Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am a Harvard grad, 99% GRE scorer and professional GRE tutor, and I'm fairly obsessed with this test. In fact, I still take the GRE at least once a year (last exam: 169V / 168Q / 5.5 AWA) to stay sharp and up-to-date. As many others have already indicated, you need these books because the included practice tests / questions are the real deal. The fact that Princeton and Kaplan GRE preparation books--full of fluff, filler, willful ignorance of the GRE official materials, and typos--sell better than the GRE Super Power Pack is an absolute shame. After many years of receiving scant practice material from ETS, I am relieved to say that ETS has now provided enough official materials for a nearly full preparation for the GRE, so the purchase of other learning and strategy guides can be kept to a minimum. I say "nearly" full because 2 CATs (computer adaptive tests) is not enough. The physical books are a nice asset, as are the paper-based practice tests, but for a computer adaptive test, you have to spend lots of time preparing on a computer. For this purpose I prefer to buy a single book from the Manhattan Prep GRE series (such as GRE Fractions, Decimals, & Percents (Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides)) , in order to gain access to its 6 online CATs. No, they are not real GREs, but they are still decent for practice. It is worth noting that this is primarily a book for practice, not learning. The answer explanations in these books can sometimes be severely lacking, or in the case of the PowerPrep tests, nonexistent, which is part of why hiring a professional tutor can be helpful. However, for the disciplined and resourceful self-studier, these three books, the 2 (invaluable!) PowerPrep II CATs, a good vocab guide or two, a strategy guide (avoid Kaplan and Princeton--I prefer Barron's and/or Manhattan) and some third-party CATs should do the trick. HOW TO USE THE FREE GRE POWERPREP SOFTWARE FROM ETS: Test preview tool: This will allow you to try some practice questions as well as two essays. Timed Practice Test #1: This is your first official GRE practice test, and should be taken at the beginning of your preparation to establish a baseline score. Timed Practice Test #2: This is your only other real GRE practice test, so save it for the last few weeks of your preparation, as an unbiased, trustworthy measure of your progress. Untimed Practice Test: This is exactly what it sounds like, but I don’t recommend taking it because it’s exactly the same as Practice Test #1. After you’ve taken Practice Test #1, however, feel free to use the Untimed Test for additional practice on the tricky ones. The test preview tool is simply meant to help get you familiar with the test and software interface, not to mimic the actual timing of the test. The test preview tool provides 7 verbal questions in 30 minutes, which is 4.3 minutes per question, and 11 quantitative questions in 35 minutes, which is 3.1 minutes per question. By comparison, on the actual GRE, you only have 1.5 minutes per question on both the Quant and Verbal sections. To take a diagnostic test, click “Timed Practice Test 1” or “Timed Practice Test 2.” There is a row of buttons at the bottom of the software that says “Start Test / Resume Test / Review Answers:” Start Test = resets any old tests (WARNING! Be very careful not to click this button by accident--many students have made this mistake) and starts a new test. Because pressing just one wrong button on this test can delete all of your previous results, I recommend taking frequent screenshots, especially of your review screen, which lists all of your correct and incorrect responses. For your screenshots, use either the "Print Screen" (Windows Key + PrtScn) button on a PC or (Shift + Command + 3) on a Mac. Resume Test = pick up the last test from where you left off. Review Answers = review your performance on the test, section by section (you cannot go back once you've completed a section without exiting and reviewing again). In-between Timed Practice Tests #1 and #2 is the best time for students to work through the Official GRE Super Power Pack (these books), which consists of approximately 600 more real GRE questions for practice, along with (moderately helpful) answer explanations and learning sections. Need more help with Math? Try Cliff’s Notes Math Review for Standardized Tests, 2nd Edition: CliffsNotes Math Review for Standardized Tests, 2nd Edition (CliffsTestPrep) Need more help with Vocabulary? Try the GRE book that I co-authored with Vince Kotchian, GRE Vocab Capacity: GRE Vocab Capacity: 2016 Edition - Over 1,200 Powerful Memory Tricks and Mnemonics Need more help with overall strategy and learning? Try Barron’s GRE, 21st Edition: Barron's GRE, 21st Edition Want to go down the rabbit hole and learn every tiny detail of the GRE? Then try the Manhattan Prep GRE Series: Manhattan Prep GRE Set of 8 Strategy Guides (Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides) You can either buy the entire library, or one book at a time: GRE Fractions, Decimals, & Percents (Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides). As I mentioned earlier, purchasing even one book from the series also gives you access to all 6 of Manhattan’s CATs, which are helpful since the 2 official CATs provided by ETS (the test-maker) are not sufficient for a full preparation. The test produced by Manhattan are not real GREs, but they still provide good practice and are of higher quality than most other imitation GREs. Perhaps most importantly, they provide more practice with the CAT (computer adaptive test) format. For more information, you can also google "GRE Action Plan - McElroy Tutoring" to read my personalized, detailed and frequently updated recommendations for GRE prep.