GRE - The Materials

There are a variety of ways to study for the GRE -- classes, online materials, self-paced, books, etc. Personally, I work best in a self-paced manner, so I chose to not pay for a tutor or class. Out of the various companies that produce workbooks, I went with Princeton Review. How did I come to this decision? I went to Barnes & Noble study aid section and paged through Kaplan, Princeton Review, Barron's, and Manhattan Prep. All were great at presenting information and providing examples and practice questions, but Princeton Review clicked with me more than the others. It was easy to follow and understand. I strongly recommend you read a paragraph or two in the various books before deciding on which book to buy. It will be important when you actually go to study. 

There are a few Princeton Review book choices for the GRE -- I went with Cracking the GRE Premium. The basic version of Cracking the GRE does not offer a study plan with your purchase or as many practice exams. I wanted to set myself up for success right from the start and I felt this was the better decision. There are individual Math and Verbal books that they offer. I did not purchase the individual books since I got the overall book. However, I did purchase their Word Smart for the GRE. Despite ETS telling you that their new test does not require just basic vocabulary, I strongly recommend this book. 

There were a few other materials that I decided to get for my prep -- Barron's GRE Verbal Workbook and GRE Math Workbook, Junior Skill Builders: Basic Math in 15 Minutes a Day, Sparkcharts: Geometry and Algebra I, and multiple types of math worksheets. I also had a variety of colored pens and highlighters, a notebook, and flashcards. 

Below are the reviews of the materials: 

Cracking the GRE Premium                                ~$40.00

- well worth the money
- choice of 4, 6, 8, 12 week study plans online with purchase of book
- provides the HIT parade vocabulary list
- in depth explanantions that are easy to follow and understand
- great tips throughout the book
- plenty of practice problems and exams




Word Smart for the GRE                                     ~$15.00

- Used it every single day in combination with the HIT parades in the Cracking the GRE Premium
- quizzes every 10-15 words
- provides other categories of words such as word roots or foreign words
- provides part of speech, definition, and examples for each word
- multiple vocab exams at the end




Barron's GRE Math workbook                           ~$15.00

- only used the practice problems from this book
- material was not presented in the best way
- found this book to not touch base with the material on the GRE as much as Princeton Review 





Barron's GRE Verbal Workbook                        ~$15.00

- Great tips on how to approach various verbal situations
- information presented in a concise and easy to follow manner
- used the practice problems extensively, especially days before my exam date






Basic Math in 15 Minutes a Day                       ~$15.00

- great if you have some basic skills that were forgotten or you need to strengthen
- many practice problems!






Sparkcharts: Geometry and Algebra I              ~$10.00 combined

- provide ALOT of information
- only got these for quick reference and honestly only used them a few times








Printed Math Worksheets and essay prompts with essay grading rubric

- fractions, order of operations, and decimal worksheets to increase my speed on basic math skills
- essay sheets were used to speed up my brain maps and critical thinking for essay prepping

Notebook and Pens

- 100% need this to succeed - used to organize thoughts and act as a quick reference guide/quizzing book
- color coded by section

Flashcards

- VOCABULARY!!!! easy to take anywhere vocabulary flash cards. 100% recommend!
- math flashcards for multiplication facts up to 15's and for various basic math facts. trust me. This is important to save time.

 For more on my journey, follow me on Twitter @_gradgirl_

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Finding Your Foundation

Image
Having a solid foundation is important...which is why my second round of school was going to start with a good foundation and pacing on my own terms. Looking back on everything, I should have taken a gap year before going into undergrad. I felt as though I was not prepared for college and I rushed into everything. Understanding that, I knew I needed to take time off before I enter my second round of school. It is sort of like a second chance, or at least that is the way I am looking at it all... I bought my book from Barnes & Noble My first step in building my foundation was reading The Princeton Review's  The Best 167 Medical Schools 2015 edition. ( There is a 2016 edition and I am sure the two books are similar in content. Either book will do fine.) In the 2015 book, there are six chapters that are extremely informative. It is especially important to read the chapters that have to do with medical school itself, the different types of medical programs, nontraditional s...
Read more

GRE - Studying

Image
Before I start explaining my process of how I got to exam day, I would like to share my scores. I took the GRE twice. I needed a specific score of 300 or above in order to apply for the program I wanted. My program was not concerned entirely with the writing score. First attempt: 295 W3.5 Second attempt: 306 W4.5 The first attempt, I used the 12 week study plan and felt like it was too long of a study period. I focused more on the concepts. The second attempt, I used the 6 week study plan. I focused more on the test taking skills, my vocabulary, and quizzing. Now onto the study plan... Step 1: Take the practice GRE that Princeton Review offers for free There are various locations. For me, my scheduled building was easy to find and plenty of street parking for early in the morning. It simulated real test time and break times with exception that it was a paper test rather than the computer based test. I treated this practice test as my way to introduce myself to the GRE so th...
Read more