Cracking the GRE with DVD, 2009 Edition (Graduate School Test Preparation) by Princeton Review Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $13.90 You Save: $20.05 (59%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.73 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Cracking the GRE with DVD, 2009 Edition (Graduate School Test Preparation)
Book Review: Cracking the GRE is an excellent companion
Summary: 4 Stars
I believe that Cracking the GRE is an excellent value for those wishing to take the GRE. This particular edition comes with a DVD, whose value is debatable. Personally, I wish I had purchased the version without the DVD, since the DVD just reviews what the book says in about an hour. However, if you think that this extra reinforcement will help you, by all means purchase this edition.
Having said that, as well as the fact that I absolutely crammed for this exam in a span of time that is probably not ideal, I believe that this book gives you a good overview of what to expect on the exam, while minimizing the extraneous information. The verbal section was excellent, especially if you make yourself memorize the 'Hit Parade' words. 'Hit Parade' is a list of words that the Princeton Review has compiled that has shown up most often on the exam. Memorizing this list of words will definitely help you on the analogy and verbal section. The various tips that the Princeton Review gives you on each section in verbal is also quite helpful, as they try to simply explain what the best method is to attack each type of question.
The math review I thought was quite helpful, as it cut to the chase and teaches you the shortcuts to attack each type of math problem. I believe that this overall review is good, however, I did not think that the sample questions they had in the Math section of the paper practice tests were as subpar. The techniques, however, I found cut down on the time it took me to complete each type of problem. (I found that the online CAT had math questions that were more the level of difficulty to the actual exam.)
The analytical section teaches you how to break down each prompt into easy steps that will obtain you a high score. It compares what the higher scores do in relation to the lower scores, and how you can avoid the lower-scoring essay traps.
Furthermore, I thought the online CAT portion was good, if not only for the test format. They allow you to send in your essays to be graded by a Princeton Review grader, if you so wish to pay the extra fee. After finishing the exam, it gives you a score and you can obtain an explanation of how to crack each type of problem you missed on the online questions.
Finally, I think that this text is best used in conjunction with GRE Powerprep, which the GRE mails to every test taker who registers for the exam. (This can also be downloaded from their website). It is the only source for real GRE questions, and it has two sample exams you can take, including the essays. This means that these are the actual difficulty that the questions will be. They also show you sample essays from each scoring range.
Book Review: Much better than Kaplan
Summary: 5 Stars
I had the old version of this book, but a few weeks before taking the test, I decided I should get a more up-to-date version so I purchased the new Kaplan edition. I ended up working through both of them, and I felt that this one offered a lot more tricks and techniques. Now I wish I hadn't wasted my money on the Kaplan prep book.Book Review: ~
Summary: 4 Stars
I used this book to study for the GRE and probably should have spent a bit more time with the Hit Parade. I was skeptical of the Hit Parade words for some reason. I just didn't want to believe that spending my time on those words would do me any good. However, to my dismay, I saw several of the words on the exam and probably missed them due to my refusal to study them.
The rest of the book is decent but I feel like it doesn't go into the subjects as deeply as the test does. For example, I feel the math in the book wasn't nearly as difficult as the math I encountered on the test. This leads me to believe that the book is set up for the person that is going for a score of ~1000 combined.
The DVD included with the book gives a nice helpful overview of test strategies but don't expect much more out of the disc.
Overall, I would recommend the book but I would also strongly recommend supplementing with other books or a website such as mygretutor.
Book Review: Not Worthless But Close to it
Summary: 2 Stars
I new prior to purchasing this book the the quant section was less than great. My main purpose for the purchase was to get access to the 4 CAT tests available online.
In all fairness, the book did not say that these 4 tests would be different; however, one would assume as much. Thus, imagine my surprise when I got to the 3rd CAT test and noticed the EXACT SAME questions. Extremely upset I decided to make the best of it and see some different questions by intentionally answering questions wrong that I previously got correct. WOW, was I surprised when no matter how many questions I got wrong the exact same questions as before continued to follow. I guess the sages down at Princeton Review forgot that CAT stands for "Computer Adaptive Test" because there was NO adapting to anything.
As other reviews have stated, the verbal portion is pretty good--hence the 2 stars instead of only 1.
Book Review: Great for those with weak math skills
Summary: 5 Stars
I studied from this book aproximately 5 days before I took the GRE general test and I must say, that because of this book I scored fairly high for my first (and only) time taking the test. The math portion especially was helpful. For those with weak math skills this book is a huge help. The book quickly teaches you shortcuts to the right answers in the math portions. The title of this book is accurate, it does crack the puzzles of the GRE.