Kaplan GRE Verbal Workbook, 2nd Edition (Kaplan GRE Exam Verbal Workbook) [Paperback]

Kaplan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0743230590 | ISBN-13: 978-0743230599 | Publication Date: August 1, 2002 | Edition: 2

You will score higher. We guarantee it.

Kaplan's GRE® Exam Verbal Workbook, Second Edition comes complete with a targeted review of all the tested material on the Verbal section of the GRE®, plus Kaplan's renowned test-taking strategies. This powerful combination makes Kaplan's GRE® Exam Verbal Workbook the most effective way for you to score higher on what is often described as the most challenging section of the GRE®.

In-Depth Review of Analogies, Reading Comprehension, Sentence Completion, and Antonyms -- with practice drills in every chapter.

Special Chapter on Analytical Writing to help you score well on this new section of the GRE®, including tips on writing clearly, concisely, and effectively.

Exclusive Strategies to manage time, master all the question types, and succeed on the computer-adaptive GRE® exam.

A Mini-Dictionary for the Verbal Section of over 1,000 words, including special tips for the "Top 200" words most often found on the test.

Sign up for the Graduate School Edge.

Tap into Kaplan's expertise with the Graduate School Edge, our free email newsletter. Filled with admissions tips, the latest test and career news, important deadline reminders, study aids, and more, the Graduate School Edge is an excellent resource for critical graduate school admissions information.
Sign up today at kaptest.com

Test Prep, Admissions and Guidance. For life.

Kaplan has helped more than 3 million students achieve their educational and career goals. With 185 centers and more than 1,200 classroom locations throughout the U.S. and abroad, Kaplan provides a full range of services, including test prep courses, admissions consulting, programs for international students, professional licensing preparation, and more.

For more information, contact us at 1-800-KAP-TEST or visit kaptest.com (AOL Keyword: kaplan).

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Kaplan; 2 edition (August 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743230590
• ISBN-13: 978-0743230599
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,020,304 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #100 in Books > Education & Reference > Education > Test Guides - Graduate & Professional > Graduate Preparation

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Solid for Going More In Depth on the Verbal Section, November 3, 2002

By 

Greg Feirman (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kaplan GRE Verbal Workbook, 2nd Edition (Kaplan GRE Exam Verbal Workbook) (Paperback)

I started my GRE preparations with Kaplan's "GRE Exam, 2003 Edition", the basic book that covers the whole exam: Verbal, Quantitative and Writing. This book, "GRE Exam Verbal Workbook, Second Edition" just gives alot more practice on the Verbal section question types and then devotes a huge chunk of the book, 161 pages, to vocabulary.

The core of the book is really the four chapters devoted to the four different Verbal section question types. There is a quick 3-4 page review of Kaplan's method, which is no different than their methods in the general book, and then 5 practice tests. So, basically this is what they call it: a workbook. There are alot of problems to practice, practice, practice. And that is really the most important part in mastering the GRE.

However, there are limits to how far practice can take you on certain Verbal section question types. I think that practice is the whole deal for Reading Comprehension and Sentence Completions, once you have a basic technique for approaching those question types. The reason for this is that all of the information that you need to answer these questions is provided for you. For sentence completions, there are "roadsigns" that signal what the word in the blank has to be. And the reading comprehension questions all have to be found in the passage you are given. Thus, getting good at these just requires that you hammer away.

However, with antonymns and analogies, practice is helpful but can only take you so far. Because if you don't know the word in an antonymn or one or both of the words in an analogy, working backwards will only get you so far. The only way to nail antonymns and analogies is to gear up on vocab and memorize a couple hundred words and learn word groups (groups of words that have similar meanings). This is why Kaplan devotes so much space, 45% of the book, to vocabulary compared with the 5 or so pages in their general preparation book.

In the end, this book has all the vocabulary and practice you need to be as ready as you'll ever be to take the Verbal section of the GRE.

Greg Feirman

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars almost complete, February 5, 2003

By 

FARSWE "FARSWE" (Mclean, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kaplan GRE Verbal Workbook, 2nd Edition (Kaplan GRE Exam Verbal Workbook) (Paperback)

Trust me, if you've never taken a GRE before, you really want to buy a guide book -- whether it's this one or another -- to help you through. It's a GRE suicide to just walk in without preparation!!

When I took my exam, I was under tremendous presure and had to get ready within one week and so I bought two workbooks, Kaplan GRE Verbal Workbook as well as Gre Verbal Workout (ISBN: 067977890X) to get as much as I could out of the short time I had.
I found out that I needed both to get a complete understanding, exercise, and overview. Kapalan is great, but it's NOT complete and neither is the Princeton series so my suggestion is to get both and have all the angles covered. There will be a large amount of overlapping and redundant data, but when it comes to exam and preparation, you will need all the practice you can get.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lots to study, little to show, December 9, 2003

By 

mattaca (Boston, MA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kaplan GRE Verbal Workbook, 2nd Edition (Kaplan GRE Exam Verbal Workbook) (Paperback)

Though I have to admit my score was probably better on the verbal section having studied this book than if I hadn't, I must say it's a lot of work for such a pittance toward your score. For those who aren't applying to English related programs (or others that specifically require higher verbal scores) I'd highly recommend buying a more general book and understanding the methods for eliminating wrong answer choices. This, along with practicing the test format on the ETS software and other Kaplan software helped me much more than the HOURS and HOURS I spent memorizing a 2,500 word vocab list, only to get in the testing center and discover plenty of words I had never heard.

Though the book does include a list of root words and the top 200 words in context (used in sentences, synonyms, etc.) beyond that it simply ranks the remaining 2,300 as equally important. The lists included which group the words into synonymous categories such as "criticize" or "praise" are also too general to be effective if you're working on the harder questions the book is intended to get you to, simply because those questions invariably include multiple antonyms or analogies that could apply and that require you to know the exact nuances of the word. Probably a better idea is to buy flashcards, which are grouped into high, medium, and low frequency words, so you can buy how many ever sets you will have time to study.