Manhattan Prep GRE Set of 8 Strategy Guides (Manhattan Prep GRE Strategy Guides) Fourth Edition

I purchased Manhattan's GRE Strategy Guides a few months ago for self-study, as I couldn't afford a private tutor. Using these guides, along with Manhattan's 5 lb. Book of Practice Problems, I was able to improve from a low-160s verbal diagnostic score to a 170, and from a 150s quantitative score to a 164. I really enjoyed how thorough these books are, as they teach you not only the formulas and words needed to perform well on the GRE, but the reading/mathematical strategies and ways of thinking necessary to arrive at the correct answers for every question type.The guides are short enough to digest each individually in just a few days, and they give you practice questions along the way, including end-of-chapter and end-of-book problem sets, that range from the most basic GRE questions to the most difficult. There are so many questions that I was able to go through each book at least twice while having each question seem fresh to me (try using notebooks instead of writing in the books themselves). I would also recommend going over the Drill Sets of each book every so often to stay sharp on all mathematical and verbal concepts.These books also come with 1,000 common GRE words (500 basic and 500 advanced), many of which I saw on the test itself. I would recommend setting up some Vocabulary.com or Quizlet flashcard sets, and doing about 20 sets of 50 words. The Manhattan word list, along with Magoosh's free flashcards and mobile vocabulary app, proved invaluable for me on test day.These books also come with 6 practice GRE tests (through an online account), which I would definitely recommend taking. The interface is very similar to that of the actual test, and so is the difficulty.Would definitely recommend getting these books and the 5 lb. Book if you're interested in a self-guided prep route.

I have bought this entire collection and did not regret! I needed very thorough review of entire Math part, especially geometry which I knew very poorly since high school. Each individual book specializes on specific topic and provides you with strategies and tricks on how to tackle down questions on GRE. Because, in the end of the day - if you do not know proper strategies and tricks on how to tackle GRE questions, you will fail - that's how ETS makes them. People who are native-english speakers and have graduate degrees in Math and who do not learn these strategies - fail. Advice also to those who consider buying official GRE guide book thinking that it will provide you with guidelines of the test and will be useful to you - do not waste your money as I did. Manhattan books have all information on the test in the introduction chapters, so you will know all you need about the test without official guide. Plus, if I had only official guide, I would receive very poor scores since official guide does not provide any useful and proven strategies to take this test! After all, why would ETS want test-takers to get high scores and never take the test again? They want you to receive low scores so that you would re-take their test by paying more $$$.I have also bought 5 lbs book with practice questions (very helpful to get yourself trained!) and the flash cards, however you may use the flash cards online when you register your books on Manhattan's official website - so there is no need to buy these cards, unless you like taking notes on the back of the cards.

I began studying (seriously) approximately two weeks prior to my scheduled GRE test date using this set. I found the quantitative review to be the most useful as I was surprised/embarrassed at how little I remembered from basic math. I guess after taking multiple high-level math courses, you kind of forget the basics, but this study set made it easy to refresh and provides ample sample questions. They do a great job of breaking down concepts and then testing you on those concepts before moving on to the next subject. At the end of each book, there are multiple question sets of varying degrees of difficulty, so you can "level up" until you feel comfortable with your understanding and test performance. As a reference point, I studied about 10 hours a day every day for two weeks, and tried to get through each book in a day, then left time to review. Of course, each test taker is responsible for their own performance, but I scored 162 in Verbal Reasoning (91st percentile), 158 in Quantitative Reasoning (69th percentile), and 5.0 in Analytical Writing (93rd percentile). I believe these "Strategy Guides" contributed to my success and they will contribute to yours as well!