GRE Physics (REA) - The Best Test Prep for the GRE (GRE Test Preparation)

 (44 customer reviews)

I have a couple of serious criticisms for this book.First, the review is not terribly helpful. If you know *everything* in the review section, you would probably be alright for the Physics GRE. But generally people retain less than what they actually read, so it's unlikely that you'd learn it all. The review essentially consists of a series of key equations without much to help you understand the underlying physics. You'd be much better off working problems in text books and ETS practice exams, as others have suggested.Second, also as others have argued, the problems in this book are inordinately difficult. It's not that these problems are in and of themselves too difficult -- given enough time, most future physicists could work most of these problems. The issue is that by and large, these questions would *not* be asked on a GRE, simply because many of them take far too long to solve. It's difficult for me to believe that most people who did well on the GRE would be able...Read more

I started reviewing for the Physics GRE 6 months before I took it and it gave me very false impressions of what the test would be like. Based on the book I studied many obscure fields of physics as well as advanced vector and tensor manipulations. But when I got the practice test ETS gives out, I realized I wasn't prepared for the test. This test, like every other ETS test ever made, tests you on subject material 2 years beneath you and separtes 990s from 700s with dirty tricks as well as problems that you basically have to had memorized coming into the test. Here are my complaints:

1. Questions did not reflect real test.

2. Practice tests requires a calculator to do, real test does not and in fact a calculator is not allowed on it. Sets bad habits.

3. Review looks like someone cut and pasted it. Explanations are poor and incomplete.

4. There were no actual test taking strategies, just the review of material and the practice tests...Read more

Rather than write another review here, I will instead include the letter I was compelled to write to REA when I purchased this book:

I am writing to express my deep disappointment in your Physics Subject test GRE study guide. I found its review section inconsistent and incomplete, and the sample tests utterly failed to match the tone or content of the real exam itself.

As for the review section, it was disappointing enough itself. Your Temperature section spends its entirety discussing the different units used to measure the property. THIS IS NOT GRE MATERIAL. If a senior year physics student cannot change between Celsius and Kelvin in his sleep, I assure you, he has no aspirations of continuing study in the field. Frankly, he does not even have any business doing so. The rest of the Thermodynamics section suffers the same failing. The three laws of thermodynamics are the starting point for any college level thermodynamics coarse, yet they close your discussion...Read more