Target Test Prep GRE Prep Course Review (2023) 

Prepping for the GRE can be a daunting task. With tons of prep courses on the market, it's hard to know where to start. From live classes to self-paced courses, to 1:1 tutoring, the offerings can be overwhelming. 

That’s why at Sojourning Scholar, we’re trying to make things easier for you by providing honest, objective reviews of the top GRE prep courses on the market today. Our test preparation experts already provided an overall review of the Best GRE Prep Courses for 2022, and now we’re taking a deep dive into each program. 

This article focuses on the Target Test Prep GRE course, one of the courses that was still in the running for our top GRE prep courses on the market.

Is the Target Test Prep GRE Course Right for You? 

Who we recommend the course for:

• Someone who prefers to learn concepts by reading than by watching a video
• Students who are self-reliant and don't need much support in their GRE prep

Who we don't recommend the course for:

• Someone who wants to work on the Analytical Writing section
• Someone looking for full-length practice tests in a GRE prep course 
• Preppers who want a course with more live instructor support

Target Test Prep GRE Review 

Target Test Prep offer three GRE plans: GRE Flexible Preparation, GRE Dedicated Study, and GRE Maximum Learning.

The difference between the three Target Test Prep GRE  plans is the access period, with options between one month, four months, or six months, depending on your study schedule.

All plan options include the full features of the Target Test Prep GRE program which are described in the section below.

Target Test Prep GRE  course highlights 

Here are the main features of Target Test Prep’s GRE course:

• Personalized Study Plan: Target Test Prep gives you the option to create a study plan based on your goals. For instance, there is an option for only focusing on Quantitative, Verbal, or both, depending on what you need the most work on. In addition, you can select when you are planning on taking the test and your desired score to set up your "track".
• Score increase guarantee: Target Test Prep promises an 8+ score increase for the GRE after completing one of the full tracks available through the self-paced program. More details about the requirements for this score guarantee will be discussed later in the article.
• Reading Chapters with Practice Questions: With 40 chapters that cover quantitative and verbal reasoning skills, Target Test Prep’s course allows you to work your way through the curriculum by focusing on specific skills. There are chapter tests along the way to test your comprehension.
• Comprehensive Review Sheets: Target Test Prep provides a bunch of worksheets to download before jumping into the preparation. You will be encouraged to refer to these review sheets throughout the course, which cover equations and written lessons that correspond to the units covered on the platform.

Lesson Quality 

Self-paced course 

The Target Test Prep self-paced course provides a comprehensive study plan for the GRE based on your specific goals. When you begin the program, you will select your target score and assess your baseline with a diagnostic test.

One thing that we really liked about this platform was the ability to select a “track” based on your goals. The lessons are then tailored for your track, whether that is beginner, expert, or somewhere in between. You can also change your track and study plan throughout the course and your lessons will update accordingly. 

For instance, if you started out aiming for a 332+ score and then lowered your target score range, you would be presented with lessons that are more appropriate for that level. On the other hand, if you found that your lessons are too easy, you can increase your target score range and be faced with harder, more complex lessons and questions.

Target Test Prep’s GRE course is primarily text-based. While they advertise 1000+ video lessons, these are really only shown if you look at specific answer explanations.

The videos are typically 1-3 minutes in length, and while the instructors may be knowledgeable, there isn’t enough information about their credentials to feel confident that you’re learning from experts.

Overall, we found that the text-based lessons were more detailed than the videos. One thing to note is that each lesson includes a MUST KNOW box with the key points. 

You can access all the MUST KNOWs in the review section of the platform and then click to take you to a specific chapter. This is not meant to replace the textbook, though it might be a better starting point for those who feel that they already know the basics.

The course covers Quantitative Reasoning and Verbal Reasoning, but does not include resources related to the Analytical Writing component of the GRE. There are 40 modules for the Quantitative sections and 40 modules for the Verbal section. 

Overall, the lessons were easy to follow. Each lesson covers a skill and it starts with the most basic concepts and builds on them throughout the lessons. There are practice questions to answer throughout the lessons.

