PrepScholar GRE Prep Course Review (2023) 

If you want to be prepared for the GRE, then finding the right course is essential. At Sojourning Scholar, we know there are a lot of options out there for GRE prep courses, but we want to help you find the best fit for you.

Previously, we reviewed the best GRE prep courses on the market, but now it's time to dive deeper into our top picks. This second specialized review covers the GRE prep options offered by PrepScholar, which is the cheapest GRE prep course on the market. 

We’ve tested the PrepScholar GRE platform ourselves and based this review on our objective experience combined with our expertise in the higher education test prep field. Rest assured, by the end of this article, you will know all the pros and cons of PrepScholar’s GRE program and whether this is the right GRE course for you.

Is the PrepScholar GRE Prep Course Right for You? 

Who we recommend the course for:

• Those who prefer a mix of videos and text-based lessons
• Students that want to be held accountable for a strict study schedule
• Students looking for a cheap GRE course

Who we don't recommend the course:

• Those who are looking for full-length GRE practice tests
• Students expecting a GRE course to have a lot of videos lessons
• Students who want live instruction/classes

PrepScholar GRE Prep Review 

This section covers the best GRE prep course options offered by PrepScholar. There are three options for students: one-year access, lifetime access, and a free trial. The free trial is the most limited option, but the one-year access and the lifetime access are almost identical. The main difference is just the amount of time you can access the course.

PrepScholar GRE Course Highlights

The PrepScholar GRE course offers all the key components to help you raise your score. 

• Over 2,000 practice questions: 1,500 questions geared towards mastering the core skills, and over 800 focused on advanced skills. 
• Individualized Plan: The content for this self-paced course is tailored specifically to your needs based on the PrepScholar machine learning algorithm. 
• Interactive Lessons: 150 hours of interactive text-based and video-based lessons.
• 7+ point score improvement guarantee
• Study Reminders: Students can sync the updates to their email and phone for updates on their progress. In addition, this allows PrepScholar to recommend the best time to take a practice test based on your progress.

Lesson Quality 

Self-paced course

The PrepScholar GRE lessons are based on both text and videos. Most of the videos are voice-overs with a shared screen. The videos are very engaging and one thing we liked is that you get an overview of the specific GRE instructor that is going to teach the lesson, which makes the experience seem closer to a live class.

You will see that the instructors for the courses scored in the 99th percentile on the GRE, which shows that they are experts in the field.

Based on your performance on the diagnostic test, you will be assigned a specific level to start at. There are three levels: core, advanced, and mastery. This means that you will go through the lessons at each level until you demonstrate the appropriate level of improvement. In addition, PrepScholar has a section that will pause a skill if you are having too much trouble and not making progress yet.

There are 21 modules for the math sections and 16 for the verbal section. There do not appear to be any lessons related to the Analytical Writing section. Quantitative topics range from coordinate geometry to functions and proportions, while the verbal lessons focus on skills like reading closely, inference, and vocabulary.

PrepScholar also includes a strategy section for lessons about taking the test in general.

User Experience 

While the PrepScholar site is easy to navigate, we did find a few UI issues. For one thing, the diagnostic test isn’t clear about a time limit per question and therefore you might suddenly find that you ran out of time for one question and you do not get a chance to submit an answer.

In addition, on the diagnostic test, it isn’t clear when answers should be decimals or rounded to a whole number, which could be confusing for some who aren’t familiar with the typical GRE template.

One thing we liked about the UI is the dashboard that makes it easy to see your progress. As seen in the image above, you get a nice overview of the week’s assignments and lessons, the amount of time that you studied so far, and your study goal.

Review of PrepScholar GRE Practice Questions & Tests

Practice questions in lessons and drills 

PrepScholar offers over 1500 core questions and over 800 advanced questions to help you study for the GRE. This is important because some students need to review specific core concepts before moving on to more advanced topics, while others might be ready to skip straight to the advanced sets. 

The lessons provide practice questions as you read through the content, and in addition, each module has a quiz to test your comprehension. Unfortunately, we found that these questions weren’t in a template comparable to real GRE questions and some of the drill questions are repeated from the diagnostic test.

PrepScholar also has a Quiz Generator for practice questions. This tool is designed to give students extra practice in specific topics. To create a quiz, you select a minimum of 5 skills and can create a 5 or 10-question quiz with random questions taken from those skills. 

One thing we'd like to note is that PrepScholar has a 100-question limit per day. In addition, performance on the quizzes doesn't affect your progress through the PrepScholar program. Also, incorrect answers from the quizzes don't immediately show up in the Incorrect Answers section, which could be a detriment to those who want to review those incorrect answers right away.

Full-length practice test experience

Other GRE courses like The Princeton Review GRE prep courses, offer up to eight full-length practice tests in addition to the interactive resources. While PrepScholar’s GRE program is offered at a fraction of the price, it also cuts out a lot of those resources. There are only two full-length practice tests in addition to the diagnostic test.

