Customer Reviews

McGraw-Hill's GRE with CD-ROM, 2010 Edition (McGraw-Hill's GRE (W/CD))

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This book is annoying me enough that I had to stop in the middle of a practice test to write this review.

Potential buyers take note:

-- Verbal section is mostly idiotic. 4 out of 5 analogies are simply synonyms, i.e. WILY : SLY. Antonym questions always contain an exact synonym, a couple totally random words, a poor synonym, and then the answer. Moreover, all of the vocabulary is of about average difficulty. Reading comprehension passages are of less sophistication than I saw on PowerPREP. I have finished each verbal section so far in 12-17 minutes.

-- Math sections only give you 30 minutes to complete, which is incorrect as the quant section is now 45 minutes on the real test. You won't need more than 30, though; again, lots of simple algebra, areas of simple shapes, etc. In a set of 3 data analysis questions on practice test 1, all 3 were one-step questions, i.e. they involved just reading the graph, no calculations or additional analysis.

-- The tests on the CD are not computer adaptive; they are just a series of questions in electronic format as opposed to on paper. Maybe useful to practice on the computer, but not a simulation of how the actual test will work.

Waste of time.

Please, please, please do not buy this book in anticipation that it will help you prepare for the GRE. First off, both the verbal and math questions were much easier in the book than the actual exam. The book's vocab was elementary compared to the exam, as were the comprehension passages. The math questions were overly simple and the concepts were nothing like the actual GRE concepts.

Moreover, the book got the timing completely wrong - I was pretty surprised when I got to the math section on the exam and it was 45 minutes, not 30. Pleasant surprise, but much needed when I encountered the higher level of difficulty. (Full disclaimer: I scored very well on the math section, regardless, and didn't use the book to study math. I was more concerned with studying verbal.)

Even the issue task and argument task were simplified for the book. The actual issue and argument tasks I received were much more difficult to analyze and explore.

Lastly, the computer software was nothing like test. Not only is it not user-adaptive like the real test, but you are free to go back and forth in the questions (not so on the actual GRE). It is a computerized version of a paper practice test. On top of that, it did not compute my scores correctly on practice test #2. In one place it said I got one score, and in another place it said something entirely different.

Don't buy this book. It's a waste of money. The guy who wrote it is clearly out of touch.

Good luck on your exam!

I bought this book without consulting reviews first, based on the thought that McGraw-Hill is a reputed academic publisher. This was a mistake.

In order to prepare for the "new format" GRE test, the book is not entirely worthless. It contains a diagnostic and three more full-length practice tests in the book and two more on the CD ROM, which works with OS X (and, apparently, Windows). The large number of practice tests in addition to explanatory and review chapters attracted me to the book.

Alas, the practice tests' worth and my trust in their reliability are diminished by the large number of errors. In particular the tests on the CD ROM are additionally riddled with annoying software, such as a "select multiple answers" question for which the user interface widgets are implemented as "select only one" buttons. Worse, in the verbal parts the answers are often highly subjective and ambiguous. For example, one sentence completion task offers "melodramatic/exaggerated/sincere" for "The lead actor was far too ____ for the comedic role he was intended to play." Clearly, the author of this question is unawares that comedic effect can be attained and hampered in multiple ways. The reading comprehension tasks aren't worded any more felicitously.

The quantitative review material is, while plodding and uninspiring, probably of use for students who have to dig deep into elementary and middle school level math. It appears to lack pointers for students who aim for high scores and want to prepare for the most difficult questions. As for the verbal review, it consists of the usual pablum of ill-construed advice written by someone who is shaky on the difference between grammar, punctuation, usage and style.

My advice: Buy something else.

I bought this book in person (without reviews, of course), and I will be returning it. The practice tests are ridiculously easy. I am SO GLAD this wasn't my only resource because I would have been delusional about how potentially hard this test is. The writers of the book don't appear to know how long the test taker will be given to work the math section. They give you only 30 minutes (the real test is 45), but it doesn't matter because the questions are so easy. Get Kaplan or Princeton Review instead.

This is a terrible book: don't waste your money. As an example, here is one sample question from the numeric entry section, where the answer is COMPLETELY WRONG.
The question:
"If -7 <= x <= 5 and -3 <= y <= 4, what is the greatest possible value of (y - x)(x + y)?"

Their idiotic answer, quoted exactly:
"The correct answer is 99. 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."

Even a 12-year-old would know that is incorrect. Buy the Princeton Review or Kaplan. Don't waste your money or your time on this one.

This book is terrible.

As many other reviewers have pointed out - the questions are much easier than you'd see on the normal test.

Further, I've run into a few solutions on quant problems that are just objectively WRONG.

This book was of no help at all. The score I got on the GRE, which was average, had NOTHING to do with this book and EVERYTHING to do with this book. I say it had NOTHING to do with this book because it is the score I probably would have got had I not used this book at all. The examples and tests in this book were way too easy. On the practice tests, I was scoring in the 700 range. When I took the actual test, it only took me a few questions to realize the real test was much harder than this book. I say this book had EVERYTHING to do with my only average score because the easy practice tests lured me into a false sense of security. Had I known the actual test was much harder, I would have studied more and done better. So in that sense, I did worse because of this book.

Besides not being sufficiently difficult, the book also has poor explanations of its easy examples. Here is a typical example of an antonym question from one of the practice tests:

PRAGMATIC:
(A) ample
(B) sensible
(C) impractical
(D) astute
(E) exiguous

Here is the explanation:

"The best answer is C. The word pragmatic means 'practical,' whereas the word impractical means 'not capable of being put to use.' Therefore, impractical is most nearly opposite in meaning to pragmatic."

First of all, that question is much easier than most questions on the GRE. Second, the explanation doesn't explain any of the wrong answers. Third, it goes on to give a cryptic explanation of the easy word "impractical" just in case "impractical" wasn't an obvious antonym for "practical." This is typical of the book.

Another flaw is it only gives 30 minutes for the math section while you get 45 minutes on the actual exam. The fact that the writer didn't know such an important component of the exam raises questions on his qualifications to write such a book. Furthermore, I was able to complete the easy practice tests with five minutes to spare on each section, while on the actual test, I was finishing just in time.

The about the author section says, "Steve scored in the 99th percentile on every standardized test he has ever taken." Was the GRE was one of those tests? Following his own advice, I doubt he would get over 500 on each section.

Just thought I'd echo the comments of some of the other reviewers--far too easy compared to the actual test and inexplicably has math section at 30 minutes instead of 45.

Be very cautious when using this book to study for the GRE exam. My actual test scores were 100 points BELOW my practice exam scores. This book may be good to help you understand how the test is administered, but do not think that your practice exam scores give a realistic estimate of how you will actually perform. The test is being revised for 2011 anyway, but I'm sure the same issue will apply.

Both the book and CD were in excellent condition when I received them. Service was fast. This is my first time as an Amazon customer and I was very impressed with value, condition, and shipping. K.