I'm just going to repost several posts I've written in the past on this subject. Also realize that if you search the forums you will find lots more advice already out there as well.
"GRE for Dummies was helpful for me. It is a very basic overview of what's on the GRE and doesn't go into much depth on anything (especially the math) but it depends how much in depth material you need. Even if you feel you need to study more in depth, I still think the Dummies book is helpful because it gives a good overview of what's on the test that is entertaining to read and can be gotten through pretty quickly. It would be a good warmup before diving into a more intense book. Kind of like looking over the powerpoints before going to lecture. I think a simple book first and in depth book second strategy could definitely work well for some people. I don't know if you are one of those people, but it's a suggestion. The dummies book is cheap on amazon and will only take you a few days to read through.
Be warned though, it has a decent number of blatant typos and a number of pretty noticeable errors. But I don't think it took away from the utility of the book greatly. It's not a super high quality book but it sure is a lot more fun to read than the more heavy duty books.
I like to recommend it to people not because of any particular greatness that it has. I recommend it partly because I think it could help prep people for more intense study, but mostly because I think a lot of people study for the GRE more than they need to. The dummies book is all about studying effectively and learning high yield tips, tricks and concepts. The GRE is mostly a test of your rational thinking abilities and your test-taking skills, not of your detailed knowledge in any particular subject. Sometimes memorizing a particular method for hundreds of different types of math problems is not as effective as brushing up on the basic underlying principles of algebra and geometry, and then going about each problem in whatever way makes the most sense to you. You need to study smarter not harder for the GRE, to use a cliche."
"The "GRE for Dummies" book has a lot of bad reviews because it does not have any detail at all compared to other more extensive books, but I found it to be a excellent overview of what is on the test and it is
much easier to read and
much less painful to work through than other books I have seen. And it's like 17 bucks on Amazon. I went through the whole thing, practice problems/tests included (minus writing practice essays), in a week. If you feel you don't need detailed prep for the test, this book might be sufficient, but if you feel you need more extensive preparation I would definitely recommend spending a week to go through the "Dummies" book as a warmup/introduction first. This is analogous to reading through the chapter/powerpoint before going to lecture so you are better able to understand the teaching due to your prior familiarity. This book also spends a lot of it's time filling you in on what you should devote your effort to versus what studying effort is less likely to net you points on the test. Some more extensive books (such as the "official" book from ETS, which I would avoid BTW) ask you to spend a lot of time and a lot of study effort on things that have a low likelihood of translating directly to more points on test day. Because of this the Dummies book is also an excellent resource if all you have time for is "cramming" for the GRE.
Beware though that it skims over a lot of things, with its math section being the weakest, and it does contain a number of typos and several blatant errors. But its cheap and actually pretty entertaining to read. So take it for what its worth."
"I will also say, at the risk of sounding unintentionally conceited, that I do not think the GRE is actually as hard as people make it out to be. I am convinced that a lot of the problems with peoples' scores are psychological. Prepping for the GRE, reading about other peoples' experiences with the GRE and spending too much time on SDN seeing what other people are getting on the GRE psyches you out into thinking it is harder than it is. It is not the MCAT. It isn't even a test of any particular body of knowledge, other than some high school algebra and geometry. The GRE is examining your test taking skills and your powers of logical reasoning. While it is definitely beneficial to memorize vocabulary words and math formulas for solving problems, and this is required to be able to answer some of the questions, most of the questions can be answered without actually knowing the answer if you have excellent test-taking skills. For example, out of the couple hundred vocabulary words I went through before the test, I think 1 or maybe 2 came up on test day. And maybe 20% (at best) of the math problem types and formulas I memorized came up. So needless to say prepping for the GRE via memorization has a very low reward to cost ratio.
The GRE is also a test of stamina, as having to write under pressure for an hour solid right at the beginning is very mentally taxing. I was fried by the time I got to the second math section, and that damaged my math score much more than not knowing how to do math did.
Take that sentiment with a grain of salt if you wish, but that has been my experience. Spending several sessions the length of the real test (4.5 hours) developing stamina and test-taking skills will help you more than attempting to memorize a "Top 400 GRE Vocab words" list and the method used to solve hundreds of math practice problems.
Also, studying for months and months is not going to help you. If you study for more than 10 or 12 weeks you will have either forgotten what you learned in the first few weeks by the time you get to the last few, or you will have just spent an inordinate amount of time making yourself believe the GRE is something that it is not. If you are intelligent enough to be going to PT school, then 2 months of an
effective and efficient 8-10 hours a week or so of studying should be more than enough.
The gist of it is that you should definitely study the vocab list and definitely commit to memory the key math and geometry formulas you've forgotten since high school, but if I was you I would spend less of my time memorizing individual facts and definitions and more of my time learning and practicing problem solving strategies.
My 2 cents anyway..."
