GRE Mathematics Test

by Jerry Samples, Thomas E. Elsner, Om Prakash Agrawal, et al.

Book Overview

This test preparation book includes six full-length exams with detailed explanations based on official exams released by the administrator of the GRE in Mathematics. Knowledge of algebra, calculus,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738608386
• ISBN13: 9780738608389
• Release Date: May 2010
• Publisher: Research & Education Association
• Length: 340 Pages
• Weight: 2.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.7" x 9.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Can be helpful, if used correctly

First of all, the review section in this book is worthless. The real reason that you would buy this book would have to be the 6 practice tests. Do not attempt to do the first four tests or the last (Test I - IV, VI) since you will almost certainly not be able to complete them. Instead, go through each question in these four tests and if you can't do one then mark the problem, look at the book's solution and learn how they did it. Try doing the marked problems again in a couple of days. Some of these problems have solutions that are so complex that you know that they will not be on the GRE so just ignore them or try to think of simpler solutions (several of these very difficult problems do have simpler solutions than what the book shows, and this will help prepare you for the hard problems on the GRE). The second to last test (Tests V) is, in my opinion, representative of the real GRE test. Take this tests like you would a regular practice GRE. There are typos in the practice tests and some mistakes, but I did not find this to cause much trouble.

Excellent book, but errors should be fixed

I know one of the authors of this book, and therefore have a bit of insight as to his intentions. He did not write the questions by going through volumes of old GRE questions and changing numbers slightly, ensuring they would be nearly identical to the actual GRE. Rather, he prepared a set of questions, (nearly) all of which competent mathematics students should be able to solve. Admittedly, the problems are more difficult than actual exam questions, but that is probably the best way to train-- athletes run with weights, swing heavier bats when practicing-- why not mathematicians? The other option (Princeton Review) is presented in a much 'nicer' way and its coverage is much closer to the actual examination. Many of the questions, however, are a bit too easy, and students who use it as a sole source of test questions may well be in for a surprise come exam time. Bottom Line: If you want to get into a good graduate school, it wouldn't hurt to buy either of the aforementioned books. Each hads its strengths, and you can never go wrong with more problems. The only source one should use to gauge the difficulty of the actualy exam is the sample GRE (available for free online). A final note: As other reviewers have noted, the book is saturated with errors. It's almost incomprehensible that REA continues to republish the book without editing it, but they don't seem to care. The errors may be annoying, but they're usually easy to fix and won't interfere with the reading of the book (with the exception of erroneous solutions).

No substantially new problems since the first edition

There are basically only two books on the GRE Math SUBJECT test, namely, this one ("The Best Test Preparation for the GRE Math Test" by REA) and "Cracking the GRE Math Test" by Princeton Review. When your grad school future is at stake, it never hurts to have "too much" practices. So, any rating of this (or the other) book probably won't help much because you are most likely going to get your hands on both books (and whatever else is available) regardless of the ratings anyway. However, I still think perhaps it is worthwhile to mention that this book has been largely unchanged since its first edition published in 1989. Currently it is in its fourth edition (2002) or what the publisher calls the "Year 2004 Printing". It seems that they have done little besides fixing old errors and removing those problems that are too wrong and too embarassing to be fixed. Even though the newer edition has a study guide and a new score-to-percentile conversion scale, I was still disappointed because I was looking for substantially new problems. One major weakness of this book, like its counterparts on the market, is that it is not realistic enough to adequately prepare the testers. After four editions, it still remains the case here. For that reason, I took one star off.

BIG book that may help you prepare your GRE Math test.

Pros: 1. It has 6 full-length exams with "explanations" to every question. Cons: 1. The included "Comprehensive Mathematics Review" which is supposed to cover all major topics, is pretty BAD. It is rarely useful, I didn't like it at all. I recommend much more the review that's included in "Cracking the GRE Math", which is much more detailed and explanatory, with plenty of exercises. 2. As someone has already noted, the exam does not have the same "feeling" as a real ETS test. The questions are generally more difficult, and the distribution of question types are very strange. It seems that they had never seen a real GRE Math test when they did this book. 3. The explanations to every question are very often quite unsatisfactory. The explanations given in "Cracking the GRE Math" are much more helpful. Summarizing, it could have been a great book, because it has 6 full-length questions, which I think, it is the best way to prepare for this test. However, one notices right away that it has a completely different flavor from the actual GRE Math test. Knowing this, I still bought it, because I needed more practice tests, but I'm not really sure if it did help me.

An excellent math review, with a serious and annoying flaw.

The book is divided into two parts of about 300 pages each. The first is a review of undergraduate math, from polynomials through calculus to higher undergrad topics like complex variables, statistics, topology, abstract algebra, etc. The second half is a set of 6 practice tests, which I found to be harder than the actual GRE subject test. (That makes for good reviewing, on the student's part.) After each test is an answer key and an explanation of each answer.My main concern about this book -- and it's a big one -- is that whoever proofread the first half (the "review") apparently doesn't understand math. Some expressions are wrong; some are nonsense. (This was the 1997 printing.) If you know enough math to get past that sort of hazard, I highly recommend the book.