Barrons GRE with CD-ROM - Barrons GRE

Product Review

The 18th edition of Barron's GRE test preparation manual offers prospective graduate students intensive preparation for the Graduate Record Exam, as it is currently administered. Although question types on the GRE are scheduled to change substantially beginning August 1, 2011, students who opt to take the test before August 1, will find the help they're looking for in this edition. They will want to use Barron's GRE with CD-ROM, 18th edition, as their test prep tool.

Opening chapters of the 18th edition provide a perspective on the current exam with a GRE overview, advice on effective test-taking tactics, and a diagnostic test to help students pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses. Subsequent chapters review all GRE test areas and include practice exercises for the following topics: antonym, analogy, and sentence-completion questions, reading comprehension, vocabulary, analytical writing, discrete quantitative questions, quantitative comparison questions, data interpretation questions, and math. The math review includes questions in arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. The manual's concluding section presents five full-length model exams that reflect recent GREs in length, question types, and degree of difficulty. All questions are answered and explained. The book comes with an enclosed CD-ROM that presents two brand-new computer-adaptive model GREs. The computer-adaptive tests (or CATs) simulate actual test-taking conditions, and provide automatic scoring, as well as answers and explanations for all questions.

For students who plan to take the GRE after July 31, 2011, the new 19th edition of Barron's GRE with CD-ROM (978-1-4380-7078-0) will be available in bookstores everywhere in June 2011.

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review

(63 customer reviews)

106 of 106 people found the following review helpful

My personal favorite out of the popular GRE books, November 28, 2009

K. Callender (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Barron's GRE with CD-ROM (Barron's GRE (W/CD)) (Paperback)

I studied every day for one month and scored 720 on verbal and 760 on quant. I used the Kaplan GRE Exam 2010 Premier Live Online Book, Kaplan's 500 vocab flashcards, Princeton's latest prep book, and Barron's guide with the CD (did not attend any of those exorbitantly priced classes). IMO, Barron's provided the best prep-- it had the most in-depth coverage. I especially liked that the book included plenty of practice problems and a comprehensive word bank. The guide's main weakness was its practice tests. Kaplan/Princeton provided more realistic Computer Adaptive Tests. FYI: For practice exams that best mimic the real thing, check out the powerprep software (offered for FREE by ETS, the diabolical company that generates GREs). Good luck!!

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful

If you are only going to buy one GRE prep book, buy this one, August 25, 2009

S. Toppy (Robbinsville, NJ) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Barron's GRE (Paperback)

I'm a college graduate.... who graduated from college more than 15 years ago, so I was a bit daunted when I decided to go to grad school and realized I had to take the GREs. I almost considered not going back to school because the test scared me so much. I haven't done any math past basic arithmetic since college--I haven't needed to. But, I decided to give myself six weeks to prepare for the test and see what happened. After reading several reviews on Amazon, I decided on this book (the one that comes with the CD-ROM), and devised a study plan that would take me through the entire book over a six-week period. The six-week plan I created for myself is not for the faint of heart. This is a book that covers A LOT of information, and if you are going to do the whole thing, I would recommend doing it in 8 to 10 weeks, but I didn't have that kind of time. So I crammed, between work and taking care of kids, I ate, breathed, and slept this book. I started out by taking the diagnostic tests...Read more

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful

Not computer adaptive, December 13, 2009

Jim C. (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Barron's GRE with CD-ROM (Barron's GRE (W/CD)) (Paperback)

The actual book is useful - although I would recommend picking up a second book and comparing them when studying. But I bought this because it was supposed to come with a CD that had two Computer-Adaptive tests on it. Well, there ARE two tests, but they do not adapt to your answers. The tests simply have 28 verbal questions, 30 math questions, and the two essays. At the end it tells you your raw score (how many you got wrong w/ explanations for why they're wrong), then you check your raw score against a table for your actual score.

The scores seem a little off too. For example, 28 correct math questions gets you an 800, but 27 correct questions get you only a 720? So if you miss more than one you are doomed to <700 score, seems too harsh. I have seen others where you can miss 4 on the quantitative and still get a 700. So are the questions too easy on this test, are they using a harder grading scale, what's going on?

I will admit though that it was useful to...Read more