In Pakistan prospective GRE applicants use Barron’s GRE Book as their primary preparation source. Therefore lets see how well does the New Revised GRE Book by Barron’s help them meet their objectives. Here is a Review of Barron’s New GRE Book 19th Edition.

As a GRE preparation tutor I always evaluate a GRE book on 2 criterion.

First and foremost, how closely do the diagnostic, sample and practice questions mimic the questions on the actual GRE. If they do then are they sufficient in number to apply and understand what you have learned.

Secondly does the book teach the “application” of the tips, techniques and strategies on those questions rather than merely providing just the tips? Only tips don’t help at all – it’s how to apply them on different questions that come handy in getting a good score on the GRE.

Needless to say that published GRE book must avoid typos; it should be photogenic i.e. the content must be beautifully laid out so that it is attractive for the reader.

As far as Barron’s new revised GRE book is concerned I personally think that it is a very messy and ugly looking book. The size/thickness of the book itself is so intimidating that it throws off many students even before they start reading it. Then it is not presented in a photogenic manner. Too much info on every page makes the students bang their heads on the wall. There are a few typos too: for instance one of the maths problems that referred to an included figure did not, in fact, include the figure. This clearly points towards lack of attention shown by the writer’s of Barron’s book for the new revised GRE.

Putting the looks of the book aside for a moment let’s see how well Barron’s 19th edition GRE book does in helping prospective GRE applicants get a good score i.e. how close it matches the 2 criterion above.

How well do the questions in Barron’s New GRE Book mimic actual GRE questions?

While it seems that a good GRE book should have lots of practice questions, what good are these practice questions if they do not reflect the actual level GRE questions? Well this is partially true for the GRE book by Barron’s.

Barron’s New GRE 19th Edition Book has a plethora of questions but I feel that many of them are not like the ones that come on the actual test. For instance, on the verbal section’s sentence completion and equivalence questions, there is a glaring emphasis on convoluted vocabulary – whereas we all know that the revised GRE has significantly shifted its focus from the vocab to the contextual understanding and analysis of the these question types. Sure, all the questions are not like that, and a few offer some challenge, yet you would be mislead thinking that this level of preparation would totally prepare you for the actual GRE.

However, the 19th edition of Barron’s GRE does a relatively better job at the reading comprehension question types and they definitely are much close to what you can expect to see on the test day.

Then on the Math section again I don’t see many questions that would really challenge someone who is aiming for a really good GRE score. In fact I have never seen my students feel worried about them. If you are someone aiming for a top score then Barron’s quant can best serve as just the basic quant prep.

Worst part of Barron’s New GRE 19th Edition Book review is that it does not provide explanations for its practice tests which is a blatant blunder. Students need explanations whether or not they get a question correct. They must have some means of comparing their method and answers to some benchmark.

In summary I would say that Barron’s GRE does have a lot of questions but only 60% of these mimic the GRE test. But then this will also lead us into the confusion that which ones are and which not. I would say do all the Barron’s questions and practice sets but just keep in mind that you’ll have experienced only 60% of what you’ll see on the test day.

Does it teach the application of the techniques, tips and strategies they offer?

Verbal

In terms of tips, ticks and strategies, the 19th edition of Barron’s GRE is just average. Numerous strategies are mentioned but many are not helpful. Especially text completion/equivalence offer some strategies that are so common as to almost be totally ineffective. Sometimes even they are incorrect.

Moreover I am sorry to say but had Barron’s New GRE 19th Edition Book provided more practice questions to elucidate the application of each tactic, a student would have felt much comfortable and happy. Instead, Barron’s chokes everything up for, say, 10 different tactics, without referencing any of them in the explanations to the questions.

Quant/Math

Barron’s GRE book does better at including effective quant strategies and concepts that are likely to help you on the day of the exam. But again, the questions that follow these strategies are dumped one after another without highlighting each tactic and its application. Therefore it becomes very frustrating to figure out things on your own without the help of a tutor.

Finally, if you are new to math or are reviewing it after a long time, you will definitely become lost since Barron’s does not do a good job of making the complex look simple.

Conclusion

As a tutor, I would say don’t focus entirely on Barron’s except for practising – however remember it will only prepare you 60%. The overall content is uneven and it feels this book wasn’t written with much effort. And in Pakistan where students use Barron’s as their primary preparation source for GRE will be shocked and disappointed on the test day.

The most confounding thing is that for some reason Barron’s has omitted its word list. Now they do not provide any list which must be addressed in future editions.

If you are preparing without a tutor you’ll be daunted by the book. The strategies are generally good but very poorly presented which will make GRE look more complex. Use it only to practice after you have learned the tips and techniques from someone or somewhere else.