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Kaplan GRE Prep Review
Our comprehensive review of the Kaplan GRE prep course
When it comes to test prep, many consider Kaplan to be king. They’ve been helping students prepare for major exams for years, and have some of the best results in the industry to show for it. But does Kaplan’s decades of experience, team of GRE experts, and robust curriculum warrant the high price tag for their GRE prep course? We delve into the finer points of Kaplan’s GRE prep course in this review and analyze its strengths and weaknesses so you can make an educated decision.
Given that this is a detailed review which covers a multitude of topics, we’ve added jump-to links above for easy navigation.
Video Review: Is Kaplan GRE Worth It?
In the video above, Lara from the Test Prep Insight team gives our full Kaplan GRE review. She covers Kaplan GRE course options, study materials, practice tests and Qbank, live classes, pricing, and key pros and cons so you can decide if the Kaplan GRE prep course is worth it. For more detail, be sure to continue reading our full written review below.
Kaplan GRE Prep Pricing
One of the first things students want to know when assessing which GRE prep course is best is cost. Fortunately, Kaplan offers a nice selection of course formats with varying price points.
On Demand: $300 for 1-month, $450 for 3-month, and $600 for 6-month
Live Online: $1,100
Tutoring + Live Course: $2,500
Generally speaking, the Kaplan courses are pricey, but still slightly more affordable than similarly positioned competitors like Princeton Review and Manhattan Prep.
If you are looking for a more affordable GRE prep option, you may want to consider budget providers such as Magoosh, PrepScholar or Achievable.
Our Kaplan GRE Coursework Review
In reviewing test prep courses, there is usually one or two features that immediately jump out as being the premier aspects of the course. However, with the Kaplan GRE prep course, there are a lot more than one or two things that stand out.
Kicking off with the video instruction on their online platform, Kaplan delivers a homerun in the form of engaging and high-quality lessons that keep your attention from beginning to end. In each video lesson, a Kaplan instructor appears onscreen standing in front of a digital whiteboard. Their packages differ by format, too, from on-demand self-paced to live online with 7 classes and homework, or tutoring with 1-on-1 support!
From there, they walk you through their lesson (varying in lengths from just a couple minutes to well over an hour) by providing strategies, explaining concepts, and working problems. As they speak, the digital whiteboard behind them updates with notes, text and graphics. Every lesson features an instructor on screen with a digital whiteboard, graphics, and worked examples. The quality and clarity are standout, rivalled only by Manhattan Prep.
One of Kaplan’s engaging video lectures
The instructor will also change course from time to time, picking up a marker and working a problem in illuminated ink on the screen in front of them. The variation in method of instruction delivery, digital effects and incredible production quality all make for a top-notch video lesson.
And that doesn’t even touch on the substantive content, which in my opinion is spot on. The instructors do a great job breaking down complex topics into understandable info bites and provide catchy little strategies that stick with you.
To help retain what you’re learning in the video lesson, you’re also provided a course book that tracks with each session. Like the video instruction, the course books are a highly beneficial resource.
Within the prep books you can take notes, highlight important concepts and flag the most important pages. There is more on the Kaplan prep books below, but the video-book combination makes for a super effective means of conveying and retaining lessons.
To further reinforce what you learned in the lesson, each video is followed by a short quiz that tests the material you just covered. You work the short practice set (usually 5 questions or so), and are then prompted to go back and review the answers you got wrong. Accompanying every problem, Kaplan gives you a detailed written explanation, which breaks down the problem and explains why each answer choice is correct or incorrect.
I personally found these text explanations to be very helpful. While some courses go into too much detail and your eyes glaze over as you read a thesis on one question, the Kaplan explanations hit just the right level of thoroughness. They give you everything you need to know about a practice problem without all the fluff.
These practice problems and explanations can be accessed not only through the study plan, but also through Kaplan’s QBank. The QBank is a tool that allows you to create customized practice question sets with problems of your choice. You can narrow the scope of this custom practice session by question type, test style (practice mode or quiz mode), number of questions and more. This is a very nice feature for building quizzes to focus in on where you need the most work. In terms of quantity of study material, Kaplan gives you access to over 4,000 practice problems in total. Together, the practice problems, video lessons, and quizzes combine to create over 180 hours of total core instruction.
