Should I sign up for Kaplan or Manhattan Prep’s GRE course?
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If you’re looking to sign up for a GRE prep course, you’re probably worried about taking the GRE. Understandable!
In the first place, a GRE prep course is not a good idea. GRE prep courses, at their best, are just info dumps.
Each class will be an enormous amount of information crammed into a relatively short lecture. You’ll struggle to keep up with it all, and then, at the end of it, you’ll have to study anyways, because you won’t have absorbed what you need.
It’s not great. I get a lot of tutoring clients who took a GRE prep course and still basically have to start at ground zero with their studying.
Here’s bit more detail.
Is it worth it to sign up for the Manhattan Prep GRE course?
Well, Manhattan has great books, and their instructors know the material. However, I have one big problem with Manhattan.
Their courses teach everything.
How could that be a problem?
Well, imagine someone trying to teach you everything. If you already know a lot, you’ll be bored by most of it. If you know not so much, you’ll be overwhelmed and want to slow down.
As a result, Manhattan works well as a crash course, but you’ll need to do a lot of work after Manhattan to actually get the score you want.
Is it worth it to sign up for the Kaplan GRE course?
Eh… not really?
Kaplan is a big company with lots of focuses and not a lot of actual specializations. The people they hire to teach the GRE often haven’t even taken the GRE.
Also, their materials aren’t great.
And it’s expensive.
Don’t take the Kaplan GRE course.
What are my other options for studying for the GRE?
Simply put, either self-studying or tutoring. If you’re looking to self-study, then check our my guide for how to study for the GRE. If you’re looking for tutoring, contact me at the address up top.
P.S. Ironically, tutoring is often around the same price as a course. Frankly, I don’t know how the course providers get away with it, but it does make me feel like I’m in the wrong business…