Cracking GRE takes time and a good amount of effort but with having a good set of GRE books your preparation becomes much easier.
There are a number of books published for Revised GRE but in this article I am going to list out some best books which helped me a lot while preparing for GRE.
1. Magoosh :-
This is arguably one of the best resource available in the market. It costs you 100$ but its worth every penny. Magoosh contains about 200 video lessons covering every concept you encounter in real GRE, the strategies are highly useful and a premium subscription of Magoosh gives you access to about 900 questions where each and every question is followed by a video explanation. In addition to all these, they have a fantastic email support by which you can clarify any of your doubts, they will reply in less than 24 hours. Magoosh questions are of same toughness level as of real GRE. Study schedules in Magoosh can be a lifesaver for those who were lost in preparation. I followed 90 day study plan verbal focussed, likewise there are other study plans which you can chose on your requirement. To read more on how Magoosh helped me click here!
2. GRE Official guide
Nobody knows GRE better than its makers. To get high scores you should have complete understanding of the test , so that you can eliminate any unwanted anxieties during the exam. Official guide is must for anyone who is seriously interested in acing GRE. From official guide you get 4 practice tests 2 from the book and 2 from CD.
3. Manhattan Prep GRE Set of 8 Strategy Guides :
Manhattan Prep GRE is a set of 8 books. Each book is dedicated to certain concept. For instance, a complete book is dedicated for Reading Comprehension, another for Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence, other for Algebra. Among the 8 books, 2 books are for verbal, while 6 books are dedicated to quants. I have Reading comprehension book and Quantative comparision and Data Intrepretation books which helped a lot , RC book in particular. I cannot imagine how would I have done with RC’s without Manhattan.
The most selling point is by buying any one of these 8 books you will get access to 6 of Manhattan GRE’s online practice exams which are damn good.
Manhattan GRE practice tests can be compared with tiger while Real GRE is just like a cat , learn to fight with a tiger you can deal with a cat easily.
If money isn’t an issue then buy all the 8 books , otherwise you may buy any one book of the set where you’re weak , my pick would be Reading Comprehension and Essay strategy book as RC’s are argubly one of the toughest part of the exam.
4. GRE Nova Prep Course 
Math section is good as there are huge number of practice questions , do not even look at verbal or AWA sections they aren’t worth even a glance. You can improve your math scores by this book but don’t expect to learn any new strategies from this book , this is just for practice.
5. Flash cards :
These are highly helpful to increase your vocabulary consequently increasing your verbal score. You can choose either Manhattan flash cards – 2 sets of 500 cards each Essential words set
Both covers all essential words needed for GRE. You can also prepare your own flash cards , they can be bit laborious but highly rewarding. Read the below post if you do not know how to prepare flash cards.
6. Magoosh’s free e-books :
Take advantage of Magoosh’s free e-books.
The vocabulary book contains 300 highly confusing words explained with awesome mnemonics , another ebook is filled with general strategies and the formula book which can come handy when memorizing math formulas or revising them.
My advise is to buy Magoosh and official guide, pick Manhattan books in the areas in which you are weak , flash cards if you are not good at vocabulary and do not have time for preparing your own flash cards.
Alternative links to buy books from flipkart.
Buy The Official Guide to the GRE Revised General Test
Hey Harsha,
When I was procastinating and demotivating from G.R.E…ur posts really make me to qui vive…Can u please make an article for atleast a week on various topics relating to G.R.E…Thanks for the tips
I will definitely write more posts…. Thanks for showing interest.. 🙂
Great compilation my virtuosos.
When i read this post i understand the way for Preparing GRE Test.This tips is very useful for me and I will share it to my friends keep posting.Thanks for great sharing post. Its very comprehensive information for everyone
Hi harsha,
Can y tell how u subscribe magoosh..
My card is not accepting
I subscribed using HDFC gold credit card …. AFAIK every credit card is accepted !
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where can i buy Manhattan prep in Hyderabad ?? please help i need it fast and none of the online websites have it in stock.!!
I bought it from flipkart. I dont have any idea where to buy in store, you can always buy a kindle version or ebook though !
Hi Harsha, what was your GRE essay score?
Mine was 3.5 🙁
hi, harsha
My question is u did not include barrons, princeton review in the short listed prep book list why did u do so?
I saw barrons book, I didn’t feel it is up to mark. I didn’t like kaplan and heard some negative reviews about princeton review. I included books which helped me to get good score.
hi harsha is mangoosh a really good one i am planning to enroll for greedge an online gre coaching website did u heard about it and what is ur gre score my trainer is telling to learn all 3500 words is it a correct dont i have any sureshoot words.
