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Do you have a GRE exam coming up in the next few months or even in the next year? Are you wondering whether to choose Magoosh or The Princeton Review for your GRE prep journey? Well, you've come to the right place!
Our expert team has firsthand experience taking the GRE, so we understand your difficulty in finding a prep course that meets your needs. We purchased and compared The Princeton Review and Magoosh GRE prep courses to help you find your perfect fit.
We used both platforms for several weeks to help you make an informed decision on the course that can boost your GRE scores the most.
Magoosh vs The Princeton Review GRE Overview
The Princeton Review’s GRE prep course comes in four main packages: The Fundamentals, GRE 10+, GRE 162+, and GRE 165+ Tutoring, offering 1-4 months of access.
Magoosh has three GRE prep course packages: Premium with 1-month access, Premium with 6-month access, and Premium+Admissions. The latter package offers 6-month access to the Premium GRE package and 12 months of access to Magoosh Admissions.
Who should buy the Magoosh GRE course?
- Visual learners who appreciate both text-based and video explanations
- Users looking for exclusive access to official ETS-licensed GRE questions
Who should buy The Princeton Review GRE course?
- Students looking for a more customized GRE prep experience
- Independent students looking for an extensive library of practice material
Magoosh and The Princeton Review do not share a lot of similarities, with The Princeton Review nearly in a league of its own.
Main Similarities
- Both platforms offer GRE courses in self-study and live online class formats.
Main Differences
- While Magoosh provides 6-month access to its self-paced course, The Princeton Review only offers 4-month access.
- The Princeton Review offers private online GRE tutoring for students seeking a more customized prep. However, Magoosh does not have this option.
- Options for in-person GRE prep exist with The Princeton Review, while all of Magoosh’s GRE prep options are online.
- The Princeton Review provides physical prep books when you purchase their live GRE prep packages, whereas Magoosh does not.
Magoosh vs The Princeton Review GRE: Performance Comparison
We reviewed key performance areas on both platforms, including pricing, lesson quality, practice material, and customer policies.
GRE Lessons
Magoosh offers a library with a whopping 300+ free-standing video lessons. The Princeton Review, however, has a more modularized video library with 65+ video lesson modules. Each video lesson is accompanied by several drills to check your understanding of the lesson content.
Magoosh GRE Prep Course Quant Video Lesson
There are considerable differences in the production quality of these GRE prep platforms. Magoosh's videos are produced in a slide-based format, with voiceovers from an instructor. This makes their videos relatively bland. On the other hand, The Princeton Review’s videos feature on-camera instructors who teach using a reverse-glass board, making the lessons a lot more engaging.
The Princeton Review GRE Course Self-Paced Math Lesson
Magoosh's GRE lessons focus more on general concepts and lack sufficient GRE-specific test-taking strategies. In contrast, The Princeton Review offers a stronger emphasis on GRE test-taking strategies and uses more GRE-like examples in their video lessons.
The Princeton Review surpasses Magoosh by miles in this category.
GRE Practice Material
Magoosh offers about 1,600 GRE-like practice questions, and users can generate up to three unique full-length GRE practice tests from this pool.
The Princeton Review offers about 2,500 standalone practice questions and eight full-length GRE practice tests. These practice tests are both section-adaptive and include an experimental section, providing a more realistic test-taking experience than Magoosh.
The Princeton Review GRE Course Drill Smart Feature
Magoosh outshines The Princeton Review in terms of answer explanations. They have detailed text-based and video explanations for many practice questions, which benefits visual learners.
Magoosh also offers exclusive access to 120 official ETS-licensed GRE questions that are delivered in an interactive online format. This gives them a leg up over every other GRE prep competitor.
Magoosh GRE Prep Course Official Questions
While The Princeton Review has more practice material overall, Magoosh's practice questions are closely comparable to actual GRE questions. With great in-class answer explanations and exclusive GRE practice questions, Magoosh packs quite a punch in this category and takes the lead over The Princeton Review.
Magoosh GRE Prep Course Video Answer Explanation
Pricing
At the time of this review, Magoosh's 6-month GRE self-paced package was priced at $179, while The Princeton Review’s self-paced GRE course with 4-month access started at $499.
For live online GRE classes, Magoosh’s 16-hour package starts at $479, equating to about $30 per hour of live instruction. In contrast, The Princeton Review's Fundamental live online GRE course, with 24 hours of instruction, starts at $1200. This cost is equivalent to $50 per hour of live instruction.
Therefore, Magoosh is the clear winner in this category.
Student Support
Magoosh offers on-demand email support, with a 24 to 48 hours response time through their Ask-an-Expert feature. This feature is available to all users of their GRE prep courses. The Princeton Review, on the other hand, does not provide on-demand support to users of their self-paced GRE prep packages.
The depth of Magoosh’s GRE curriculum pales in comparison to The Princeton Review. As a result, Magoosh only recommends their live GRE course for students with GRE scores in the mid-range.
Considering their smaller team of live instructors and limited availability of seats, Magoosh’s GRE live class package offerings don’t match those of The Princeton Review. Hence, The Princeton Review takes the clear win in this category.
Customer Policies
Both providers offer free trials and score improvement guarantees. Magoosh offers a 5-point improvement guarantee on your previous overall GRE score on all its GRE prep packages.
The Princeton Review has the highest score improvement guarantee on the market. They offer a +6-point score increase on the verbal and quant sections for users of their GRE 162+ live online course and a +10-point combined GRE score increase for users of their GRE 10+ points self-paced course.
Both Magoosh and The Princeton Review have equally lenient terms, offering a more straightforward refund process for unhappy customers.
Overall, Magoosh has a slight edge over The Princeton Review in this category. Their customer policies are as fair as The Princeton Review’s, while their prices are significantly lower.
Final Recommendation
Based on the pros and cons of Magoosh and The Princeton Review’s GRE courses, we consider Magoosh a suitable choice for students on a budget who prefer self-paced study.
The Princeton Review is our strongest recommendation for those looking for comprehensive support, a more engaging lesson experience, and an extensive library of practice material.
Hopefully, this article has made your GRE Prep Course decision much more straightforward. We wish you the best of luck with your GRE prep journey!
