Customer Reviews

How to Prepare for the GRE with CD-ROM (Barron's How to Prepare for the Gre Graduate Record Examination)(16th Edition)

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I have used nearly every book available to study for the GRE, and this is the most complete one. It is also one of the least annoying.

It has a huge word list divided between 300 most frequent, and 3300 next most frequent. Other than taking practice tests, memorizing tons of words is the best way to significantly improve your verbal score, tedious though it may be. (Besides, most of them are good to know anyway.)

It has a very extensive math review. The math review is quite long, and teaches you the almost all of the math you will need to know for the test, plus of course strategies designed to save time, and do problems more simply, geared toward the style of problems on the test. Furthermore, the practice problems in the book are sort of cleverly designed to teach you more about the material, make you realize certain tricky little things about certain mathematical relationships.

It is not annoying like Kaplan, (which mentions the word 'Kaplan' about thirty-eight times per paragraph) or Princeton Review, which try to focus on 'beating' or 'cracking' the GRE. You cannot beat or crack something designed by a bunch of PhDs to measure raw knowledge. This book is for people willing to put in serious amounts of time, with a significant result. Personally, I would prefer assiduous use of this book over one of those expensive classes even.

However, HERE IS THE ANNOYING AND UNSCRUPULOUS PART OF THIS BOOK: ON THE CD ROM, THE 'DIAGNOSTIC TEST' SCORING SYSTEM VERSUS THE SCORING SYSTEM OF THE 'COMPUTER AIDED TEST' ARE DESIGNED TO MAKE YOU THINK YOU HAVE IMPROVED YOUR SCORE MORE THAN YOU HAVE.

By this I mean, they give you a lower score on their diagnostic test, which you take in the beginning, say 560 on the math, than you would get on their computer aided test (the one that is supposed to most accurately imitate the GRE) which you take when you are done studying, , which would be say 670, with the same amount and type of answers correct. This means that you take the diagnostic test, study with their book, then take their CAT, and think, "Wow, this book really helped my score! I am about to rock that GRE" When really, they rigged the test scores that way. (I know this because I saved both for the end.)

I still don't know which one is closer to the score on the real GRE, which I am about to take. But it seems to me that the lower score is the more accurate one, and the CAT score they give potentially gives false confidence. For example, I scored 800 twice on their CAT (and only 710 on the diagnostic). There is no way in hell that I am going to get 800 on the GRE. (By the way, dont feel jealous - I suck at the math.)

Also, it is my strong suspician that their Computer Aided test does not work like the one on the GRE. The GRE one gives slightly more difficult if you answer correctly, slightly less difficult if you answer incorrectly. This one definitely did not seem to do that.

Nevertheless, this did seem to be the best book around.

When I started studying for the GRE I purchased guides by Princeton and Kaplan, in addition to this guide. Of the three I think Barron's is far and away the best and most comprehensive. The math review helped me a great deal in the quantitative section; I have no doubt that without this guide my quantitative score would have been painfully low. This guide also, in my opinion, offers the only realistic solution to preparing for the verbal section--working diligently to expand one's vocabulary. There really isn't any way around it, you need to learn several hundred words if your vocabulary isn't already a strength. Over 3000 words and definitions are included which beats the tar out of the other two guides. You will find that many of these words you already know, but there will probably be many (~50%) that you don't.

I should mention that there were a few practice problems (less than five) in the verbal review section, particularly the reading comprehension exercises, that I found marked with questionable answers. (And I say this after I showed several highly intelligent friends the problems who agreed that they were most likely marked incorrectly.) In addition, on some of the quantitative comparison questions in the math review I found the boxes to be blank which indicates an error at the printing press. I haven't heard anyone else complain about this. Overall these complaints are minor and I still would have bought this guide knowing what I know now.

This guide definitely made me more competitive, so I would certainly recommend it. Please note however that the GRE format is expected to change in October and these changes will have some major implications for how to study for this exam, at least that is my understanding. Please check with the GRE website to confirm these changes. Good luck!

I just took the GRE and used only this book + the essay-writing materials on the GRE website to prepare. Running through the tutorials and exercises on CD is very valuable, since you get used to the question formats, directions & styles. It also familiarizes you with the computer interface, which could be a major stumbling block if you're not used to it and the adaptive testing style. I found the math on the actual test a bit more difficult than what was on the CD, but that may end up factored into the percentile ranks when I get my scores.