You also have the option to highlight parts of the text as you go and take notes. When you go back through the material, you can click on the highlighted text and your notes will appear in a box, which is beneficial for studying.

One negative aspect of the Target Test Prep GRE course is the extensive introductory material that you have to sift through before actually studying. While we appreciated that they offered tons of resources, such as worksheets and handouts, this could be overwhelming for some when it is all clumped together in the first lesson.

Tutoring

You can add 1:1 tutoring to your Target Test Prep GRE course for $400/hour. Unfortunately, they don’t offer much information about the Target Test Prep tutors, which makes us question their expertise.

User Experience 

The dashboard for the Target Test Prep GRE platform is user-friendly. You can see exactly where you need to continue your preparation with each session. You can also see how much time you have spent preparing.

The analytics are helpful, specifically if you want to meet the requirements for the score guarantee, because you can easily ensure that you're meeting the accuracy benchmarks for your plan.

One thing we didn’t like about Target Test Prep’s interface was the positioning of the buttons during practice quizzes/tests. The next button is at the top right of the screen, which isn’t intuitive when the button directly under the question actually pauses or ends the test.

Review of Target Test Prep GRE Practice Questions & Tests 

Practice questions in lessons and drills 

Target Test Prep GRE includes over 4000 practice questions within their lessons and drills. Target Test Prep's question difficulty level is very close to that of the problems on the GRE, and the formats/templates align with the ETS as well.

The questions are administered through Chapter Test mode and Custom test mode. The Chapter Test mode includes specific easy, medium, and hard quizzes for each chapter covered in the course. These are adaptive in the sense that each track has a different test, but they are not adaptive throughout the test.

The Custom Test mode allows you to build your own tests from the question banks. You can select as many questions as you’d like to include in the mix, but then when you create the actual test, you may select a maximum of 60 questions to include. This can be all quantitative, all verbal, or a mix of both. 

As you complete these chapter tests and custom tests, you gain more data for your analytics dashboard to further learn what you need to improve upon.

Also, one interesting feature throughout the practice tests is that you can select your target time per question to work on your pacing.

Full-length practice test experience 

Target Test Prep claims they offer five full-length GRE practice tests as part of their course. However, these practice tests are at the end of the course plan, and Target Test Prep advises against skipping ahead before completing all the other chapters. In addition, when you arrive at those modules, you are directed to the ETS website.

In fact, Target Test Prep prompts you to purchase three of the practice tests on the ETS website, meaning Target Test Prep doesn't provide any free full-length practice tests that you couldn't get on your own.

Another thing that we had a problem with was the diagnostic test. Typically GRE prep providers will offer you a predicted or estimated score based on your diagnostic test results. 

Target Test Prep does not offer a score range based on your results. Instead, it gives you a vague level of your preparedness and an average accuracy score for the 40 practice questions. This makes it hard to know exactly where you stand when beginning the course. You can look at your score report and find your performance by topic, but even that is just on a level of low, medium, or high.

Therefore, we found the practice test experience poor compared to most competitors.

Quality of answer explanations

The written answer explanations are helpful, with comprehensive explanations of each incorrect answer as well as the correct answer. Specifically, the verbal reasoning explanations are thorough and sufficient to understand your mistake.

One thing to note is that the explanations are typically written in paragraph format, which might be difficult to read through if you’re skimming the content for key points.

Unfortunately, the video explanations are not engaging. Much like the video lessons, the answer explanations are relayed very slowly in a monotone voice.

Support 

Target Test Prep's GRE platform does provide a Help Center. However, this is simply a resource center powered by Zendesk, meaning if Target Test Prep doesn't answer your specific question is the public articles, you must submit a request.

We submitted a sample request through their Help Center and received a reply the same day. However, the reply was very short. It answered our question but didn’t offer more information to help us related to the lack of unique practice tests available through Target Test Prep’s online platform.

Target Test Prep GRE Pricing 

The GRE Flexible Preparation Plan is available regularly for $149/month billed monthly and the GRE Dedicated Study Plan is regularly $449 for 4 months, billed once. Finally, the GRE Maximum Learning Plan is normally $499 for 6 months, billed once.

