Rating: 
Summary: Great preparation for the GRE
Review: Kaplan's guide to preparing for the GRE contains all of the necessary elements to aid you in your quest to be better prepared for this standardized test. The book itself is very helpful, but the CD is absolutely indispensable. Not only does it contain many practice questions, practice tests, and exercises to help you hone your test-taking skills, it also has a feature which lets you personalize a program of study based on your individual needs. With this great tool, you won't have to spend time studying in areas you're already strong in, and can devote that time to areas you're weak in. It even allows you to customize your plan based on how much time you have to prepare for the test. While the booklet itself will also prove to be a useful aid, the CD is worth its weight in gold.Two minor problems with this guide. A frequent complaint about Kaplan's guides is that they contain too much corny humor. The humor and cartoons in the book and CD are childish and unamusing, and become downright annoying after a while. Also, the software, while very good in content, is not very well made. Sometimes, it won't run on my computer. Other times, it just locks up. Despite these shortcomings, this is an excellent resource for GRE preparation. It helped me immensely. At an affordable price, everything you need is right here.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book, okay software
Review: Okay, so what I like:
1) Good review of materials for all 3 major test areas in book.
2) Good practice sections on the CD.
3) Clean design of software What I don't like:
1) The book shows you the sneaky methods but the solutions on the CD-ROM tend to skip sneaky ways to answer questions I go for long routes to the right choice.
2) CD-ROM sound effects
3) The software bugs out and I can't review my answers for the full length practice tests.
4) Lack of Mac version of CD ROM I'll be reviewing the Princeton Review book w/ CD ROM soon. Basically, they go for the sneak more often and have a less comprehensive math review (though I do like their commentary about which square root numbers you should now in decimal form... 2, 3, one more). Also, their software is wacky and the tests don't seem hard enough. But at least, when they don't screw up a question, their answer explanations explain the sneak. For context, on my real and practice test I usually score around the 98 percentile for the verbal. And somewhere in the 80 percents on the math.
Rating:
Summary: Get it don't cheat yourself
Review: Overall I was very pleased. I'm a computer programmer so I was looking for Quantitative help and the Kaplan GRE did help. It was especially good with tricks that helped solute the problems more quickly. I did think the math portion was a little lacking, but with the Kaplan GRE and the PowerPrep software from GRE organization (freeware). I did much better on the test. If you plan on taking the GRE, you owe it to yourself to get this book and download the PowerPrep. It will make a difference.
Rating:
Summary: Get it don't cheat yourself
Review: Overall I was very pleased. I'm a computer programmer so I was looking for Quantitative help and the Kaplan GRE did help. It was especially good with tricks that helped solute the problems more quickly. I did think the math portion was a little lacking, but with the Kaplan GRE and the PowerPrep software from GRE organization (freeware). I did much better on the test. If you plan on taking the GRE, you owe it to yourself to get this book and download the PowerPrep. It will make a difference.
Rating: 
Summary: This text worked great for me
Review: The previous reviews of this book are across the board, with most people either loving it or hating it. I found the text to be extremely helpful in studying for the test, and more importantly earning a good score on the GRE. I spent a lot of time with this book, as well as the software that is downloadable from the ETS website for free. The combination of these two resources helped me score a 1220 on the verbal/math sections, and a 6.0 on the writing section. Well worth the effort. The book presents very affective strategies for studying for the test, important subject matter, as well as tips on how to take the test (which don't necessarily have anything to do with knowledge of the test subject matter). If you spend the necessary time with this book, study your flash cards, and memorize the test day tips, you WILL see results. This Fall I am off to the University of Madison-Wisconsin on a full-ride RA position. The Kaplan GRE book was one of many pieces that put the puzzle together.
Rating: 
Summary: Testing software terrible
Review: The software that comes with this book is aweful, especially for the math section. For example, all of the practice math sections are 30 minutes long with 30 questions. On the real GRE, you will have 45 minutes for the math section with 28 questions. As a major test company, they should at least know the basics about the exam. Additionally, there were many math problems that were either impossible to solve (because they mistakenly did not give you enough information) or actually had the wrong answer at the end. I bought this book and the Princeton Review book and liked the Princeton review book and software much better. It helped me score an 800 on the math section.
Rating:
Summary: Helpful, but not perfect
Review: This book does a decent job of managing the balance between techniques and content. However, its explanations of many math concepts are lacking. Though the practice tests are scored using an unrealistically difficult scale, they are still valuable when used in conjunction with the ETS PowerPrep software.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT!
Review: This book was incredibly helpful, and by studying out of this book for about two months, I was able to get a perfect score on the GRE's without taking any classes or buying any other books or study materials.
I memorized all of the word lists that they gave, and they also have a handy appendix in the back of the book with little math tricks for math that you might have forgotten or don't know the shortcuts for.
I also found the CD-ROM extremely helpful because of all of the practice tests and extra problems, in addition to the lessons. Although the interactive format was very cheesy at times, it still kept me more focused than if I were just reading through black and white pages of text in the book.
Definitely a great buy if you don't want to spend the money to take any of the expensive (thousands of dollars!) courses, but still want to get an amazing score!
Rating:
Summary: Basic preperation, a tad condescending
Review: This is not a bad book to give you all the fundamentals you'll need for the test. The main drawback is the CD-ROM which features irritating cartoons and live actors. These elements serve as a distraction from the actual content of the CD, which in itself is not that bad. After using this book I saw many other GRE books in a bookstore and flipped through a few. Although many, like the Princeton book, were almost identical to Kaplan, there all had fewer frills. Especially if you are older than college age, this book may be a little too playful.
Rating:
Summary: Good Choice Unless Aiming For >90%
Review: This was the most useful test prep aid I had. Most importantly, I would say that if you are considering taking a Kaplan GRE course, don't do it. You're better off just buying this book (and/or the individual verbal/math books). It covers the same strategies that the class does at a fraction of the cost. The only negative remark I have about this book is that if you are shooting for scores in the 9oth or 95th percentile (e.g. a combined verbal/math score of 1400 or above) then this is not the book for you. Frankly though, I haven't seen any books that accomodate for this sort of goal.
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