Essential Words for the GRE (Barron's GRE)

I just finished taking the GRE last month - I had only 3 weeks to study because of an administrative glitch, so I needed a good resource and some quick shipping (thanks, Amazon). For my overall study guide, I picked Princeton Review based on previous use of their products and the overall positive reviews, and I was generally very pleased with it and its ability to help me work through the entire test prep matter in 3 weeks. That said, I could not have achieved my verbal score of 770 without this book from Barron's. I'm actually not sure I would have come closer than 700-720....it's that good. A reviewer for the Princeton Review general guide recommended this Barron book and I must second that review and all other five-star reviews here. The word list is EXTREMELY comprehensive and the exercises and 10-word unit breakdown really help you learn. I wound up going unit by unit. For each one, I'd read all the words and definitions and identify the ones I didn't know (or didn't "really"...Read more

After taking a few GRE practice tests, I determined that my score was being lowered because I didn't know the definitions of certain words at all, making it quite difficult to discern the correct answer! I figured any improvement in my vocabulary would help on the test. I took the words in the book and made flash cards of the ones I didn't know. They really helped! I am going to continue trying to learn more words from this book so I can be a better scholar.

I was averaging around 550-600 before using this book, and I ended up with a 660 Verbal score after learning these words. I would highly recommend this book!

In order to score 1400 or higher this set of words might not be enough. I learned the entire 800 list and maybe a 100 more from here and there but there were still few words that I didnt know on the actual test.

However, this is a great book. The words are explained and used in a sentence. Then there is a mini quiz after every 10 words which is extremely beneficial.

This is an extremely must have book but dont rely on it completely. If you have time and you are motivated enough, look for other word lists, e.g princeton review ones.