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Are the GRE practice books I'm buying sufficient ?

roni

roni

Cornell FE
Joined
3/19/09
Messages
608
Points
38
1) Barron's GRE with CD-ROM

2) GRE Prep Course with Software and Online Course - maybe I'll also buy the "GRE Math Bible"

3) Essential Words for the GRE (Barron's Essential Words)
OR
Kaplan GRE Exam Vocabulary in a Box
OR
Barron's GRE Flash Cards
Which one of the these three you suggest ?

So I'll have these three books + will use whatever the ETS offers online....

You think it'd be enough ??

Am not thinking of taking the math subject GRE yet... first want to finish up with the general GRE ....

Thanks,
Roni.
 
Overkill, in my opinion. Then again, whatever makes you feel prepared and comfortable for the test should be the rule of thumb here.
 
Wirelessly posted



why do you need all those vocabulary books? Are you going for mfe?
 
Eugene Krel said:
Wirelessly posted



why do you need all those vocabulary books? Are you going for mfe?
Click to expand...
I am going for MFE. And I don't want to buy all these vocab books. For the third category I'm buying only one and wanted to ask which one of the three is best.
 
bluechimp said:
Overkill, in my opinion. Then again, whatever makes you feel prepared and comfortable for the test should be the rule of thumb here.
Click to expand...
three books is overkill ?
Baroon's
GRE Prep Course
and one of the vocab books/ flash cards

This is too much ?

what is your suggestion ?
 
If I were you I would start with the math workbook, then move on to Barron's GRE. When are you taking the test?
 
CGiuliano said:
If I were you I would start with the math workbook, then move on to Barron's GRE. When are you taking the test?
Click to expand...
haven't decided yet... probably April or next summer... will need to check the exact dates...
again, what's so good about Barron's Math Workbook ?
 
Unless you know no English whatsoever, which doesn't appear to be the case, I would suggest forgetting about the vocabulary and spending your time on something else.
 
It breaks the math down into sections i.e. numbers, algebra, data analysis, geometry... Then it breaks the sections into sections i.e. geometry-- angles, perimeter..etc. It has tons of example problems which it walks you through and then it has two full GRE math sections.

Unless you remember all of these rules you learned in high school, you may want to have a concise section for every concept that will appear on the GRE. Also, it gives tips on strategies and problem solving and tells you stuff to memorize i.e. powers of 2, perfect squares, 13,14,15...times tables..etc I am not taking the GRE for another two years, but I have this book to brush up on all this elementary stuff. By the time the test rolls around, I won't even have to think twice about how to attack a specific problem and I will have most of the arithmetic committed to heart.

Now THAT is overkill :dance:
 
i personally think being able to do well on the gre math with no practice should be a given for being in an mfe program..?
 
doing well and scoring 790 or 800 are two very different things
 
ranald said:
i personally think being able to do well on the gre math with no practice should be a given for being in an mfe program..?
Click to expand...

I disagree.

I've already taken the practice GRE several times and scored 800Q on my third, but this was without being timed. Also, I find mastering elementary math to be very useful for advanced math courses. Things like rapid calculation and problem solving insight come from practice.
 
Everybody takes the GREs differently. What works for one person may not work for someone else. Personally I just did the practice math tests available online and that was enough for me to get what I wanted.
 
Obviously different things work for different people, but I will share my experience (I scored an 800Q on my first attempt).

The best strategy is an iterative process where you do a practice test, and then review what you got right/wrong. So jump right in, and do a test, putting a star next to any problems that took you an abnormally long time or that you guessed on. I would stress that you obey the actual time limit given for any practice test, as the goal is to get fast and accurate. Afterwards put an X next to the ones you got wrong. Figure out what kinds of problems these are and if it was something you truly didn't know, or something you need to learn a better strategy in solving.

The best book for this is "GRE: Preparing to Take the General Test". This book is published by ETS (makers of the test) and it consists of 10 old actual tests. I have a link here to the 9th edition although I am pretty sure there is a newer one.

http://www.amazon.com/GRE-Practicin...1866/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1249932761&sr=8-2

Pick up a Kaplan book as they give some nice pointers and time-saving tricks. Barron's migh also work but I have not used it myself so I can't vouch for it. Avoid the Princeton Review books, they have way too many typos/errors. You shouldn't really need more than 2 prep books.

I did the PowerPrep software last, a week or so before the test. I didn't find it that difficult to get used to the software but it's something you should do before taking the real thing.

I did not spend more than maybe 2 hours total studying for the verbal section as it has less importance for MFE. (I ended up doing reasonably well, 640).
 
CGiuliano,

It probably makes sense to prep for the test closer to your test date, remember you *did* learn all of the material on the test in high school but you probably forgot some of it because you haven't used it in a while. The same thing will happen again.

I did the prep that I mentioned in my last post in the month before my exam.
 
iddqd said:
Obviously different things work for different people, but I will share my experience (I scored an 800Q on my first attempt).

The best strategy is an iterative process where you do a practice test, and then review what you got right/wrong. So jump right in, and do a test, putting a star next to any problems that took you an abnormally long time or that you guessed on. I would stress that you obey the actual time limit given for any practice test, as the goal is to get fast and accurate. Afterwards put an X next to the ones you got wrong. Figure out what kinds of problems these are and if it was something you truly didn't know, or something you need to learn a better strategy in solving.

The best book for this is "GRE: Preparing to Take the General Test". This book is published by ETS (makers of the test) and it consists of 10 old actual tests. I have a link here to the 9th edition although I am pretty sure there is a newer one.

http://www.amazon.com/GRE-Practicin...1866/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1249932761&sr=8-2

Pick up a Kaplan book as they give some nice pointers and time-saving tricks. Barron's migh also work but I have not used it myself so I can't vouch for it. Avoid the Princeton Review books, they have way too many typos/errors. You shouldn't really need more than 2 prep books.

I did the PowerPrep software last, a week or so before the test. I didn't find it that difficult to get used to the software but it's something you should do before taking the real thing.

I did not spend more than maybe 2 hours total studying for the verbal section as it has less importance for MFE. (I ended up doing reasonably well, 640).
Click to expand...
thank you for sharing your experience :)
 
iddqd said:
CGiuliano,

It probably makes sense to prep for the test closer to your test date, remember you *did* learn all of the material on the test in high school but you probably forgot some of it because you haven't used it in a while. The same thing will happen again.

I did the prep that I mentioned in my last post in the month before my exam.
Click to expand...

I don't think it will hurt.
 
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