There are often discounts on the plans, such as $50 off monthly billing, $150 off of 4-month plans, and $100 off of 6-month plans.

Other Features and Resources 

GRE prep resources

Target Test Prep doesn’t offer an app for their GRE course. However, something we found was that they also offer free GRE resources on their site. 

Unfortunately, when we reviewed this more closely, we found that many of the free resources are the resources included in the paid course, which seemed unfair to those who paid for the course.

These resources include The GRE Equation Guide, the 40-question diagnostic test, and GRE math videos. These are all great resources, and it seems like they should be advertised more clearly as free from the start because then students could try these out without paying for a trial and determine if the full course is right for them.

Intelligent analytics 

The Intelligent Analytics dashboard allows you to view your performance for different topics throughout the course. You can view the Dashboard mode or the On Target Analytics, which displays your accuracy percentage for each module.

There are tons of analytics available to review. For instance, you can see your accuracy by chapter, topic and difficulty level. You can also see your average time per correct answer and incorrect answer, your strongest chapters, and your weakest chapters. 

This information may be helpful for those who like to analyze their mistakes and use data to adjust their strategies. In addition, by tracking your progress in terms of the examples attempted and the lessons completed, this feature has the potential to keep students motivated throughout the course.

Error tracker

Overall, there aren’t many extra features for the Target Test Prep GRE course, compared to its competitors’ offerings, however one thing they do have that’s different is the Error Tracker section.

When you go through the practice tests and get an answer wrong, you can mark the reason why. For example, you might select “I did not understand the concept tested” or “I ran out of time.”

The Error Tracker shows your most common mistakes so that you can focus on improving the areas that give you the most trouble. If you are constantly running out of time, the Error Tracker will point that out and you can focus more of your energy on pacing strategies.

Trial, Score Improvement, and Money Back Policies 

Availability of free trial 

While Target Test Prep doesn’t offer a free trial for their program, they offer a 5-day trial for $1. There is no automatic billing after the trial ends, but this means you still need to enter all your credit card information to try the platform.

The trial gives the user access to all features of the platform. However, since you are encouraged to complete everything in order, we wouldn’t expect many students to get past the basic introductory content during this 5-day trial period.

Score increase guarantee 

The Target Test Prep GRE score guarantee is misleading at best. To qualify, you need to complete every single course component and meet or exceed the accuracy benchmarks. In addition, the accelerated study plans do not qualify for the score guarantee.

In addition, there is a cutoff point for the score guarantee. If your GRE score prior to starting the program is up to 310, you qualify for the 8-point guarantee. However, if you starting score is over 310, then you only qualify for the “score improvement” guarantee.

Furthermore, when looking at the fine print, you see that this isn’t a money-back guarantee:

If your score has not improved, and you have fulfilled the score improvement guarantee criteria, we will provide a free course subscription equivalent to your previous purchase.

We found this guarantee overly rigid and unfair to those who don’t reap the full benefits of the Target Test Prep GRE course. 

Money back policy 

As explained above, the score guarantee is not a money-back guarantee with Target Test Prep GRE. In addition, after looking through the site, Target Test Prep doesn’t seem to have any sort of money-back guarantee on their courses for paid users who don’t find the course satisfactory.

Even if you try the course for 5 days, you will pay $1 and you will not get a refund if the course isn't right for you. Based on our experience with other providers, we found Target Test Prep's money-back policy, or lack thereof to be very poor.

Which Target Test Prep GRE Course Should You Get?

If you choose to go with the Target Test Prep GRE course, you will need to decide which plan to choose (monthly, 4 months, or 6 months).

Based on our research, we think that the best option for students is the GRE Flexible Preparation Plan. This requires monthly billing, but the benefit of picking the exact length of your study plan outweighs the slight price increase.

How Does Target Test Prep GRE Compare to Other Courses? 

