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The Official Guide to the GRE Revised General Test [with CD-ROM]
Get the only official guide to the GRE(R) revised General Test that comes straight from the test makers If you're looking for the best, most authoritative guide to the GRE revised General Test, you've found it "The Official Guide to the GRE revised General Test" is the only GRE guide specially created by ETS--the people who actually make the test. It's packed with everything you need to do your best on the test--and move toward your graduate or business school degree.
Only ETS can show you exactly what to expect on the test, tell you precisely how the test is scored, and give you hundreds of authentic test questions for practice That makes this guide your most reliable and accurate source for everything you need to know about the GRE revised General Test.
No other guide to the GRE revised General Test gives you: Four complete, real tests--two in the book and two on CD-ROM Hundreds of authentic test questions--so you can study with the real thing In-depth descriptions of the Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning measures plus valuable tips for answering each question type Detailed overview of the two types of Analytical Writing essay tasks including scored sample responses and actual raters' comments Everything you need to know about the test, straight from the test makers
Only ETS can show you exactly what to expect on the test, tell you precisely how the test is scored, and give you hundreds of authentic test questions for practice That makes this guide your most reliable and accurate source for everything you need to know about the GRE revised General Test.
No other guide to the GRE revised General Test gives you: Four complete, real tests--two in the book and two on CD-ROM Hundreds of authentic test questions--so you can study with the real thing In-depth descriptions of the Verbal Reasoning and Quantitative Reasoning measures plus valuable tips for answering each question type Detailed overview of the two types of Analytical Writing essay tasks including scored sample responses and actual raters' comments Everything you need to know about the test, straight from the test makers
563 pages, Paperback
First published July 9, 2007
75 people are currently reading
226 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 16, 2012
I only skimmed this one, reading a few sections thoroughly, but here's my opinion. Two full-length practice tests (compare with Barron's four). What distinguishes this book from the others I've seen is its examples of actual essays from test-takers, along with commentaries by graders and a break-down of the scoring. Also included: converting your raw score to the old scaled scores, and the new percentiles. What would have been helpful would be a conversion table for the raw scores to the new scaled scores. The CD is PC-compatible only and won't work on a Mac, which was slightly annoying. Practice questions were divided by section and then by difficulty level. I found this helpful preparation for the computer-based test, which adapts from section to section based on your performance on the prior section. Don't skip the harder questions; they really were included on the actual GRE. Obviously this book is one of the best to buy; I would assume the test-makers would know how to prepare for their own test.
May 25, 2012
This was the first GRE preparation book I have used and I thought it adequately prepares the reader for the test. It outlines all the sections, provides two practice tests, and gives the very basics of math and verbal review. If you don't have much time before your test appointment, it's better than nothing. Otherwise, I'd recommend using other books as well. This manual does not do a good job of describing testing strategies or giving recommendations for preparing for the verbal section. The math review was useful, but if this is your weakest area the solution explanations may not be adequately detailed.
June 19, 2017
Mostly a rehash of the kinds of questions found in the domain-specific books. Still, it does have two full length practice tests which are pretty useful.
September 17, 2017
The math section is hard to get through if you're not math-inclined. I preferred the Princeton Review book Cracking the GRE over this book.
Read
October 12, 2016You know how you'll say, wow, that was a stupid book, I feel stupider for having read it? But really it's just a turn a phrase, you've not really become stupider, mostly, I hope. You've not lost faculties or capabilities, you just wasted some time. Well, with this, I think I've actually become stupider. The GRE seems aimed at breaking down hard-earned (perhaps especially if you're not a native speaker) ability and confidence to judge the merit, quality, tone and nuance of a text and reducing reading to a didactic exercise in matching phrase to phrase, throwing out deliberately obstusely and simply badly written texts and requiring you to obey the idea that the correct assessment of 'what such and such mean' is not, 'It doesn't. The passage is poorly structured and almost incoherent,' but answers A and C. What a poor, niggardly and deeply intellectually unchivalrous gatehouse to academia.
