Kaplan GMAT 2010: Premier Live Online

The Kaplan GMAT Premiere Live Program is a groundbreaking test prep program that uses the latest technology to maximize a student’s score.  Essential practice is needed to achieve the highest scores, along with proven score-raising strategies.  You will have free, online access to an interactive, state-of-the-art online companion that gives you exclusive, unprecedented access to an online classroom in real-time, diagnostic quizzes and many other exceptional features including:
GMAT Premier Live Exclusive Free Online Features:

• GMAT Live Online:  A real-time online classroom including audio, video, instant chat, whiteboards, screen-sharing.
• Fast Fact Videos:  Five-minute video sessions featuring Kaplan’s best tutors.
• Diagnostic Quizzes:  Quizzes designed to target areas to help you improve your score.
• Customizable study plan & progress report
• New practice quizzes every month

Comprehensive GMAT Preparation Program Features:

• Sidebars with insider tips and tricks from high-scoring expert instructors
• Five full-length practice tests
• Quick Start Guide to streamline test preparation
• Hundreds of practice questions
• Detailed answer explanations

Kaplan is so confident in the quality and the effectiveness of our test preparation guides and programs that we offer a higher score guarantee!
Test Specifics

• Thousands of graduate management programs around the world use the GMAT in their admissions process.
• The GMAT is a computerized test offered year-round by appointment.

For GMAT the following dates have Live Online events scheduled: 8/19 at 7:30pm, 10/22 at 7:30pm, and 2/8 at 7:30pm. Log into your online companion now to sign up – space is limited!
For those students who are unable to attend a Live Online event, you can still access videos of each of the events through your online companion.

About the Author
More people get into business school with a Kaplan GMAT course than any other major test prep company.  This is because we provide three advantages no one else can match: The most personalized prep with more course options and any competitor—including in-class, online, one-on-one, and self-study—because one size does not fit all; the most focused prep with Smart Reports, our exclusive online score analysis and personalized recommendation system; and the most effective prep, which is why we guarantee your score will improve.

"4 stars" - What is Kaplan GMAT Live Online? / by GMAT Club

I scored 750 on the GMAT and, but still could not really understand what Live Online implied reading the description. So I bought the book to see for myself. I was expecting more - so far it is the same as Kaplan GMAT Premier Program, 2009 (Book & CD-ROM) except that instead of CD, tests and quizzes are online now. If you own 2009 Premier book, there is no value for you to buy this edition. If you are new to Kaplan Premiere - it is a great guidebook. Here is what you will find inside:

THE GOOD:
* Solid material with great Math and Verbal strategies
* Good (not great) structure and layout
* 5 Full Interactive GMAT Tests (Online)
* One Full Paper GMAT Test (in the book)
* (new) Monthly Quizes (every month Kaplan will add a quiz). Right now 9 are already available - it would be impressive if Kaplan can keep adding those. Each Quiz has about 20 questions
* (new) Online session with an instructor in Sept, Oct, Nov, or Feb. Only one session that would be conducted in an online-classroom setting
* (new) All general info on gmat has been moved into online video format, called Fast Fact Videos
* Great value for the money with 6 Full GMAT tests and 9 online Quizzes

THE BAD:
* VERY IMPORTANT: access to the online tests is valid only for 6 months - keep this in mind. Do not activate your account online unless you are ready to start studying
* Same as Kaplan GMAT Premier Program, 2009 (Book & CD-ROM)
* Requires registration and Internet access to take GMAT tests or quizzes
* Built around selling me a test prep class (can't think of any other purpose for the GMAT Online Live session)
* Book cannot be sold with test as registration code included in the book is only valid for one user
* 650 Pages and 4 LBS! - not a travel size book

About me: I scored 750 on the GMAT and I am the founder of GMAT Club - online MBA community of 60K+ members.