Within the coursework, Kaplan also offers additional PDF resources, including chapters from its GRE Premier and Prep Plus books to reinforce the video lesson material, and digital printouts of the course book chapters and problem explanations. These materials are nice to have, but essentially just repeat everything you’ve already seen through the digital platform. Everything considered, I was very impressed with the level and quality of coursework delivered by Kaplan. I kept waiting for some component of the study material to pick out as being substandard, but struggled to find anything. The video lessons are super engaging and deliver substantive content that is spot on.
And it’s the type of content I like to call “sticky” because the instructors give you these little tips and tricks that help the material stick with you. In addition, the custom practice problem sets and succinct explanations add significant value. There’s a reason Kaplan has the reputation it does – its materials are exceptional.
Kaplan GRE Practice Tests
No matter which Kaplan GRE prep course option you sign up for, you will be provided access to 13 full-length practice tests, which is more than any other brand in the market (besides Kaplan’s sister company, Manhattan Prep, which also has 13).
Kaplan’s computer-based practice tests are a dead ringer for the real thing. The look and feel of their testing program is very comparable to the official GRE platform, and the nature of the questions is indistinguishable.
Additionally, Kaplan’s tech does a great job of matching the adaptive features of the real GRE. In the real GRE, if you perform well on early sections, the test will adapt and give you harder questions as you progress (and vice versa for poor performance).
Kaplan test interface is just like the real GRE
Kaplan does a great job mimicking this function. As I worked through the Kaplan test, I honestly felt like I was taking the real thing.
Now, to be clear, the GRE is not as hard to replicate as other tests like the LSAT, but it is still critically important that you test under exam-like conditions, and Kaplan doesn’t miss the mark.
Further, following each practice test (as well as each practice problem set), you can track your progress in the Performance tab, which breaks down how you are doing in specific categories and question types.
It will show you not only how you scored overall, but will also break down performance by timing, difficulty level of the questions and more. This is a really great feature that accompanies all of Kaplan’s practice tests and problem sets.
The Kaplan GRE Channel
In addition to the outstanding lessons and coursework that make up the core of Kaplan’s GRE prep course, you will also get access to on demand video lessons from the “GRE Channel.” These video lessons can be found in “Dig Deeper” modules for students who might want supplemental instruction in a certain subject area.
Dig Deeper module with extra videos and readings
These sessions are taught by top-tier Kaplan instructors. In each session, students follow along as the instructor does a deep dive on a particular question type, concept, or test strategy.
Having complementary video lessons like these enhances the student experience by providing more instructional material for students who want it — but because they are not required work, the lessons are not overwhelming for students who already have mastery in a subject.
My personal take on these GRE Channel lessons is that they are a super valuable resource, especially if you are struggling with a particular topic or question type. Bottom line, if you need or want extra instruction, the Kaplan GRE Channel lessons should be right up your alley.
Kaplan GRE Prep Books
As mentioned above, in addition to the online content, you will be provided one hardcopy prep book to assist in your studies. This book generally tracks with and supplements the course (online and live), and contains lessons, strategies and practice problems. This book will be shipped out to you after you purchase the course, but if you prefer e-books, you can also access these very same copies via PDF. I personally found Kaplan’s GRE prep book to be very high quality. It is well-written, pertinent, and very thorough. If you are more of an old-school type of learner that prefers hardcopy prep books so you can take notes in the margins, highlight key points, or mark important pages, then Kaplan is an excellent choice.
Digital Platform & User Experience
Kaplan recently updated their online learning platform and the changes are excellent (big step up from their prior outdated version). It’s modern, clean, and professional, and it has a really strong new feature: an adaptable calendar that fits your schedule.
Assignments are grouped in modules that are added to your personalized, custom calendar
When you first enter your online study plan, you are asked for your test date and your weekly availability. Depending on what you enter, your calendar will adjust, placing modules on specific days to get you ready. You can refresh the calendar at any time, and modules that have not been completed will move with you.
In addition to the calendar feature, the videos, quizzes, performance, and history tabs are all sleek and intuitive. The new user interface is a big improvement for Kaplan.
Kaplan GRE Classes
If you opt for Kaplan’s Live Online course you receive 21 hours of live instruction (a bit less than some competitors). Your class will meet either once or twice weeklyfor 3 hour periods. It’s also worth noting that you will have the same Kaplan instructor throughout.
My Kaplan class experience was overall very effective. The class size was a little large, but the instructor was excellent. He was clearly a GRE math guru, but was very well versed in the verbal material as well. He was a great communicator and a genuine pleasure to spend 3 hours with. Some courses I’ve taken feel all business, but this Kaplan instructor did a good job keeping things light while still getting work done. If I could make one recommendation – take the two-day per week sessions, unless you can’t avoid the one day per week classes.