Overall, I found this to be comprehensive and purely focused on the content and format of the test (not marketing, seminar-plugging, 'tricks' and other distractions), with some nice strategies for difficult question types, pacing and other essentials. One week with this book helped me get a 750 verbal, 740 math. Go for it & best of luck! ;)

I didn't think I was going to go to graduate school the year after graduating, so I never bothered to study for the test, thinking I had some more time. I ended up coming to the conclusion that I had to go immediately, so with less than a month before the test, I purchased this book and crammed every day for two and a half weeks. I ended up with a 1480 (720 verb, 760 quant, 5.5 analytical) and this was my sole study guide. There were a few errors in the book, specifically missing information or answers in several of the math review sections. Those were bothersome, but they didn't stop me from being able to understand what the test wanted me to know.

Overall, it's a good solid book that brought up to speed in math quickly and effectively, focusing on the techniques that I needed to deciphering the GRE's question structure. Without this book, there is no way I would have scored as well as I did.

I just took the GRE today. I got a 660 verbal/660 quantitative. I was thrilled with that score; I was hoping to get a 1200, but got a 1320 instead. I studied with this book and 2 older (circa 2000) books. The older books were freebies, and after I worked through most of them I ordered this book and the PassKey(just to be thorough-I'm that way). I would have been better off just using this book exclusively. This was VERY helpful to me.

I am coming into grad school after being out of school for 18 years so I had a LOT of reviewing to do.

I started studying INTENSELY (full-time, 6-9 hrs a day-can't study too much math or I get a headache) for about 2.5-3 weeks before the exam. That was a bit extreme, but if I can do it in that amount of time, anyone can. I felt like I had the just the right amount of preparation for the GRE.

Although a few of the reviews here stated that the math section was easier on the actual test than the problems/practice exams in this book, I didn't find that to be the case. This book is packed with excellent math review concepts, test-taking tactics, practice problems AND additionally 5 full practice exams. Also, contrary to another review that I saw here, I didn't find any mistakes/typos in this book.

I would say skip the flashcards and make your own. Just go off the 350 GRE frequently examined words list in this book or you can probably find it elsewhere. That sounds like a lot, but it's really not. Half of those words you probably already know. The clincher is that you have to know the subtle nuances of the meaning of the word. Don't just study the general meaning of the word, because that isn't good enough. That will become evident after you start working though some of the antonyms/analogy practice problems.

If you're like me, you're sweating the essays. Don't. Just spend about 2 days writing a few practice essays and you'll be good to go. For the writing section, this book's recommendations are quite good. That is: the vast majority of the the issue essay topics will cover some permutation of 8-12 broad themes. Examples are: What are the advantages/disadvantages of loyalty; teamwork; higher education; competition vs. cooperation; specialists vs. generalists; idealism vs. pragmatism, etc. Brainstorm about these topics; do free association; don't censor yourself. Separate the wheat from the chaff and you'll have 3 body paragraphs of your essay. Slap on an introduction and a conclusion. Don't write the intro first, because it will change after you've completed the body of your essay. Trust me on this. Next, although it is painful, flesh out 2 or 3 real essays and you're done.

Btw, the free PowerPrep software is definitely worth using (although the 640x480 mode is just stupid). Download it and work through the practice tests (there are 6 math and 3 verbal practice tests). However, beware of an inflated score when you take the final demo exam. The practice tests are harder than the demo exam, so keep that in mind when you receive your final "score". I would estimate that this program falsely elevated my score by about 100 points.

When you're taking the actual exam, you can't really gauge how you're doing. I was certain that I completely aced the verbal section and bombed the math section. I was sure to be painstakingly thorough on the first 1/3 of the math, totally blew my time (had 15 minutes left for 13 problems) and ended up edu-guessing on the last FIVE. But, amazingly, it worked out.

Lastly, don't get the PassKey book AND this book, because the PassKey book is a subset of this book. If you have > 1.5 weeks to study for the test, get this book. If you have < 1.5 weeks, go with the abbreviated version (the PassKey).

I tried a couple of books for the GRE and by far found the Barron's book to be the best, most comprehensive one out there. I took the test yesterday and am very happy with the results. I tried the Kaplan books and found them to be too easy and not comprehensive enough. I also tried another math review book (which I forget the name of) but stuck with the Barron's book. Reasons why I love this book:

- The practice tests and CD-ROM are highly realistic, although harder than the real thing. If you can do the questions in this book you are set for the test.