November 26, 2012
Post-thoughts:
This is the standard GRE book that must be reviewed before taking the exam. ETS (Educational Testing Service) is the organization that develops and scores the comprehensive exam; which makes this the "Official Guide to the GRE". The reason why I mentioned this is because I thought ETS was a third-party company like Barron's New GRE: Graduate Record Examination, but they're actually the ones administering the exam. Needless to say, studying the material from the group that's creating the test is imperative.
Now, on to the reasons why this is a 3 star study guide. You would think the official guide would tell you the structure, advice, outline, and background of the GRE test in great details, but that did not happen. Here are some things I was hoping to read about the test:
1.) I would've liked to read about the advantages and disadvantages of taking the computer-based test opposed to paper-based.
2.) How does the calculator for the quantitative section look like on the exam?
3.) Do you receive scratch paper in the beginning of the exam or only on the quantitative portion? What happens if you run out of paper? Do you get more?
I know all the answers to these questions can be found online but I wanted to be able to read the legitimate explanation from official study guide.
The main reason why I disliked this GRE book is the answer key. Having the answer key is a crucial part to studying, so you can cross-check your answers. Though when checking my answers, the entire question of each answer was also included in the answer key verbatim. This takes up a huge amount of space, considering some questions are long and contains additional parts. The answer key was therefore lengthy and unnecessary when the answer should have been precise and brief. There are many different contents in the quantitative section: probability, discrete, geometry, algebra, and etc... After the summary of each content, there are exercises you can practice. Although they do provide the answers, there were no explanations. Again, you could go online, but the explanation of the answer should have been in the book.
My favorite part about the book reside in the answer key once again. There were examples of the best to worst essays on the answer key. This was a great reference to determine how well my writing is.
Cover:
Not very appealing. The cover does not feel inviting at all, probably because it's a entrance exam that we're force to take.
Conclusions:
The contents, verbal and quantitative portion, was sufficient and thorough disregarding the foreword about the structure. I wish the book included more examples along with the explanations and excluded the redundant questions stated in the answers key verbatim. Overall, ★★★ stars is what I give it.
This is the standard GRE book that must be reviewed before taking the exam. ETS (Educational Testing Service) is the organization that develops and scores the comprehensive exam; which makes this the "Official Guide to the GRE". The reason why I mentioned this is because I thought ETS was a third-party company like Barron's New GRE: Graduate Record Examination, but they're actually the ones administering the exam. Needless to say, studying the material from the group that's creating the test is imperative.
Now, on to the reasons why this is a 3 star study guide. You would think the official guide would tell you the structure, advice, outline, and background of the GRE test in great details, but that did not happen. Here are some things I was hoping to read about the test:
1.) I would've liked to read about the advantages and disadvantages of taking the computer-based test opposed to paper-based.
2.) How does the calculator for the quantitative section look like on the exam?
3.) Do you receive scratch paper in the beginning of the exam or only on the quantitative portion? What happens if you run out of paper? Do you get more?
I know all the answers to these questions can be found online but I wanted to be able to read the legitimate explanation from official study guide.
The main reason why I disliked this GRE book is the answer key. Having the answer key is a crucial part to studying, so you can cross-check your answers. Though when checking my answers, the entire question of each answer was also included in the answer key verbatim. This takes up a huge amount of space, considering some questions are long and contains additional parts. The answer key was therefore lengthy and unnecessary when the answer should have been precise and brief. There are many different contents in the quantitative section: probability, discrete, geometry, algebra, and etc... After the summary of each content, there are exercises you can practice. Although they do provide the answers, there were no explanations. Again, you could go online, but the explanation of the answer should have been in the book.
My favorite part about the book reside in the answer key once again. There were examples of the best to worst essays on the answer key. This was a great reference to determine how well my writing is.
Cover:
Not very appealing. The cover does not feel inviting at all, probably because it's a entrance exam that we're force to take.
