Customer Reviews

Kaplan TOEFL CBT W/CD-Rom, 2nd Edition

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I used this book in a TOEFL preparation course for about a month and found it a bit disappointing. The book's explanations are quite technical (which is sometimes helpful, especially in the grammar section) but my intermediate-level students all found the practice exercises in the book too easy. The CD-ROM practice tests, on the other hand, were too hard. Some of the Writing section's explanations were good--especially with thesis statements and conclusions--but the Reading section was ridiculously banal. In addition, there aren't enough practice tests, especially in comparison with other TOEFL study materials available on the market. For the price you're paying, you'd be better off buying Longman's Complete Preparation (for intermediate to advanced students), Longman's Introductory Preparation (for beginner students), or Barron's TOEFL book with 8 practice tests.

I not only studied this book, but also took Toefl classes in Kaplan for 6 months and I have to admit that I wasted my money (which was a lot what they took from me) and my time. I scored 187 studying at Kaplan with Kaplan's books and I was not the only person from the Kaplan's courses scoring such an awful low score. Most of the Kaplan students from different nationalities, my classmates of course, scored below 200. I don't know how these Kaplan individuals manage to have customers who fall for it. Moreover, the only excellent thing about Kaplan is their marketing and propaganda about themselves, and the luxurious facilities that help to trick you into their courses, but other than that, it is a lousy teaching approach.

I tried to get my money back , or at least part of it, in order to be able to go to study in a decent, honest Institute. But they refused to refund any of it, because they don't give any guarantees of scoring high with their courses. THEY CLAIMED THAT IT WAS MY FAULT AND SAID THE SAME THING TO THE REST OF MY CLASSMATES .... WHAT A RIP OFF !!!!!

1)The best part of the book is Listening Copmrehension. This part is most likely the best book among Toefl books. A lot of practice all are on the CD Rom.
2)Grammar is far difficult as compare with any real test and, thus, it is utterly irrelevant. There are a lot of excercises, nonetheless, the section is more like very general overview for those who know English well. Grammar is much better explained on Cliff's Toefl.
3) Reading part is fair, however, it is much better on Delta's Key for the Toefl Test.
4) There are only 2 full scale tests and they are undoubtedly useless as their results ae always worse than those on the actual test. All my friends had actual results better than on Kaplan's CD Rom.
If you need practice Delta's Key for the Toefl Test has 10 tests, Cambridge Toefl has 7 tests, and Cliffs has 6 tests.
5) There is no virtually any strategy for Essay seection. You may wish to buy Cambridge Toelf for the best Esaay section. Cambridge Toefl explains essay step by step in all details. Gradulally, doing all excercise you will be accostomed how to map out a good essay for 30 minutes. Cliff's Toefl also has very good Essay section with elaborated strategy and exsamples.

Due to my position (Human Resources Director) in an American multinational company located in Bogota, Colombia, and having studied English in the United Kingdom, I decided it was time to study for an MBA in order to further my career. I needed 250 on the CBT Toefl. I was advised to attend the best and most expensive prep center, Kaplan Bogota, so I did. I took the TOEFL twice. The first time I scored 207 and the second time 190, very far from the score I needed for my MBA. Seriously, I don't know how could somebody claim to have scored 290 with Kaplan preparation, and even less with this Kaplan TOEFL book that I recently disposed in the garbage. Moreover checking the ETS's statistics for the last 3 years and the standard deviation for Toefl scores, no one has scored above 287. Therefore I find very dubious some reports stated herein. Use common sense and never enroll in a Kaplan course.

I got my TOELF scores today and I was happy to see that I ACED it. +290 on the CBT. I prepared myself with the Kaplan book and the Powerprep ETS software.
All I needed was to become acquainted with the types of questions that were in the test. Since I've been in American International Schools K-12 I knew for a fact that American Idiomatic English was not something that would challenge me.
My point is, it doesnt matter what book you use, you MUST MASTER ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND IDIOMS. There is NO WAY you will LEARN english in a coupple of months with books. All these books do is help you become familiar with the TYPES of questions. Certainly, Kaplan did a good job with that. They dont pretend to teach you english, and they clearly state that at the begginig of the book.