Series: Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides
Paperback: 1920 pages
Publisher: Manhattan Prep Publishing; Fourth edition (June 3, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1937707911
ISBN-13: 978-1937707910
Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 3.6 x 11 inches


The Good
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Book Layout

Each book is specialized in a certain area of contents. For instance, a complete book is dedicated to algebra. Another covers quantitative comparison and data interpretation. Within each book, concepts are broken up into chapters. Before moving on to a new concept/chapter, you can test your newfound skills with plenty of relevant practice questions. Other prep companies treat most concepts superficially and provide few pertinent practice problems.

Because Manhattan GRE is spread across a series of books, each book does not feel cluttered. While this may sound trivial, having to stare at an unruly forest of facts and figures can quickly drive one batty.

Finally, the end of each book has easy, medium, and difficult practice sets, consisting of the different revised GRE question types. By the time you get to the end of each book, you will have been exposed to the range of concepts tested on the Revised GRE, and been given ample opportunity to practice.
Approach
With these books you will actually learn. Manhattan GRE does not resort to cheesy gimmicks or “tricks.” You will have a solid grasp of the fundamentals. The books also do not lull you into a false sense of complacency by dumbing down the test.
Explanations
The voice used throughout the series is direct and engaging. Explanations are also clear and will probably not leave you scratching your head, the way you might after reading other prep books. Basically, you feel like you are working with a smart, patient tutor.
Comprehensiveness
While I’ve already mentioned this a few times, I want to point out that Barron’s, Kaplan, and Princeton Review do not cover every concept and only cursorily cover many important concepts. The Manhattan GRE series covers almost anything you will see quant-wise on the test (I noticed that parabolas – an uncommon question type seen only on harder questions – were absent).

They also offer a code at the back of each book so that you can go online to take 6 new practice tests, explanations included! The material online is slightly more accurate than in the book, especially when it comes to text completions and sentence equivalence (I discuss this further below). I’m assuming this is because the material online was probably easier to update as they learned more about the new GRE.
Taking price into account, you may want to just pick one or two of their books to purchase particularly question/concept types you want some extra practice on– since you only need one book to get access to their online practice tests.


The Bad
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The Math section, which comprised of six of the eight books, is excellent. Every concept is covered and practice problems abound. However, if you are looking for a high quant score, you may already know much of what is covered in these books and you would want a greater number of difficult questions.

The flaws in the verbal section, namely the text completions/sentence equivalence, are more salient. Most text completions rely on obscure words (the way the old GRE did) rather than twisted sentence structure. The Revised GRE has intentionally done away with this approach, focusing instead on a student’s ability to grasp the big picture. Manhattan GRE’s focus on tough vocab, however, may unnecessarily intimidate students and, paradoxically, leave them unprepared for the actual exam.


Overall
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If you are ready to splash some cash for a good GRE score! This is it. The Bible of all GRE books! The Manhattan GRE series is so good, the rest of the books out there are basically a joke. That is not to say Manhattan GRE is perfect, though it comes close in the math portion.
Of course, money is an issue. Unlike Barron’s, Kaplan, and Princeton Review, Manhattan GRE is not a single book but a set of eight books, consisting of 1,500 pages. This explains the price.

So perhaps it isn’t completely fair to compare the Manhattan GRE series to the rest. However, if you are serious about your score, and do not flinch at the price tag, then don’t waste your time with the other books.