<p>My brother got me SAT books for Christmas (I actually prefer this present over clothes/electronics) and I have been studying them ever since, but I am wondering if the Kaplan brand is any good. They are the 2012 version and are purple.</p>
<p>Kaplan SAT books range from mediocre to barely acceptable. Do not use Kaplan books as your primary books.</p>
<p>Oh, really? What’s wrong with them? Do they just suck? What book do you recommend then? I may feel as if I wasted my time studying from December until now. I plan to get around 1800-1900 on the SAT if that helps.</p>
<p>First, Kaplan books are riddled with errors. Second, you should always practice with official materials so you know what to expect on test day and so you can get in to the mindset of the test maker, not some wannabe test maker. </p>
<p>You didn’t waste your time studying, but there are more efficient ways than studying out of a Kaplan book. </p>
<p>[Why</a> you should burn your Kaplan book.](<a href=“http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/3821/epicfailcc.png]Why”>http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/3821/epicfailcc.png)</p>
![http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/3821/epicfailcc.png]Why](http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/3821/epicfailcc.png%5DWhy){kind=link}
<p>I go to a SAT class and I never do the Kaplan tests they occasionally hand out because I know that I will do more harm doing the Kaplan SAT than not doing it at all.</p>
<p>What do you mean by official materials? Are you talking about past official practice tests online?</p>
<p>Pretty bad in my opinion. Go with Princeton review for learning concepts and strategies and the collegeboard bluebook for practice</p>
<p>I’d exhort you to refrain from books like Kaplan and Barron’s for the SAT. Their excersises and examples DO NOT resemble the ones on the real SAT. Stick to the Blue Book ,it’s the best strategy.</p>
<p>LMAO ICEQUBE</p>
<p>but yeah, burn it. I will after I finish working through the, because why not? I spent 20 dollars on it</p>
<p>Again, COMPLETE RIP OFF</p>
<p>Some of the questions from Kaplan’s 12 Practice SAT book, I’ve found, were actually copied from the blue book, with a few words changed. So yeah, don’t use Kaplan.</p>
<p>Barrons is the best option for SAT imo. Also do buy the Collegeboard Official book. It’s full of tests administered recently.</p>
<p>Mcgraw Hill is also good, Princeton Review is ok, Kaplan is almost unacceptable for the reasons everyone has already said and also for the fact that it’s easier than the real SAT.</p>
<p>I felt that McGraw, though it had good content, had tests that were too easy. Some of the practice essays were also kind of bogus and have prompts that the real sat would never have. The better, though pricier, alternative is to use workbooks for each section along with the official book. However, this requires four books instead of one.</p>
<p>our son just got back his december test results and he went up 320 points from the test he took in May, so we’re happy to recommend the books he used. </p>
<p>we bought him “professor dave’s owners manual for the sat” for technique and the college board official guide for practice questions. </p>
<p>the formula worked for him, that’s for certain</p>
<p>good luck!</p>
<p>What about Kaplan for subject tests? Are they alright for those?</p>
<p>My honest recommendation is to try and stay away from the Kaplan books. I used these two books- SAT Course Book and SAT Purple Book Of Practice Tests (which are both Kaplan Prep books) and I tried my best to actually decipher the book to my best knowledge, but it was really obscure. The book contradicts itself many times and has quite a few errors. Another bad thing is that when they try and teach you their techniques, they do not give you answers for the practice questions. In that way, you don’t even know if you’re implementing the technique in the correct way and what’s wrong or what’s right. For example, one of the techniques they employ during the short passages is: “read the question stem first; go to the referred lines in the passage; choose an answer of best fit.” One of the questions was “What is the primary purpose of the paragraph?”. ■■■. So we’re basically supposed to read the whole paragraph?
Anyway, my point being that Kaplan SAT prep books are pretty much a waste of money (to me).
However, I’ve heard about Princeton Review and Barron’s getting some well deserved recognition and reviews. Try those instead.
Keep in mind, this is only my opinion on Kaplan. People may have aced the SAT with it, who knows? 
</p>
<p>Do you realize you’ve responded to a 2.5 year old thread? Anyway, I agree with you about the Kaplan books. However, I don’t think PR and Barron’s are much better.</p>