Kaplan GRE Exam 2010 Premier Live Online (Kaplan Gre Exam Premier Live),   ISBN:9781419552977

Customer Rating: 

This book has several mistakes in its examples and practice problems, but none that were too confusing. I never used the "Live" online portion... just took the practice tests in the book. Oversimplifies a lot of things in the math section. There are definitely better GRE books out there in terms of review, and the Kaplan box of vocab flashcards was way more useful than the list of words in this book.

Customer Rating: 

I ordered this book, the Kaplan GRE math review book, and the Kaplan GRE vocab flashcards, and I also separately (off Amazon) purchased the Princeton GRE review book. I got these materials at the end of July and did not start studying hard (about 3 hours a day) until 6 weeks before the test, but the combination of these materials prepared me well. The Kaplan offers a decent variety of questions and a good overview of vocab/math, but I preferred the Princeton book better, to be honest. It was more accessible, and the math review was VERY basic, which was just what I needed. Coupled with the Kaplan math review book, I feel like my sources gave me a very good overview of skills I needed to know. The great thing about Kaplan is the online companion, which provides helpful quizzes, study plans, and 4 full-length tests, three of which are CATs. The answers to all these quizzes and tests are fully explained, so they helped me a great deal.

As far as verbal sections are concerned, the cards and books seemed clear and helpful, but as the verbal section of any test has always been my strong point, I did not really study verbal very much. The cards do provide 500 "standard" GRE words, and I have to admit that I saw about 7-10 of them on today's test (yup, I took it this afternoon). If you are worried about vocab (and the GRE really amounts to a big vocab test), I would invest in the cards. Likewise, if you are worried about the essays, I would invest in the Princeton book, which has an excellent, step-by-step approach to writing solid essays.

The most important thing, though, is practice. These materials will help you review concepts, but practice is key for getting a handle on test pacing (and effective pacing has everything to do with good score, as you are penalized for unanswered questions). I did get somewhat flustered during today's Quant section, but using the various strategies I learned from these resources, I still managed to get a 630 in Quant (which is a triumph for this English major, especially since my poor pacing forced me to guess on the last 13 questions). I got an 800 in Verbal, and I do think the practice drills and tests helped my pacing. I don't know my AWA scores yet, but I completed them with a few minutes to spare. While no particular combination of study materials will guarantee good GRE score, I found that these particular resources worked well for me!

Customer Rating: 

In just two weeks of reading and working through this material, my understanding and score raised greatly. Not only does it come with a large textbook like other review materials, but there's also a great online resource of several full-length practice tests, quizzes, and learning material. It's a great combination of learning opportunity and style. I would recommend this to anyone studying for the GRE.

Customer Rating: 

I studied this about a month before I took the test and it was definitely helpful! Do the online studies as well! they are very helpful!

Customer Rating: 

I've also found a few typos, especially in the math portion, as others have pointed out. I emailed Kaplan "book support" and, instead of answering my questions concerning the typos, they passed me on to the "publishing department" who simply replied "oopsie! Our mistake, sorry! Can I sell you any other products?"

Frankly, if they're going to have this many errors they should post a page that we can access which lists known typos. When you're getting to crunch time it's terrible to spend 30 minutes trying to figure out why you got a math problem wrong, only to realize that the question contained an extra zero in it as compared to the answer (see Question 4, Page 191 and the Answer on Page 204 wherein 9 thousandths (0.009) miraculously becomes 9 hundredths (0.09), altering the correct answer from C to A). (The QC problem on page 143 is another example.) I spent a lot of valuable time trying to solve these, only to find out that there was an "typesetting error" in publishing (their words).

Furthermore, there is also a rediculous "typesetting error" on pages 147-8 (QC Practice Set) wherein the "common information" you're supposed to apply to problem #2 (the problem is at the top of page 148) is located at the bottom of the previous page (under problem #1) so you waste FOREVER trying to apply problem #2's information to problem #1, and you can't figure out problem #2 to save your life because the common information you need to solve it is on the previous page, which you just spent forever trying to apply to problem #1. Only when you go to the Answers do you figure out what the $&%! is going on. WASTED TIME.

Aside from the typos, I have a real problem with the "Top GRE Words in Context" portion as well. In addition to several of them being just, well, POOR, there are at least two examples where the sentence doesn't really utilize the word "in context" but simply includes the word as part of a title; example (from page 431): ELEGY - A Sorrowful poem or speech - "Although Thomas Gray's 'ELEGY Written in a Country Churchyard' is about death and loss, it urges its readers to endure this life, and to trust in spirituality." (Also see DIRGE, Page 431; same type of thing). Granted, the meaning is KIND OF there, but this is a terrible example of how to use a word in context... it's like explaining to someone what the word "WEST" means like this: WEST - One of the four major directions of the compass; North, South, East, WEST - "My brother lives in WEST Virginia." Huh?

I dunno, I'm trusting Kaplan to help me prepare for this thing, but this book is NOT giving me a whole lot of confidence. I had some difficulty figuring out the on-line stuff as well, needlessly confusing, but I finally got there, and book marked it in my web browser so that I can find it again more easily. I won't know of the "quality" of the practice questions until I actually take the GRE, obviously, so all I can really judge is the adequacy of the answer explanations, many of which are lacking in clarity and insight, to say the least.

If I had it to do over again, I'd take my chances with a different publisher.