The Practice Tests are assigned throughout your study plan based on the lessons you complete. The first practice test actually directs you to the ETS website and it is just the free PowerPrep test #1. We were a little disappointed in this because anyone can access this test on their own, so you don’t really need the PrepScholar course to get the free test.

In addition, you simply input your final score from the practice test into your PrepScholar study plan, and then it tells you to review your answers. There is no PrepScholar-specific instruction for reviewing the full-length practice tests which is disappointing.

Quality of answer explanations 

Answer explanations are presented in a variety of ways. For instance, PrepScholar provides a video explanation for students who prefer that method, but they also have the written out text version under the video. We found that this was a positive experience because sometimes you just need to read through an explanation quickly to understand where you went wrong, but other times a video led by an instructor is more helpful.

Specifically, the math explanations are very thorough. They go through every step of the process of solving a problem and they go in a logical order, starting with how you would approach the question and then the different stages of the solution.

For the verbal explanations, PrepScholar also does a good job of reviewing the reading comprehension concepts by tying answers back to the lessons you completed previously.

Support 

PrepScholar highlights that students enrolled in the program can ask unlimited questions to the GRE advisors for no additional cost. However, it also states that advisors will reply within one business day, meaning this isn’t a live support chat.

We submitted a support ticket through the PrepScholar website and received an immediate confirmation email for the ticket submission, followed by a complete response later in the day. The support ticket system allowed you to check a box if the question was urgent and would affect your studying in the next 12 hours. 

When we asked about requesting clarification on course content, we were told that PrepScholar does not offer individual instruction, meaning that you do not have the ability to ask questions about content throughout the course.

However, we did appreciate that you could receive text reminders of when to study for the week. These texts were short and sweet, coming in about 10 minutes before your scheduled study session.

PrepScholar GRE Pricing

For only $38, the one-year access to the PrepScholar GRE course offers all the key components to help you raise your score. The lifetime access to PrepScholar's GRE course includes all of the core features, but in addition, you get personalized scoring for four AWA essays. This comes at a higher cost - $345 vs. the $38 one-year plan.

Considering PrepScholar's 1 year self-paced course price at $38, equivalent to a monthly cost just shy of $3, this makes PrepScholar the cheapest GRE prep course on the market. 

Other Features and Resources 

If you're looking for GRE prep with the most bells and whistles, then PrepScholar isn't the right fit. Students don't have extra support features they can add to their plan, like tutoring or extra essay grading. This could be a problem for those students looking for the most supportive GRE prep course.

One thing that PrepScholar offers is a section for incorrect answers. This allows you to review questions you got wrong for previous weeks’ lessons. This could be helpful but it is a little frustrating that you can’t review the incorrect answers from the current week’s lessons and this doesn’t include the quiz generator or the official practice test.

Trial, Score Improvement, and Money Back Policies

Availability of free trial 

The free trial of PrepScholar's GRE prep course is only available for five days and is severely limited in its features.

While the other options offer over 2,000 practice questions and two adaptive practice tests, the free version does not include any of this. In fact, the only features included in the free version are the diagnostic test, interactive video lessons, study planner, and progress tracker.

This is a great choice if you just want to see if PrepScholar’s program is right for you. Basically, it helps you determine if you’re the ideal student for this type of program. However, the trial program is not sufficient to prepare for the GRE.

Score increase guarantee

This is probably the first thing students look for - the score guarantee. Like other programs, PrepScholar’s 7+ point score increase guarantee requires that you put in a decent amount of work and there are some hoops you need to jump through to meet the criteria for this guarantee. PrepScholar advertises the following score guarantee:

We guarantee that PrepScholar will boost your GRE score by 7 points or more. If not, we will happily refund all of your money.

Other requirements include finishing and passing the full PrepScholar course, taking an official GRE in the four years before creating your account, and taking an official test within 60 days of finishing the PrepScholar GRE course. These requirements are fairly standard, but students must read the fine print on the PrepScholar GRE terms of service page before making assumptions about the score guarantee. 

In addition, the 7-point score guarantee only applies up to a score of 330. This means that students who are already high achievers and are looking to get to the top level might not benefit from the guarantee. To put this in perspective, that would equate to around 165 in each section, which brings you to the 85th percentile in the quantitative section and the 96th percentile in verbal.

PrepScholar offers a helpful article that reviews which schools might be appropriate for students with a 330 GRE score.

Money back policy 

To qualify for the money-back guarantee, students must have a valid PrepScholar account, finish the complete course, submit a 'before' score, submit an 'after' score, have less than a 7-point increase up to a score of 330, and submit a request to PrepScholar. After completing these steps, you can get a refund for the full cost of the course.

In addition to the limited free trial that anyone can get without a payment method, each paid plan offers a 5-day guarantee, meaning if you use the full capabilities for five days and you aren’t satisfied with the program, PrepScholar will refund your full payment. One thing to note is that you must enter a valid payment method to access the full course and cancel before the five days are up.

