Are Prep Courses (GRE and LSAT) worth the money?
November 14th, 2009 | 
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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 will be taking the LSAT and maybe the GRE at the end of the year. The prep courses have very high prices. I know this is important, but price tags up to 00 seem ridiculous to me. If you took a course, did it help you? Was it worth the cost? Share your experience, please.
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Depends on where you are scoring. I took a prep class from Powerscore and definitely raised my score (I ended up in the 170s).
The main benefits of a class are that:
A. They lay out the strategies for you so you don’t have to figure them out on your own. You also have a source to go to when you have questions or need help. The strategies were probably the most valuable thing about the class, especially if you are having trouble with logic games.
B. They provide plenty of study material, and that material is directed in a particular way.
C. They structure your preparation in a way that self-studying cannot.
Do the classes help? Like a lot of things, part of it hinges on whether you put the time in. I did, and I worked pretty hard.
I also feel that I would have spent a lot more time trying to self-study because the course organized things in a way that made sense. Had I been studying on my own, it would have taken longer to arrive at some of the insights I needed to do well. Overall, I felt that the cost was worth it.
I’ve heard different things from people. Some people I know said it helped because it provided the structure they needed to study and prep. One of my professors suggested that if you start studying for things like the GRE and LSAT on your own, give yourself at least a five to six months. There are lots of self help study guides out there if you don’t want to spend that kind of money and some of your professors may be able to give you some help in finding resources. My old professor said he studied on his own and got help and resources and did great on his GRE.
I can’t vouch for the GRE prep courses, but the Testmasters LSAT course is worth every penny. It cost $1250, and helped raise my score 12 points. I went from a score worthy for a 2nd tier school, to a score that earned me a full scholarship to a top tier school. The $1250 I spent saved me $100,000 over 3 years. So yes, it’s worth every penny and more. Now, I can’t vouch for any of the other prep courses, but I recommend Testmasters to everyone.