GRE is the standardized gateway test to get into grad school, especially if you want to pursue a STEM program.  Depending on the program and the school you are applying to, you’d need a competitive score to set you apart from the competition. IVY league schools that sit at the very top of global rankings often require near-perfect scores. However, the good news is that with a stellar prep regiment and the right prep material, you can hit that 90th percentile mark which is considered the sweet spot in grad school circles.

Your GRE prep is essentially a two-step process. The first step is to learn the core concepts that are tested on the exam. These include Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, and Data analysis in the quant section and comprehension and critical thinking in the verbal section.

Once you have a grip on these topics, the second step in your prep would be to practice the concepts you learned. The only way to score high on the GRE is to practice relentlessly so that no type of question is a surprise for you on the actual test.

Learning the concepts, in my opinion, is the easy part because all GRE math topics are high school level math. The thing that would take more of your time and effort would be solving thousands of practice questions.

What should I use to practice?

Okay, so we have established that practice is a core component of GRE prep, the question now becomes, where to practice from? This is where you would have to make the right choices if you want to maximize your score. Not all practice material is built alike. There are high-quality practice questions and low-quality practice questions.

A high-quality practice question is the one that resembles the actual GRE. It contains all the nuances and context clues that make up a real GRE question. Most importantly, it is neither too easy nor too difficult.

On the other hand, a low-quality practice question fails to capture the essence of an actual GRE question. It fails to give you the clues and subtleties that point you in the right direction. It is also either too easy or needlessly complex and, instead of preparing you for the GRE, leaves you with an inaccurate understanding of the test.

Hence, choosing authentic and high-quality practice questions is of utmost importance. Below, I will list some of the best resources for GRE practice questions.

Best resources for GRE practice questions

Official GRE Super Power Pack

This book set contains three books, two of which are dedicated to quant and verbal prep, respectively. The main factor that sets apart this book set from rivaling companies is the fact that it has been written by the makers of GRE, i.e., ETS.

In test prep circles, it is a known fact that the official material is always superior to third-party prep books. Who knows and understands a test better than the people who made it? Moreover, since this article’s focus is on practice questions, The practice questions within these books are the closest you will get to the actual GRE.

ETS uses retired GRE questions from past papers that were once part of the actual test. Anyone who is starting with their GRE prep, I suggest that you start with these books.

Not only does it have some of the best lessons and explanations, it also has 600 of the most authentic practice questions and 4 full-length tests.

Moreover, Official GRE Super Power Pack divides questions into easy, medium, and hard difficulty levels. This is really helpful because it will give you an idea of which question types you need to study more. If you are starting out then, a good strategy would be to tackle the easy and medium questions first and then work your way up to the hard ones.

You can get this book set from here.

Kaplan GRE Complete

Kaplan is one of the leading companies in GRE test prep. They have been around for a while now and have published many books over the years. Kaplan is easily a close second to ETS when it comes to its practice material. Their quant and verbal questions are some of the highest quality non-official practice questions out there.

This three-book combo has two books solely dedicated to the quant and verbal sections of the test. In total, you get 2500 practice questions and 5 full-length tests. However, most of the questions and the mock tests aren’t in the book; instead, you access them on Kaplan’s website. This is better, in my opinion, because Kaplan’s web interface is one of the best in the industry, and you get a feel for what an actual GRE practice test looks like.

The practice questions come very close to official material. However, I will admit that some quant questions tend to be on the difficult side. Since you would need more practice questions than the ones in the official pack, this is the next best thing.

You can get Kaplan GRE complete from here.

Manhattan’s 5Lb Prep GRE Book

As the name suggests, Manhattan’s 5LB Prep GRE book is a bulky book that includes over 1800 practice problems. The book contains questions from quantitative as well as verbal sections. Organized into 33 chapters that span over 1000 pages, you are sure to stumble on a variety of different questions and difficulty levels.

Almost anyone who has thoughtfully prepared for the GRE has included this book in their arsenal. Once you are done with learning the concepts and need copious amounts of practice, this is the book.

The book also provides an “Advanced Quant” section that is more difficult than the GRE. This is meant for those who want to venture beyond GRE’s difficulty level and prepare for the worst-case scenario.

However, be advised that consistency is a bit of an issue with this book. Although the majority of the questions are high-quality, some tend to be easier than the actual GRE.

That being said, nothing else on the market comes close to the quantity and quality offered by Manhattan’s 5lb Book of GRE Practice Problems.

You can get this book from here.