PrepScholar GRE Review: Is it Worth a Try?

It is not unknown that a student’s eligibility to attend a particular graduate school depends heavily on his Graduate Record Examination (GRE) results. It is why for many graduate students, preparing for the said test is as crucial as acing it.

Fortunately, there are several GRE test preparation courses available in the market today that can help students with their exams—and among them is the PrepScholar GRE.

PrepScholar GRE shares many aspects that students will find handy for their studies. From its affordability to versatility, it is crystal clear that the program has one of the best approaches in terms of the learning experience.

Having said that, my PrepScholar Review can help you weigh things and determine whether it is the right GRE test prep course for you or not.

What is PrepScholar GRE?

Led by Ph.D. holders from MIT (Biomedical Engineering) and Harvard (Economics), PrepScholar is a test preparation company aimed to help postgraduate students ace standardized tests such as Graduate Record Examination (GRE). It was founded way back year 2013 in Cambridge, MA and since then, it became one of the popular test preparation facilitators in the industry today.

When it comes to its services, PrepScholar provides several courses, including GRE, SAT, and TOEFL. However, through its passion for developing machine learning algorithms tailored to fit each student’s strengths and weaknesses, its GRE course has quickly soared as one of the top GRE prep test programs in the industry today, five years after it was launched. 

The GRE prep provider is also known for its affordability as well as versatility. It is, in fact, the first program to give a free 5-day trial.

But PrepScholar GRE is not only popular for that. All its instructors are known to ace a 99th percentile GRE score as well, which significantly gives good credits on how it delivers its courses.

Simply put, it is guaranteed that its students will receive the best and most efficient guidance throughout the program.

What does it offer?

While other companies provide the same quality of services, PrepScholar GRE boasts its innovative approach in providing the best GRE learning experience to its students.

PrepScholar provides affordability and versatility to its students as well given its low price and innovative approach towards standardized exams. In fact, its course is tailored to fit each student’s needs to ensure efficient results.

To give an overview, here’s a list of what it offers:

  • Two full-length practice tests
  • 72 interactive classes
  • A diagnostic test to identify student’s weakness
  • More than 2,000 adaptive questions & short lessons
  • 20-part GRE vocabulary course (300 items)
  • Graduate school admission guides

How does it differ?

PrepScholar, just like any other GRE test prep company, shares a few aspects that separate it from its competitors. Its market price, for example, differs significantly from other GRE providers. It does not offer in-person and live classes too since PrepScholar is all-digital.

It also has what it calls “the PrepScholar Method” which covers various features that tackle how students would benefit from its program. And PrepScholar, through these characteristics, boldly draws the line from its rivals. 

That being said, these characteristics are:

  • It Helps you identify the areas you need to improve and, at the same time, track your progress.
  • Its GRE course teaches students the exact skills they need and, at the same time, help them master and apply these skills to real GRE questions.
  • It gives study plans tailored to each student’s preference and needs as well as personalized reminders.
  • It provides a game-based learning experience through its improved interactive lessons and GRE practices. Using its score-based system, it enables users to spend their studies as if leveling up.
  • It gives tailored feedback and coaching from its instructors. 

Who are its ideal users?

Although created generally for everyone, PrepScholar was created with a few groups of individuals in mind. In other words, it has target audiences that will perfectly suit its services.

Having said that, below are a few types of students that I believe will like PrepScholar.

  1. Busy professionals and working students. PrepScholar GRE is an excellent choice for working professionals who wish to attend graduate school. Essentially, it is because it rid off the burden of attending in-person or live online classes.

    PrepScholar does not designate a fixed schedule as and even allows students to study at their own pace.
  2. You prefer self-study. The GRE course works best for folks who enjoy spending their time studying alone. It is an all-digital program and lectures require students to watch lecture videos, without guidance of a teacher.
  3. Students who are looking for a budget-friendly GRE prep program. Folks who are on a tight budget or those who simply do not want to spend a fortune preparing for their GRE suits PrepScholar, given its exceptionally low price.

The pros and cons

Wondering if it is worth it a try? Below is a quick overview of PrepScholar’s perks as well as disadvantages.

