What is the best GRE study guide?

I am specifically interested in study guides that will help me get a high score on the quantitative portion of the exam. (I am targeting anything above 780, but obviously hitting 800 would be ideal).

5/13/2010 7:38:44 AM

Quote :

"Major : Criminal Justice"

?

[Edited on May 13, 2010 at 7:58 AM. Reason : it has been pointed out to me that his entire profile is a joke, which i did not notice.]

5/13/2010 7:46:16 AM

I used the Kaplan edition with the cd.. the book has practice tests and the CD does as well (which helps a lot with focusing on time).

5/13/2010 8:42:07 AM

How does Bruce Wayne and Gotham City not tell you its a joke?

5/13/2010 10:55:15 AM

b/c i didn't read it.

5/13/2010 10:57:54 AM

What's so funny about that? I'm just your average, orphan playboy. Nothing special to see in my profile (except maybe evidence of my carefree life style).

Anyways...

Samewise, did you find the quant portions of the Kaplan test to be representative of what you saw on the exam? I've heard some people that used Kaplan and Priceton Review and found that they did really well on the practice exams, but not so great on the actual exam (one person said he scored 800 on quant portion of practice exam and only 760 on actual). Of course that was like 4 years ago.

5/13/2010 11:05:34 AM

the difference between 800 and 760 can be quite small, if i understand the scoring system correctly.

5/13/2010 11:16:10 AM

To be completely honest, Socks, I did TERRIBLE on the practice tests. Every time. I think the highest score I got was like 60% or something (they grade theirs a little differently)... So according to that, I should've done really awful. I ended up making a 680 on the quantitative portion of the test (not what you're shooting for, but keep in mind I am one of the world's worst test takers)... I was in the 67th percentile. Also, I could tell I was doing fairly well towards the end because it started getting into pre-calculus and I think if I hadn't screwed up a few questions (which I thought about after and realized I made a mistake), I could've gone into basic calc (which I think is a sign you're nearing the 800 score). So basically, if you start seeing questions that are pre-calc/calc I you're doing well.

Also, that book and the box of vocab words saved my life. 81st percentile in vocab, woot

5/13/2010 11:36:54 AM

That's a good comment about knowing how good you are doing by the type of questions asked. At the end of the GRE you will be asked if you want to submit the test (and you will learn your score instantly) or cancel it, and you'll never know how you did.

Since you are shooting for a high 700, it can be tricky to gauge if you hit the mark. Among other tests, I repeatedly took the online GRE test through the official site. Even though it is the same test, it actually throws a lot of different questions at you. Since it is a "progressive" test it will get harder the better you do (and in a hurry). As the previous poster said, they recognized by the pre-calc questions they were at a certain level. Likewise, you will start recognizing other classes of questions commensurate with certain score ranges. Like when you get into the 700s, you start seeing lot's combinations and permutations, and etc. Having this sense will give you some extra decision power when it comes time to accept or cancel the test.

5/13/2010 10:54:25 PM

Like I said in the other thread, if you want a high quant score just do as many of the practice tests as you can. I got the princeton review, went through all the math problems multiple times, went through the practice tests they give you access too, used the free test kaplan gives you, and last the practice tests ets gives you.

The whole key is noticing the little tricks they try to get you with and getting the timing down. I got a 770 on the quant and the only reason I didn't get higher is because I ran out of time at the very end and had to rush more than I wanted. The questions aren't hard at all they are just really stupid tricks that you would normally never encounter once you get into a higher level math course.

5/14/2010 7:34:41 AM

Quote :

"I got a 770 on the quant and the only reason I didn't get higher is because I ran out of time at the very end and had to rush more than I wanted."

so what you're saying is, you're just like everyone who didn't get an 800?

5/14/2010 8:04:52 AM

Quote :

"so what you're saying is, you're just like everyone who didn't get an 800?"

No not really, I was more focusing on the fact that time is pretty important on the test. I had about 2 minutes for the last 3 or 4 questions (can't exactly remember) and it wasn't that they were hard but since you are better off finishing I didn't get a chance to do my best. Hence giving advice to take many practice tests to get better at the timing.

5/14/2010 5:24:57 PM

Quote :

"I've heard some people that used Kaplan and Priceton Review and found that they did really well on the practice exams, but not so great on the actual exam (one person said he scored 800 on quant portion of practice exam and only 760 on actual)."

That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard in Study Hall.

OMFG SOMEONE GOT A DIFFERENT SCORE ON THE ACTUAL TEST COMPARED TO THE PRACTICE TEST!!!

No wai!!!

5/14/2010 8:10:46 PM

^ ha, yah because that the only point i was making--not whether the person believed that the Kaplan books left him ill prepared for the actual exam.

troll else where, person with a vaguely familiar screen name.

5/14/2010 9:15:38 PM

1 data point
Insignificant score difference

=

?

Hey, I scored 760 on average on the practice test of the Barron's guides, but got an 800 on the actual one. So let's analyze what that says about the Barron's guides.

5/15/2010 12:58:03 PM

Exactly, it equals a question. He felt that Kaplan practice tests under represented the harder questions that pop up as you get closer to 800 so he didnt feel as prepared for them. So I was asking if anyone else felt under prepared when using the book.

But good grief the last thing I need to be doing on a sat is justifying myself to some random troll.

Everyone else has given some good recommendations and im prob going to pick a guide up this weekend (already been wokring with the ETS math review). So you can continue to flex your e-dick if you like, but I got the info I needed.

Peace!

