2010-09-04 Great x Helpful book! (4 of 5)
Studied it for 2 days and gained a good score!...if i utilized it more i would've had a superb score!...I recommend

2010-09-02 If I could score 1420, anyone can...with this book (5 of 5)
Can't praise this book enough. I really am a dummy, but scored a 1420.

Yesterday at work I saw someone carrying another GRE prep book and told him about this one, which brought me to Amazon to find it again. (With a name like Vlk, it wasn't hard.)

Maybe 1420 isn't the score you aspire to, but for me it was just fine, as I took the test at age 51 (in the mid-90s) and decades after graduating from college.

I took the exam not to get into a graduate program, but to see if and how much I'd declined over the years. Of all the exam prep books out there, I was lucky to stumble on Ms Vlk's and was the only one I used.

I'm sure the book added 500 points to my score. Maybe not so much on the verbal (720) as we're always using and enjoying our great language, but certainly on the math (700), where all you need most of the time is simple addition and subtraction.

This isn't a book of practice questions. It's more as if you had a teacher at your side giving and then explaining the fundamentals, followed by questions to ensure you understood them, followed by explanations if you didn't.

Which means you have to work through the book. I recall it taking me about three or four months, an hour or so a day. As with most good things in life, you'll get out of it what you put into it.

I still have my copy...in case any of my grandchildren ever decide to take the test. And hoping they beat my score.

2010-06-09 good buy (5 of 5)
Very helpful review for the GRE and it does a good job introducing you to the exam which is nice if you don't really know what it's about to begin with. It really breaks down the questions and gives a thorough explanation for each answer choice. This book works best with other study tools though like flash cards and the princeton review website along with looking up common lists of vocabulary words you are likely to find on the exam that you will have to research on your own. If you are just beginning to read about the GRE then this is a great way to get acquainted with the exam and what you will be up against. Does a great job preparing you and isn't too difficult to get through. Only thing I would change is the math section. Unlike most people I am more concerned with the writing and reading sections because usually I am great at math and understand it. However this book's approach is that you are familiar with or at least have seen most of the problems and formulas used to tackle each question. You will encounter an entire chapter of just formulas and equations that you will need to remember or at least go back and review before reaching a practice question. I think it would have been better to put a practice section or test questions right after a couple of these formulas instead of just putting them all together back-to-back. Otherwise it will give you the tools you need to study.

2010-05-08 Indispensable (5 of 5)
Without a doubt, this book helped me achieve the score I required for my graduate program. The math section was especially well written (tailor made for someone like me who hadn't taken a math course in 15+ years) and surprisingly painless to muddle through. As others have mentioned, were there math questions on the GRE not covered on this book? Yes, but I honestly believe that's a relatively minor quibble- if you want to achieve an 800 on the quantitative section you can easily complement your studies with other more math intensive GRE books such as Barron's. However, the essentials that one requires for a very decent score are all in this book.

2010-04-17 If you're terrified of the GRE... (5 of 5)
This is the book to buy if you want a high score on the GRE. I bought this book on Feb 10, 2010 & got it sooner than expected. I didn't have time to study due to a busy schedule but because time was running out, I had to at least read the book & see what it had to offer (consider that I am no Math genius & that the verbal section is equally as bad). So I read the book from cover to cover once doing the practices and before you know it, it was time to take the test. So on April 16, 2010 I wrote my test, still as terrified as ever & what do you know? I scored over 1000 SOLELY because of this book.
I highly recommend this book to people who know for a fact that they are weak in Math. You will not regret it. Grad school here I come thanks to The GRE Test For Dummies!!!!!