Customer Reviews

Kaplan GMAT 2003 with CD-ROM

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Let me start by saying that of all the books you should buy in order to best prepare yourself for the GMAT, this book by Kaplan should *not* be one of them.

Instead, buy "The Insider's Guide to the GMAT CAT" to learn all the skills and tricks. Then buy the "Official Guide to the GMAT" for more practice problems. Combine these two books, possibly also with the "Kaplan GMAT Exam Verbal Workbook" by Ingrid Multhopp, and the free PowerPrep software you can download from the actual testing folks and you'll be good to go.

Now let me explain why I think you *shouldn't* by this book: simply put, the questions in Kaplan's quantitative tests are not representative of what you will face on the actual GMAT, nor are the scores Kaplan gives you representative of what you can/will achieve on the real deal. Consequently, the Kaplan CD tests act as confidence deflators, and that's the last thing you need coming into such an important test as the GMAT.

Kaplan clearly stacks the decks with relatively harder questions so as to scare you into believing that you'll be in a world of hurt come GMAT test day.... unless, of course, you seek out "real" test prep services. And wouldn't you know it, Kaplan is in that business and they'd be more than happy to help you.... for a price. A price of some $.

I read the reviews for this book before I bought it and thought to myself, "how hard can the questions be?... it's just arithmetic, algebra, and geometry... perhaps having harder questions will better prepare me." Not so. They actually hurt you. Now by "hard" I don't mean the math itself is difficult; instead, it's the amount of math you have to do to get a solution combined with the effort it takes to get the root information out of the actual question which makes it hard. If you weren't timed for the questions they'd be easy, but with a limit of some 90s per question you can dig yourself a time deficit really fast on Kaplan's tests.

If the real GMAT isn't like that, why practice like that? Remember, realistically you only have one shot at the GMAT... do what is logical to best prepare for it.

I ended up getting a 710 on the actual test. This jived perfectly with the PowerPrep software provided by the GMAT folks and was just 20 points off the scores I was getting from the Official Guide and the Insider's Guide. It was 80 points away from the Kaplan tests. You do the math.

I will make this plain and simple. DO NOT TAKE THE SCORE YOU GET ON THE KAPLAN TESTS FOR REAL. They are NOT a true indicator of how well you will do. I scored a 550 and a 580 on the Kaplan tests and a 720 on the real thing. My girlfriend never cleared a 550 on Kaplan, but got a 670 on the real one.

While the material is good and you should study it, Kaplan's tests demoralize you so much that you think you should postpone the test or not take it at all (if your goal is to get into a top 20 b-school). So long as you know that the test vastly underestimates your score, you will be fine.

With that said, MUCH BETTER is to study the ETS problems freely available online/on CD or in the ETS book. I recommend that material MUCH MORE than Kaplan's. Studying real problems will help you more than any Kaplan book. Once done with the ETS book/CD, then Kaplan is a good next step. Princeton Review is a distant 3rd.

I hope this helps!

I think Kaplan makes its CAT cd tests much harder than real ETS tests so that people will get scared and take the Kaplan courses. I got a 570,610,560 on the Kaplan tests and didn't take the fourth one because I didn't want to get depressed. This is pretty consistent with other reviewers as well.
I got a 690, 730 on the powerprep and 750 on the actual test - ie practice helped drive my scores up using the powerprep software which is free but such a pattern didn't emerge on the kaplan tests I took.
Apart from not being reflective of the difficulty level, the Kaplan CD(I hardly looked at the book because the real material is on the CD that comes with the book) is reasonable.
I liked "The Insiders guide to the GMAT cat" a lot more though and nothing beats the Official Guide as long as you make sure you do the last 50-100 questions in each math section(ie the first 100 or 200 are very easy but then they get realistic)

Well, first, I have to say thank you to each and every person who has written a review on the Kaplan book telling us not to take the scores into consideration. I used the book to study and it was a good start; when it was time to do the first test on the CD, I scored 550...I studied more and I got another 550. It was devastating, thinking that the CAT test is about determining the test taker range....after taking one powerprep test where I scored 680, I decided to tackle the third Kaplan CAT test; guess what??? another 550; this was crushing. Before the test, Kaplan demoralized me, but the reviews on amazon kept me going. I studied for two days in the ETS official guide which proved to be of great help and I mean invaluable help. I took the test a couple of days later and I scored 730, YES, 730 (97th percentile). THIS IS A 180 DIFFERENTIAL between my KAPLAN SCORES AND MY REAL SCORE. So a serious note for future test takers, buy the KAPLAN, if you have time to read for tips and math review, but dont do the tests unless you have the time and the knowledge that they are not indicative at all. I got three 550s, this is consistent, but to score a 730 on the real test with those 550s in mind, it was great. Keep it up, get powerprep and the official guide with the ton of questions in it and solve them.
Good luck

The CD is a must-have for any GMAT test-taker. If you can handle the practice tests on this CD you will sail through the GMAT. The scores, however, are way too low and can be discouraging. My personal experience on the Kaplan tests...690, 610, 640, 690. PowerPrep tests from ETS (available at ETS's web site) are a good indicator of score on actual GMAT tests. 760 and 770 on those. 770 on the real test. I know a ton of people who have taken Kaplan tests and the GMAT and the score differential is similar. So hang in there, and don't worry about your Kaplan score or timing.