[Edited on May 15, 2010 at 1:14 PM. Reason : ``]

5/15/2010 1:10:02 PM

My point was that 1 data point means nothing. And even if 2 more people on here experienced what your friend did, still doesn't say anything. You are not going to get a few tens or hundreds of data points from TWW, are you?

Anyway, here is my experience:

I took the GRE in 1999 in my junior year after studying for just 3-4 weeks. I used Barron's and the official ETS guides. I am naturally good at math and I love standardized tests, so I didn't really spend much time on math. Spent a lot of time going over verbal and analytical sections.

And yes, I did get an 800 (this is e-dick flexing!) on the quant section, so it is doable. Just make sure you know ALL the formulas (geometry, trig, etc) and relationships in the study guides. Make sure you can solve all the practical problems, such as work problems, rate/distance problems, mixture problems, interest problems, etc.

Things you should know:

first 20 squares
first 10 cubes
prime numbers
prime factoring
divisibility rules
a few pythagorean triples
fraction/percentage/decimal representations of some common fractional numbers
percentage increase/decrease
percentage discount
inverse percentage problems
ratios/proportions
laws of exponents/radicals
arithmetic involving fractions
formulas for area
formulas for surface area and volume
types of triangles
types of quadrilaterals
circles
angles formed when a line cuts 2 parallel lines
scaling up/down in 2D and 3D
practical problem solving techniques (some types listed above)
basic factoring and simplifying
solving linear and quadratic equations
simultaneous linear equations
linear functions (finding equation, graphing, finding slope/intercepts, checking parallel/perpendicular)
linear inequalities
metric units
trigonometry (is it on the GRE? i don't think so!)
basic stats and probability
combinations and permutations
venn diagrams (for sets and prob questions)

I think that should cover it all... if I think of anything more, I will post tomorrow.

So I hope you can see that I wasn't trolling. I hardly ever troll even in chit chat.

Good luck!

P.S. I LOVE Barron's guides. Used it for the SAT as well. In my experience, Barron's has slightly tougher questions than most of the other big name guides. But if you want to practice with actual past questions, then of course only the official ETS guides have those.


[Edited on May 15, 2010 at 3:53 PM. Reason : ]

5/15/2010 3:37:00 PM

Just looked on the GRE site and found these 3 very relevant links:

Quant topics (very brief)
http://www.ets.org/gre/general/prepare/tips/quantitative_reasoning_concepts/index.html

69 page thorough math review
http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/GREmathPractice.pdf

80 page prep booklet (all sections)
http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/gre_0809_practice_book.pdf

5/15/2010 3:54:57 PM

For myself, Barron's was by far the best study guide. I scored an 800 on the math because they have tests at the end of each section, so I focused on my weaknesses and scored really well. Their verbal section is solid too if you take the time to memorize the 300 most common words on the GRE.

5/20/2010 12:36:14 PM

I'm guessing you already know about the Powerprep software offered by ETS? I used a Kaplan study guide, but I am crap at math to begin with.

Just out of curiosity, how did you guys' verbal scores compare to the math? I never did get my essay scores back.

5/20/2010 2:01:12 PM

^ How come you never got them? They are on the official score report, so if you got the report in mail...?

Anyway, I took the GRE in 1999 after studying/practicing for a month (my junior year), and at that time, there was no writing section, rather, the Analytical section with logic questions.

My scores:

Q: 800 (99th %ile)
A: 690 (89th %ile)
V: 630 (91st %ile)

5/20/2010 3:18:58 PM

Is Barron's good for verbal too? I'm a math major so I know I'm super screwed on the verbal because I do not get along with big words.

5/20/2010 10:45:06 PM

Yeah, I used Barron's for both the SAT and the GRE, and did extremely well on the Verbal sections of both (720 on SAT [99th %ile] and 630 on the GRE [91st %ile]).

For the SAT, I memorized 800 words in 20 days, and for the GRE I memorized the 300 most frequently occurring words list. And it helped. Of course, I also practiced a lot with reading comprehension and sentence corrections.

Barron's, in my experience, tends to have harder questions than the actual tests.

5/21/2010 7:36:30 AM

Thanks, I went out and bought the Barron general GRE and essential words today.

One more question..did anyone have to take the subject test for math and have a book to suggest? The only one B&N had was Kaplan and I haven't heard any good things about their books.

5/21/2010 6:51:29 PM

No, I didn't do any GRE Subject Tests. (not cut out for a PhD!)

I would suggest going to amazon and reading reviews of books by the popular publishers (Kaplan, Princeton Review, Barron's, ETS, etc), and then buying the best one online.

Good luck!

5/23/2010 5:02:40 PM

bttt.... I'm taking this thing next Saturday. Is it as easy as people say it is? I've been studying my Kaplan book but haven't been doing too well on the practice tests.

7/22/2010 7:00:07 PM

I used the kaplan cd and book. Top 10% or better across the board, could have done better if I'd given a shit about studying for verbal. 800 on the math so I didn't see a need to retake in an effort to bump the verbal a couple points. I have always done well with tests though, did well on the SAT and this was pretty much the same thing with bigger words.

7/23/2010 11:56:19 AM

dont study and get a 770 like me.

i mean, if by now, you dont know it... you're probably not going to do that much better.

7/25/2010 2:58:24 PM

True that... the practice tests do seem to be paying off though... Took one of their CAT practice tests on the computer and got 790 math, 560 verbal. I feel better about the whole thing now. We'll see how it goes.

7/25/2010 4:31:17 PM