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ETS GRE Prep Book Review (2024's Buying Guide)

William Cohen
Published by William Cohen
Last Updated On: January 24, 2022

Preparing for the GRE takes much time and effort, but hard work is not enough. You also need to have the proper resources to get good scores. If you want to have a tool that is created by those who have formulated the GRE themselves, then you might have to consider the ETS GRE Prep Course.

Our team has researched for you and came up with this ETS GRE Prep review to help you make an informed decision.

What is the ETS GRE Prep Review?

ets gre prep

The ETS GRE Prep is a full-length GRE test book that provides you with practice tests written by those who created the GRE themselves.

You can also get ETS GRE practice tests online, where a simulation of the actual exam can better prepare you for the test.

Listed below are the key features of this book to help build your expectations on what you should get when you purchase.

  • When you sign up to the site, you will get access to free GRE general test preparation materials. Information on the GRE, free POWER PREP test, and online review videos and content on the three portions of the exam are also available.
  • If you purchase the package, you will gain access to the official GRE General Test Preparation Materials. On top of the free materials created by the GRE experts themselves, you will have access to more resources and online review videos as well.

Top 4 Benefits and Highlights

The following are the key benefits that you can get if you purchase the ETS GRE Prep book. Whether or not you are impressed with these highlights will be up to your preferences.

1. Written by the exam authors

They say practice makes perfect, but it would be suitable for anyone if they practice correctly. The ETS GRE Prep book is written by those who created the book themselves. The reviewer gives you insight into how they formulate the questions, which prepares you to harness test-taking skills better for the actual exam.

2. Available both online and offline

You also have the convenience of choosing which platform you will learn the material better. You can purchase the ETS reviewer offline if you prefer studying in print. For those who are better at learning using gadgets, pdfs are also available in Kindle (and other similar ebook applications).

3. Affordable pricing options available

As it is a book rather than a course, you can quickly choose which of the materials you will purchase as each material can stand alone. You can use ETS GRE Prep as supplementary material to say your Magoosh review so that you will have more resources.

4. Additional tips from Barron's GRE Prep Book Review experts

Aside from offering practice questions, ETS also allows you to get expert advice and GRE test-taking tips. Discussion for each item is extensive, as this helps you understand how you can arrive at the answer to other similar questions in the actual GRE.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French writer and aviator.

Are There Drawbacks?

reading through a laptop

Just like any other GRE review course, however, ETS GRE Prep also has its shortfalls. To help you make more informed decisions, we have presented them below as well. Knowing these circumstances can help you prepare better about what to do with them if they threaten to affect your studying.

No live tutorials and lessons

As mentioned, the ETS GRE Prep is a book reviewer with supplementary video discussions you can access online. The course thus does not allow room for you to have a conversation with an instructor that might help you clarify more points about your queries.

However, we have found the ETS team's explanations to be of substantial and understandable quality, so there is not much to worry about in this shortfall. However, if you are uncomfortable about not being able to raise your questions, then you might have to consider other review courses.

Redundancy is present

Based on our extensive research on the product, we have found that some of their customers claim that the reviewers contain redundant topics. You are paying for the full-length GRE practice tests, and if some items are the same over multiple exams, you won't be learning new techniques.

However, these are minor loopholes, and the ETS GRE reviewer still has a lot to offer despite this shortcoming based on our assessment.

Real Student Results from Preparing for the GRE Using the ETS GRE Prep Book

We wanted to find out whether students who used the ETS GRE prep book when preparing for the GRE saw a real improvement in their GRE test scores.

Accordingly, we had students take a GRE prep test before and after studying for the GRE using the ETS GRE prep book. We obtained each student’s Quantitative Reasoning and Verbal Reasoning results from each test and compared them to determine a percentage improvement.

Students saw a considerable improvement in test scores as a result of using the ETS GRE prep book. For example, one student achieved a 21.6% improvement in score, while another achieved a 19.1% gain.

 

TEST SCORE PREDICTOR (QUANTITATIVE + REASONING)
Baseline (Before taking the course)
After studying the course
Improvement
 
Student 1
308
326
5.8%
Smallest Improvement
Student 2
278
338
21.6%
Largest Improvement
Student 3
282
336
19.1%
Student 4
286
338
18.2%
Student 5
298
318
6.7%
 

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How Accurate Is The ETS GRE Prep?

When studying for the GRE, you probably keep asking yourself how well you will do. This is why prep books have prep tests included.

If accurate, sImulation of the real exam gives you insight into your knowledge and readiness.

So we decided to test how accurate the ETS GRE prep really is.

To do that, we asked five students who have studied from ETS GRE Prep Book to inform us about their scores both on the ETS prep test and the real GRE.

When we put them together, we could calculate the exact percentage of accuracy.

Here is what their results look like:

QUANTITATIVE REASONING
Before
(Test score
predictor)
Real
GRE Test
Score 
%Accuracy   
Student 1
163
170
96% 
Student 2
169
167
99% 
Student 3
168
168
99% 
Student 4
169
167
99% 
Student 5
159
166
96%  
98%  
VERBAL REASONING
  Before
(Test score
predictor)
Real
GRE Test
Score 
%Accuracy   
159
166
96%
158
159
99%
155
159
96%
155
157
99%
165
160
97%
98%  

GRE Logo

As you can see from their scores, the estimation given by the ETS was 98% accurate in both Quant and Verbal reasoning.

When you take a closer look at the data, you can see that there were cases when it gave almost the same result as the real GRE, but sometimes the mismatch was up to 7 points, which is a lot.

Is the ETS GRE Review worth it?

Based on our research, the ETS GRE Prep is a highly acclaimed reviewer that our team has found promising based on research. However, it falls short on some of the qualities offered by the Magoosh prep course review, making the latter a more favorable option to consider.

Magoosh has live classes and equally competitive review materials that improve your skills in tackling the examination while allowing room for discussion (unlike the ETS reviewer).

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  • Offers a score predictor to help you assess your progress
  • Good for both comprehensive and last-minute study
  • Structured with clear and flexible lesson plans
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