Rating: 
Summary: kaplan GRE exam 2004 with CD-ROM
Review: As a professor I have used the Kaplan materials in GRE prep courses and find that the material is an excellent review for the actual test. The CD allows practice with tests very similar to the actual CAT test used. Many of the books on the market still give paper and pencil practice materials that are no longer used in this country and do not allow the student to develop skills in the CAT computer format. I have used the Kaplan material in intensive 8 week courses and have shown that students increase their scores approximately 250 points on the combined quantitive and verbal scores. In these classes, the students take a pre and post test, and our post test scores are very close to actual test scores. I have found some prep materials are too easy and build up unrealistic expectations in those preparing for the test. These individuals are very disappointed when the practice materials are not good predictors of final scores. The CD and the math and verbal workbooks supply adequate practice materials.
I find Kaplan to be the best materials I have tried.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad Choice
Review: Do not buy this book. Go for the Barron's book. It has a huge 3500 word list and detailed mathematics review section. Plus 5 full length tests. The kaplan book has only ONE test. Use the ETS software (2 tests) and Sheppard GRE/SAT word games (do a google search). Stay away from this book. Just not worth it!
Rating:
Summary: A Review that's Real
Review: First, you might note the 5 stars and assume I'm trying to inflate Kaplan's reputation, or even work for Kaplan.
Let me start by saying I think Kaplan's operation is more or less a scam, preying on those who lack the confidence and guidance to study on their own. I nearly fell into the trap, and cancelled my approximately $1000 Kaplan course the last second.
That decision led me to get 90th percentiles in both Math and Verbal, w/a combined score of 1360.
This review is written for those who want to know how to do that, and aren't standardized test wizzes. Although I made my position clear on Kaplan's overpriced course, make no mistake: the Kaplan Book + CDROM is *very good* -- I could NOT have achieved my score without it. My prep schedule includes:
-the Kaplan GRE Book (Quantitative and Verbal Sections). I wanted to get a feel for the test and not dive into problems. Kaplan does an excellent job showing you math techniques that work again and again, such as "doing the same thing to both sides" and backsolving (plugging in). This technique works for half the problems on the real thing.
-I proceeded to the Kaplan practice tests (in the booklet). After this, I got a pretty good feel for the types of questions.
-I moved onto the CD, which has 6 full practice tests (both Quantitative AND Verbal), and 3 full adaptive CATs. The CATs predicted me at a little BELOW what I got on the real GRE, so don't fret if you're seeing 400's, especially on the verbal (got a 610 on the real verbal, which is 90th+ percentile).
-After exhausting the Kaplan book and CD, an equally high-quality and INDISPENSIBLE prep tool was ETS's PowerPrep software (www.gre.org). Like Kaplan's CD, it has a practice section full of exercises, plus two additional CATs. Also like Kaplan, it UNDERESTIMATED my scores, putting my quantitative at 720 and verbal at 550 -- on the real one, Q was 750 and V was 610.
-After these two materials, I felt mentally prepared for the test. Whether you want to fish around for more materials is personal preference. I personally am not the greatest standardized test taker, so I used (lightly) other sources like princetonreview.com, California's Berkeley GRE Prep (do a google search), and the prep materials on GRE's own website.
If you follow these steps, you WILL see results. To gauge for error, here's a little background about me:
I'm a 4th year Computer Science student -- being in engineering, I've had extensive math, but that does NOT mean I would automatically do well on quantitative. GRE Quantitative is VERY different from "school math" and it takes practice, practice, practice.
For the verbal, I practiced all the question types using the sources above, as well as Kaplan's word list on the CD-ROM and book. It definitely helped, but what unfortunately ended up helping more was growing up in the U.S. and simply speaking English -- which I think is unfair for foreign test takers. Again, practice practice practice.
BOTTOM LINE: if you're in a comparable position as me, i.e. in school or not out of school for too long, the above strategy is golden. However, I know a lot of you are "coming back after 30 years" and the like -- a different preparation strategy is necessary to refresh math concepts and test taking skills. GRE.org has an excellent math review for that.
