Kaplan/PR GRE course... is it worth it?

[smilesoup]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm a junior in college getting ready to apply to vet schools this summer, and I plan to take the GRE in July. I feel that I'm a pretty good standardized test taker (I received an excellent score on the SAT after taking a few prep courses in high school), but since so much of admissions relies on the GRE, I'm getting a little nervous and am starting to seriously consider taking a Kaplan or Princeton Review GRE course. My GPA is around a 3.70 - not bad, but not good enough to be as strong a candidate for vet school as I would like, so I would like to do the absolute best I can on the GRE in order to maximize my chances of getting accepted! I have some money saved up from work, so the price isn't too much of an issue, but of course, if I can save $1000 by getting the same score by just using prep books/CDs, that'd be great A benefit that I think I'd get from the course is just having someone there to assign homework and tell me to study - I'm not sure I'd be diligent enough to study on my own very well.

Has anyone taken a Kaplan or Princeton Review GRE course (either classroom or online), and would you recommend it? Any information at all would be incredibly helpful!

 

[Animevet]

Hey smilesoup,

Your cumulative GPA is very good (Mine is around that number. I was in the top 100 academically for Illinois), but I think the science GPA is of more importance. It is a little confusing to figure out on your own as some classes you think wouldn't count do and vice-versa. Check the threads for the averages. The application as a whole, relies much more heavily on your personal statement, animal and vet experience.

As for the Kaplan class for the GRE...I didn't take one this time around (I did for the ACT). I really didn't think it was necessary...the GRE is pretty easy and it doesn't count for much. The vocab cards are a must...they raised my score by 60 points! I think some schools are changing the exam they require you to take. They have made changes to the GRE since last year, which make it a bit easier (i.e. allowed to use a calculator, no analogies, etc. There is a thread about this as well). Check your potential schools to see what they require.

Good luck with the application process...it's a roller coaster ride of emotions!

 

[jmcgintee]

I took a PR online course. I had taken the GRE twice before and scored a 1050 each time. I can't exactly remember my Individual V and Q scores. I do know that the V was in the 400s and the Q was in the 500s. My cGPA was around a 3.5 at the time of my first application.

I took the PR online course this past summer and improved my score to 1200. 600s on each section. The vocab cards are still a must, I feel that's how I improved the most on the verbal but the online course helps with test taking strategies. It teaches you good ways to eliminate answers and has a ton of tests and exercises to help you work on the quantitative section.

It's all up to you. A 3.7 is a good GPA (again, check your sci. GPA too). You could always take the GRE soon with out a course and then you would probably still have time to take an online course before you take it again.

Hope this helps! Good Luck!

 

[jtom]

If you have never taken the GRE before I would strongly recommend to not take the online course and just go over the books etc. Your only a junior so you can take it again before applying if need be. I have taken the GRE twice and the second time around I studied on my own alot more and raised my score 150 points. Granted my score is still not great but my point is that even with the courses, you are still doing most of the work on your own.

Granted no one wants to take the GRE twice (I might a third time) but I just cannot justify paying the ridiculous cost of these online courses. You should even look how much in-person courses are ($2500!). My best advice would be to buy the standard GRE prep book, the vocab box, and two smaller practice books for the math and verbal sections.

Now that I think of it, why dont you just go through one GRE book and look over vocab and take practice tests. See how well you do just preparing on your own. If your score is decent, then just continue on your own and if you feel that you need more help then do the courses.

 

[ATX00]

If I were you, I would download the computer adaptive practice test off the ETS website and take it. See how your score compares to what you're hoping for, and then look at your options.

I paid a bunch for the online Kaplan course, and I know a lot of people find the "tricks" helpful, but I didn't. What helped me was to take as many practice tests as a could, so that I got good at working the math problems quickly. I ended up only using a tiny fraction of the Kaplan stuff I paid for, and I wish I had just paid for a bunch of practice tests. With just the practice tests, I increased my score up about ~120, and then another ~50 or so on the actual test. (I think most people find that Kaplan's practice tests are generally a little harder than the real thing.)

 

[zeebra44]

I dropped the course a week in. The tips were not effective for ME, and I felt that I was filling up my brain with junk that I'd forget come test day instead of actually learning the material. I found taking practice tests much more helpful.

 

[gilch]

What schools are you planning on applying to? Some schools put much more weight on the GRE than others. I never took courses; I bought some books and took tons of online practice tests. It sounds like the biggest part that you think would be beneficial would be someone to keep you on a schedule. Can you find a study buddy? Maybe not a friend, but someone else who is taking the GRE in your hometown? I think Blackat took a course and was pretty happy with it; maybe she can offer some advice.

