I took classes from Veritas but not Kaplan.
However, I have reviewed materials from two Kaplan sources extensively:
(1) Lessons from Kaplan GMAT CD-ROM: Note that this is not the CD-ROM from the Premier program book. Kaplan sells a software suite consists of 4 CD-ROMs: GMAT, LSAT, GRE and SAT all in one package. The GMAT CD-ROM has computer video lessons on each type of GMAT questions, review materials, exercises and 4 CAT exams. Personally I found the video lessons useful as it is like a having a teacher teaching skills in a class.
(2) Strategies from
Kaplan Premier 2007 book.
Both are good materials and the strategies covered are pretty much the same.
However, the CD-ROM has some drills kind of like in-class exercises.
Which one is better depends on personal preference.
Now for Veritas: In general, there are a set of strategies everybody cover. For example, for CR-type questions read question stem first; for RC understand the gist of the passage…etc. There are some stuff I learned from Veritas though: like SWIMMER, advanced math and logic…etc. I believe some other programs also talk about SWIMMER (Manhattan?).
The most I appreciate on Veritas is that they hire only instructors at 99-percentile. Some had commented that good test takers do not necessarily be good teachers, which I totally agree. However, I would argue I don’t need to pay if I am just learning the fundamentals – all these were covered in good materials like Kaplan. I got my money worth for observing these instructors tackling advanced problems – these are techniques not covered in any books. For example, they use shortcuts to get to answer quicker, techniques to spot tricks by GMAT test writers, methods/their gut feels to eliminate incorrect answers…etc.
Note that I am already very familiar with the techniques and type of questions before taking Veritas. Veritas do cover every one of them. Personally, I found the advanced techniques are the most useful to me.
By the way, many people here also recommend
Manhattan GMAT prep. I “thinkâ€