GRE Physics w/ CD-ROM 6th Ed. (GRE Test Preparation)

 (11 customer reviews)

To say that this book was poorly proofread would be an EPIC understatement. As printed in the book and on the included CD, the first question of the first practice has an extraneous equals sign that means the correct answer cannot be arrived at through any math that a PhD in physics might use, let alone a recent BS. There are consistent omissions within the review sections (including the explanation of the Dulong-Petit law, which omits the portion of the derivation that allows you to solve the related question on the first practice exam) rendering that information suspect as well. The point of getting a review book is to minimize the time spent parsing through old text books, but this review book seems to expect you to do just that so as to not run afoul of an editorial department asleep at the wheel.

Whoever edited this book had no knowledge of math or physics, or likely just stopped paying attention after payday. You cannot get through a single page of the practice exam without encountering some critical error in the question or the answer choices, which are only exacerbated by the pitiful attempt at "detailed explanations of answers" that follow. Both the practice exams as well as their answer keys are riddled with mistakes.

Do not buy this book. This is supposedly the 6th edition that I purchased; I would hate to see how terrible the previous five editions were. I will go so far as to say this work will actively hinder your attempt to prepare for the physics GRE.

I can't believe it's actually the 6th edition. The only reason this book helped me study was because I had to correct the answers it provided. I found typos almost consistently every two pages. It just seems like the authors did not take a second look at what they were writing. They give an equation for charge in an RC circuit, for example, and it does not even solve the differential equation. I had to solve the problem myself to find the right answer. So it did help me review some topics, but only because I had to work from scratch to find the answers (which you don't have time to work out during the test, so it's easier to memorize them). I'd recommend getting this book in a later (7th??) edition when they have figured out that they really need to proofread.