 

[BomberCanoe]

I definitely would not recommend the course, especially since you find that you are a strong standardized test taker. For me, I did a little better on the GRE than I did on the SAT. I bought a kaplan book that came with a cd with practice tests, that covered all three sections (obviously the writing section couldn't really score you, but it gave you writing tips and examples).

Be careful about buying a prep book though, as people have mentioned, the test is changing very soon. I wouldn't even know if there are prep books available for the new form. Some advise though: there are vocabulary books that claim to have the 500, 600, 800, whatever top GRE words. Don't bother. Complete waste of time. I memorized all 800 (and i mean it, I straight up memorized), and only 6 or 7 words were on there. 3 of them because I used them in my essay. Learning word roots is a better idea (though they won't always give you the right definition, its better than just plain knowing the wrong words).

 

[BlacKAT33]

check out this similar thread

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=698174&highlight=kaplan

 

[UM2014]

If you're a good at standardized tests then I wouldn't spend the money on the course. I've always been pretty good when it comes to this type of testing and scored in the upper 1200's with no prep other then one online practice test a week before. I'm sure I could have raised that quite a bit had I actually studied but I was pretty happy with my score and didn't want to risk lowering it (mainly b/c at the time I was graduating in 2 months, didn't have a full time job lined up yet and $150 seemed steep 😉 ).
With your GPA an 1100 or better should make you more then competitive. My GPA was pretty low so my score should probably have been higher to compensate but my school doesn't weight the GRE a terrible amount so I focused more on improving my experiences and personal statements. I would just spend the money on a good study book, run through some of the vocab for a few weeks before and brush up on the basic math strategies those books highlight and you should be fine! Good luck!

 

[smilesoup]

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for your all valuable input! I guess I was just getting a little nervous since I've never taken a standardized test without taking a prep course -- my family stresses academics A LOT and so I grew up with being pushed and pushed to spend as much time and effort (and money, if necessary) on whatever devices I needed to earn that top test score :X Although I'm older now and able to make decisions for myself, that mentality is still with me! For those who were wondering, I'm aiming for Davis (IS) and Tufts, and I think Davis admissions puts greater emphasis on GPA and the GRE than others.. I should have specified, though, that I will be entering this round with only about 1000 hours of vet experience and 500 hours of animal experience, so I'm tentatively counting on numeric values to give me an edge (I know it sounds terrible!!).

Congratulations to all who were accepted this round! ^^

 

[Tiktaalik]

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for your all valuable input! I guess I was just getting a little nervous since I've never taken a standardized test without taking a prep course -- my family stresses academics A LOT and so I grew up with being pushed and pushed to spend as much time and effort (and money, if necessary) on whatever devices I needed to earn that top test score :X Although I'm older now and able to make decisions for myself, that mentality is still with me! For those who were wondering, I'm aiming for Davis (IS) and Tufts, and I think Davis admissions puts greater emphasis on GPA and the GRE than others.. I should have specified, though, that I will be entering this round with only about 1000 hours of vet experience and 500 hours of animal experience, so I'm tentatively counting on numeric values to give me an edge (I know it sounds terrible!!).

Congratulations to all who were accepted this round! ^^

Only 1000 hours vet and 500 animal? You'll NEVER get in.
Seriously, though, that's actually very good. I had like 1700 (ish, I'm guesstimating) vet or something, and I've seen people get in with less than you, so don't stress.

I echo the sentiments above. The strategy that worked for me was to d/l a free test, take it cold, and use my results to assess what topics and sections I was weakest on (uh, quant, duh). Then I used a Kaplan book to study my weaknesses up to a few days before the GRE, and I took my second practice exam about 3 days before the GRE to get an idea of what I'd get on the real thing and how far I'd progressed. I tapered studying on the last 3 days to light flashcard review and a mental math exercises, and took the day before the exam off altogether. Using this system, I got my quant up some 40 points from the practice test in 2 weeks or so (I took the GRE at the last minute and had very limited time to study).

If you want to reassure yourself a bit about how random this process is and what a wide range of scores and experiences somehow manages to get through, check this thread out: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=689494&highlight=successful+applicant+stats

Granted, there are some supergeniuses in there with gazillions of hours, but there are also plenty of people with lower numbers than you who got in fine this round, too.

 

[yann]

3.7 sounds great in my ears, since apparently the average gpa of vet applicants are somewhere around 3.5

I'm actually taking a Kaplan course right now, mainly because unlike you I totally stank when i took my SAT (by lack of studying until like the night before, still..) and I really wanted to make sure I was prepared. And like you said, I knew myself enou to know that I probably wouldn't study on my own, and I needed some help with math. Classes are actually pretty insightful in my opinion, and a lot of the tips they teach are really worth knowing. But then again I might be saying that because I don't want to believe I've wasted 3 grand...haha

sounds like you'd do fine without taking any courses as long as you study the words and take work on the practice questions.

