Math Subject GRE- Any Books That Help One Prep For Test?

Forum for the GRE subject test in mathematics.
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mathgradhopeful
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri May 27, 2011 7:52 pm

Math Subject GRE- Any Books That Help One Prep For Test?

Post by mathgradhopeful » Tue Nov 13, 2012 3:43 am

I took the October Test and I got a 560 (27%) on it and I also took the November test (and expect a similar score since I did not have much time for prep because of my two grad courses). I'll be applying for Fall 2014 admission (after my masters).

Are there any textbooks to prep one for the Calculus (most importantly, Calc I and III) portion of the test?

Stewart seems too easy for the more difficult Calc I questions, (i.e. given info on function g, g', and g' and what they equal estimate something about g and g'. These are basically questions asking about the relationship between all three, but it hardly gives any info on g, g', and g''.)

Also, are there any textbooks to prep for the Analysis and Algebra portions of the test? I find questions about functions on the Analysis portion and questions about Ideals and polynomial divisibility quite difficult.

Finally, are there textbooks that help prep one for the rest of the test?

I need to get a 700 (at least) to have any chance of admission to some of my preferred Math PhD (possibly pure math and maybe applied math) grad programs.

I was thinking of using Princeton Review for some review, but I need something more intensive to prep for the test since I feel that I know bits and pieces of the content (however, I don't know it well enough to prevent myself from getting tricked by the test).

coffeecrank
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Nov 12, 2012 5:35 pm

Re: Math Subject GRE- Any Books That Help One Prep For Test?

Post by coffeecrank » Tue Nov 13, 2012 4:56 am

I really liked Schaum's Outlines. They have lots of exercises after each section, and it's not that primitive.

topsecret
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2012 2:28 pm

Re: Math Subject GRE- Any Books That Help One Prep For Test?

Post by topsecret » Tue Nov 13, 2012 7:47 am

I used Cracking the GRE Math Test along with Stewart and it worked really well for me. Stewart won't help you learn the tricks you need for the test, but it will help you become solid on the basic theory. You will have to use your own analytic problem solving ability to do the tricky questions on the test, but Cracking the GRE Math Test does do a good job of teaching you the little tricks you should know.

mathgradhopeful
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri May 27, 2011 7:52 pm

Re: Math Subject GRE- Any Books That Help One Prep For Test?

Post by mathgradhopeful » Fri Nov 16, 2012 3:27 pm

My analytic problem solving ability on the Calculus (mainly Calculus I) and Analysis sections isn't very strong. When I'm given info on a function and its derivatives, I sometimes stumble on the test. Similarly, when I get a question about a function's property or a type of set (in the Analysis section), I mess up. Are there any textbooks on Calculus and Analysis that help solve this problem by asking similar questions to the subject GRE?

Also, are there any suggestions for Probability texts that give a concise review for the test?

math_applicant
Posts: 157
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 12:15 pm

Re: Math Subject GRE- Any Books That Help One Prep For Test?

Post by math_applicant » Fri Nov 16, 2012 3:52 pm

For calculus, I think Cracking the Math GRE covers most kinds of questions and the review sections are quite comprehensive, you could try the little yellow boxes in the sections of Stewart , they cover the tricks , u might need to do that for integration and series chapters mainly.

As for real analysis, the Cracking book is bad. If u have no knowledge of analysis or topology, what can work pretty well for u is getting any introductory text in analysis (mine was william wade) and skim through the chapters looking for theorem statements, u could compile these in papers, u need to do that for limits, continuity, differentiability, integrability and uniform convergence and uniform continuity (it wont take much time, trust me). Try to pick the statements that seem to state properties of important kinds of functions like : if continuous function then bla bla or set is compact if and only if bla bla, the kind of statements that will help u characterize these popular categories. Focus on the necessary and sufficient conditions of every theorem. u will also find statements about continuous functions on compact sets and so on which u will need on the test. i believe the best practice for the analysis questions is the previous tests, I am not sure if the REA book is ok on this. Good luck.



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