GRE Books Comparison and Analysis

After going through all the GRE books, here is my comparison about some of the most popular GRE books:

Official Guides:

Pros - Excellent source of GRE questions. Very well organized with real test like questions.

Cons - No review of any math content or test-taking strategies. Not very good explanations of practice questions.

Overall, the Official Guide is a must have for all test-takers. It will give you a good idea about the type of questions to expect on the GRE; however, if you need more than just a bank of questions, you need to look at some other source.

Kaplan:

Pros - It covers every section of the test as much as possible by a single book. Also a good source for additional practice questions

Cons - Review of math content is not thorough but just the very basics. Not enough explanation of test taking strategies. Full of guessing techniques with no real mathematical solutions. Not good enough explanations of practice questions. Unrealistic questions.

Princeton:

Pros - Good for learning how to make educated guess and process of elimination. Focuses more on test taking techniques.

Cons - Review of math content is not thorough but just the very basics. Not enough explanation of test taking strategies. Full of guessing techniques with no real mathematical solutions. Not good enough explanations of practice questions. Weird sense of humor of Joe Blogs.

Dummies

Pros - Good book if you are looking for test taking strategies and brief overview as it covers every section. It's definitely worth the price.

Cons - Not a regular standalone type of a book. You'll certainly need additional help.

Barrons:

Pros - Intensive math review. Big list of questions. Good test taking strategies. Very well organized. This is by far the best of the all-in-one kinds of books.

Cons - Although the book has a good math review, it doesn't go deep enough into each concept. Does not have a good section for logical reasoning (permutation, combination, probability, etc) questions, which is one of the most important question-type. Does not break down the concepts/questions step by step. This is the only book I recommend you must buy apart from the OG.

EZ Solutions (series of books

Pros - Thorough math review from A to Z in the review books. Effective test taking strategies. Abundant solved examples. Numerous practice exercises. Great practice question bank in basic and advanced workbooks. As with most books, you are expected to already have a good knowledge about the various match concepts, but with these books, you can literally start from scratch and reach the most advanced level of the GMAT.

Cons - To get the best result from these books, you have to invest in buying several books (set of 10 books), but if you compare the cost and benefits, the benefits outweigh the cost, or you can buy a few not all. Missing the verbal section. This is not a good option if you are looking for a very basic brush-up. Recommended for serious test takers who have enough time for preparation.