 

[sirbuckie]

No! Don't do it! Don't take the class unless you feel like throwing away a thousand bucks! I'm a terrible test taker. I took the practice GRE test that Kaplan offers and scored an 800 (?). That was without any studying whatsoever. However, getting that score motivated me to study ....and so I studied the GRE Kaplan books for a month and got a 1350... Which I think is good enough to balance my low GPA.. maybe not.. we'll see. The point is, I think you are competely capable of teaching yourself the material... the Kaplan advice is all in their books!

 

[Tiktaalik]

No! Don't do it! Don't take the class unless you feel like throwing away a thousand bucks! I'm a terrible test taker. I took the practice GRE test that Kaplan offers and scored an 800 (?). That was without any studying whatsoever. However, getting that score motivated me to study ....and so I studied the GRE Kaplan books for a month and got a 1350... Which I think is good enough to balance my low GPA.. maybe not.. we'll see. The point is, I think you are competely capable of teaching yourself the material... the Kaplan advice is all in their books!

For a minute, I was like, "Wow, 800, that's good!" and then I realized that you meant total. That's a crazy awesome improvement! The GRE folks would like to pretend improving that much is impossible, but apparently it just takes dedication, lol.

 

[moosenanny]

I think to answer this question you just have to be honest with yourself. I am highly motivated and studied for the GRE intensely for three weeks over Winter Break of Junior year, memorizing vocab words, reading two prep books, and doing as many practice exams as I could get my hands on. After only those three weeks, I took the exam and scored a 1430 🙂

I was so successful only because I know my study strengths and weaknesses really well and could act accordingly.

You said you probably won't have enough diligence and think a class might help that. First of all, if you have a 3.7, you probably have more discipline and self-motivation than you give yourself credit for! Also, from what I've heard, the classes may give some B.S. busy-work assignments. At minimum, they'll go over things you know really well already, and may only skim over things you're struggling with. So due to these potential factors, the class may not give you more motivation and dedication (?) It might make studying feel even more like a chore (?) Since I've never taken a class for any standardized tests, I'm not speaking from experience, but just from impressions that prevented me from ever enrolling in a course.

But, to each his own. You need to truly listen to yourself and decide what is best for you!

And if you need extra motivation - just think that the GRE could be the make-or-break part of your application (whether this is totally true or not is not the point, but adopting this mentality in a healthy way may inject some extra enthusiasm into your studying).

 

[smilesoup]

Tiktaalik - thanks for the reassurance! That link was definitely encouraging, and you're right -- the admissions process does seem very unpredictable. A couple of pre-vets I know have had tens of thousands of hours already, which made me very nervous. By the way, I love your ID 😀 we learned about Tiktaalik last semester in my comparative anatomy class!

yann - I'm sure you didn't waste 3 grand! If it helped, it was worth the money, in my opinion 🙂

sirbuckie - WOW that's a great improvement; congratulations!! Thanks for the advice 😀

moosenanny - thanks, that's so encouraging! You're right, I think the key really is to just make myself buckle down, as you did.. it'll be a little difficult, though, since I'll be preparing for the GRE, working full-time, and completing my applications all at once. Or maybe I need to escape this mentality and just DO IT! 🙂

 

[Tiktaalik]

Tiktaalik - thanks for the reassurance! That link was definitely encouraging, and you're right -- the admissions process does seem very unpredictable. A couple of pre-vets I know have had tens of thousands of hours already, which made me very nervous. By the way, I love your ID 😀 we learned about Tiktaalik last semester in my comparative anatomy class!

Everyone loves Tiktaalik! [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9h1tR42QYA[/YOUTUBE]

moosenanny - thanks, that's so encouraging! You're right, I think the key really is to just make myself buckle down, as you did.. it'll be a little difficult, though, since I'll be preparing for the GRE, working full-time, and completing my applications all at once. Or maybe I need to escape this mentality and just DO IT! 🙂

I'm a very lazy person by nature, so I often find myself standing back a little bit and going "whoa, that's a lot of work." The only way I can get into it is to just ignore that feeling, throw myself in 100% and work as hard as a can! If a lazy guy like me can do it, you can do it!

 

[sirbuckie]

I think my low score was a strategy thought up by Kaplan. They were offering free practice tests, so I decided to take it. I was really rusty on my vocab and math so naturally I scored low (I guessed on almost all of them and left alot blank). Then addition to that, they threw in a lot of trick questions. I think they wanted us to score low and freak out so that we would sign up for their classes. Luckily, scoring that low did motivate me to study!

