 [Larger view] | Crash Course for the GRE : 10 Easy Steps to a Higher Score (Princeton Review Series)
| ||||||||||||
| |
Average user rating:  | |
 Helpful, but outdated | |
| This book is incredibly useful in studying for the verbal and math sections of the GRE. However, the test has recently been changed, replacing the multiple-choice analytical section with a writing sample, and this book was published before the change. Almost half of the book is dedicated to solving the analytical questions which no longer are a part of the exam, and there is, of course, no information about the writing sample. Even if you only have a few weeks to study, I would recommend getting one of the more comprehensive, more up-to-date books. I found the one published by ETS, the organization that creates the test, to be the most helpful, as it has sample essays to look at and questions to practice writing on. | |
 clearly concise | |
| This book provided me with an excellent overview of GRE strategies and information. It does not contain any vocab words, but it definitely has very effective ideas on how to boost your verbal score. You have to carefully read and reread the math section because there are a lot of helpful math tips and information presented in a small space. The analytical section is so clearly laid out that it was better than most of the bigger GRE books I bought. I recommend buying it because it will effectively summarize the larger GRE books that are easy to get lost in. | |
| Wait for new edition of book coming up | |
| Were this book up-to-date I would have rated it with 4 stars. However, this edition is pre-October 2002, i.e. refers to the old analytical section instead of the new analytic writing one (essay). I had bought it more than a year and only got the chance to go through it now, so I read only what refers to the other two sections (verbal, math). This book is short-'n-sweet, but IMHO, in the math section, _too_ sweet. If you have a major in anything like math (as I happen to do), physics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or even economics, the way it approaches the math section may seem childish to you (and maybe confuse you rather than illuminate you). I don't know how useful it may appear to (say) English or Psych majors with weak math backgrounds, but it wasn't helpful to me, others than the sample questions, and a couple of nice, time-saver tricks it mentions (3:4:5, 5:12:13 triangles, Bowtie, etc.) The verbal section is the one I found more useful. For instance, it provides some useful techniques for attacking analogies. However, it is my strong belief that if you are weak in vocab all the nice tricks in the world can't help you much, especially with analogies and antonyms. Overall, it is not a bad book for its price and its goal (crash course for people w/ only a week in their disposal). However, (1) if you have a strong math background, you may find the math section too condescending and (2) (and most importantly) wait for the new edition of this book, coming out September, that will be updated for the new analytical writing section. |