Before you decide if Target Test Prep's GRE course is right for you, consider some of the GRE online course alternatives and how they compare. Below we cover a quick comparison of Target Test Prep's GRE course with its competitors:

Target Test Prep GRE vs. Magoosh GRE prep 

• Magoosh offers live classes as part of its plan, but Target Test Prep relies solely on its self-paced program.
• Magoosh and Target Test Prep both offer video lessons, but overall, the Magoosh lessons are more engaging.
• Target Test Prep offers five practice tests, but they are just available on the ETS website, whereas Magoosh offers three unique full-length practice tests.
• Target Test Prep has add-on tutoring available for purchase, while Magoosh does not offer 1:1 tutoring.
• Magoosh has a mobile app for their platform, but Target Test Prep does not.
• Magoosh has a 7-day free trial, while Target Test Prep offers a $1 trial for five days.
• Target Test Prep has an 8-point score increase guarantee vs. Magoosh's 5-point increase guarantee.
• For more information, check out our comprehensive Magoosh GRE review.

Target Test Prep GRE vs. PrepScholar GRE Prep

• Target Test Prep offers five practice tests, but they are just available on the ETS website, whereas PrepScholar offers two unique full-length practice tests.
• PrepScholar's 1-year access plan gives students double the time to prepare for the GRE.
• PrepScholar has a 5-day limited free trial, while Target Test Prep offers a $1 trial for five days
• Target Test Prep has an 8-point score increase guarantee vs. PrepScholar's 7-point guarantee.
• Learn more about what PrepScholar has to offer in our complete PrepScholar GRE Course Review.

Target Test Prep GRE vs. Achievable GRE Prep

• Target Test Prep doesn't offer a completely free trial, whereas Achievable has a free trial based on how much content you use on the platform during the trial period.
• Target Test Prep offers five practice tests, but they are just available through the ETS website, but Achievable GRE does not offer any full-length practice tests.
• Achievable’s one-year access plan is $199 vs. Target Test Prep’s 6-month plan for $499.
• Achievable uses more adaptive technology for their practice tests, whereas Target Test Prep admits that their practice tests are not adaptive.
• Check out the full Achievable GRE prep course review.

Target Test Prep GRE vs. The Princeton Review GRE Prep

• The Princeton Review GRE course includes eight full practice tests vs. Target Test Prep's five full-length tests through the ETS website.
• The Princeton Review offers structured classes and fully scheduled courses in addition to their self-paced course, but Target Test Prep is specifically a self-paced course.
• Target Test Prep’s GRE course is much more affordable than The Princeton Review’s. 
• The Princeton Review offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, whereas Target Test Prep requires a credit card for their 5-day trial that costs $1.
• For more information read our full review of The Princeton Review’s GRE prep course.

Target Test Prep GRE FAQs

To wrap up our review of the Target Test Prep GRE course, we wanted to make sure we covered some frequently asked questions:

How long does it take to complete the Target Test Prep GRE course?

While the course length varies from person to person, based on different discussion forums, the consensus is that you need at least four months to get through all of the content in the TTP program at a reasonable pace.

This prediction is based on the fact that converting all the quantitative lessons into a book would be approximately 700 pages, which would mean reading about six pages per day. Additionally, when you account for the verbal reasoning lessons, which are about the same length, you're looking at about 12 pages of reading per day. 

In addition, you have to complete the chapter tests, the practice questions, and the full-length tests. 

How good is Target Test Prep?

Compared to the other test prep companies on the market, Target Test Prep isn't great for the GRE. Therefore, we didn't select them as one of the best providers in our overall review.

However, their lessons are extremely comprehensive and they cover all the material. The problem comes in when they offer too much information. This might be good for someone who wants to spend all their time studying for the GRE, but it seems that self-paced courses should be a little less rigorous.

Is it worth paying for a GRE prep course?

In the end, it depends on your level of motivation and your personal goals for the GRE. However, the short answer is that you need to pay for something. There aren't enough free GRE prep resources to get you through the exam.

Whether you decide on just working through a book on your own, purchasing a self-paced course for a month, or enrolling in a structured class - there is some cost associated with adequate preparation for the GRE.