If you’ve spent more than ten minutes researching GRE prep, you’ve seen the same names pop up: ETS (the gold standard), Magoosh (the tech-savvy budget option), Kaplan (the old guard), and then... Manhattan Prep.
Big mistake.
Do the Manhattan 5lb. book for practice on Tuesday night. Take a Manhattan practice test on Saturday morning. But on Sunday? Review the official ETS material. Notice how the language is cleaner, the traps are fairer, and the math is less convoluted.
It is a sheer volume monster. There are over 1,800 quant problems. If you have test anxiety because you haven't done math since high school, this book will beat the rust off your brain with a sledgehammer. The repetition builds muscle memory.
The series is famous for its quizzes. Unlike other books that throw you into the deep end, Manhattan forces you to take a 40-question diagnostic on day one. It doesn't just tell you, "You're bad at algebra." It tells you, "You are bad at rate problems involving two moving trains, specifically when they leave at different times."
Many students panic when they take a Manhattan practice test. They score 155Q, then take an official ETS test three days later and score 163Q. Why? Manhattan’s quant questions often require more steps or trickier logical leaps than ETS actually uses. Manhattan writes questions for a math contest ; ETS writes questions for a reasoning test . If you buy the Manhattan Prep books, you get access to six online practice tests. This is where things get controversial.