It will help you stay current on the material and the course will fly by. I took the one day per week course and it felt like it was dragging, with me stretching to work on material between class.
Additional Resources With The Kaplan Course
Likely the biggest draw in its basket of extra resources is Kaplan’s “Official Test Day Experience”.
Exclusive to Kaplan, the Official Test Day Experience allows you to take one of your Kaplan practice tests in a realistic test-like environment. That means you can choose to take one of your Kaplan tests in a Prometric testing center, or at home under the watchful eye of a Prometric virtual proctor.
This full trial run gives you a great idea of what the exam day will be like and remove any uncertainty that may be causing butterflies. Kaplan suggests taking this trial run approximately two weeks before the real exam and I would agree.
Kaplan also has a great resource tab in its online content that allows you to easily sort, filter and track down any bit of study material you’re after. Additionally, Kaplan provides a nice progress tracker that allows you to monitor your performance and make sure you’re on track.
This is critical when trying to keep your schedule on track and make sure you’re in line to hit your target score.
Kaplan GRE Tutoring
If you’re after a little personalized attention with a Kaplan instructor, 1-on-1 tutoring can be purchased through the Kaplan website. Kaplan’s private tutoring packages start at around $2,500 and offer anywhere from 10 to 40 hours depending on your needs. In addition to standard tutoring, Kaplan also offers Premium tutoring. These packages come with a 99th percentile GRE scorer who has taught the GRE for over 10 years, and they come with a 325+ or 10 point improvement score guarantee.
Alternatively, you can also pay by the drink and just buy a couple hours of tutoring as you need them, though the rates are discounted if you buy a lump-sum package.
Kaplan’s tutoring rates are not cheap, but are right in line with rivals’ offerings. No GRE tutoring is ever cheap, and if you find someone on FB Marketplace that only charges $45 per hour, chances are you’ll get what you pay for. If you’re going to get the tutoring, you may as well do it right and only have to pay once.
Content Access Period
Kaplan provides users 6 months of access to its online GRE prep content. This is equivalent to what you get with value GRE prep company Magoosh and more than you get with rival Princeton Review, who only offers 4 months of access.
6 months should be plenty of time to get fully prepared for the GRE, barring some crazy work/life schedule.
Does Kaplan Have A Mobile App?
Kaplan does not have a dedicated mobile app, but their entire online learning platform is mobile friendly. Log in through your phone or tablet’s browser, and you will be able to access the entire suite of course features.
Money Back Guarantee
If you don’t raise your score with Kaplan’s GRE prep course, you get your money back. There are some requirements and technicalities that go along with this guarantee (there always are, so read the fine print), but generally speaking Kaplan will insure your progress. This is a nice security blanket, as not all test prep companies offer such guarantees (see Manhattan Prep).
General Refund Policy
In addition to its score increase guarantee, Kaplan also offers a fairly generous refund policy. If you aren’t happy with their product or just change your mind, you can get 100% of your tuition back if you call within 3 days of ordering.
You won’t get your shipping costs back, but your tuition cost will be 100% refundable. Additionally, if you call within 4-7 days after your purchase, you can get 75% of your tuition back.
Verdict: Kaplan GRE Prep Course Review
Time to answer the big question: is Kaplan GRE prep worth it?Well, after using and reviewing this course, and all of its different features and study materials, the answer is absolutely yes. Sure, I have a few minor gripes, like I wish the Kaplan courses included more live class time, but all in all, I think the company offers some of the most well-rounded and effective prep packages in the entire GRE prep space.
Kaplan excels in pretty much every category that truly matters, including video lessons, quality of instruction, realism of practice tests, prep books, you name it.
Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Kaplan’s courses are more affordable than similar offerings from Princeton Review and Manhattan Prep.
Bottom line, if you want a top-end prep course from a company with a tried and tested formula for getting results, Kaplan is likely a good bet for you.
The Kaplan GRE prep packages generally range in price from around $300 up to $2,500 depending on what type of course format you want and whether or not you need tutoring.
Do the Kaplan prep courses come with books?
Yes. Each Kaplan GRE prep course option comes with one hardcopy prep book that tracks with and supplements the course.
Will my score increase with Kaplan GRE prep?
Given the robust coursework and high-quality lessons offered by Kaplan, there is a very high likelihood you’ll see a point boost in your GRE score if you take a Kaplan prep course. And if you don’t, they’ll give you your money back.
