Gre: Practicing to Take the General Test : Big Book (Gre Practicing to Take the General Test: Big Book) (Paperback)

by Educational Testing Services (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
These practice workbooks and guides contain essential information for those preparing for GRE subject tests, including practice questions, full-length practice tests that were actually administered at international GRE subject test administrations, answer sheets, correct answers, score conversion tables, and performance data for students who took the tests. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author
Educational Testing Service (ETS) is the world's premier educational testing organization and the only publisher of GRE and TOEFL test preparation materials containing authentic test questions from start to finish. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1083 pages
• Publisher: Educational Testing Serv (October 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446396001
• ISBN-13: 978-0446396004
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (102 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #131,322 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

369 of 386 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Helpful.....Sort of, October 2, 2002

By	Morris "mcohen1981" (Palo Alto, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: GRE: Practicing to Take the General Test (9th Edition) (Paperback)

So, you want to take the GRE. You think to yourself "Gee, I should take a lot of practice tests", so now you want to buy this book. Well, it's somewhat helpful, but you'll find that the real test, taken on the computer, feels much different.

I had much more trouble finishing on time for the real test than I did in these practice tests- particularly for the analytical section. The questions on the real test seemed harder than these practice tests. All my friends who have recently taken the GREs and studied with practice tests agree with that, so it's not just me. You also cant go backwards, look ahead, omit questions, or sketch notes on the paper [i usually like to draw on the diagram in the math section]

Rather than paying money for this book, just go download ETS's powerprep software. It's free, and it has two practice tests exactly the way you'll see them when you take it for real. Take one test, identify your weakness, study that part, take the other practice test, and then you're ready. Besides, the GRE is so similar to the SAT, you dont need to study too much for it.

In short, dont treat this as a collection of practice tests, but treat it as a collection of practice problems, and that makes it less helpful for test preparation.

244 of 255 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Led Astray by ETS, November 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Gre: Practicing to Take the General Test (Practicing to Take the Gre General Test) (Paperback)

I exptected this book to be one of the best since it is written by the people whose motto is: 'We prepare the tests -- let us help prepare you.' I was beyond disappointed. I'll make this simple. THIS BOOK IS GOOD FOR: Individuals who have enough self-initiative to take the practice tests, check their answers, and determine by themselves how ETS came up with the 'best' answer. THIS BOOK IS NOT GOOD FOR: anyone else! There are 6 GRE practice tests. GREAT! However, only one of them has complete explanations! This is extremely frustrating when trying to figure out how and why you answered certain questions wrong because you need to figure it out for yourself. If you answered the question wrong in the first place, it's very possible that you still won't have a clue as to why you answered it wrong after you see the correct answer. Practice exams should most certainly explain what the 'best answer' is so that when it comes to taking the real thing you know the methodology behind choosing the answers. Sorry ETS.

87 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paper test scores are an accurate reflection of the CAT, December 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: GRE: Practicing to Take the General Test (9th Edition) (Paperback)

Since I was studying for the GRE on a shoestring budget, I skipped the expensive test prep courses and bought this book, along with 2 others, to help me prep for the test. My initial concern when I ordered this book was that it wouldn't be able to accurately predict what kind of score I would get on the computer based test, since the entire book is (obviously) full of paper based tests which are set up in a totally different format than the CAT. Yup, I was pretty skeptical of ETS's claims that scores on the paper test should correlate with those of the CAT.

When I finally took the GRE, I was surprised to find that my scores on the CAT were pretty close to how I had scored on the practice tests in this book. (within about a 30 point margin - the only exception was my quantitative score which was about 70 points higher on the CAT... still fairly close, though)

I would recommend this book for people who are studying for the GRE themselves (without the help of prep courses) and would like to get an idea of how they might score. (Having some idea of how I might do made me less nervous about taking the real test.)

Be warned though, that the soul purpose of this book is to give an indication of your possible performance: it won't help you pinpoint where your weaknesses are or give you lists of vocab words, practice problems, etc. It is simply a book of practice tests. Be sure to buy a few other books which can isolate your weaknesses and provide practice problems on the sections you need the most help with.

Good luck!