Conclusions:
The contents, verbal and quantitative portion, was sufficient and thorough disregarding the foreword about the structure. I wish the book included more examples along with the explanations and excluded the redundant questions stated in the answers key verbatim. Overall, ★★★ stars is what I give it.
October 13, 2014
It's as dry as you would expect. There aren't many really special "strategies," but a good basic outline of the exam with key information, like how long for each section and general structure of the exam that will make it easier. They reveal potential "tricks" in the exam in their practice questions, like sentence completions I'd get wrong if I skimmed too quickly, therefore missing a negation that would require the antonym of the word I originally selected. I found some of the "review" sections to be lacking. For more in depth vocabulary review and math review (specifically geometry), I'd recommend online stuff or Princeton Review. No matter what, it's smart to invest in this simply because these people MAKE the test.
December 6, 2014
excellent guide. well balanced on the coverage of the different sections of the GRE. they also do present different essay samples and the grade each essay received which was extremely helpful in understanding how essays are graded.
the guide though doesn't provide strategies for solving verbal or quantitative questions which might be disappointing for some yet they present their answers to sample questions in a very compelling way and they provide more than a single solution method when possible so after a while you'll start to develop your own strategy for solving GRE questions
still, I highly recommend listening to Magoosh lectures while working on this quide.
the guide though doesn't provide strategies for solving verbal or quantitative questions which might be disappointing for some yet they present their answers to sample questions in a very compelling way and they provide more than a single solution method when possible so after a while you'll start to develop your own strategy for solving GRE questions
still, I highly recommend listening to Magoosh lectures while working on this quide.
October 31, 2016
It does what it is supposed to do, and it does it well - which is preparing the reader for the GRE test. However, it becomes monotonous after a while; which is expected of an instructional book. Given the conditions that people generally read this book in (tense uncertain times of their life when they are planning to make an important future life-changing decision), some empathy on the part of the book to make the test-preparation effort fun would have been very welcome.
May 31, 2014
The worst GRE prep test I have read. This brick is hard to read, to understand and to digest. As far as test prep, I would not recommend reading this book in preparation of the GRE. The only good aspect of spending time on this text is to getting used to reading test material that does not make any sense.
November 23, 2016
The mathematics section does not contain any explanation for the answers of practice questions, so it is sometimes difficult to comprehend why a particular answer is correct or how to crack this problem. Next, a part of verbal section has answers of problems printed exactly next to the questions. What is this? How am I supposed to avert my eyes?
November 3, 2013
A must for the practice tests. You definitely want to supplement your review of concepts and practice problems from other courses or books with these tests. Relying on this alone would be confusing and insufficient practice, though.
February 11, 2016
I did all of the chapter practice questions, and it gives you a good sense of what you need to know for the exam. Math is my weak point, but this book helped to minimize some of my anxiety by offering clear explanations and offering advice on what to expect.
September 12, 2011
Definitely helped me prepare!
August 27, 2011
I'll be honest, as there's not much to say: this book does what it does. The end.
September 16, 2012
Well, I took the GRE Saturday, so I'm done with this sucker, I hope never to need it again.
Was it a good study guide? Meh...; it was no match for Khan Academy.
Was it a good study guide? Meh...; it was no match for Khan Academy.
October 11, 2012
This definitely counts. I read it cover to cover, haha.
October 3, 2013
it helped
October 29, 2013
Very useful in the context of the course I used it in.
May 12, 2014
Can you "like" a book you use to study? Well, whatever. It would seem foolhardy not to take credit for reading this when I have indeed read this various times.
August 5, 2014
Life-changing.
January 24, 2012
I definitely want to get credit for reading this book!
April 20, 2016
This book was super useful for the Analytical writing section!!
Read
February 13, 2018I haven't read the whole book per say, but this book/test are putting a serious damper on my 2018 reading goal, so I find it appropriate to shelf it.
FYI this book does NOT have the updated scoring guides (still out of 800 per section instead of 170).
FYI this book does NOT have the updated scoring guides (still out of 800 per section instead of 170).
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews