Best Books for GRE Verbal Reasoning

The Graduate Record Examination is divided into three sections namely the Analytical Writing Section, the Verbal Reasoning Section, and the Quantitative Reasoning Section giving the test a duration close to 4 hours. Among the three sections, the Verbal Reasoning Section is considered to be the most formidable, requiring more practice and hard work.

A high score in this section reflects the student's command of the English language and his ability to understand and communicate effectively. To achieve this goal, one has to put a lot of effort into preparation, and the best training comes from choosing the best preparative materials.

8 Best Books to Ace the GRE Verbal Section

Book	Price	Parameters
Kaplan’s GRE Verbal Workbook-10th Edition	$16.35	Questions and Drills Practice Tests Tips and Strategies
Gruber’s Complete GRE Guide 2019-2020	$18.99	Info on Test Strategies and Tips Practice Tests and Explanations
Manhattan Prep GRE Verbal Strategies	$20.99	Strategies and Tips Topic Reviews Practice Questions
Barron’s GRE Verbal Workbook	$14.99	Practice Tests Dictionary for GRE Practice Questions
Official GRE Verbal Reasoning Practice Questions-ETS	$14.00	Tips and Strategies Info on Test Review of Writing Section
Barron’s Essential Words for the GRE-4th Edition	$22.46	800+ Words and Definitions Practice Tests Repeated Questions in GRE
Norman Lewis Word Power Made Easy	$9.99	Detailed Subject Review Vocabulary Tips
Princeton Review’s Verbal Workout for the GRE-6th Edition	$15.37	Practice Questions and Answers Topic Reviews Prompts for Argument and Issue Task

1

Kaplan’s GRE Verbal Workbook- 10th Edition

Cost: $16.35
The book focuses on the key strategies that can be used by students who are even well-versed in the language. This is because the strategies that have been provided are tailor-made for the GRE General Test by experts who have accumulated wisdom over the years. Purchasing the book and preparing for the test by actually using the book increases one's chances of earning at least 6 extra points.

Pros-

• The book contains questions and drills that aim at training students for the GRE Verbal Reasoning section.
• There are also practice questions exclusive to this edition and six full-length practice tests.
• The book also includes tips for essay-writing and strategies to clear the Analytical Writing section of the GRE.

Cons-

• The digital version of the book has been stated to be ill-formatted and user-unfriendly.

2

Gruber’s Complete GRE Guide 2019-2020

Cost: $18.99
It is highly recommended for people who are starting from scratch and are considering self-preparation. It begins with a diagnostic test which helps the candidate assess their base goal and calculate a realistic goal score toward which they can strive. It supplies the Baby GRE words and is the best way to begin the preparation.

Pros-

• This book outlines the GRE Test format and serves as an essential introduction to the Verbal Section and the types of questions asked in each of its sub-sections.
• This book claims to offer practical strategies and examples along with subject reviews provided in detail.
• The book also contains practice tests and their explanations.

Cons-

• The way in which the content in the book has been organized has been stated to be user-unfriendly.
• The book has general typos and errors that make learning difficult.
• The practice test provided does not have the same format as the official examination.

3

Manhattan Prep GRE Verbal Strategies

Cost: $20.99
The Manhattan Prep offers different books dedicated to the different sections of the GRE Subject Tests. This set of 8 books includes details for the different sections of the general test. They offer separate books on every section of the GRE Verbal such as Reading Comprehension and Sentence Completion.

Pros-

• Strategized learning ideas have been provided in the books to help students achieve their goals without purchasing any new book apart from the eight they offer.
• Each book concentrates on one particular section, so it elaborates on every topic along with more practice questions leading to a better understanding.
• Additionally, these books tend to have questions that are tougher than normal. Practicing with them makes candidates attempt the official test easily.

4

Barron’s GRE Verbal Workbook

Cost: $14.99
This book begins with a diagnostic test that can help students understand their strengths and weaknesses before even beginning to prepare for the test using the book. There are extensive chapters reviewing the content required for the test. It includes chapters based on sentence equivalence, text completion, and even reading comprehension.

