Kaplan GRE Exam Subject Test: Psychology 2009-2010 Edition (Kaplan Gre Psychology),   ISBN:9781419553066

Customer Rating: 

I RECENTLY TOOK THE PSYCH GRE ON SATURDAY AND I CAN TELL YOU THAT AFTER REVIEWING THIS BOOK FOR OVER SIX MONTHS I WAS ABSOLUTELY DISAPPOINTED BY CLAIM TO GIVE YOU ALL THAT IS NEEDED TO DO WELL ON THE GRE, I CAN ATTEST TO YOU THAT ONLY ABOUT 10 PERCENT OF WHAT IS IN THIS BOOKS WILL BE HELPFUL. THIS BOOK IS GARBAGE USE IT TO LINE YOUR LITTER BOX GET A TEXTBOOK FOR EACH CATEGORY AND REVIEW.SOMEONE SHOULD SUE KAPLAN FOR MAKING SUCH A FALSE CLAIM.I WASTED MY TIME WILL HAVE TO CANCEL MY SCORE AND TRY AGAIN.

Customer Rating: 

I bought both the princeton review book and this kaplan one, and I barely looked at the princeton book. This book is packed full of information presented in a way that was very easy to understand. I actually was able to understand concepts that I couldn't comprehend in class. It does an excellent job reviewing subjects that are most likely to appear on the pscyhology subject exam, and focuses on some big names that always apppear.

Now for the bad. This book was full of information, but it helped immensely that I had already taken almost all the classes the test was testing, with the exception of social psych, so the basic concepts were a review. I just recently took the test, and I found it was A LOT more specific than the material covered in this kaplan book. The practice exam I received from ETS was a much better predictor of what the test would be like, how specific and tricky some of the questions can get. I mean, I know Milgram's experiment in and out, and I still got a question on the test that I had to think about. In order to do well, you cannot just study this book.

Specifically, the physiological psychology and sensation and perception portions of the real test asked much more in depth questions than were even mentioned in the kaplan book. I really wish I had spent more time studying other materials in conjunction with this book. That said, this book is incredibly good for brushing up the basics in a short amount of time, and a lot of important key concepts are included that are necessary to know for the test.

Customer Rating: 

Overall, not a bad study guide. There are three main problems:

1) Poor editing. "Tryon" and "Tyron" are both used, alternating within the same paragraph. "Erickson" and "Erikson" is another example, and there are countless others. There are also nonsense sentences. P34 states:

"Milgram commented that measure obtained at institution, rather than another, are irrelevant in terms of interpreting the findings in many areas of psychology."

I'm sure he commented no such thing. You could insert a few words to make it grammatically correct, but it's still pretty poor wording.

Even worse is a definition on p132: "The term for evolutionary development in humans is phelogeny [sic] (there's a good chance it will appear on the test)." They spell "phylogeny" wrong AND define it wrong (it's not specific to humans), while promising us it will be on the test!

2) Some concepts seem to have been invented just for this book, because they don't turn up on the internet. "Errors of growth" and "overregulation" are used to describe a concept more precise than the words let on, and I can't corroborate them with other sources.

3) I don't know how detailed my knowledge must be in certain subjects. There's no way I'm memorizing Erikson's 8 stages of psychosocial development, with all their nooks and crannies... unless I really have to. Beats me if I do!

Overall, it's helpful, but I doubt it can be used alone. Like others, I'm supplementing with the Princeton Review guide.

EDIT: I almost want to give it an extra star for an incredibly amusing mnemonic device suggested. Upon implicating the anterior hypothalamus in sexual behavior, they recommend remembering a list for the four activities of the hypothalamus as a whole: "...think of 'the four Fs': feeding, fighting, fleeing, and sexual functioning."

Customer Rating: 

Although this book had some formatting errors, it certainly provided a decent review for the psychology subject GRE. I used this book with the Princeton Review text (there was lots of overlap, but the books differed on a few content areas). I ended up in the 99th percentile (which is similar to what I got on their practice test after studying).

Customer Rating: 

While this is a pretty good outline of the material, it is full of typos and blatantly wrong information. Did they not bother to edit it? I was actually so frustrated with having to consult other texts in order to gather correct information that I wrote Kaplan an email, but never heard back. This book was extremely disappointing, considering that it is published by such a well-known, supposedly well-respected company. It is unlikely that I will ever use Kaplan products again.