Kaplan GRE Exam, 2007 Edition: Premier Program (Kaplan GRE Premier Program (W/CD)) [Paperback]

Kaplan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1419541919 | ISBN-13: 978-1419541919 | Publication Date: June 1, 2006

978-1-4195-4191-9 SUSAN KAPLAN & MATT FIDLER 2007 EDITION KAPLAN PUBLISHING 2006 410 PAGES

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Kaplan Publishing (June 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419541919
• ISBN-13: 978-1419541919
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #749,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #75 in Books > Education & Reference > Education > Test Guides - Graduate & Professional > Graduate Preparation

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

173 of 176 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Few practice problems, too many tips and tricks - unworthy of purchase, August 26, 2006

By 

vegeta1812 (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kaplan GRE Exam, 2007 Edition: Premier Program (Kaplan GRE Premier Program (W/CD)) (Paperback)

I, like many people, bought this book along with a plethora of other GRE prep books (Barrons, Arco, ETS) hoping that a combination of all these books would help me attain the high score I wanted. I figured if one book did a poor job covering one aspect, the others would pick up the slack.

Kaplan's GRE prep book was poor in all aspects of covering the material on the exam. First of all, this book essentially gives few to no facts, just tips and tricks on how to approach problems. Trust me, without reviewing the material, tips and tricks will get you nowhere fast.

Kaplan also does a poor job preparing you on the verbal section, in particular. Whereas Barrons contains an extremely useful 3000 word list, Kaplans has a pathetic 300 word list contained at the end of the book, most of which aren't even that difficult. Truthfully, if you want to do well on the verbal, you need to beef up your vocabulary. Its that simple. Barrons succeeds wonderfully here, as there is no shortcut to doing well on the verbal but hard work and memorization. The math prep. section was somewhat useful (at least there were some facts), but it was ultimately lacking when compared to the far more comprehensive Barrons mathematics review.

My biggest gripe of all with this book is the scant amount of practice problems! If you're a serious studier, you need to practice the math and verbal problems. Most prep books offer a ton of problems, but Kaplan only has a few per question type. It seems Kaplan missed the point here. I don't want more tricks, I need more practice!

The one saving grace for this book is its software. Sure, it isn't great (its actually very cheesy - seems directed at middle school kids rather than adults) but there are 3 practice tests and some practice problems. The tests are great nor are they at accurate (if you need a computer practice test, download the powerprep software on the gre website), but at least its practice. Its actually a terrible indication of what your actual score will be (I scored a 520 on the math section on one of their practice exams, even though I got a 730 on the real test.)

My advise: save your money on this one and pass. Despite having bought so many GRE prep books (about 8), I really only used Barrons because it was the most comprehensive. Go for Barrons instead, you won't be disappointed.

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars As expected, July 14, 2006

By 

Amai (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kaplan GRE Exam, 2007 Edition: Premier Program (Kaplan GRE Premier Program (W/CD)) (Paperback)

This book stood out to me for my students because it offered online tools in addition to a CD-ROM with quizzes and practice tests. I've invested in actual Kaplan courses before for students, however, and think that I had my hopes up very high about what was available online. The online diagnostic was disappointing in that the analysis it provided was only correct/incorrect answers and the amount of time spent on each question; clearly not enough to let a student know where they stand in strengths and weaknesses. Otherwise, the text is full of great strategies (one has to break his old habits first) and the practice tests online and on the CD-ROM are great for getting used to the CAT as compared to paper tests. GRE test preparation books are certainly great for structured studying so I dont think that people should expect anything more from them.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ok, but Barron's is much better, August 3, 2006

By 

Corran Horn "Corran Horn" (Charlottesville, VA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kaplan GRE Exam, 2007 Edition: Premier Program (Kaplan GRE Premier Program (W/CD)) (Paperback)

I bought this book as I prepared to the take the GRE again. I have yet to take it, and so I don't know how helpful this book will be, but so far it does not seem to be as thorough or polished as the Barrons Guide. The Barrons Guide gives you a much longer list of vocabularly, goes over all of the math (including the more difficult quesitons) in full detail, and I think it is a bit more difficult. The GRE Kaplan CD pales next to its much better LSAT CD which had a much more friendly user interface. This cd merely directs you to select quizes from a drop down menu... couldn't you at least have created a simple GUI for this program?

Still, if you want some additional prep, this books seems to
be alright. But I would definitely go for the Barrons Guide first, mainly for its wonderful vocabulary list (3000 words I believe).