Which PrepScholar GRE Prep Course Should You Get 

After reviewing all the features of the paid PrepScholar GRE prep course, we’ve concluded that it is a good fit for certain types of students. For instance, the PrepScholar GRE prep course is ideal for students who fall in the following buckets:

• You’re a busy student, balancing school, a job, and other responsibilities
• You like to study on your own and you’re diligent about it
• You need some extra guidance on what to study when using a self-paced course
• You’re not improving on your own
• You’re overwhelmed by all the material  

If you think you fit the profile of the ideal PrepScholar GRE prep course student, then consider signing up for the one-year access. 

We don't think lifetime access is necessarily worth the cost unless a student is spending a lot of time on improving their essay. With lifetime access, you can get four personalized essay grading reports, but other than that, you have the same features as the one-year plan.

Overall, we highly recommend the one-year access plan for students who want to study on their own, but still, get some structure and encouragement to reach their goals.

How Does PrepScholar GRE Prep Compare to Other Courses? 

To figure out if PrepScholar's GRE course is right for you, it's important to look at some of the competitors and how their courses compare. Below we compare and contrast PrepScholar's GRE course to some of the others on the market.

PrepScholar GRE prep vs Target Test Prep GRE prep 

• PrepScholar and Target Test Prep rely on the PowerPrep ETS full-length practice tests
• PrepScholar includes more interactive videos than Target Test Prep
• PrepScholar has a 7+ score increase, whereas Target Test Prep has an 8+ score guarantee
• There are no options for adding on tutoring for PrepScholar, but you can purchase a tutoring package for $400 per hour with Target Test prep
• PrepScholar offers a 1-year access plan whereas Target Test Prep includes up to 6 months
• PrepScholar has different lessons for core, advanced, and mastery levels and Target Test Prep has different lessons depending on your target score

For more information, check out the full Target Test Prep GRE review. 

PrepScholar GRE prep vs Achievable GRE prep 

• PrepScholar offers limited essay grading services for the top plan, but Achievable GRE has AI-powered essay grading
• Both PrepScholar and Achievable GRE offer a 7+ point score increase guarantee
• PrepScholar limits the number of quiz questions you can do per day, but Achievable offers unlimited questions and quiz banks
• There are no full-length practice tests with Achievable GRE but PrepScholar simply refers you to the ETS website
• Achievable GRE offers 1-year access for $199 vs. PrepScholar’s 1-year plan for $38

To learn more, read our full review of the Achievable GRE prep course.

PrepScholar GRE prep vs Magoosh GRE prep 

• PrepScholar does not offer live classes, while Magoosh has drop-in live classes for an extra fee
• The Prepscholar 1-year plan is $38 vs. Magoosh’s 1-year plan for $199
• Magoosh offers a 65-minute initial score assessment, whereas PrepScholar’s diagnostic test is only about 20 questions
• PrepScholar directs you to the ETS PowerPrep practice tests, whereas Magoosh offers their own 3 full-length practice tests
• PrepScholar sends text and email reminders to keep you motivated during your GRE study program, whereas Magoosh doesn't offer this option
• Magoosh has a mobile app, whereas PrepScholar does not
• PrepScholar has a 5-day limited free trial and Magoosh offers a 7-day limited free trial. For both options, you do not need to enter payment information.

If you want to read more, you can go to our full review of the Magoosh GRE prep course.

PrepScholar GRE Prep FAQs 

To finish off our review of the PrepScholar GRE course, we’re going to cover some frequently asked questions. 

Is PrepScholar Good for GRE?

The short answer is yes. PrepScholar has proven that their GRE prep course prepares students for the real test, and they back that up with their money-back guarantee. 

Is PrepScholar worth it for GRE?

After reviewing the PrepScholar GRE program, we believe that the 1-year membership is worth the cost. While the lifetime membership is still very affordable, it probably isn't worth the extra money unless you plan on using the personalized scoring extensively throughout your studies.

Is PrepScholar GRE free?

While PrepScholar offers a 5-day free trial for their GRE prep course, full access to the course is not free. However, PrepScholar also offers many free GRE resources, including downloadable eBooks, a free GRE math workshop, a 20-part GRE vocabulary course, the GRE math cheat sheet, and more.

How much does PrepScholar GRE cost?

There are a couple of options for the PrepScholar GRE course. The minimum cost is $38 for access to the online course for one year. Those who want lifetime access can opt for the $345 plan. Both options are affordable compared to the competition, with PrepScholar's cost just a fraction of the price of The Princeton Review's GRE prep. That being said, PrepScholar's features are a bit limited.

How long does it take to complete the PrepScholar GRE course?

Something that PrepScholar stresses on their site is that the GRE course is meant to be efficient. There isn't a set number of hours that must be completed to pass the program. However, they recommend spending at least 40 hours preparing for the GRE for a baseline and encourage students to allow for up to 100 hours of prep. Students have finished the course in as little as 3 weeks, while others spent years preparing. It's really up to you.