Reddit reviews The Official Guide to the GRE Revised General Test, 2nd Edition (GRE: The Official Guide to the General Test)

Just took the test on Saturday and got 170V/168Q. Let me tell you a few things about prep:

1)DO NOT waste your time or money with Kaplan/Princeton/Barron's etc.. they are inadequate and full of distracting typos.

2)Do use Magoosh.com and/or the Manhattan course. They both come with top-notch instruction and lots of practice tests/questions. I actually used both. For even more practice questions (which you probably won't have time for at this point) check out the 5 lb book of questions.

3) Definitely memorize every word on the free Magoosh vocab flashcards. Knowing these words saved my verbal score.

4) For the love of all that is holy please use the official GRE book that is put out by ETS.

5) Do not ignore the essay. It requires a very specific type of writing. Even if you are a "good" writer you will be disappointed in your score unless you write the way they want you to. What you may not know is that every essay is graded by one computer reader and one human reader. For $13 you can actually have 2 essays graded by the exact algorithm the computer reader uses and you'll get an idea of where you stand.

To get an idea of the resources you'll need, I suggest that you take an official practice test. It may be the case that you're already scoring above your target scores, in which case you may not need to prepare at all :-).

Resources-wise, be sure to get ETS's Official Guide for GRE. For extra practice questions, ETS (the test maker) has a quant-only book and a verbal-only book, each with 200 questions.

As far as instructional resources go, the one that's best for you will be the one that best suits your learning style.

Finally, it's a good idea to have some kind of Study Plan. We have a one here if you're interested.

Cheers,
Brent

Get the main book done directly by ETS. Imo, it's the best one and has the most realistic questions.

http://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-Revised-General-Test/dp/007179123X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1462402098&sr=8-2&keywords=ets+gre+prep+2016

I took my test in 2014, so you might want to double check that there isn't a newer edition (any edition should be fine, though, really).

Also, if you are just starting to study, I would recommend paying for full access on Magoosh. I think they are very good for the money and would be better than taking a class. It's all online, so you can study comfortably on your own time. Good luck!

Oh man. Every time this question comes up my answer is the same: buy the official ETS book. Forget every other material, because they're much too easy. You can take two electronic practice tests on the GRE website that are also included with a CD in it (the CD has two additional electronic tests), but the paper practice tests are still useful for identifying where you mess up. You'll notice a pattern of which types of questions you miss, and they include the solution work in the back of the book.

Go to B&N, Borders, or whatever bookstore and buy this: http://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-Revised-General-Edition/dp/007179123X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1374844912&sr=8-2&keywords=GRE

When I took the GRE, I had the same study philosophy, and it hurt me a bit. There's a bunch of very simple math that I blanked on because I hadn't even seen it since Freshman year. The complex math is actually going to be a bit easier for you since you've been using it more recently as an Engineering student. Geometry and Trigonometry were the bits that got me.

For studying, just get a test prep book. They're about $20, and have everything centralized. The official guide is what I used, but just about every other guide covers the same material.

These are the GRE books I'm using:

[Prep book from ETS, the test writers] (http://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-Revised-General-Test/dp/007179123X?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00)

[Kaplan Prep book] (http://www.amazon.com/GRE-Premier-2016-Practice-Tests/dp/1625231326/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464258601&sr=1-1&keywords=kaplan+gre)

[Big book of practice problems] (http://www.amazon.com/Practice-Problems-Manhattan-Strategy-Guides/dp/1941234518?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER)

ETS PowerPrep II, which is software that includes 2 practice tests with standard testing conditions.

If anyone has other suggestions, please share.

Found this comment:

Just took the test on Saturday and got 170V/168Q. Let me tell you a few things about prep:

1)DO NOT waste your time or money with Kaplan/Princeton/Barron's etc.. they are inadequate and full of distracting typos.

2)Do use Magoosh.com and/or the Manhattan course. They both come with top-notch instruction and lots of practice tests/questions. I actually used both. For even more practice questions (which you probably won't have time for at this point) check out the 5 lb book of questions.

3) Definitely memorize every word on the free Magoosh vocab flashcards. Knowing these words saved my verbal score.

4) For the love of all that is holy please use the official GRE book that is put out by ETS.

5) Do not ignore the essay. It requires a very specific type of writing. Even if you are a "good" writer you will be disappointed in your score unless you write the way they want you to. What you may not know is that every essay is graded by one computer reader and one human reader. For $13 you can actually have 2 essays graded by the exact algorithm the computer reader uses and you'll get an idea of where you stand.

