Customer Reviews

The Best Test Preparation for the GRE Chemistry Test

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

 

 

The problem with this book is relevance. The practice problems are not entirely reflective of the actual questions on the exam. If you wish to practice chemistry, than this book is fine; however, if you are preparing for the GRE Chemistry exam, then you will be sorely disappointed when you actually take the real exam, because the questions that you have been practicing on are sometimes not relevant. I believe that the publishers have republished corrected problems every few years, but have not recently touched base with actual problems from the real exam. Because of this, the questions seem to be outdated.

This book contains no test material from any bonafide chemistry GREs. Instead it contains material that is "based on the most recent GREs." Many of the subtleties and difficulties of the real chem GRE are lost in the translation. If you compare this with the other test-prep books that actually contain old GREs, you will see the difference in many of the questions. I feel sorry for anyone who uses this as their sole test preparation booklet. It is quite misleading. Although many of the questions in this book are indeed reflective of some the topics that are covered, it is not up-to-date and some newer topics are left out. The explanations accompanying the answers at the ends of each test are nice, but it doesn't make up for the significant mismatch in level of difficulty for many questions (although some are okay). The questions on the real thing are designed to be tricky. The designs of many of the questions in this book are simpleminded and too straightforward in comparison. It might be marginally helpful to you after you have gone through some of the other available test booklets (which I strongly recommend) as a review, but do not count on this as your main review book or you will be surprised in a bad way. 1.5-1.75 stars at best.
P.S. I scored in the 82nd percentile. My best advice: GET BOOKLETS WITH BONAFIDE PAST TEST MATERIAL

When I was looking for books with tests to practice for Chemistry GRE, I was really disappointed at the lack of selection. Many people recommended getting the original tests to practice on, but how do I get them? The chemistry field hasn't changed very much in the past few decades, so the last book ETS put out was in 1996 and that cost 121.50 on Amazon!!! This REA Test prep book is the next best thing. I took 3 out of the 5 full-length tests and selectively tested myself on my weak areas in the last two. That plus the free GRE test I got from ETS (when I signed up for the test) was enough to prep me for the real thing. Yeah, there are a couple of questions and answers that don't match, but most of the answers are correct and are explained well and is still better than the Princeton Review Chemistry book that I also got. Another good point is that all the tests were 150 questions. So when I practiced taking the test, I paced to 150 questions for 2hr50min. The real test on my particular test date had only 136 questions. As a result, I had plenty of time left to go over questions that I missed or would like to double check. I think this book helped me pinpoint my weak areas and helped me feel comfortable with the format of the actual exam.

I bought this book for practising real GRE chemistry tests and wasn't disappointed by the test material it contains.

Unfortunately, several solutions are simply wrong. Additionally, the book contains lots of typographical errors that make it hard to select the correct answer choice. Chemical formulas are often written incorrectly, too.

For example, one question asked about the REAL gas law, while the solution dealt with the IDEAL gas law. Sometimes the explanations do not even match with the possible answer choices.

The book is recommendable if you intend to practice for the test without paying the money for ETS' book, but you must be aware of the fact that a discrepance between your solution and the "correct" answer choice doesn't necessarily mean you're wrong.

This book is exactly what it is marketed to be. It has 5 former chemistry exams, all of which have answers and accompanying explanations.
The nice thing about the exams are that they make you think critically about the material that you will be tested on. Also, taking the tests within the time limit forces you to work faster.
The problem: none of the exams are newer than 1988. While the materials tested are similar, the format of the tests are different from the recent exams. Just a few points: the exam is still 170 mins., but only 130-135 questions. Unlike those in the book, the newer exam does not require much calculation. Most importantly, the type of question asked has changed.
To use this book best, I would recommend studying the subject material first and then taking these practice tests to apply what you studied and identify any holes in your knowledge. Afterward, check out the ETS site for a current, free practice exam (without explanations) to get an idea of what you will actually be tested on.

Good luck!

Just so everyone is clear, this book was published in 1988...this information is not included in the product details. upsetting.

I purchased this book two years ago to study for my GRE test. It is only good if you already know the material very well and only use it for a review. It is a poor representation of what the actual GRE exam is.

Why can't someone make a good chemistry GRE review book? This one is rife with errors, obsolete questions, and has the test format wrong (too many questions per a given period of time). The answers are helpful, but for many I ended up having to look them up anyway. And when I say errors, I mean many errors which will have you scratching your head to answer a question only to realize the right answer does not exist, as it is obscured by a typo. Occasionally their answers are scientifically incorrect as well.

That said, this book has some value, but mostly if you've already reviewed the material and are simply looking to practice.

All and all, it might be worth the money to have some extra practice problems. But this book is good for little else. You'll need textbooks.

This book was terrible. Its cover promises that it gives "detailed answers to all the questions," but that's not even close to true. The answers are usually extremely short on fact, and the practice questions aren't even close to what the ETS's released sample asks (my favorite example from this book: "What is brass?"). The formatting often makes it impossible to determine what they are asking. This is by far the single worst test prep. book I have EVER seen.

There are 5 comprehensive exams, each of which reflects todays GRE exams: 30% Organic, 30% Physical, 25% Inorganic and 15% Analytical. The 2000 version of REA's Chemistry GRE preparation booklet is an excellent review of both format and actual content of the Chemistry GRE.