Customer Reviews

Kaplan GRE Exam 2005 With CD-ROM

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This is part review of Kaplan's book, part hints on what else is out there.

I wrote the GRE recently. I used both Barron's Book and Kaplan's to prepare. Barron's book was extremely useful. Kaplan's CD-ROM is quite useful. Kaplan's book itself contained only a little useful stuff. Kaplan's CD-ROM contains useful practice and helps you get accustomed to computer-based testing.

If you have a lot of time (3-4 months), solve every question or problem and memorize every meaning of all 3000+ words in Barron's book and CD-ROM. Solve everything Kaplan has in the book and CD-ROM. If you're a native English speaker, only about 1000-2000 are likely to be words you've never come across before. Get a program that randomly displays words (download a "flash cards" program). To be certain of a high score on the GRE, it is necessary to know the exact meanings of ALL these words in context. Solve Barron's CAT, all of Kaplan's CATs, and both PowerPrep CATs in the last 2-3 weeks. Write 3-4 issue topics and 3-4 argument topics every week of the last month.

If you have very little time (2-3 weeks), here's what might work for you (it worked for me). Buy both Barron and Kaplan. There are several GRE-centric flash card programs available online; you can download one. Learn Barron's 333 word list. Learn another 400 words that you don't know, picked at random from all the words in Barron's list. Practice about 20-30 sets of math exercises and as many reading comprehensions as you can (at least 50 sets). During the last week and a half, do Barron's CAT, all 3 of Kaplan's CATs and the 2 PowerPrep CATs. Don't forget to write at least 10 issue topics and 10 argument topics in all.

Sungwoo Park's free GRE word lists, available for download online, might prove very useful. A lot of free downloadable word-tutoring programs are based on these word lists; you might find them useful too.

While using Kaplan's material, watch out for the following.

1. Kaplan's math tests give you too much time. The same is true for Barron's math tests. Time is much tighter on the actual GRE exam. To get an idea of how much tighter, do Kaplan's CAT and then do the PowerPrep CAT. The PowerPrep CAT Quant section takes more time. Even if you finish each quant section with around 5-10 minutes to spare on Kaplan's CAT, you'll probably run out of time with 2-4 questions remaining on the PowerPrep CAT. Barron's math prep is pretty thorough, but it too overestimates the time you have on the GRE. I've found that "Peterson's Insider's Guide to the GRE CAT" approximates the GRE math time pressure very well. This book may be available at your local library.


2. Kaplan advocates learning words in families and indicates that the GRE tests whether you know the approximate meaning of each word. Learning in families is good, but to score really high you need to know the exact meaning of each word (or all of its meanings) in context. Just knowing which family each word belongs to is helpful, but it's not enough. Use Kaplan's word families, but also memorize Barron's word list.

3. Learning all the word lists in Kaplan's book or CD-ROM thoroughly will NOT prepare you for the GRE. Acing Kaplan's practice verbal sections means you're good enough to score around 600-700 on the GRE. The GRE demands knowledge of many more words than Kaplan has. Use Barron's word list.

4. Don't be misled by the increase of your score from Kaplan's diagnostic test to Kaplan's CAT. I did both on the same day. I did no studying in between. Yet my score improved considerably, probably because Kaplan's CAT gives you higher scores. Scoring higher on the CAT does NOT necessarily mean you've improved.

5. If you can, try practicing several reading comprehensions horizontally squished (if they're online, you could maybe cut and paste them into an editor, then resize the editor window into a narrow vertical bar). It is a fact that the GRE comprehensions are tough passages. But the fact that they're arranged in a narrow column makes them ridiculously hard to read.

I recently took the GREs, and used the Kaplan, Barrons, and Princeton Reveiw books to study, as well as a math study aid. I found that the Kaplans CD Rom was the best study guide; not only did it have a diagnostic test, it also set up an entire study schedule that I had control over, as well as supplementary games and information about Grad School.