I am applying to the top schools in the country. I had a GREAT time as an undergrad (read- awful undergrad GPA), and I decided that I needed to score really well on the GMAT to make up for it. So I looked at all of the sites, scoped out all of the books, and settled on the Kaplan. I scanned the book and took the diagnostic test - 630. Not bad, but not good enough. So I went through the customized study plan, worked the practice test, and gradually convinced myself that I was not as smart as I thought I was because the tests were HARD! Math was kicking my a**, and I thought I had my math wired. Verbal was tricky, too.

When I moved to the practice CATs, I scored 650, 730 (!), 590, and 610. I started getting worried, but I attacked the powerprep CD about a week before the test... and scored a 750 on the practice CAT and a 710 on the actual test.

The problem with the Kaplan materials (as noted here by others) is the awkward wording of a large number of the questions - data sufficiency questions are wordy, logic questions in the verbal section are clumsy.

I recommend the software, but keep the ETS stuff on standby for a morale booster right before you take the test.

I found Kaplan book to be a very good second book to prepare for GMAT. I have used only two books, (1) The official GMAT guide from ETS and (2) Kaplan GMAT 2003.

The sections that I found most helpful from Kaplan were the Quantitative section - Data sufficiency and Problem solving - and for Sentence correction in Verbal. I wouldn't rate is as highly in the Reading Comp and Critical Reasoning section. Kaplan doesn't do as good a job of providing cogent problem statements and valid multiple choices. The test makers perform a much better job of weeding out ambiguities and present a very clear passage/reasoning. Needless to say I didn't focus too much on the reading comp and critical reasing from this book.

I think the tests from Kaplan CD are way way off the mark. I would not even recommend taking them. It can be very demoralizing to take the tests and feel that the scores that you get in Kaplan are what you might get on the real GMAT. That is not the case. It is not that the tests are tough, it is just that the questions are not created to match the questions that show up on GMAT. There are too many errors and reasoning that is open to multiple interpretations.

To give an example (there is a previous reviewer who had a similar experience, look above) I scored 550, 560 and 640 on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd tests. I didn't take the 4th, as I was pretty much down on my confidence, until I got on the web and checked out the reviews. Thanks to all the previous writers. Anyways, I did the two tests from the "POWER PREP SOFTWARE" and in both of them I had scored 720. My real score was 720. In my real test I did far better on my Verbal (my weak link) and didn't do as well on Quant (my strong link). Only regret, I wish I had done my Quant well (I was way below the mark from the tests I had taken at home). Ah well, but I am happy with the score.

Instead of taking a test prep course, I decided to develop a curriculum of my own with the Official Guide, the Kaplan prep and the ARCO GMAT/GRE Math Review. After a couple of months going through the materials I began to take the CAT tests and got really discouraged. On Kaplan I scored 540, 550 and 560 and stopped there, pretty disappointed with my results. I moved on to the "Official" CD-ROM practice problems and tests and got a 640 twice. I was still not thrilled with the results and thinking that I would score around the 640 score but was pleasantly surprised when I scored 720 on the actual test. Bottom line: good study materials but don't let the practice tests scare you!

I have a 99% GRE v/q/a and think of myself as a decent test-taker.

However, when I was first preparing for the GMAT in early 2002, I found that the GMAT was a killer: I scored consistently in the lower 600s, dashing my hopes of a top B School. I feared for my life, and my future, and worked maniacally on raising my scores. To no avail.

Enter ETS, lagging in mail delivery. After roughly 150 hrs. of Kaplan prep: Verbal, Math and Kaplan 2003, I DESTROYED the ETS tests and acompanying GMAT review. As in: finishing the sections in about half the time with 100% accuracy. 800 GMAT, coming off a 580 Kaplan diagnostic and 560 CAT 1.

In conclusion, do the Kaplan work. Do it all. Buy all the books, if you really want to have a max chance of scoring high. Don't forget about the ETS workbook and accompanying software.
I recommend breaking up the questions in the GMAT workbook into sets of 37 (Q) or 41 (V) and taking it like a mini-test. Do all scratch work and calculations on separate paper. WATCH YOUR TIME.

I love Kaplan. They helped me immensely on my GRE, and they've done it again with the GMAT. However, they really, really, really must fix their scores. Otherwise, why put a "HOW DO YOU RATE UP?" section for your reference? It's humiliating!

Have fun.
Good luck.

I often wondered how Kaplan could GUARANTEE that you will score higher after using this book... Well it is simple.. They artificially lower your score on all their practice tests... you can't help but score much higher on the actual GMAT.
That being said, the Kaplan CD was very well laid out. I am not as convinced that the Kaplan tests are so much harder than the real GMAT as I am convinced that Kaplan uses the wrong scoring guidelines. On the Kaplan Diagnostic Test, I scored 570. On the Full-length practice tests, I scored 530, 560, and an all time high of 590. I skipped the 4th test.
I will say this, the Kaplan tests made me study harder... Before I read all these reviews stating Kaplan's scores were bogus, I thought I was a dumb-arse scoring 530, so I studied pretty hard. After I read these reviews, I switched over to Arco's review book with CD. Although it wasn't put together as well and as pretty, on all three practice tests I took, it gave me a score range of 640-660. My actual GMAT score was 650, so Arco was a much better indicator of where I stood.
Although the Kaplan prep got me to where I needed to be, I don't think it really helps anyone to make you think you're not as smart as you really are...