I highly suggest The Official Guide to the GRE and using this thread for anymore information you need. However, if you're tight for money look at older editions (the one I hyperlinked is the second edition) or PM me if you're really desperate.

Take some considerations when using/buying the book because MOST OF the information in the ETS book is available on their website. However, your situation says you aren't able to get online often so I can understand the advantage, however I'd like you to be aware of this. I also forgot to mention I've used the Manhattan and Princeton and liked those as well.

Yeah, I'm SO happy with the result! No lie I cried a little at the end when it spat out my score and I'm sure it was embarrassing for the lady who helped me check out afterward.

I can't recommend Official Guide to the GRE enough. It's really good at teaching you all the math you need, but I think this ETS math review pdf is the same as in the book? Anyways the good thing about the book is it has two full length, official practice tests that are a similar difficulty as the real test and loads of practice questions. I did every question in here and read the math review like three times.

ETS has two more free official practice tests, same thing as the ones that come with the CD in the book. I did both of these too and half of the Manhattan Prep free practice test to practice quant.

For more practice questions I used the Manhattan GRE and Ready4GRE phone apps. They give you some free and you can pay if you want more. The Ready4 questions felt like good practice to me and the Manhattan ones were a little harder than the ones in the ETS book.

All my friends recommended signing up for Magoosh. I didn't because it is pricey, but sometimes people sell their accounts if they still have time on their subscriptions so check GRE facebook groups or /r/GRE. They have some free things: some video lessons and practice problems, and explanations of problems from the ETS practice tests/practice books. I heard the Princeton Review and Kaplan practice tests and questions are too easy compared to the real thing, but the Manhattan Prep 5lb Book of Practice Problems, official ETS extra quant book and extra verbal book, and Manhattan Prep study guide set are all supposed to be good.

This is my second time taking it. I def did not prep enough for the first one! This time I did a full practice test first for a baseline, wrote down topics I was bad at, read the math review, did the exercises from the book, and did all the practice problems from the book. Then I took another practice test, started doing questions from 3rd parties, and spaced out the rest of the practice tests.

For the writing I read a lot of sample essays that scored a 6 or 5 and made outlines for different essay prompts. I was too lazy to write even one full practice essay though so I might have bombed that part, ahaha. I spent about a month studying and $20 on the ETS official guide.

TBH I might be taking the GMAT now so maybe I'll join you guys. Good luck studying! :)

1. LOL, I've been in 2 different states and 4 different towns in the past 4 years. Licenses are very easy to transfer, don't worry about it. You are likely at a time in your life where picking up and moving about is still very easy. Later in life, kids happen and parents may require extra care and the flexibility you have now can become much less of a possibility.
   
   
2. I wanted to walk to school, so I made sure to find an apartment close to campus. Larger schools will likely offer some sort of resident assistant program which could potentially get you in campus housing for much less/free.
   
   
3. Practice makes perfect. Go to the library and check-out study guides from years previous. Take a couple, score them, and address any weak spots.
   
   
4. I love learning. As crazy hectic as grad school is, this is the last time you get to sit down and have some incredible minds tell you incredibly interesting things day after day.
   
   
5. It sucks, and I should have gone to a cheaper school. Luckily, I'm not a complete financial moron and have paid over half my debt in 4 years post-graduation. /r/personalfinance is a wonderful resource.
   
   
6. I did take a year and a half off between a very grueling undergrad and grad school. Many things happened - I had more financial stability, I gained geriatric experience, and I grew up. Instead of worrying so much about school, I was able to look at it with more of a "job" mentality which made it MUCH less stressful. Also, I didn't lose my grasp on the material and found that I was able to review anything I was less familiar with very quickly.
   
   
7. HA. No seriously, it hasn't come up on ANY of the interviews I've done. Once you have your CCC's it's mostly a non-issue. The only instance I can see being relevant would be a PhD/research-based condition. The caveat would be I imagine that some places are more regionally familiar with a certain school, but your skills as a clinician are infinitely more important at the end of the day.
   
   
8. It's way better than I thought. I've taken risks with jobs and it's paid-off. Challenge forces you to adapt and improve much faster than complacency.
   