- The math review section is great, it covers EVERYTHING and is geared only towards the GRE, not other tests like other books on the market. Each section of the book contains a topic and it's easy to set goals, finish one topic a day or whatever. You review the subject and then there are a bunch of very realistic questions in GRE format to quiz you over what you just learned. I really liked this approach since it allowed me to break things up and make a nice study schedule. Plus the questions had all difficulty levels which was great practice.

- The book's verbal section is complete and contains a ton of words, including a list of crucial ones needed for the test. It has verbal practice sections which match the difficulty of the exam.

- It also contained 4 simulated tests plus a test on the CD-ROM. I recommend taking the diagnostic test to see what areas you should focus on then work hard on those areas. Take one of the other 3 diagonstic tests every once in a while to guage your progress.

- The last thing I liked was the test taking tips the book provided. They were great and allowed me to try to figure out answers to questions that I had no idea how to do.

The things I did not like about this book were:

- The analytic writing section was short and a little vague. I subsized my studying by going to the GRE website and using there $10 essay practice tools. It's a great way to simulate the test environment and, most importantly, you can see what the GRE considers a 6 answer, 5 answer, 4 answer..... And you can compare that to what you put down.

- The CD-Rom basically contained questions that were from the book. It says it's computer adaptive and the test did get harder but I did recognize some of the questions from the book.

Lastly, I would recommend NOT taking a review course unless you want to waste the money or don't have the discipline to study and use a book. The book basically contains everything you'll learn in a $1,000 class. I would also recommend using the GRE supplied software to take one of their practice tests. Good luck.

I bought a ton of GRE prep. books (Kaplan, Arco, Kaplan verbal workout, ETS official practice guide) but ended up ditching all of them for Barrons. Why? Because Barrons realizes that the only way to succeed on the GRE is with a healthy understanding of the facts and a ton of practice.

Barrons succeeds wonderfully as a prep book because they force you to realize that success can only come from hard work. Just flip through the book and you'll know what I mean. It is COMPREHENSIVE. It doesn't have hundreds of pages of tips and tricks like Kaplan does. There's actual material to learn from, and bunch of practice problems.

Barron's verbal preparation section is the strongest aspect of this book, by far. Besides have over 50 practice problems per question type (analogies, antontyms, reading comp, and sentence completions), they include 3000+ vocabulary words taken from over 20 years of practice tests and other sources. I knew that if I wanted to get a good verbal score, I had to memorize vocabulary words, and the ONLY test prep company to provide this many words in a handy guide was Barrons. I spent 2-4 hours a day for 74 days memorizing all 3000+ words and it paid off beautifully on the real test. I started out at a meager 570 on the verbal, my real score on the test was a 730 (99%). Basically, I knew the definitions to all the words I encountered on the test, and I have Barrons to thank.

The math portion doesn't measure up with the verbal section in this book. But it isn't bad either. Again, you get facts galore when you review the math section. However, it can get confusing because of poor organization. Plus, it seems like there is too much material on each page. It can be really be an eyesore, but its helpful nontheless. They do a good job covering what you'll see on the actual test.

Finally, there are the 5(!) practice exams at the end of the book. Practice is everything if you want to do well on the GRE, and Barrons provides it. I can say that the practice tests are somewhat accurate in portraying the actual test, but moreso for the verbal than the math section. Since the GRE is a CAT exam, the actual math questions change (harder) as you get more correct. That is, by the end of the test, the questions get pretty hard, much harder than Barrons would lead you believe.

The software is mediocre, probably not as good as Kaplans and far less comprehensive than the ETS's powerprep software. Use it for the CAT practice test.

From experience, I can say that if nothing else, this book truly PREPARES you for the test. I was never all that great at math, nor was I anything special in the verbal section. My target score was about 1350, and I fully expected to score that. But, after 2.5 months of Barrons (and powerprep), I scored a 1450. Thanks Barron's.

