Are GRE prep courses worth taking?
July 1st, 2010 | 
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Looking for info on gre preparation classes, gre preparation courses,gre test course and more?
Hi and welcome to my blog,
I opened this blog to help anyone who is preparing for his GRE exam.
I remember myself when I started - I was so lost and in such a panic.
Luckily I got this great Gre guide that helped me a lot
So study hard and good luck!
i never took the SAT and i need the GRE for grad school. Can anyone recommend a good program also (classroom setting)?
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In my opinion, they’re not worth taking if you have the discipline to study on your own time with an ETS GRE guide book or the online software that they send you when you register. (Presumably, you would need to use your own time outside of a course anyway.) I just took practice tests from the official guide book, brushed up on the review materials they provide, and I really don’t think I missed anything by not doing a prep course. I probably also saved myself a few hundred dollars.
when one of my friends was studying for the gre, she borrowed a gre review book from the library and worked through it on her own. i flipped through it out of curiosity, and i didn’t think it looked extremely difficult. i tutored her on some concepts that she didn’t understand, and it wasn’t too bad.
i would suggest taking a practice test to see where you stand. from there, you should be able to determine the best course of action (if you’re very far behind where you’d like to be, a course may be helpful; otherwise, maybe not so much). another thing you could do if you work through a book on your own is ask friends for help on things you don’t understand. it may be better to just get help on what you don’t understand, rather than wasting time in a class reviewing things that you’ve known for years.
if you decide to take a class, princeton review offers a gre review course. i took their mcat course and found it very helpful. i took the class because there was quite a bit of material covered on the mcat that i hadn’t thought about for several years and didn’t remember nearly as well as i needed to in order to do well. going to class also ensured that i spent at least a few hours a day thinking about the material…i didn’t have to be quite as motivated as if i studied on my own.
hi there i am working with a site called http://www.examville.com, i am tutor there and have been preparing students for GRE & GMAT. I would like to tell you that If possible, start preparing for the GRE test at least six months in advance. If you have less time, I recommend taking two different GRE prep courses at least a month apart so that you’ll be better prepared. If you have the recommended amount of time to prepare, you may only need one course (though, if it helps you feel better prepared, by all means take more than one).
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Research both GRE prep courses in your area and also those offered online(www.examville.com has real good online prep course in case you looking one to apply for). I used an online program and found it prepared me very well–my verbal score was in the 96th percentile (math was 94th). There weren’t any conveniently scheduled local GRE prep courses for me, so that’s why I selected an online program. Though I think the online option is a great one, if you can swing an in-person GRE prep class, I think you’d be wise to do so. You have to be more motivated to complete the program online.
f you have friends who’ve taken the GRE, find out how they prepared. This can help you find the right course based on your learning style. If you don’t have any friends who’ve taken the test (or, at least not recently, like in my case), move on to the next step.
Kaplan and Princeton Review have two of the most well-known GRE prep courses, and both are very good programs. If you happen to have a private, local tutoring/preparatory service, definitely consider them as well. To decide between Kaplan and Princeton, take a look at both of their sites–they have different approaches to the test (I wound up using Princeton Review). Look for yourself, though, and see which one appeals to you based on your learning style and schedule/location needs.
Sign up for the GRE prep class. They’ll let you know in advance if you’ll need to bring anything or do anything else to prepare. I recommend running through at least one GRE prep book before your class so that you’ll be familiar with the test’s style and some of its unique features (the way it’s scored is somewhat complicated and based on how you answered the previous questions). Good luck in both your GRE prep class and on the GRE test! I know you’re going to do a great job