Customer Reviews

Princeton Review: Cracking the GRE CAT with Sample Tests on CD-ROM, 2000 Edition

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

 

 

Overall, this book establishes a strong approach to the GRE Cat with several useful techniques for analyzing questions (particularly for the Verbal and Analytical sections.) However, these techniques are not always intuitive and therefore must be practiced! Those of you who want to find significant results with this book will probably have to adopt a strong work ethic that includes consistency in applying the techniques.

At first, application of the techniques seemed to swallow time, which was extremely frustrating, but after MUCH practice and drilling they became automatic. In the end, the techniques saved me time by narrowing in on the questions and eliminating the superfluous or irrelevant. Karen Lurie also includes a solid REVIEW of high school level math, but the expectation, as evident from the explanations to practice problems, is that you have already learned and remember the fundamentals.

Therein also lies the book and software's WEAKNESS: Explanations are not always as thorough as one might like- for example, she will not work out all the math for you in a math explanation, she will not draw out a chart in a game explanation (software only,) and she won't give you complete definitions on each word in a Verbal explanation. I believe one is expected to know and/or deduct certain "obvious" conclusions for themselves.

Another major flaw of the Software is that you will see the majority of the questions repeated several times (particularly for the Games,) which makes it difficult to drill effectively past a certain (repetition) point. Also, the HIT PARADE is a great way to learn new vocabulary, and you will see these words frequently on the software thereby inflating your Analytical score. What actually happens on the real exam is that you see maybe two (in my case) of the HIT PARADE words, which CAN improve your actual score, but note that the standard deviation will probably be smaller. There are also some annoying typos in the book that are easy to overlook if you are secure with the presented information.

I DO RECOMMEND this book for SELF MOTIVATORS who feel they already have a basic grasp on standardized test taking but want to refine their skills and improve their timing through techniques. You may want to purchase supplementary practice exams/ drill materials: for example, Powerprep Software published by ETS, and an Analytical Game drill book.

I purchased both the Princeton Review and the Kaplan GRE 1999-2000 edition book. I found that while the Princeton Review book had some good pointers, the Kaplan book was better organized and a lot easier (for me at least) to study from. If you're only going to buy one book, I'd suggest passing this one up and getting the Kaplan book.

What really sold me on Kaplan was the fact that they divided up their list of vocab words into categories, instead of one big list.

While the techniques advocated by Princeton Review are very helpful, the software is not. After three hours on hold with their support, the tests still freeze up and cannot be scored. Without this software, the book is grossly overpriced.

I bought this book, studied for a couple of hours a day for three weeks, made flash cards and learned many of the words on the vocabulary list, took the practice tests on the CD without too many problems (over a period of 6 days), took the GRE, did well, and was admitted to graduate school. It required steady work, but I believe that the book was well worth it in terms of going in to the testing center on the test day and being fairly comfortable (though nervous) with the types of questions and ways of approaching them. I actually found that the math on the actual GRE CAT was easier than I had expected. My plan was to take the GRE only once, if possible, and with the help of this book, my scores were better than anticipated. Because I graduated from college many (30) years ago, I am certain that without the book, I would have had significantly lower scores in all three of the areas.

I took several practice tests from it and it really improved my score. Having that many exams to study from allowed me the freedom to constantly do homework problems from the exams without fearing I would run out of exams to take. My scores increased 340pts over the first time I took the GRE's and I do believe it was partly due to the book. P.S. my scores were Verbal 620, Quantitative 700, Analytical 570

I used four resources to prepare for the GRE - Barron's, Kaplan, this book and ETS's Powerprep Software. Each contributed positively to my preparation except Princeton Review. Barron's provided me its priceless 3500-word vocabulary list, Kaplan provided me a solidly informative and entertaining CD-ROM and ETS provided me sample tests that identically replicate the actual test (and for the most part, scores) you will confront on test day. Princeton Review's GRE prep book/CD-ROM, however, seems to offer nothing else necessary to the equation. In fact, the computer adaptive test scores were wildly inaccurate compared to other CAT practice tests. My Kaplan CAT scores were generally (but consistently) lower than my actual results while my ETS scores were quite accurate. My Princeton Review CAT scores were inaccurate in many ways, higher in some sections and lower in others. In a nutshell, with so many other high-quality materials available, I wouldn't recommend this preparatory material unless you have no other alternative.

I have been waiting to write this review for many agonizing weeks, and lo and behold, the time has come at last! Excuse the flowery language, it must be from eating, drinking and sleeping words like discombobulated (sp) and the millions of other "dated" words that are fair game for the GRE. I just took the test and am enjoying my newly found freedom! It is finally over and I have a lot to say to you, the reader, who is undoubtedly about to undergo this excruciating process. First of all, don't worry, it can be done. My scores, since this is of some relevance were V680 (94%) Q650 (66%) and A610 (65%). I really needed to do well on the verbal and I have advise for those of you who would like to supplement your verbal skills--one word: "BARRON's." I believe the book has about 120 pages of words, yes this is a lot, but over a month you can learn them all, remember you are learning to recognize more than anything else. So learn those words and you will have a verbal edge. As far as this book, it is lacking as far as vocab, but for those of you who are not good at math, this is the book to buy along with Vlk's GRE for dummies. Is assumes nothing, and best of all, it doesn't get into all that "math," meaning equations and garbage. Sorry if that was offensive. Boths books tell you how to do the problems in a simple, no brainer way. The CD, however, is not all that. The tests are not like the reall thing in any way. spend a few more bucks and get ETS powerprepl.

Lots of typo's, even on test questions, which is a real problem when you're practicing for a standardized test. Also, give advice about problem-solving strategies, and then later on in explanations for practice questions, fail to follow their own prior advice! This seems to be a review book that was quickly and carelessly thrown together. Admittedly, some helpful advice and strategies are given in the book.

The book is fine - does everythign you need a GRE-prep book to do. But the CD-ROM practice tests have a nasty habit of freezing up the computer everytime I don't finish a test in the alloted time. I don't get my score, and I have to reboot the computer. This makes me pretty unhappy.

the software has all kinds of problems- see Beer's review. also, the author admits that this book and cd-rom CANNOT USE ACTUAL TEST QUESTIONS- only ets can- and recommends that you buy ets books and software as well. don't waste your money on this