Target Test Prep has been getting a ton of hype on reddit and other GMAT forums as being one of the best prep courses out there. And we get it. With an affordable price tag, smart tech and bite-sized learning modules, this course has instant appeal for students. But is the Target Test Prep GMAT course effective? We answer just that question in this detailed review.
Given that this is a long, robust review, we’ve included jump-to links above for your convenience.
In the above video, team member John (a 700+ GMAT scorer) covers everything you need to know about the Target Test Prep GMAT prep course. He breaks down all the key features and provides his analysis. For more detail, please continue reading below.
To provide some context for my full review, let’s cover Target Test Prep’s pricing and course options. And I’ll just start by saying what everyone likely already knows—Target Test Prep is a value-driven GMAT prep provider. Their offerings are a fraction of the cost of other GMAT prep companies, and that’s likely why they have such wide appeal.
In total, Target Test Prep offers four different packages. However, three of them are really just deviations of the same self-paced prep course. It’s just a matter of how long you want access for.
The month-by-month subscription package costs $229/month. The course with four months of access costs $649. And the version of the self-paced package with six months of access costs $699.
Alternatively, if you want live classes, Target Test Prep now offers a course offering with 40 hours of live online classroom instruction. That package costs $1,599.
Putting this in context, the live class is pricey at close to $1,600 (it costs more than Princeton Review), but the self-paced online course format is very reasonable in price. I actually think the monthly subscription model offers a ton of value if you have the bandwidth to blast out your studying in just 60 to 90 days.
And if you do decide to go with Target Test Prep for your prep, make sure to snag a discount code, as they’re almost always running some sort of promo or deal. In my experience, you can sometimes pick this course up for 10% off.
Alright, now that we have the basics out of the way, let’s get to our thoughts on this Target Test Prep GMAT prep course.
The first thing you realize when you login to Target Test Prep’s platform is that they are a digital-first company. And I don’t mean that simply because there are no prep classes in brick and mortar buildings or hardcopy books.
What I mean is that it’s clear Target Test Prep has gone all in on designing a super sleek prep platform with an awesome user interface and smart approach rooted in data.
Unlike other old school prep companies that have been doing GMAT prep for years, Target Test Prep leans into the digital wave and has made a smart course rooted in tech. With digital lessons, quick-hit video lectures, and stacks of data and analytics reports, it just feels like a smartly designed course.
In terms of curriculum, Target Test Prep structures their course around “missions,” which are effectively just learning modules. Each mission covers a specific topic tested on the GMAT Focus, and is generally built around 4 components.
It starts with a quick review quiz that reinforces subject matter from previous modules and leans on spaced repetition methods to ensure you’re retaining material as you move through the course.
Then you move into that particular mission’s lesson chapters. This is the meat of your learning. Each lesson chapter is built around a series of short passages that are filled with notes, example problems, videos, and occasionally illustrations.
You read a little on the topic, see how things play out with a sample problem, work a couple example problems yourself, and watch some quick videos that demonstrate how to solve for certain question types.
It’s a really effective learning approach that our team loved, with the only knock being that they are text-heavy. I do wish they incorporated more video-based content like Magoosh and Princeton Review.
Then you move into a series of “chapter tests,” which are essentially review quizzes to test the material you just learned. These are delivered through varying levels of difficulty, including easy, medium and hard. And finally, you review your answers from the quizzes to learn from your mistakes.
All in all, it’s a very comprehensive approach to instruction that incorporates everything you need—text and video instruction, spaced repetition for retention, quizzes to reinforce learning, etc. In short, I was really impressed.
As mentioned though, if there is one area that I’m not crazy about with Target Test Prep, it’s the video lessons. For one, although there are 1,500+ short videos, they focus mainly on working sample problems and demonstrating key points.
This is fine for demonstration purposes, but I would have liked to see more hard content review in the form of video. Target Test Prep lets the written lessons do most of the hard teaching, while leveraging video for problem breakdowns.
Also, I would like the see the Target Test Prep instructors onscreen! They’re clearly gurus and do an awesome job breaking down problems and giving you solid test taking strategies, but you never see them.
They’re always just voicing their lesson and tips over a digital slide with notes. So the delivery format is alright, but I’d love to get some more onscreen engagement with the instructors.
In any event, beyond the missions, you also a set of practice tests, custom question bank for building quizzes, and tons of data in the form analytics on your performance. More on the practice work below, but the custom quiz builder is a very nifty tool.
It’s definitely not unique to Target Test Prep, but it’s a solid addition to the course that allows you to hammer your weak spots through narrow quizzes outside of the missions.
And the final highlight worth mentioning here is the score reports. Target Test Prep delivers crazy levels of data on your performance. Honestly, it’s probably deeper analysis and more data than we’ve seen with any other GMAT prep company, including Manhattan Prep and PrepScholar.
They give you behavioral trends through error analysis, metrics on how you stack up against peers, pacing issues, and a ton more.
