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| (Photo from http://www.amazon.com/Barrons-New-GRE-19th-Edition/dp/0764146165) |
The first big thing I had to consider when choosing a book was the fact that the GRE has changed a bit since I took it last. I'm not sure what all has changed on the exam except for the fact that there will be a new experimental section and it sound like there may even be experimental questions mixed in with the other questions. I mainly bought the book for a few potential writing prompts, a quick review of what to expect for the reading section, and ESPECIALLY for the math review. I know math is not my forte, despite my dedication to my math classes in high school. It was one area that just never came naturally for me, but I always appreciated it for the challenge. As is, I've been trying to remind myself that I do ENJOY the challenge. I know: I'm a little sick like that. Nonetheless, the book has been helping for the most part.
I have become stumped a few times though when the authors jumped ahead on some steps without explaining the seemingly self-explanatory reason for jumping ahead. I often find myself writing the steps out in the book to see just where the author came up with the next numbers in the sequence. Even then, I've still found myself stumped enough that I've made notes on Post-Its to remind myself to address these questions with one of my buddies who happens to be a math guru. And while I am a bit at a loss with some math, I am still a pretty strong reader and a pretty logical person, so it seems that there may be some lacking explanations on some of the concepts.
As well, the organization of the book is interesting and I can understand why the editors/ authors choose to organize it accordingly, but as far as actual usability, there should be some serious reorganization. The book starts off with a diagnostic test, but there's no rubric for the written portion, so even if I wanted to grade my own written portion (or have a colleague do it for me), I could only guess as to the breakdown of the points. Even I try to give my students some sort of rubric, so I was a bit surprised there would even be a writing area (with lines provided) rather than just listing numerous prompts. This seemed a bit contradictory. The math section, which has been my main focus, was also a bit daunting in that there are tactics broken down in a logical and progressive order, but then key aspects (such as formula and other easily forgotten math facts) are listed in a separate area named Key Facts toward the end of the book. What ended up happening as I was trying to learn these tactics is that I then became so stumped on some of these missing elements that I just jumped straight back to the key facts section to review all aspects, figuring that I could skim the areas I knew really well and then systematically focus on my weak areas.
With T-10 days to go until the test I'm feeling pretty intimidated, but I know I must be in a mildly better spot than I was two weeks ago. Either way... I'm hoping I know something, since I'm recognizing how little I really know.