The pros

  • Individually tailored interactive classes
  • No fixed study schedule
  • Free full-access 5-day trial
  • 7-point GRE score increase guarantee 

The cons

  • No monthly plan
  • It lacks guidance and support
  • Few GRE practice problems
  • Weekly resets
  • No live chat and phone calls (student support)

PrepScholar GRE Review: what you need to know

Now that you have an idea of what PrepScholar is, let us delve further and take a closer look at each feature. In this section of PrepScholar GRE review, I will tackle its top features, everything about its study plans and pricing, as well as student support.

Let’s start?

PrepScholar GRE’s top features

PrepScholar has integrated numerous features into its GRE study program to provide up to par services and results to its users. Among these attributes, on the one hand, are tools that I deem more necessary—and significantly handy—than others. 

In other words, these are PrepScholar’s best features.

1.  It is all-digital. The first aspect I find handy—particularly for busy professionals—is PrepScholar’s all-digital approach.

As clearly stated, it means that all classes, including study materials, are available to access online. Students would not need to attend in-person or live online lectures too since, as stated, everything about the GRE course is digital.

But that is only the first perk.

PrepScholar being all-digital also implies that students would not need to follow a fixed study schedule which typically happens in a traditional classroom setting. Rather, they can manage their time and study at their own pace—a perfect setup for individuals who, at the same time, are working.

Moreover, such an approach has also given PrepScholar a way to make all its study materials readily available 24/7. Its lecture videos, for instance, are on-demand which enables users to access them whenever they want.

Quite a good bargain, right?

All in all, PrepScholar GRE’s all-digital approach expresses freedom. Or that its users were given the freedom to manage their studies according to their individual lives.

2.  Affordable study plans. The next best thing about PrepScholar is its remarkably affordable study plans. Although it offers two plans only, its lifetime plan, for example, is almost equivalent to other provider’s monthly and yearly plans.

It is, in fact, in the top of the list of GRE exam prep providers with cheaper plans.

But what is good about its budget-friendly study plans is that, on top of that, PrepScholar also gives a full-access 5-day free trial to its GRE course.

Overall, it is an absolute steal for all types of students but especially for those who are on a tight budget or those who simply do not want to spend a fortune preparing for GRE.

3.  Game-based learning. To further personalize each student’s learning experience, PrepScholar integrated a game-based learning system wherein the topics, as well as the practice sheets, are according to each student’s current level.

Essentially, it means you will have to pass your current level to proceed to the next one, just like in interactive games. Each level’s difficulty depends on the number as well. In other words, the topics and questions are much more complicated in higher stages.

4.  Customized study program. As mentioned, PrepScholar’s GRE test prep course is tailored to fit each of its user’s learning needs. Upon subscription, for instance, you can set your GRE goals such as your target score, preferred study style, and target graduate school to attend to.

The GRE course provider also utilizes advanced data science to develop the most efficient study plan for each of its students. Through it, it enables PrepScholar to continuously update and optimize their study materials.

It also offers weekly personalized study plans that cover reminders or guidelines like what lessons you should be reading, areas you need to improve, and what questions you need to revisit and practice.

5.  Interactive lessons. When it comes to its lessons, PrepScholar supplies simulated practice materials developed to interact with you. Essentially, it works like a game wherein you will only proceed to the next phase—and much difficult topics and problems—once you pass your current level.

The GRE prep provider also has a total of 150-hour worth of simulated practice lessons that contains a wide range of content like videos and texts. It also includes simulated practice quizzes as well as realistic GRE problems.

It also comes with more than 300-hours’ worth of short lectures that covers ways to avoid hidden traps within every GRE problem.

On top of that, PrepScholar has its own library of lecture videos too. These videos cover difficult and complicated GRE questions. It also covers strategies and contents needed to ace the standardized test. The videos are also on-demand, which means you can access and watch them anytime you like.

6.  A short diagnostic test. PrepScholar GRE truly does everything it could to give optimum results to its students. Because apart from all the features mentioned above, the test preparation company also provides a short diagnostic examination to efficiently tailor the program to fit each of its student’s learning needs.

Powered by PrepScholar’s CustomPrep algorithm—which is developed by Harvard PhDs—the GRE course company’s adaptive diagnostic is a 60-item exam created to determine a student’s strengths and weaknesses.

And although it is quite a short test only, PrepScholar guarantees that the algorithm being used utilizes data from thousands of students to ensure that the test is precise.