   
9. It's this question that made me post. It sounds scarily like me around the same time. Generally speaking, center yourself around a major metro/suburban area and you won't hurt for work. It may not be The Career, but it will be A Job, and those are just as important. But most importantly, whatever you do, do it for yourself. In rather eerily similar circumstances, I had a boyfriend (now ex, lol) during grad school who was a geologist going to school and planning to work in Colorado. There was pressure (both direct and indirect) from him and from a relationship standpoint for me to make career choices that would be more complementary to the lifestyle we thought we wanted. I was tempted to compromise, thinking it for the best of the relationship, but ultimately stuck to my guns and prioritized my education and career instead. To make a long story short, he didn't work out, but everything else did. And among the many reasons I found myself increasingly non-compatible with someone I dated for the better part of a decade ultimately had little to do with my job choices and a lot to do with him being a massive douchebag. Regardless of what you decide to do, make sure you do it for yourself!
   
   
10. n/a
    
    
11. My typical work week is 40 hours with frequent opportunities for overtime. I really enjoy the wide variety of patients with whom I work and being able to learn as much from them as I hope they learn from me. My setting sees adults exclusively (youngest patients around 16 or so) with geriatric adults being seen most frequently.

Where can I find the (up-to-date) tests? Or is there a book that I can buy that has a bunch of different ones? I'm planning on buying this so I'll have the 4 tests included with that but would like to take more as well.

They changed the GRE a few years ago didn't they? So, I'm sure this is a given but just in case, I'm looking for practice tests that are up-to-date with the new test. Thanks!

Have you used any of the official ETS material? I'd recommend reading through their math review, hitting the paper-based practice test and the 2nd or 3rd edition guide, followed by the ETS quant practice book. You can't beat several hundred questions straight from the test-makers.

Manhattan 5lb would be a good source of practice once you've completed the other stuff. The 2nd edition guide + quant/verbal practice books all come in a pack on Amazon called "Super Power Pack." If you don't have any of them, I'd overnight it if possible.

Good luck.

Here is a Magoosh blog post about average scores at top institutions.

Magoosh is a great resource, even just for information on the test if you are not interested in their packages. I cannot recommend them enough. I just started with 7Sage for LSAT, one of the highest rated LSAT prep programs available online, and so far my impression is that Magoosh was better overall. Interface, lessons, questions, everything.

Definitely pick up the official ETS prep book found here, and immediately. Burn through the review chapters in a couple sessions, then take both a written and computer based practice test (two of each are available with the ETS book). Now you will know where you currently stand, where you need to be, and how much more prep you will need.

https://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-Revised-General-Test/dp/007179123X

Sounds like you've exhausted the official electronic resources. :(

https://smile.amazon.com/Official-Guide-Revised-General-Test/dp/007179123X?sa-no-redirect=1

https://www.amazon.com/Official-Guide-Revised-General-Test/dp/007179123X

I used this book when I was studying and felt it was really helpful. I’d supplement with Khan Academy or YouTube videos to fill any gaps you might have.

I have not used Varsity Tutors, so I am not certain of the difficulty of their questions versus actual GRE questions. However, unless you have already exhausted them, I suggest practicing official GRE questions from the GRE Official Guide. Your accuracy on those questions will give you a better idea of how prepared you are for GRE quant. If you find that you are struggling with official GRE questions, perhaps you may want to seek out a robust study resource to better help learn GRE quant. If you are unsure of which resources to use, you should check out sites such as Crush The GRE or GRE Prep Club.

I'd say don't take a class. You'll be paying a lot of money for a generalized approach intended to strengthen a bunch of peoples' GRE scores, instead of focusing on what you need help with. Suck at verbal and good at quant? A class isn't going to spend more time on verbal just because you suck at it.

I'd recommend hiring a good private tutor and/or joining Magoosh. Magoosh is $80 for six months and it's by far the best prep material I've found. It's all online and has videos teaching you different types of material. Those are like a Khan Academy for GRE prep. They also have questions and a quiz mode, so they throw questions at you and also give you an estimated score range based on how many you get right. The questions are much harder than the real GRE so they prep you really, really well.

I'd say also get the Manhattan Prep 5-lb Book of GRE Problems. They're really good, reasonably challenging, and harder than the real test. They don't teach you "tricks" as much as teach you the actual material you need. Avoid Kaplan and Princeton Review like the plague, since their questions often have a lot of typos and aren't good prep. Also for sure get the Official Guide to the GRE, since it's the only place to get official ETS questions. They resemble the ones on the actual test the most. If you're having trouble with a particular topic, Manhattan Prep also sells guides for individual subjects like word problems and geometry that are really good. ETS also sells books of Quantitative and Verbal questions for extra practice.

Good luck!