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I received the book really quickly, but it was the wrong edition. I received 2008 and what was advertised was the 2009 GRE book.
Got a 1290, which is average, but definitely good enough for the programs I'm applying to. Just took the GREs today and I must say that the CD simulates the test exactly, so there's no surprise as far as the format is concerned. Also, I found this book most helpful for the math section. I recommend this book to anyone studying for the GREs. Invest some time and money into this book and you will get your score.
The product came just as described. I would recommend this seller to other buyers.
Seems that it's the Barrons philosophy to do the "learn to run before walking, so walking will be easier to do later." 2)Is it accurate.Some questions are close to the real thing, some are much harder. (Only that I found it annoying to read)4)Barrons vs. When I was shopping for books I wanted to know a few things:1)Is it harder or easier than the real thing. If you can do these you should be fine for the test.3)Do I need to buy anything else.I would recommend the Kaplan vocabulary flash cards. The CD-rom isn't nearly as close to the real test as the powerprep software.Bottom line- if I were able to go back in time I'd tell myself to buy this book. For example the graph questions on the math section are MUCH easier on the real test. I skipped over the barron's vocab section in its entirety so I cannot say how good or bad it is.
On one I got something like 1370, the other 1410. The Barrons is a little harder in the sense that the questions are slightly trickier. Real thingDuring the weekend before the GRE I took the last 2 practice tests. The graphs on the Barrons books don't show tick marks and often you get the question wrong because the data point looks like it could be anything from 10 to 15 and if you approximate too much in either direction you'll come up with the wrong answer.Basically- accurate enough for practice. I find flash cards work way better than the wall of text that is included in the Barron's vocab section. I did way better than both of those on the real GRE.5)What to buy with this-Kaplan vocabulary cards and use the free software you get when you register for the GRE. :)
I did not get very far with memorizing vocab words, plus some pages were missing from my copy (publisher's mistake). I know LOTS of people who have pulled off an 800 in quantitative, so it's attainable. Yes, you can memorize the vocab words, but it's best to do it over a stretch of time, rather than in just 2 weeks like I did. The complicated thing about the verbal section is that most of it cannot be explained--it's a lot of vocabulary, and this is something that you learn over a great period of time. At the last minute, I decided to apply for a master's program and I needed to study for the GRE--pronto. Once you take a lot of practice tests, you realize that ETS reuses a lot of the questions, just with different words. Here are my scores for the practice tests over the 2 weeks:Diagnostic (1st) test: 470 V, 430 Q2nd test: 580 V, 500 Q3rd test: 480 V, 595 Q4th test: 560 V, 430 Q5th test: 450 V, 595 Q6th test: 580 V, 590 QReal GRE: 510 V, 690 Q, 5.5 AI didn't bring my verbal score up too high (maybe because english is not spoken very often in my home)., but I pulled my quantitative score up by more than 200 pts. The authors could've done a lot better with that.There are plenty of answer explanations, except for some questions when the answer is obvious, or in certain cases, when the definition of some words from the verbal section are already included in the book.The MAIN thing I learned from studying for the past 2 weeks is that PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT.
Instead of spending thousands for a Kaplan course, which is nothing but reviewing a book JUST like this, you can spend less than $25, and with dedication, you can reach your goals. The analytical portion was loaded with tips and was very helpful. So I bought this book used on Amazon and I think it was very helpful.The verbal section has lots of tips on doing well, it's almost complete. Most importantly, my score is high enough to get me into my master's programMy main take on this book is that if you spend a MONTH studying for about 2-3 hours, you will do EXCELLENT. One downside to the verbal section of the book is that there are not enough practice questions.The math section is perfect, it covers all its bases and has lots of practice problems. The problem is there was only ONE sample essay. However, I do recommend buying another GRE book with more practice tests (this book only has 5). And you get used to the format and increase your score.
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