper based tests which are set up in a totally different format than the CAT. Yup, I was pretty skeptical of ETS's claims that scores on the paper test should correlate with those of the CAT.

When I finally took the GRE, I was surprised to find that my scores on the CAT were pretty close to how I had scored on the practice tests in this book. (within about a 30 point margin - the only exception was my quantitative score which was about 70 points higher on the CAT... still fairly close, though)

I would recommend this book for people who are studying for the GRE themselves (without the help of prep courses) and would like to get an idea of how they might score. (Having some idea of how I might do made me less nervous about taking the real test.)

Be warned though, that the soul purpose of this book is to give an indication of your possible performance: it won't help you pinpoint where your weaknesses are or give you lists of vocab words, practice problems, etc. It is simply a book of practice tests. Be sure to buy a few other books which can isolate your weaknesses and provide practice problems on the sections you need the most help with.

Good luck!

So, you want to take the GRE. You think to yourself "Gee, I should take a lot of practice tests", so now you want to buy this book. Well, it's somewhat helpful, but you'll find that the real test, taken on the computer, feels much different.

I had much more trouble finishing on time for the real test than I did in these practice tests- particularly for the analytical section. The questions on the real test seemed harder than these practice tests. All my friends who have recently taken the GREs and studied with practice tests agree with that, so it's not just me. You also cant go backwards, look ahead, omit questions, or sketch notes on the paper [i usually like to draw on the diagram in the math section]

Rather than paying money for this book, just go download ETS's powerprep software. It's free, and it has two practice tests exactly the way you'll see them when you take it for real. Take one test, identify your weakness, study that part, take the other practice test, and then you're ready. Besides, the GRE is so similar to the SAT, you dont need to study too much for it.

In short, dont treat this as a collection of practice tests, but treat it as a collection of practice problems, and that makes it less helpful for test preparation.

I recommend spending time on the free Powerprep software that ETS sends you after you register for the General GRE as the first study method. This book is probably the second best thing (though if you anticipate you will have time to study for both, I recommend saving the best -- the Powerprep software -- for last). This study guide is very helpful, but the tests are in the old paper-based format, so they seem quite different from the actual CAT. The CAT test questions seem to be considerably more difficult (particularly in the analytical section), and fewer but longer sections. Even the testing fashion of the CAT is quite different from that of the paper based tests. Nonetheless, the more different types of quiestions you see (that are close to the real thing), the better off you are. Furthermore, it seems that if you test yourself with the paper-based testing scheme using this book, your scores will be very close to your scores on a CAT test taken around the same time.

This book takes very straightforward approach. It explains what the test is looking for in the verbal area. It gives a review of that math used on the math portion. After that it's just tests and answers. For the student who is disciplined enough to take about 30 hours of study time taking the practice tests and evaluating their errors, this book is probably very helpful.

The free practice software that ETS sends probably would have been more help to me because my main difficulty was with the computerized format-the fact that I couldn't go back and change my answers. On previous standardized tests I've taken, the questions get progressively harder. It gets my mind ready for the more challenging questions and gives me a sense of security being certain that I got at least some questions correct. With the computer format, it gives you harder questions straightaway until you miss one. This heightens the anxiety of taking the test immensely for me. When I see an easy one I think, "Oh no. What should have been the correct answer on the last problem!?" This is purely counterproductive, especially on a time-limited test like the GRE.

I urge other students to sign up long in advance so that you have time to practice with the software. It took a month for my free ETS software to arrive. It arrived after I had taken the test. No matter how familiar you are with computers (I've been an electrical engineer for five years.), if you haven't taken a computerized standardized test, you need the software.

If you're willing to devote a lot of time to taking practice tests, this book will help. Otherwise, it is a waste of money.

This book is most valuable for those preparing for the GRE who are after a plethora of real GRE-like questions (other review books I have used have questions that seem much harder or easier (i.e. not realistic). The major flaw of this book is that it only includes explanations for one of its tests, and also that there are some errors in the awnser key.... at least in the Logic sections.

I would still recommed it though, these are the questions that appear on the GRE and the best way to raise your score is practice, practice, practice!

The content of the book is just like the questions in GRE CAT. It is important to do as many problems as possible from ETS publications as possible. It is definitely going to increase your score. Exposing yourself to as many ETS questions as possible not only helps you revise concepts but also to formulate a way of dealing with a variety of questions with confidence. But if you already have the ETS big book, you may dispense with this book as atleast 4 of the tests in this edition are already in the Big Book. So if you can lay your hands on the now hard-to-get Big book, it would be a better alternative. Else do not let go of the chance to go through 8 very helpful question papers. The only setback is that it is in paper mode and is in the old format - two sections each of V,Q,A.

If you want to know my scores as an indication of the effectiveness of this book - V 710, A 800, Q 800.

The content in this book did not reflect the content on the actual 2002 GRE exam. The practice tests have similar questions in the verbal section, however the quantatative and analytical sections were nothing like the actual exam. Why spend time focusing on "standard deviation" when there wasn't a question about it in the entire CAT? Also, the book does not have any logic questions, which were a large part of the exam.

Barron's Book is much better for preparation.

Grade: D

The 10th edition is now out.

Don't even think twice about getting this book. Very helpful for judging your standing. The scores on the paper test will be very similar to the real CBT test.

This is not the most helpful book for learning but only for practice tests.