If anyone goes to school in San Diego, they offer the free practice exams by UTC (Genesee and La Jolla Village Dr)! Take it- it will help gauge where you're at. I think they offer it every month?

 

[Tiktaalik]

I think my low score was a strategy thought up by Kaplan. They were offering free practice tests, so I decided to take it. I was really rusty on my vocab and math so naturally I scored low (I guessed on almost all of them and left alot blank). Then addition to that, they threw in a lot of trick questions. I think they wanted us to score low and freak out so that we would sign up for their classes. Luckily, scoring that low did motivate me to study!

If anyone goes to school in San Diego, they offer the free practice exams by UTC (Genesee and La Jolla Village Dr)! Take it- it will help gauge where you're at. I think they offer it every month?

That's true - I'm guessing our score jumps (your dramatic one and my 40-point-in-a-week math one) were probably more likely because we had a chance to revisit material we hadn't seen in a while before taking the next test. I'd forgotten all the square root rules, for example.

 

[annemal22]

Took the GRE twice. . .once no studying just went in and tried it. Did bad, then I studied on my own for a couple months, did 100 points better, still slightly below good GRE score for vet schools. So I decided to take the Kaplan course figuring they guarantee I go up 100 points or my money back. Which would put me at my goal GRE. Finished the course, did beyond what they ask you to do, took the GRE and did 100 points worse than my last score! Getting your money back isn't easy either, still fighting with them on getting it back. I say study on your own with free downloads and study guides. Good luck!

 

[Fookie Kat]

I took the Kaplan course and didn't find it helpful. I had a few people in my class who hadn't been in school for 20+ years and we had to spend a lot of time reviewing really simple concepts (we spent a day and a half on division). I agree that you should download PowerPrep. Kaplan and Princeton Review also offer free classes/practice tests once in a while (you can find details on their website).

 

[Minnerbelle]

So I decided to take the Kaplan course figuring they guarantee I go up 100 points or my money back. Which would put me at my goal GRE. Finished the course, did beyond what they ask you to do, took the GRE and did 100 points worse than my last score! Getting your money back isn't easy either, still fighting with them on getting it back. I say study on your own with free downloads and study guides. Good luck!

Yes, beware of the guarantee. Getting your money back is very difficult to do! My younger sister is a horrific test taker, and my parents invested in Princeton Review's (I think) one-on-one tutoring, which was like $4,000. Her score dropped after this money sucking venture. She wanted her money back, and they claimed she couldn't because she didn't take advantage of EVERY SINGLE workbook, practice test, computer modules, etc... that she could have taken advantage of (which is total bull since her tutor never assigned her to do those things). She had a super b****y friend of hers scream at them on the phone for an hour, and they finally gave us a refund... but seriously beware.

to the OP: if you did well on the SATs then you definitely already have what it takes to do well on the GRE's so don't waste your money. Brush up on your math by doing a bunch of practice problems, and memorize the heck out of those vocab words (really the only part of the test harder than the SAT, since math is actually easier). Take the free computer full length test and see how you do before you spend $$$. I highly doubt you'll do poorly.

 

[BlacKAT33]

I took the Kaplan course and i filed for the free extension if you felt you didn't do as well as you wanted to do. There was no questions asked and they signed me up for another class and extended my online services (practice exams and quizzes). I ended up not taking it again but I just did it in case I decided in Aug. I wanted to try again.
If you don't want to be in a class with other people you can also sign up for just the online portion which is a lot cheaper.

I really feel like this is a personal choice for each person depending on how well they think they can do on standardized tests. Even if I had a 3.8 GPA I still would have taken the Kaplan course because I dont have any confidence when it comes to timed tests. I dont think anyone should listen to others whether or not to take a class or study on their own. Each one of us knows deep down if we need additional motivation/support or not. Some people are able to do it by themselves and that's awesome, others need help/motivation/confidence boost whether or not they have a high or low GPA.

 

[BlacKAT33]

Yes, beware of the guarantee. Getting your money back is very difficult to do! My younger sister is a horrific test taker, and my parents invested in Princeton Review's (I think) one-on-one tutoring, which was like $4,000. Her score dropped after this money sucking venture. She wanted her money back, and they claimed she couldn't because she didn't take advantage of EVERY SINGLE workbook, practice test, computer modules, etc... that she could have taken advantage of (which is total bull since her tutor never assigned her to do those things). She had a super b****y friend of hers scream at them on the phone for an hour, and they finally gave us a refund... but seriously beware.

Not sure about PR since I took Kaplan. But finishing the required work for Kaplan is easy its only about 3/15 modules for each section. It clearly says "required" or "optional" next to it, so there are no tricks. I made sure I did all of the required work before I asked for the extension