This is by far the best GRE guide on the market. The 3000 word list is definately worth memorizing, however I think it is a bit of overkill. This book provides everything you need to score high on the GRE quantitative. I used only this book for that and raised my score from a 400 when I first got the book to a 700 on the real GRE. I would recommend doing each of the mathematics reviews in the book first and then quickly going over each chapter one more time just to fill in any blank spots. Then study the tips for how to do the quantitative section in the first part of the book. If you do that you should know everything you need to know for the quantitative portion. One word of caution however, the questions on the GRE are different from what is in the book so I would use GRE Powerprep software to get the feel of the types of questions you will see. As far as the verbal section I would start with memorizing the top 300 words and then if you have time memorize the rest. Also work through each of the sections using the tips provided to help you figure out how to do them on the GRE. Finally, I would also recommend getting the newest Kaplan GRE book to brush up for the analytical writing section. Barrons doesn't have a lot for that portion of the test which is why I gave this book a rating of 4 stars instead of 5. Overall, good luck and remember that when you take the test the questions will seem really hard, but you will still get a score close to what you get on the Powerprep software.

I tend to over-research everything, so before embarking on my GRE preparation I spent the better part of a day in my neighborhood bookstore looking at the plethora (that's a GRE word right there) of prep books available for purchase. My eventual conclusion was that Barron's approach differs substantially from all the other guides in that it does not place much emphasis on "hacking" the GRE. Instead, it gives you well-thought out guidance and practice opportunities, all with the bare minimum of fluff (coughKaplancough). In any case, I became convinced that Barron's would be best suited for my studying style and goals, and it was therefore the only guide that I've used in the course of my GRE prep (along with some freely available ETS materials that I'll touch on in a sec).

So, a month later, with the test finally behind me and having scored in the high 700s on both sections (update: 5.0 on the AW portion, but that's always a crapshoot), I still feel that Barron's is a quality product. Firstly, the word lists are excellent; there were at least 3 words on the actual test that I wouldn't have known if it wasn't for Barron's "Essential" list. The ginormous 3500 word list is also quite useful, although I found the word selection to be a little arbitrary -- there are some weirdly specialized terms (e.g. "tessellated"), and a couple of words felt antiquated ("benison"? really?). I did like how Barron's went the extra mile with the example sentences -- some were unexpectedly clever and good for a chuckle. Having said that, Barron's also appears to place too much importance on distinguishing fine shades of meaning -- some of the analogies are almost guaranteed to give you a headache, and I thought that the Powerprep and the real GRE were considerably less anal-retentive. Also, the Analytical Writing section is quite short and won't help you much if your writing skills aren't already reasonably up to par. On the plus side, it has some valuable tips about adapting your writing to the GRE format; the information about structuring your essay was well thought out and matched up with the guidelines on the ETS website. So kudos on the verbal -- the actual test held no surprises there.

Now on to the math, which is a bit of a mixed bag. On the positive side, the math review is excellent, takes a while to work through, and has some pretty good exercises that get the brain cells firing. In fact, there were a couple of questions on the actual exam that contained "traps" that I was able to recognize quickly due to having seen them in Barron's earlier. However, the test experience on the Q section was very different from Barron's; the time constraints were intense, after the first few questions the level of difficulty increased substantially past anything I've seen in the book and didn't let up until the very end. I think this may also be why reviewers tend to disagree about whether or not the actual test is more difficult than the material contained in the book. This is probably due to the way the CAT works; it'll give you questions tailored to your level of knowledge. Thus, it's possible that some reviewers had questions that were easier than the book, and some whose questions were more difficult. Having said that, my GRE score were higher on the actual exam than on any of the practice tests from Barron's..

Given the information density, the book appears to be impressively error-free. My copy had some typesetting issues with a couple of Quantitative Comparison questions on the sample tests (one or both of the values were missing), but that wasn't overly bothersome. Unfortunately, the Barron's CD is essentially worthless as it repeats questions from the paper exams, and has a much different feel from the actual test experience. Make sure to download the PowerPrep software from the ETS website, as it has some excellent practice questions and the only good approximation to your score on the real exam. Note that if you are taking a PowerPrep practice test at night and your computer's clock rolls over to 12:00am, the software will inform you that you have just ran out of time and kick you out of your current section, so be careful.

Anyway, that's my take -- hope someone finds this useful..

If you need a high score in quantitive section of GRE, this is YOUR book!! The math review of this book is excellent. The questions are sometimes a little bit harder than the GRE questions, which prepares you to get the best score. That is what I did, I got 720 from the quantitive section. The vocabulary list needs to be memorized, if you are an international student like me, you better do it!! Well, I didn't, so my verbal section score sucks!! If you are intending to get a high score, I would absulately go for this book. DO NOT get the book WITH THE CD though, it doesn't work well, and it gets frustrating at times. Overall, a great study material, get this book without any hesitation.