Kaplan GRE Exam Subject Test: Psychology 2009-2010 Edition (Kaplan Gre Psychology)
By:
Kaplan
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Lowest New Price: $10.98
List Price: $19.00
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Description:
- 2 full-length practice tests
- Intensive psychology review, including social psychology, developmental psychology, personality, abnormal psychology, statistics, and more
- Effective strategies for scoring higher on the test
Publisher: Kaplan Publishing
Customer Review: 4 out of 5
Decent - I bought this for my sister-in-law who, at the time, was a sophomore and who wanted a head start at studying for her GRE. She gave great compliments to the information included as it helped solidify her desire to study psychology. However, this should not be used as your only resource for studying for the GRE. As other reviewers have noted, the book does contain some typos and formatting errors.
Customer Review: 3 out of 5
Good Start, but not Enough - This book is a good start for getting ready for the PSY GRE, but it's not enough. I used this book, the Princeton Review book, David Myer's Intro to Psy. book, as well as my other textbooks, and of course... the internet. The best way to use this book is to: a) read the chapters so you're familiar with the basic concepts, b) look up names and studies that you're unfamiliar with on the internet, c) make flashcards of concepts and psychologists you think are important.
The practice tests are not good predictors of the actual GRE, but are more of a studying tool. I scored in the low 700s on each of the practice tests, but scored an 830 on the actual test; so, my scores in the Kaplan practice exams were at least 1 SD away from my score in the actual exam. Still, it was useful in that it showed me what my weaknesses were.
Also, if you're hard up for cash, these books are usually at your local library, and they don't change much (if at all) from year to year.
Customer Review: 4 out of 5
This book was a very important part of my preparation - I am perfectly happy that I bought this book, because it did exactly what I had hoped it would do - help me score in the 99th percentile (830) on the psych GRE. But it is not enough by itself! If you rely on this book as your primary means of test preparation, you probably won't get a stellar score.
This book was only ONE PART of my overall preparation strategy. More important to my preparation was reading a Psych 101 textbook. Specifically, I bought a cheap used copy of Gleitman's introductory psych book (Psychology - 6th (Sixth) Edition) and read it section by section. When I completed a section of the textbook (e.g. Sensation and Perception), I would go the Kaplan book and read the corresponding chapter there. That way I covered the material twice. After reading both the textbook and the Kaplan chapter, I would then go to the website for the Gleitman textbook where you can find online quizzes and vocabulary reviews. After taking the quizzes online, I knew if there were any areas I didn't understand and/or needed to review further. Fortunately, there are lots of resources on the web for studying any areas you need to work on.
And of course I made flashcards of vocabulary, theories, and important psychologists. And I took practice tests. And I re-reviewed everything. A lot. Basically what I'm saying is that it takes a good amount of time and effort. The Kaplan review book isn't going to work miracles by itself.
While the Kaplan review book was helpful in my preparation, in my opinion it has two deficiencies. 1.) The methodology and statistics section of the book is not thorough enough. Do what I did and go to internet to get bit more information on things like ANOVAs and factorial design. 2.) The practice tests are almost worthless. They are incredibly poorly written (as far as diagnostic tests go), and in no way do they approximate the real Psych GRE tests. I took the first one, but I didn't bother with the second. Do yourself a favor and find the real ones.
It has been 10 years since I graduated with my bachelor's in psych, so I had forgotten a fair amount of stuff. Despite that, using the Kaplan book as an important part of my preparation, I managed to score very well on the test. If you devote a few months to your preparation and take it seriously, you should be able to do the same. If you don't, I'm not sure how much this book is going to help you.
Customer Review: 1 out of 5
absolutely useless - 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 Review: 3 out of 5
good, but not good enough - 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.
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