"4 stars" Good GMAT strategy guide, but doesn't go deep on concepts / By BeatTheGmat.com

I self studied and scored a 770 on the GMAT. Here are my thoughts on the Kaplan Premier Live Online book:

===== OVERVIEW =====

Kaplan GMAT Premier Live Online is the general GMAT strategy guide developed by one of the best-known companies in the test prep industry. It's a good all-in-one book, but because the GMAT tests so many topics, in my opinion it just scratches the surface of each section.

The current edition represents the re-branding of the Kaplan Premier Program book, with the differences between the two clearly stated on the front cover of the Live Online book. The most important difference is that all computer-based material is now available strictly online. This somehow "fixes by destruction" the issues that students have had with the CD of the previous edition, which would not run on certain operating systems; I for one could not make the previous CD run on Windows Vista. However, note that the computer-adaptive tests (CATs) on the CD (as well as quizzes and other material) were in fact available on the Internet for the previous edition as well - this was the only way I could access them, as instructed by customer care. To gain access to the online material, you will need to sign up using an unique code. Thus, if you're considering buying the used book, you should think again. Not only is the code good for just one registration, but also access will expire after 6 months from date of registration. Other differences include:

* One free live online event with Kaplan teachers
* Fast Fact videos (concepts in video format)
* A slightly modified layout of pages (the so-called Expert Exclusive bubbles)
* Question highlighting for the so-called Master Questions (although the extent to which they are more difficult than others is debatable).

Content stays the same though, so if you can make the CD of an older version work, then go for it.

The book deals with all 5 GMAT question types in similarly structured chapters: strategy, tips, 50 practice questions, answers and explanations. There are also two separate chapters, Math Skills Refresher (with a pretty general, but still solid math overview and a few practice questions for each major topic) and Math Word Problems.

===== PROS =====

* Good all-in-one book, providing a decent value for your money. The book includes a good strategy guide, access to online material and 5 CATs + 1 paper test in the book

* Useful and easy-to-understand strategies, neatly structured material.

* The book begins with an in-depth analysis of the test which I believe is worth your time to review

* At 250 questions in the 5 chapters plus 95 problems in the Math Skills Refresher, the Kaplan Premier Live Online book offers a wide range of practice questions. Explanations for quantitative problems are pretty easy to understand as well, with tips and tricks for a better performance

* Online access to material means you can practice wherever and whenever you want, provided you have a computer with Internet access

===== CONS =====

* This book doesn't go very deep on GMAT topics tested. If you feel that you're having trouble with a specific topic, it's worthwhile to invest in a more targeted product (for instance, Manhattan GMAT and PowerScore both provide focused practice and strategy with their respective GMAT guides)

* I thought the practice questions in this book mimicked actual GMAT questions okay, but not great; particularly in Critical Reasoning (questions do not have the clear cut structure of The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition) and Reading Comprehension (passages too long and convoluted).

* Explanations for verbal questions could use some work as well. Example: Kaplan overuses phrases like "scope shift" without proper clarification

* CAT scoring has often been the target of criticism. Anecdotally, I've noticed that people usually score higher on the real GMAT than in Kaplan CATs (perhaps this is a pro?)

* A more in-depth lesson on math word problems would have been nice

===== BOTTOM LINE =====

As a general strategy guide, Kaplan GMAT Premier Live Online gets high marks. However if you're looking for help and depth on a specific topic, you may need to purchase some supplemental guides elsewhere. I do believe that the book provides a good introduction to the test and will certainly help you improve your score (by the way, they have a higher score guarantee), but up to a certain degree. Used in conjunction with the Official Guide for practice, the Kaplan Premier Program will provide a solid basis for your prep.

Good luck on your GMAT prep!

About me: Dana Jinaru, 770 GMAT scorer, expert at Beat The GMAT - a community serving 100K+ GMAT students/month

"3 stars" - Good but Riddled with typos and Erros / By E.Moore

Overall this a great study guide with helpful tips and tricks and it is fairly easy to follow. However, in my short time of studying with this book I have found easily 5 typos - for example Math theorems thats are presented with a typo - you can reason around it. But it is superbly frustrating that a learning guide will throw you off with typographical errors.

