Customer Reviews

McGraw-Hill's GRE, 2009 Edition (Mcgraw-Hill's Gre (Book Only))

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

 

 

I mistakenly assumed that this book would help me study for the GRE based on its title, size, and claims about its efficacy on the back cover. After studying with the book for about an hour, I found two really bad errors and one serious typo in the math section, not to mention the odd wording of some of the questions. Some of the sample verbal questions seem more ambiguous than they should be in a standardized test, and the provided explanations aren't always convincing.

I'm sure a lot of the content is perfectly correct, but because of the many errors, I can't afford to trust any of it. I'm just glad I didn't spend money on this book--it's going back to the library first thing in the morning.

Example reasoning error (p.139): "Because you are looking for the greatest value of (y-x)(x+y), your goal is to make x+y as big as possible and y-x as big as possible. Therefore, use x=5 and y=4 to get x+y=9, and x=-7 and y=4 to get y-x=11. The greatest value of (y-x)(x+y) is (9)(11) = 99."

This book is awful. I purchased it recently to prepare myself for the GRE and have found so many errors, it's appalling. When they provide you with equations to find the distance of a line - they have it WRONG. When doing the practice math questions, if you turn the page to the answer section - they have a completely different problem than the one you were trying. Example:
page 202 #3 in the "Exponents" section. The problem is written as 2(^2) + 2(^3) = ?
Then when you turn to page 207 to check the answers the equations is written as 2(^2) x 2(3). Which yields a MUCH different answer than the original equation. Addition vs multiplication greatly affects the outcome.

This can greatly affect your studying and your ability to do well on the GRE.

I have contacted McGraw Hill and they said they are aware of the errors in the book - they refuse to recall it, but for an additional $25 you can purchase the 2010 edition which allegedly corrects those errors.

Kaplan & Princeton Revew books are much better - check them out instead.