Customer Reviews

Kaplan GRE Exam Vocabulary Prep (Kaplan 5 Steps to Success: GRE Vocabulary)

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I bought this book to carry with me during my commute to work. It is about the size of a paperback novel and it is very conducive to studying while you travel. That is about the only thing it has going though.

Frankly, after running across mistake after mistake I got more than a little peeved. Here is a company selling an overpriced book, that basically just requires typing up some definitions, and they didn't even have the courtesy to do a proof-read. Mistakes I found include:

-Misspelled words
-Words in the incorrect alphabetical order
-Using the word itself as it's own definition
-Using the word itself at it's synonym
-Forgetting to list the synonyms
-Repeating the same definition twice for the same word ( ex. "strong; forceful; strong"
-Using words found later in the book as the definition for the earlier "easier" words

I know these are nit-picky things, but there is just something annoying about holding a 14 dollar book meant to teach you new words and realizing that the company selling it didn't even run a spell-check. Plus this book is really bare-bones(no learning activities or root word lists like in Barron's), combine that with a hefty price tag, not a lot of words (490), and lots of typos and you start feeling like you got bamboozled.

If you really need a small book for travel then maybe it would warrant a purchase (although you might be better off with Barrons Essential Words book). It obviously does a satisfactory job of telling you a word and then it's definition, but you could get more bang for your buck elsewhere.

This book has poor definitions for words. There are less than 500 words in this book, it doesn't have review activities, and there are many typos. Many of the definitions for words are only one or two words long--grossly oversimplifying the meaning of the word. Some of the definitions are even misleading.
On the bright side, it only costs $4 to ship the book back to the company with the receipt and they will refund your misguided purchase, though not the shipping.

Instead of the Kaplan book, I would recommend:

Barron's Essential Words for the GRE
It has 800 words, longer and better definitions, multiple example sentences, and a review every 10 words. The review consists of 10 matching questions, 10 fill-in-the-blank, and 5 questions asking whether the vocab word is used appropriately in a given sentence. After the 800 words there are 300 word roots that also have review activities.

If you want to another book for additional review, I would recommend:

The Princeton Review's Word Smart for the GRE
It is similar to Barron's but the only review activities are matching, and the definitions are slightly inferior. However, it has some words that are not in Barron's top 800.

I have been working with the vocabulary in this book and it is very useful if you make vocabulary flashcards, writing the synonyms and your own sentence using the word. Thus, you raise your GRE vocabulary so you do well on the verbal section of the GRE and also helps you start actually using those words in your own writing.

As an International Student, I can say this Kaplan GRE Vocab Workbook helps you raising your score. If you have a GRE study group, it can be quite fun to practice writing your own sentences and sharing with your friends.

I hated vocabulary .... but this helped me so much that I bought it for my sis this time without hesitation.
The book's advantage OR the purpose of this book's existence is to not make the head hurt when read. Simple as that. The math workbook is also very good. I scored 800/800 on math ...

This is a great tool to cram before the GRE. It contains an awesome word selection.

I ordered this product in mid-November and it was to arrived at the latest by Dec. 10 and I never received it. Furthermore, I filed a claim and gave negative seller feedback nearly a week ago and have STILL HEARD NOTHING. And, I still have not received the book. I finally had to give up and purchase it from a local bookstore. So, in essence, I had to buy it TWICE instead of saving money by purchasing it used.

FAIL Amazon.