Customer Reviews

Cracking the TOEFL 2001 Edition (Cracking the TOEFL)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book shows you what the TOEFL is llike, but it will NOT give you any deep preparation. It does not even come close to preparing you for all the material you will see on the TOEFL. The grammar is too easy, the listening section is mostly just a list of idioms, and some of the reading passages are about topics that TOEFL does NOT put on their tests.

You might think this is a good book because it is long, but don't think that! Most of the book consists of practice tests--Princeton Review puts one question on each page (trying to simulate what the computer will look like). For example, the last 150 pages of the book are ONE test.

Finally, the CD-ROM is NOT a Computer Test. You will get only some listening practice.

Good luck on your TOEFL!

The basic approach and the manner in which the late author explains the subject is excellent. He talks to you about the pros and cons of TOEFL. Then takes you systematically step by step over each section of the test with exhaustive examples and tests.The two CDs are great too.The audio CD you can use while you are reading the book and the CBT Test CD after you complete it. In my opinion this book will be absolutely terrific for those who have had their basic education in English or are have been using English as their day to day communication for atleast over a year. If you fall under this category just "grab" the book,read it and just go for the Exam.I bet you wont need more than a week to prepare for the exam after you start reading this book.

But if you are looking to LEARN English,Grammar,etc., this book is NOT for you. This book assumes you know English (not too much,not too little and definitely you dont have to know the super tough words and their meanings which you are rarely gonna use in real life)

Grab this book !

I thought this book/CD combination is definitely helpful if you are studying for the Toefl. However, two things were driving me absolutely nuts: the constant repetition of "helpful" reminders. The book will remind you, for example, not to waste too much time reading the instructions when taking the test. This sentence is probably repeated 100times.... The second thing are the examples themselves: should you decide to work through the book first, and then do the CD, you will be surprised how many examples are exactly the same in the book and on CD. The CD part is supposed to imitate a "real" Toefl exam. If you know 30% of the questions, however, there is no purpose in doing the CD.

Overall, Princeton Review's Cracking the TOEFL 2001 is probably not the best book to buy to prepare for the TOEFL exam. Although it is not terribly written and does provide a fair understanding of the different question types on the test, there is simply not enough practice material in this book. Case in point: You get one practice test that takes up the last 150 pages of the book. In addition to that, you get what amounts to one listening test in the listening section, two reading passages in the reading section, and a small selection of grammar exercises in the grammar section. Yes, that is the whole book. And many of the individual exercises take up a full page. In my opinion, this is just not enough practice material to allow students to "crack the TOEFL." Other drawbacks of Cracking the TOEFL 2001 include a somewhat confusing, assumption-leaden breakdown of the grammar section and several overly obtuse reading passages. On a positive note, all of the listening exercises are well-done and the TWE section is simply and clearly presented. Bottom line: You could do worse in TOEFL test-prep book, but you could also do much better. Cracking the TOEFL 2001 is not going to provide enough practice for most students who want to increase their score on the TOEFL.

You can buy a new, 2002 edition.ISBN:0-375-76209-4

This is a good book if you want to take TOEFL practice tests but not interested in the preparation material as such. The TOEFL practice tests are really good, you will get a decent practice. I would recommend this book.

This book will not help you prepare for TOEFL at all!

IT is waste of money.

IT doesnt cover anything!

Study with Barron's TOEFL and you will do well on the test.

Good Luck!

The Princeton's"Cracking the CBT Toefl"comes with a book, an audio CD for Listening comprehesion practice, and a CD-ROM for you to take real-alike computer based Toefl tests on your computer. The book is easy to use. It is divided into sections so you can find the section you'd like to study very easily. Every section contains useful strategies as well as drill questions for you to master the techniques. The set is totally adapted to the CBT version. Therefore, you won't be freak out when you take the real test because you're already familiar with the way the test goes. Every drill question and every practice question is provided with answer and explanation. This is a book that you may study by yourself. If you follow the stategies, techniqes, and do the practice questions, you can make surprising improvement on the TOEFL test.

As you know, there are many tricky and picky questions in a TOEFL test. This reference book is the best preparation book for the kind of questions. I got high score with this book. If people read this book, they can get used to solving questions in a TOEFL test. With the CD-ROM, people can practice diagnostic tests. The tests are similar to a real TOEFL CBT test.

If you were looking for a real Y2K bug here is one: its drill test program contains a bad Y2K bug that forces you to change your computer setting and also manually change the settings in some test-record files, otherwise it would keep cracking your machine. Frustrating, really. And if you use a computer with the "regional setting" greyed out you would not be able to run the CBT drills. NT users, also please forget it.