Cracking the GRE with DVD, 2010 Edition (Graduate School Test Preparation)

 (81 customer reviews)

I just finished studying for the GRE with Barron's, Kaplan, ETS, and Princeton Review, and Cracking the GRE is by far the best out of the four. Its math and verbal sections are incredibly user-friendly and helpful, and the analytical writing section is essential if you want a top-scoring essay on the test. Princeton Review not only tells you exactly what you need to do to get the highest scores on your essays, but its website also offers LiveGrader, a service which allows you to have your essays scored by actual graders (not computers!) for $6 per test. This is much cheaper than the grading service ETS offers ($13 per test)! The math section is excellent for someone (like me) who is not gifted in math, with the most simple, clear, and useful explanations of any GRE prep book I've found. As far as I'm concerned, Cracking the GRE is ESSENTIAL to do well on the GRE!! The only caveat I would add is that if you want a top score on the verbal section you'll also need to reference Barron's...Read more

This book should not be the only source you use to study for the GRE. While it does contain advice on helpful strategies to employ to answer the different question types, it has very, very little practice, which is precisely what you need most to adequately prepare for the GRE! The DVD that accompanies the book has very little material on it, and even less material that is useful. If you do want to buy this book, choose the non-DVD option and save yourself some money. I don't find the Hit Parade very useful because it just lists the word, part of speech (noun, adjective, verb) and the definition of the word, without giving the word in context. They encourage you to put the word in a sentence yourself, but this is difficult for words that you are totally unfamiliar with (you may be using it the wrong way). I like Kaplan's strategy better, which is to place a word in a sentence, because it helps with recall. Kaplan also creates sentences in which the meaning of the word is clear...Read more

I echo many peoples' sentiments in that I feel both the Princeton Review and Kaplan books are useful. Personally, I like how this book is written better than I do Kaplan's. I also like the strategies a little more. Both are good though. If you're not going to take the courses in person, then I would suggest getting both this text and Kaplan's. The more practice the better. One thing that I found interesting is that after combining Barron's, Kaplan's, and the Princeton review's top 250, top 200 (and top 400 found online after signing up for the online supplements), and top 450 (Hit Parade and beyond the hit parade)words, respectively, I came up with about 940 words. You would think that there would be more overlap; I guess not.