<p>i hope this isn't the wrong forum, but i was just wondering what gre (graduate record exam) prep books are the best. any ideas? THANK YOU!!!!!</p>
<p>I got actual tests from the CEEB to study from. Probably took 5 full tests under semi test conditions.</p>
<p>I got a Barron's study guide and memorized the word list using flash cards for the hard ones.</p>
<p>I read 4 or 5 of Stephen J. Gould's books to boost my reading comprehension. His writing is somewhat convoluted, which was the point.</p>
<p>Princeton Review prep books are hands-down the absolute best.</p>
<p>I used:</p>
<p>Barron's GRE: Memorized all the GRE's words (about 3500) using flash cards, and did all practices and tests.</p>
<p>Kaplan GRE CD: used the flash card games to help with retaining the words and made flash cards out of the words that weren't in Barron's.</p>
<p>ARCO GRE: Took all the tests and practices, used mostly for practicing Reading Comp.</p>
<p>Don't put all your eggs in one basket by only using one source ;-) (that's country..lol)</p>
<p>I used the princeton review book too...helped me a lot. Seriously the cd's that ETS sends you with computerized practice exams are (IMO) the best study guide. Basically you should use the princeton guide for the writing parts and vocab words, but use the ETS practice test as a real measure for how well you might perform.
PS - the trick to getting a perfect score on the writing section is to write a 5 paragraph essay. 1 paragraph intro, 3 paragraphs each of one supporting argument and 1 concluding paragraph summing everything up. </p>
<p>organization >> large vocab words!
(my scores were Q:730, V:630 and W:6/6)</p>
<p>The thing I REALLY liked about Princeton Review prep materials was their "Hit Parade" list of vocab words... apparently, they did a statistical study of a very large number of tests, and found certain vocab words appear very frequently... it's much more efficient to study this smaller list of high-probability words rather than monstrous lists of words unlikely to appear on the test. I literally recall taking the test and noting that many words I recalled specifically from that list...
for the record, my scores were V740/M800/A800 ( I took it about 10 years ago, before it was computerized...)</p>
<p>Completely agree with the above post. My thing was that I went to this high school that drilled greek and latin into us, so I guess I could slack a bit on that section. The thing with the writing section is organization - a decent argument well organized will likely score higher than a great argument with a stilted delivery.</p>
<p>PS - H and B, your scores are unreal. =P</p>
<p>i used the Cracking the GRE book by the Princeton Review along with their online tools and I went from a 540 verbal to a 740 verbal in 2 months and it didnt require hard core studying. suffice it to say, i recommend this book.</p>
<p>what helped me the most however, was the online practice tests and how they show you what questions you get wrong and the subjects they fall under. whenever i would get something wrong i would review its subject, and that helped a great deal.</p>
<p>however, it´s best to choose a book that you can understand the directions. because if you cant even understand how the directions are worded from the get go, you are wasting time.</p>
<p>Meu,</p>
<p>I was wondering if you studied the 4 "hit parade sections" in the PR book. I had the same verbal score as you did and am hoping to bring it up to the 600 level with the cracking the gree 2006 book, so I was wondering if you just memorized the "hit parade" words and if thats what helped you.Thanks</p>
<p>yeah, i studied the hit parade. it really helped because when i took the gres for the second time, some of the words were there.</p>
<p>How about the subject tests? I'm going to take the CS test, but it doesn't seem every major company covers all of those subject tests.</p>