The lessons were well-focused, gave practice questions to make sure you were following along, and moved quickly. I was able to determine quickly where my weaknesses were, and tackle those directly.

The several practice tests, both on the CD and online, were really the critical element to my success. I took every practice test on the CD, online, and from the other books that were available. I got a great score, and I think it was primarily because Kaplan really pushes you to understand the mechanics of the test, then practice them over and over again.

My general advice to those taking the tests: set aside the time to take at least 5 priactice tests on the computer. Make sure you have a book that emphasizes how the test works. Take a day (or two) off before the exam.

The other books were fine; I felt that Kaplan really addressed the issues best. Highly recommended.

Kaplan's GRE book, as many other reviewers have noted, is considerably more annoying and less comprehensive in its coverage than Barron's "How to prepare for the GRE test". Although the book is an impressive 352 pages long, much of the space on those pages is blank or taken up by facile "tips" such as "Your opinion of the test doesn't matter. Your score does." (No, really?)

Despite announcing at the beginning of of chapter 1 that it will cover "practically everything that's ever on the GRE", both the verbal and maths sections are weak compared to other GRE prep books and software on the market, with fewer examples that tend to be on the easy side. There are some notable exceptions - Kaplan's verbal tests on the CD threw some words at me that were way more obscure than anything that came up on the actual GRE, and there were a few quite difficult reading comp questions. Having said that, those who are already getting verbal scores in the 600s and are aiming higher will find Kaplan's word lists inadequate and should not be mislead by the book's assertion that knowing the general sense of a word is okay - for the harder questions on the GRE you need to know the exact meaning.

However, if you're after a top score and money is not an issue, this book is probably worth buying solely for the CD. The CD has 3 full length tests (including analytical writing) which are a pretty good simulation of the real thing, as well as 6 additional verbal and quantitative tests. Having recently taken the GRE, I can say that doing these tests was extremely helpful, partly for the content (all the answers for the non-CAT tests are worked so that you can see where you went wrong), but mostly because the tests are both computer based and punishingly timed. For me, one of the biggest challenges was learning when to keep working at a question and when to guess and move on before I ran out of time. I also found the CD's verbal and math lessons quite useful. While they are thinner on concrete content than Barron's book, the tutorials are often quite funny and include genuinely useful strategies and ways of thinking about problems that I found helpful on the actual test. There is also less posturing and shameless Kaplan-self-promotion on the CD than in the book.

Despite the fact that the book's tone got on my nerves, the CD formed an integral part of my GRE prep program, along with Barron's book and the ETS issued powerprep software. I ended up getting 800 verbal and 770 quantitative - there's no such thing as too many practice tests!

No one else is reviewing this book so I will. The sample tests on the CD rom are good, but accessing them is annoying because Kaplan insists on using these corny animations that block you from direct access to the tests; very irritating. Also, this is a short book. It's constructed on what feels and appears as if it's a coloring book. Cheap construction. I mainly got this book for the sample tests, and I was hoping for a good math review as a bonus. The math section is pretty slim, and not very thorough. Another irritating thing about this book is that it appeals to an uninformed audience: the book is littered with phrases like "so you want a better paying job, but you have to go through this thing called the GRE?" I recommend the Barron's book instead, it's much more thorough, and the quantitative section is infinitely better. However, if you're a real lazy kinda guy/gal, and you only have a day or two to prepare for the GRE, then the Kaplan book is a good bet because it's so focused on 'beating' the GRE and the material is relatively skimpy apart from the actual tests and explanations.

I am unsure why so many reviewers have given negative reviews to this book. Kaplan is helping you to prepare for the test - Kaplan doesn't administer the GRE. The CAT GRE is not any fun, and is frustrating for many reasons. However, I have no complaints about the book and found it to be helpful. The math formulas and lists of related vocabulary words helped me to figure out problems that I missed when I practiced with paper and pencil. A decent amount of thought and work went into the book, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a motivated person willing to try to use it.