7.  99th percentile teachers. In terms of quality teaching, PrepScholar made an effort to hire the best GRE instructors out there. It is because all its tutors are on the 99th percentile GRE score. These teachers are Ph.D. and MBA holders as well and had graduated from top universities like Harvard and MIT.

8.  Progress tracker. PrepScholar comes with a progress tracker as well. Essentially, it enables you to track and keep a record of your activities and how much you have progressed since the start of your studies.

Apart from that, It also has its own dashboard called Progress Dashboard where users could see how much they have improved in areas GRE covers.

9.  Personal reminders. Last but not least is its personal-assistant-like feature. Essentially, this feature allows you to auto-sync your email and your phone with PrepScholar GRE’s digital platform to make sure that you regularly receive reminders or notes.

These personalized reminders come in different formats including study reminders and progress updates.

Student support

Unlike Magoosh GRE, PrepScholar’s GRE preparation program does not offer a complete student support system. Specifically, it does not have a team of representatives that students could reach out to ask about GRE-related inquiries through live chats and phone calls.

On the flip side, you can contact its support through an email. This one could be a bit slow in terms of response time. But it is better than nothing.

PrepScholar, on a good note, offers a knowledge base filled with GRE-related articles that I believe can help you with your studies. In fact, it offers a Math workshop that students can use for free

Having said that, here are some of the topics included in its Free Resources section:

  • GRE prep eBooks
  • Free GRE Math workshop
  • Ways to enhance your GRE score
  • Advanced GRE lessons

PrepScholar plans & pricing

PrepScholar offers two study plans only: a one-year plan and a lifetime plan. And these plans, in terms of cost, are relatively cheaper compared to its competitors. Its lifetime plan, for instance, is almost the equivalent of a 6-month plan in Magoosh GRE.

But what is truly great about PrepScholar’s study plans is that it gives a FREE, 5-day trial to potential subscribers. Essentially, it means that you can try the GRE test prep to your heart’s content. But do take note that it is restricted, and you can only access five of the PrepScholar’s features.

Still, personally, it is a convenient way to test whether the material fits you or not

That being said, here is an overview of each plan.

1.  One year plan. For an exceptionally low price of $38, you can now access PrepScholar’s one-year plan. The study plan contains almost all features including a diagnostic exam, over 2, 000 GRE questions, 150-hour worth of interactive lectures, and two full-length practice tests.

It does not, however, include a personalized scoring of four AWA writing essays.

2.  Lifetime plan. PrepScholar’s lifetime plan, on the flip side, costs significantly higher compared to the one-year plan. For a price of $345, you can have full access to PrepScholar GRE’s study features and materials. Although it is still much cheaper than other plans offered by its rivals, given that your subscription has no expiration.

Furthermore, PrepScholar also promises a 7-point score increase guarantee. And that is two points higher compared to its closest competitor, Magoosh GRE. It accepts payment in several modes as well including PayPal and bank cards like Mastercard, Visa, and American Express.

Things to take note of

PrepScholar is not perfect. In fact, shares a few imperfections that I believe potential students should be wary of. Hence, I listed some factors that I think the GRE test prep company lacks.

1.  It lacks guidance/support. Although this one is essentially not an advantage for PrepScholar’s ideal users, it is best to remind you again that PrepScholar GRE would have pushed you to study on your own. Simply put, you will not receive a private tutor to help and guide you with your studies.

If you are the dependent type. I suggest you try other exam preparation companies that offer tutors as well as in-person classes like The Princeton Review.

2.  Weekly review resets. Another confusing aspect about PrepScholar is its weekly review resets and all your lessons and practice questions tackled during the week will be tossed out every Sunday.

Simply put, you can’t access it longer once it has been reset.

It would be a bit of a problem for terribly busy professionals as they need to allot time in order to catch up to all lessons every week. Personally, it is sort of a bummer given it was marketed as “study at your own pace.”

3.  Limited GRE problems. PrepScholar provides fewer practice sheets as well compared to its competitors. Unfortunately, it only gives two full-length practice tests. So, if you are the type who prefers more, then I suggest you consider other GRE programs.

The verdict

Do I recommend PrepScholar?

Absolutely. Aside from the fact that its price is a total, I find its approach towards standardized exams like GRE is innovative and versatile

All in all, its features are worth every penny you will spend on it too. From its customized study plans to interactive lessons, it is safe to say that PrepScholar truly values each of its students’ education.