Good luck in tackling these mindless tests that us academics must endure. Remember, you're better prepared than most.
Andy
Rating: 
Summary: Go with the GRE Verbal and Quantitative books instead
Review: I bought this book, along with the Verbal and Quantitative specific books by Kaplan. The bottom line is, don't buy this book if you plan to buy the other two. If you don't plan to do an in-dept study or if the test is coming up soon, then go with this book. Just remember that there is nothing in this book that is not explained in greater detail in the Verbal and Quantitative books.By the way, I got scores of 590 verbal and 760 quantitative by using the other two books. I barely touched this one and only studied for about 12 hours per week for 4 weeks. I spent most of my time memorizing the 2000 most common GRE words listed in the Verbal book (there are only about 200 words in the general GRE book).
Rating: 
Summary: Book is OK, software is pretty bad
Review: I found the book to be OK, but the software is awful. Kaplan seems more interesting in making something flashy (sound effects, graphics) than something that works. Also, there are problems with several of the math questions -- the information you need to solve the problem has been left out. Pretty inexcusable, in my opinion.
Rating:
Summary: Lazy authors
Review: I have Kaplan GRE 2002 with CD-ROM, and the tests in this book are *exactly the same*, including section and full-length ones. Flash cards, games, *everything* is the same. In *two* years, they didn't lift their finger to update the book. Of course, analytical section is out, and "analytical writing" is in, but it's the first year for this new section and I didn't expect any GRE book to have good coverage of this subject, so this one predictably didn't.
Rating:
Summary: NOT MAC COMPATIBLE
Review: I just recieved Kaplan's GRE book, and while the book itself seems to be very helpful, the CD is only for Windows users - in other words it doesn't work for anybody who owns a Macintosh computer. ... I want to let future Mac users who are considering this book know about this, as it might influence their decision to buy the book and CD.
Rating:
Summary: Make sure to have another study guide
Review: I used the Barrons and Kaplan study guides to prepare for the GRE. Of the two I greatly preferred the Barrons. I felt the Kaplan questions, practice tests and overall quality of the material was inferior to Barrons. However, one could do much worse than use the Kaplan's guide, as I went through quite a few of the GRE books that are available at the library and bookstore, and in comparison to many others, Kaplans appears to be decent. Being in engineering, I stressed the math section and essay section and did not really take advantage of the verbal portions of the study guides, so I really cannot comment on if Barrons or Kaplans is better for that portion of the test. For the math section, it felt weaker than the Barron's, and the questions and practice exams seemed easier. For the essay, Kaplan's was ok with the sample essays, however a lot of example essays are also available through the downloadable sample test software off of the GRE website, and I thought those were better.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent software, but the textbooks is a bit useless
Review: I was really impressed by the software (3 cat tests, 1 diagnostic test, many excercises, advices and so on).
So, if you want a sofware for your training, which is not a bad idea since the GRE is computer based, go for it.
However, the textbok is not good: you can read it in no time because there is not much to read; the math review is rather brief and simple; and if you need a good verbal training, you should buy Kaplan GRE Verbal Workbook...
Therefore, if you need a textbook (not software preparation kit), you should go with Barron's.
Rating:
Summary: Inaccurate Practice Test Scores
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. I took an initial practice and scored terribly. After studying the entire book, I took another practice with the same terrible score. My quantitative score was a 240! The lowest is 200! I had myself so stressed out about the GRE that I started to consider other alternatives to my preferred graduate program. I am an honor's student with a 3.93 GPA and am a member of my university's honors college. I was cursing the GRE for being a stumbling block for me. When I took the real test, I hit my target and scored 300 points better than the practice score. Unbelieveable. I am so angry at all of the unneccessary anxiety that I put myself through. So, my advice would be don't put too much stock into your practice scores. Also, the CD is frustrating. A lot of the information is basic and you wish that you could skim through it. However, once you're in a tutuorial, you have to sit and listen to it and it can be slow and boring. It didn't like my computer much and crashed often. The book was very general and basic. I bought some "cram" for the GRE books and got more information from them and better practice questions and explanations. I don't recommend this book. Good luck.
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