The CD does not thrill me much. It looks like something designed for a fifth grader, and the games do not impress me. The real advantage of the CD is that you can simulate the exam several times. The paper and pencil format is very different from the computer based test.

Finally, Kaplan does more than simply give formulas and practice tests. Strategies for attacking the questions and suggestions for achieving the proper state of mind for taking the test are a few outstanding examples of how they can really help you maximize your score. Overall, Kaplan's plan for learning how to score higher on the Verbal and Quantitative sections and handling the Analytical Writing sections make the book worthwhile. econ

I spent two weeks ont his book and felt I was cruising and then took a sample GRE from the GRE website and realized how out of touch this book was. Large font and extra spacing helped the writers fill this book up with fluff - I think the real point is to encourage you to take the class rather than really support you with the book.
I then switched to the Barron's book and it made an amazing difference. It was much more thorough on math and verbal. I owe my high score to the Barron's book and if I'd gotten a low score I'd blame that on the time I wasted on the Kaplan book.

This book explains some very effective techniques to increase your GRE score but includes very little review and few practice exercises. If you need math review, this book is, to say the least, inadequate. Fortunately, the Kaplan math review book is much more thorough. For verbal, this book, combined with some of the free vocab lists available online, will get you by. The Kaplan verbal review doesn't add that much.

The attached CD is very useful. The CAT testing experience is quite different from paper and takes some getting used to. However, no one does the GRE quite as well as ETS, and the free ETS CAT software is the best available for a close-to-realistic (though still slightly easier than the real thing) CAT experience. The Kaplan software just provides more practice.

Everyone who has the time for intensive review should consider buying the ETS publication "Practicing to take the GRE" which includes a ton of paper-based practice tests. (All ETS publications leave out--quite unfairly if you ask me--the essential testing strategies which the private books give you. So you have to buy the private books, too.)

I had no idea what to expect in the GRE. No clue what it would cover and how. This book was a saving grace. I got my B.S. four years ago and haven't taken math since freshman year in college, and even that wasn't beyond Algebra I. This book laid it out for me in terms designed for the basics. I had even less of a clue for the Vocab layout of the test. Even without knowing the actual definition of the words I was able to guess right 90% of the time with the skills taught in this book. From the diagnostic Test to the final out come I raised my score more than 200 points. I got the score I needed and will start the Masters in September. A math score of 580 isn't bad for someone who took no math beyond Algebra I and has always considered himself math stupid. Total score was well over 1000 for math and vocab combined. If you are lost a need a strong basic foundation to cover all and cover good, this is the book to get. The software was kinda cheesy but covers really good information. The drill stick with you and with the "test Center" area you can conpare and contrast how you are progressing and what you still need to work on. Going through the lessons 2-3 time you will have the GRE concept mastered and walk into the test stress free.

The sample exams were not in the same format as the GRE. Also, the math was far simpler than the real test. The only useful thing I got out of the book was the Root word list. I recommend Princeton or Barron's. Kaplan has good books but this is not one of them

This disappointing book has a fair amount of review material, but much of it does not closely resemble the GRE. For example, the mathematics questions stress simple geometry (i.e. 3-4-5 triangles) while GRE mathematics questions are rather more dense. Some figures are even mislabeled. Reading comprehension paragraphs contain typographical errors. These problems result in an unpolished product.

Kaplan boasts 12 section-length practice tests, but these tests share a question-pool, so students can run into the same question in Quantitative practice test 3 that they saw in test 1. In fact, one question on full length CAT is exactly the same as an ETS Powerprep Quantitative Comparison question (it involves the area of a parallelogram).

The savvy student will purchase an ETS published book. By the way, the back cover of Kaplan's book includes the text: "Are you ready for the GRE Exam." That asks "Are you ready for the Graduate Record Exam Exam." Better rethink your editorial staff, Kaplan.