You can seriously spend hours digging through all the performance data once you’ve logged a good sample size of questions. In my opinion, this is major value add and totally surprising given the value price point of this course.
To quickly sum up, all in all, our team was very impressed with the Target Test Prep course. It’s not the most robust GMAT prep package we’ve seen, but it gives you everything you need—detailed written lessons, hundreds of short video lessons, thousands of practice problems, mountains of analytics on performance, a personalized study plan, and a bunch more.
Honestly, we had very little to complain about, especially at this price point.
One of the keys to GMAT success, beyond consistency in your prep, is practice, practice, practice. And luckily, Target Test Prep provides some really solid practice material, including 3,000+ quant questions alone.
In my experience, I found their GMAT problems (both quant and verbal) to very closely resemble real GMAT Focus questions. The testable topics covered were all present, and the structure, difficulty and word count of their problems was a close replica.
This is always a major point that I look for, as practicing under exam-like conditions with realistic material is always a crucial aspect of improving your score. So I was really happy to see that their material stacks up.
And in addition, I also liked Target Test Prep’s accompanying problem explanations. Every practice question comes with a detailed answer solution that breaks down the topic being tested and each answer choice.
These text explanations add a lot of value, as reviewing the problems you missed (and sometimes the questions you get right), is where the real learning comes in. And in many cases, at least through the meat of their lesson work, many of the practice problems Target Test Prep has you complete comes with video breakdowns.
These graphical explanations are a massive benefit to visual learners and I really, really liked them. There are hundreds throughout the coursework, and I was a huge fan.
So one of the unique things about Target Test Prep, and frankly, why they’re able to keep their cost so low, is that they don’t offer prep books.
This is a different approach than most GMAT prep providers like Kaplan or Princeton Review, which always provide students with prep books.
However, while Target Test Prep doesn’t offer hardcopy prep books like many others, their digital text lessons are great.
These are at the heart of their “missions” and are a great resource. They are clearly written, concise and do a great job covering tough GMAT Focus topics.
Plus, because they are digital, you can color code certain passages and drop in notes. So though there is no comprehensive hardcopy prep book, we were fans of their digital lessons.
While other test prep providers like Magoosh offer a boatload of supplemental resources, Target Test Prep doesn’t offer a whole lot in the way of extras.
They give you a detailed equation guide for the quant section, and a reference book on idioms for verbal, but that’s about it. Beyond those couple resources, there’s no live office hours, flashcards or other cool bonuses. But you can’t really expect there to be at this value price point.
Target Test Prep advertises that they offer students live customer support, through both chat and email. After putting their support to the test, we found it to be mainly true.
When you send their chat function a question, you get an auto-response saying that they’ll respond in the chat box and send you an email within 2 hours. I did this twice and in my experience, the first response took 3 hours, and the second around 1.5 hours.
So I wouldn’t say their response times are lightning quick, and definitely not “live” (with someone sitting on the other side eagerly awaiting questions), but still pretty dang good. And I liked their response.
They clearly put thought into their replies and it was a lot more than a simple one-word answer. Again, for the money you’re spending on this course, it’s a really solid resource.
The length of your access to Target Test Prep’s materials directly ties into what package you choose. Buy the flex plan, and you get on-the-go access month-to-month. Buy the 4 month plan, get 4 months’ access. Buy the 6 month plan, and well, you get the idea.
If after completing the Target Test Prep GMAT course your score on the GMAT Focus doesn’t increase by 130 points, they’ll give you a full refund. Now to be certain, there are some strict terms around this promise.
For example, you have to send them an official GMAT score from your first take within a couple weeks of starting your prep work with them, and you need to complete certain amounts of material.
So check the fine print on these requirements. But assuming you follow their rules, your GMAT prep purchase is fully guaranteed if you don’t score higher.
Although they carry a value course label, I found Target Test Prep to offer a surprisingly good GMAT prep package. The highlights of this course include their hundreds of sample problem video breakdowns, smart analytics and performance reports, thorough lesson modules, and high-quality practice questions.
In terms of downsides, while I found their lesson work to be very comprehensive and easily understandable, I wish there were more traditional video lectures.
There are a bunch of short video lessons interspersed throughout the course that break down sample questions, but none that directly convey content review. So I’d like to see them add some more complete video lessons.
But otherwise, this is a highly effective GMAT prep option for students that are fine driving their own studies. I think Target Test Prep is more than capable of helping you land a score of 700 or better.
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In our team’s opinion, Target Test Prep is a rock solid GMAT prep option. Their GMAT prep materials are very good, with realistic practice questions and thorough lessons.
Yes. In my experience, Target Test Prep offers effective prep material that is more than capable of helping you score a 700+. Their quant material is especially good.
Target Test Prep ranges in price from around $229/month for their pay-as-you-go package, up to $1,600 for their live online course. You can always try it out for five days for free.