Pros-

• The book also contains 2 full-length practice tests that focus only on the verbal section of the GRE.
• It contains a dictionary for GRE which contains vocabulary and definitions based only on words that are frequently asked in GRE.
• The book is all about practice than reviewing the content and hence is an investment in itself.

Cons-

• Candidates who are new to the test and wish to review content will be in the need of a more basic book.
• The book also does not deal with a lot of tips and strategies that one can use. It focuses mainly on practice and hence students will have to rely on other books to learn and pace themselves for the examination.
• Reviewers have claimed that the verbal questions in the book are mediocre when compared to the official test.

5

Official GRE Verbal Reasoning Practice Questions - ETS

Cost: $14.00
The book is a general study guide featuring test questions that are arranged according to their difficulty levels. They also include mixed practice sets to ensure that the candidate can perform equally better once offered questions of different difficulties one after the other. The questions contain answers and explanations catering to all the confusion the student might have while attempting the practice tests.

Reviewers claim that the second edition of the book is similar to the first one and so buying either of the editions won’t make a difference. The books are equally good and worth investing in.

Pros-

• Since the book has been created by ETS, it contains valuable hints and other preparative strategies that are exclusive to them.
• Along with question-related information, they provide information regarding test content, structure, and scoring.
• They provide an extensive review of the writing section with writing samples from experts and other sample-scored essays.

6

Barron’s Essential Words for the GRE - 4th Edition

Cost: $22.46
The book can also be used along with Barron's Verbal Workbook to prepare for the Test. It concentrates on the questions and words that are frequently observed in the GRE Verbal Section. It is more recommended for people who have to crack the GRE within a short period of time.

Pros-

• This book offers over 800 graduate-level words with their definitions which are said to be the words that are frequently asked in the GRE.
• The words provided are also used in different contexts to show how they can be taken out of the dictionary and placed in real-life contexts.
• There are tests available at the end of the book which help the student assess their progress.

Cons-

• Reviewers claim that the usefulness of the book is dependent on the level of knowledge the candidate has in the language. Since the book deals with tough vocabulary, those who are very new to the language might find it difficult to use.
• Though the book claims to have all the necessary words for the examination, candidates claim that this is not always the case.

7

Norman Lewis Word Power Made Easy

Cost: $9.99
The Norman Lewis book focuses on enhancing the vocabulary skills of the student which helps the student not just in cracking the GRE Verbal Reasoning section but also improves their overall communication skills both inside the classroom and in life.

This book is based on the etymology of the words. Every word comes from a parent word and having this etymological knowledge will help one make intelligent guesses regarding words that appear unfamiliar on the test. It is a shortcut to perfecting one’s vocabulary.

Pros-

• The book contains everything from grammatical rules to methods of checking progress and even quizzes which help the candidate master the language with detailed study.
• The book teaches candidates how they can communicate both formally and informally and even deals with the minor mistakes people can make in writing spellings.

Cons-

• Reviewers claim that the font used in the print is too small and can be difficult to learn from.
• A few candidates claim that the content in the book is outdated with respect to the definitions provided for terms.

8

Princeton Review’s Verbal Workout for the GRE â€" 6th Edition

Cost: $15.37
The book is suitable mainly for beginners who require clear explanations of answers rather than just the answers in themselves. The guidelines provided for maneuvering through the test also contain strategic methods that can be used by the students for the test.

Pros-

• The book contains 250+ practice questions with answers and other detailed explanations.
• It contains information on topics like sentence completion, reading comprehension, and others.
• The book also focuses on the Analytical Writing section of GRE and contains prompts for the Argument Task and Issue Task.

Cons-

• The book has mainly been made for beginners who are taking the test and hence can seem to have redundant information for those who have been actively preparing for the same.
• The book is too bulky to carry around while preparing.

Additional Prep Materials

• Along with books, flashcards are also available such as Manhattan Prep's Vocabulary Flashcards ($15.99), Kaplan's GRE Flashcards ($40.00), or Barron's GRE Vocabulary Flashcards ($8.50) which can be used to improve the vocabulary.
• There are many online websites and forums which offer a variety of practice questions and also publish the recent questions that appeared in the test.
• There is an option to take a variety of online classes that are both affordable and provide a lot of practice, based upon the latest test format. For example, Manhattan or Magoosh.