I prefer magoosh to greedge
Hi, so I am looking to access the manhattan tests .. here’s the thing I want to pay the least possible for them and if “nothing” at all is possible then that too..
On their site the 6 tests are priced at $30.. no wyou say (and a bunch of other people too) say that if you buy even one of the sets of $20, you get access to the tests.. Umm are these the same tests? I already have the 8 sets (some awesome soul put it on a google drive I can access) , even soo if $20 will give me access to these tests, I will buy one of the sets even if I dont need them. Or if these 6 tests are different from the 6 priced at $30, then I might for the the $30 ones.. What’s your take?
http://www.manhattanprep.com/gre/storeitemshow.cfm?ItemID=76
what was your GRE score?
317 (V – 156, Q -161)
Hi Harsha ,i have only 20 days time please suggest me how can i crack good score in GRE,
Please suggest me …
Please suggest good books for RC’s. I have finished manhattan RC’s strategy book and also 5 lbs gre and need some more RC practice
why you are not included the gruber’s gre is it useful or not and i have an another query barrons 333 words is enough for gre vocabulary please let me know.
Hai harsha this is harini. …. now I am in 3rd year … how cum I study for gre. . What book’s I have to read. .. what subject does it contains. … pls reply ..
Can any one suggest me which coaching center is best for GRE ….plz
I think you can try magoosh online course
heyy…i am confused between manhattan 1000 and maghoosh flashcard app ?
which one should i use please suggest asap?
hi harsha which is the best institute and book for gre or else i should prepare online and im enrolling in greedge what was ur best suggestion
Hi harsha
My gre is on
hello guys i m Praveen planning for MS wanted in USA and wanted to know that which foreign language exam should i take ….i went to a consultancy and that person told me earlier USA were accepting only TOEFL scores but now almost all colleges are excepting IELTS scores plz suggest which foreign language should i take…
Thank you…
i want to take my gre in may…so which buk i should prefer to get 300+ in gre…is ets official gre guide is gud???plz suggest…
ETS is definitely good but i don’t if the practice questions in it are enough for you. Its more about your skills than any book to get a good score.
hi harsha……what is the best way to learn ??? either online coaching or offline????…….and is 5 months sufficient to prepare for gre?….and what is min gre score require to get admission in top 30 universities in us…….
Hey, thank you so much for this list. I had already made my mind up to go with Magoosh and Manhattan Prep. This has cleared all the leftover doubts. Btw, I also heard the 5lb. book of problems by Manhattan is also really good and I see it is not yet part of the list!
Hi Harsha
appreciate your blog and all the help provided.
I got 300 in GRE and am planning to give again.This post has cleared many things Thank you 🙂
Hey congrats,
I am happy it was useful to you 🙂
All the best for future plans !
Hi harsha I want ur suggestion manhattan gre 8 strategy book or 5lb. I have both in pdf format 2nd edition. Is it sufficient or I should buy latest 4th edition and also I am finding difficulties in understanding the question and which strategy should be used for the question.. I am neither good at math nor at verbal. Need 300+score ready to work hard day night but don’t know what to do please suggest me.. and the last one I have magoosh videos with me
Thanking you
omi
Dude, it would be very helpful if you can post the link to get the 5LB manhattan 2nd ed pdf version,thanks in adv
hi harsha confused between ETS official guide and Manhattan gre, which one do u suggest
hey there…my gre preparation is on way. & my exam will be on 20th sept 2015.
For verbal , i m referring 2 books..
1. Norman Lewis
2. Barron’s GRE
is it sufficient or not??
if not then suggest me the required meterials that i should refer…
Hi Harsha,I have gre magoosh videos for quant and vocab.Is it enough or is it really required to buy magoosh course for vocab to build my vocab as it is very weak now. Can you pls suggest whether to buy it for practice or can i practice from any site?
Hey Rohit, Could you share magoosh quant and vocab videos on google drive. It would help a lot to prospective students
Which is the best book to prepare for math section in totality
hey harsha hi I am new to these area and doing job in govt I am planning to purchase a txt book for GRE preparation which will be the best one at initial stage?
Thanks a lot, I got Verbal: 167, Quantitative: 169 and Analytical 5.2. I appreciate your help 🙂
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great post, thanks for the information.
can u pls tell me which is the best book for studying wordlists amd at max how much words u need to learn?
good info!
In my experience, Magoosh is the worst in Verbal