"5 stars" - Pretty good, relatively speaking / By Owenbound

I really liked this book. I thought the layout was nice and it did a pretty good job of explaining each of the sections. The online portion was good as it had plenty of practice exams and monthly quizzes. I had a Princeton Review online course before and compared to that, Kaplan was amazing! All that being said, I rate this a 5 stars probably not 100% due to the content of this book, but because of what I used before, Kaplan was 50x better than the PR course I bought.

One of the Cons of this program: On the practice exams, it shows you a graphical breakdown between your Quant and Verbal sections, but it does not show you a break down among the sub sections like CR, RC, SC, PS, and DS. That would have been nice so you could see which areas were your weakest.

For the money, a GREAT deal!

"5 stars" - VERY IMPRESSED!! / By Neil S. Majd "Neil"

I found this Kaplan review perhaps the most helpful GMAT guide on the market (out of several I ordered). It was my primary study guide.

The Official GMAT Guides take a very formal approach (like a textbook) and generally don't "prep" or "coach" you for the GMAT as book does (but I found this book also does a good job of teaching the material). This book is well-suited for studying and taking the GMAT under time constraints and is a good all-around GMAT study aid.

I was initially reluctant to purchase Kaplan because of their poor reputation in LSAT Prep but I found their GMAT guide very helpful (especially the Quantitative sections). It gives an excellent, concise quantitative review mixed with expert test taking strategies.

The verbal sections are also good as well

Highly recommended!!

"4 stars" - Same Book as Last Edition / by Hopeful

This is exactly the same book as not only the previous edition, but also few more previous editions for the last few years. The only difference you'll find will be the cover page. If you have an older edition, there is absolutely no need to buy the new one. Of course, if you are out to buy a test prep book for the first time, it may make sense to buy the latest edition. But, be aware that even the older edition would give you the same stuff.

Anyhow, this is a nice book as it has everything packed in one book. It will give you a very good overall idea about each and every part of the GMAT, but it doesn't go below the surface of any topic. So, if you want more detailed knowledge about any specific area, you may have to refer to some other sources. This book also has a few typos in math, which is common in all math test prep books.

If you are serious about getting a high score, I'd recommend doing the following:
-Get the latest edition of OG.
-Get the latest version of Kaplan and/or Barron's book as this they are one of the best all-in-one review books.
-For Verbal - Verbal OG, Kaplan/PR Verbal Workbook, and Manhattan SC/RC if you want more practice with sentence correction questions types.
-For Quant - Quant OG, Kaplan/PR Math Workbook, and EZ Solutions GMAT math series if you want in-depth and thorough coverage of each match topic.
With this, you will have all the tools you'll need to get a score without any additional help.

If you simply want a good refresher in all areas, then the Kaplan book is more than sufficient.

Thanks for reading this post and good luck in your test!

"1 star" - Good to learn principles, but terribly worded questions / By Catherine M. Fisher

I bought this product thinking it would prepare me about 80% of the way, but I was surprised by all the flaws in question types. You will soon realize that the questions asked in this guide are very different, in both style and material, than those asked on the actual GMAT. This actually threw me for a loop and frustrated me to no end until I realized that I should only use the Kaplan material to practice principles. Plus there were several typos and errors that caused me much confusion.

My recommendation would be to buy the GMAC publications and only study from those question types. It has taken me sometime to teach myself out of the Kaplan style. Also, if you need help on the principles I would recommend the Manhattan GMAT publications, they are great at showing you principles as seen on the test.

As with the 9th edition, this book is littered with typos, mistake and basic errors - it's shameful.
Buy with great care - what makes it worse is that when you raise it with their customer service, they respond with silence.
I wouldn't give these con-artists a penny more of my money and would urge anyone considering buying one of their products to tread with care.