Kaplan GMAT 800 - Good or not?

Hi All,

I am looking for another book to supplement the OG. Is this a good choice? Thanks!

It is good choice for Verbal section but I will not vouch for its Quant section. I was able to cover entire math section with 95% (excluding DS and word problems) accuracy with in 50 minutes. I think math section is very easy and actual GMAT questions are tough as compared to that.
The question you have here in GMAT club test are real good questions (Both for Qunat and Verbal), if you are able to solve these without any help then you can ace in GMAT.

Thanks! I assume you are referring to the challenges?

Would you suggest another book?

I will say Manhattan is pretty good as well.

I think the DS section is pretty decent. I agree about the rest of the Quant.

Uhh, I don't want to sound negative but I have to post this reply.

For a Christ's sake don't waste your money and time on this bunch of worthless papers! I can't decide which part is worse, Quant or Verbal. Although both are poorly written and even worse explained I firmly believe that, if you are working on your verbal skills using this garbage, your score is likely to go down. Kaplans readings, arguments and sentences are so poorly written and so far from real test questions that you are probably going to adopt some creepy logic of Kaplans instructors, which ultimately leeds to drop in your verbal score.

Math section is not so "dangerous" as verbal but still is one of the poorest crapy things I've ever seen. There is no any kind of methodology or some structured approach, instead they will give you a bunch of questions that were considered hard probably in the 1970's but now are a joke when compared to the real deal. But even that is not the end of the trouble. Quant questions are so poorly explained that I was sick when I first read one of explanations. Plain language, without any kind of try to establish some methodical or scientific approach. "Why A is bigger than B? Because it is, maaaan! You see, Earth is bigger than Moon, Sun is bigger than Earth... A is bigger than B! See? Right? OK, let's go further...".

Math section has no any kind of structure or organization, there are just examples clustered in some groups of 4 based on similarity of an issue. Questions are hard but that is just the entry level of hard q's seen on the real deal. For example, motion problems... They presented only one problem of two objects moving toward each other. Simple, basic problem with two planes fluying in the opposite directions at a constant speed. How long will take them to pass each other? Yeah, right, though one isn't it? That' the point of start for some serious test prep programs, but a peak of career for the Merry Andrew who write funny questions for Kaplan.

Although I agree with Gmatblackbelt who wrote that Kaplan was the only test prep program that even mentioned something about elipsis in the SC part of the Kaplan800, I don't think that one passage (also poorly written) is good enough reason to spend 27 bucks on this book. If you are a serious test taker stick to the serious programs, if you are a beginner then lurk throughout this forum and find some stuff to start with (I guess Princeton Review or something like that).

I quite agree.
I bought it especially for the math section, hoping to find tougher questions than those in the OG (which is far to easy to score 50+ in Quant) and I was really disappointed :/

The DS section isn't bad, some questions are more challenging than OG's, but PS is really easy.

I've haven't tried the Verbal section yet, I'll work on it after finishing the Manhattan SC Prep Guide.


Nb: My Kaplan 800 is the 2008/2009 version.

Do you recommend it for both quant and verbal?

I bought it. But the problems are not very tough. The book mostly emphasizes on strategies. I did not find it very helpful.

The problem solving questions look easy compared to Manhattan GMAT and some of the questions that appear in GMATPrep...

working through it right now. questions seem really easy. not sure if this is because MGMAT makes their questions too hard, or if Kaplan 800 makes theirs too easy.

I've been using OG(the 3 books) and Kaplan 800. I've found that most of the questions in OG are logical and clear, and their explanations are convincing. But I've found the questions and explanations in Kaplan 800 are quite peculiar and sometimes irrational and unconvincing. I can sense how real GMAT questions should be like based on the 3 OG books, but the Kaplan 800 has distorted my view, since its testing points are very different and weird. It is claimed that its questions are the hardest I will see in real GMAT, but the hardest questions are not asked in that way according the 3 OG books.

Could anyone share your experience in using the Kaplan 800?

Kaplan is only good for their CAT Exams...

Also there is about 80 to 100 point curve on its score.

For example, if you get 500 on Kaplan CAT exam, it's really 600 (equivalent) on MGMAT CAT, or real GMAT. They make it harder than real GMAT.

I liked gmat 800
but you have to be at a certain level to really take some use out of it...

I've heard some good things about it simply because it throws stuff at you that you've never seen before

Not to sound cocky or anything, but Kaplan should change the name of the book to Kaplan 700 or the likes since the question is definitely not that hard. I found that the GMATClub test questions a lot harder. And the explanation for the answer is abysmal at best particularly because they are a big supporter of "plugging in numbers". I'm not against this strategy, but some questions really can't be easily solved by plugging numbers because on a 800 questions you will likely find 2-3 answers that fits your pickup number if you don't pick broad enough. In fact, all 800 (or at least 99 percentile) test takers I know (which is not much by the way) rarely use plugging number method.

I'd say, if you have a strong basic, you better go with Kaplan's CAT test as it offers a better tough question that is challenging compared to their book. I've heard first hand from former Kaplan student that their classroom material is far faaaaar better than their books (obviously, their tutor is their money making machine, not their books)

As a Kaplan Teacher (in training) I can say that their classroom material is very good quality stuff. The CATs are difficult, but like everyone here says, the harder questions (like GMATClub Challenges) make you better. Kaplan is an advocate for plugging in numbers, but not in every case. As you said, there are some questions that it just doesn't work. There are others, that for the vast majority of testers, plugging numbers is going to be the fastest way to tackle a tough problem. There are people that can do any problem without plugging numbers, but plugging numbers in where it can be helpful, does work for everyone.