GRE means the Graduation Record Examination. It is an important step in the school of graduate or business application process. It is an examination which is based on computer and multiple choice. It is an exam for admission to graduate programs like MBA globally. This exam measures your basic arithmetic, algebraic, geometric and data analysis skills as well as your vocabulary.
It checks your ability to analyze and evaluate written material and your problem-solving skills. You will be scored on the basis of three sections which are Analytical Writing, Verbal Reasoning, and Quantitative Reasoning.
In this post, I am going to do a comparison of two of the best GRE prep options available on the market. Magoosh & Kaplan GRE are the two best GRE prep guides in the market. My goal is to show which is the right option for you according to your availability and learning style.
Magoosh vs Kaplan GRE 2019: (Detailed Comparison)
About Kaplan
Kaplan has live courses which are available to all over the country, more than 40+ states. The Kaplan courses offer a structure of a classroom even if you have a busy schedule. If you wanna learn all by yourself or you wanna learn by an instructor then both the feature is available in Kaplan. There are many options for days and time means you can choose any time from those options. It offers quantity and quality in study materials. You will see a large quantity of test and practice materials which will help you in learning for GRE. It is available for everyone and everywhere.
Those who would like to study from home and still want to take live online options then Kaplan will help you in doing it. It's quiz banks offer more than 5000 questions. The number of questions is most in this industry. You choose the type of question and difficulty depending on your skills. Other online courses don't have any kind of offline feature but Kaplan offers offline resources too.
The Kaplan courses are accessible in-person test prep course too with classes in 46 states. In the event that you like considering in a study hall, at that point Kaplan might be the best choice for you. Kaplan has the most area and timing alternatives of all test prep courses right now available.
This GRE test prep has delivered a broad library of materials which is most likely their best component. Kaplan offers 7 full-length practice tests sets which are more than any of their rivals, more practice questions, offline assets, and a GRE test prep channel that gives you live aptitudes, system tips and exercises. Kaplan contains a huge inventory of video sessions, practice questions, tests and different materials that a normal student can barely finish every one of them. This may appear like an overdose to some yet the greater part of the students can guarantee that there is sufficient substance for their feeble zones.
With the assistance of this immense substance, they can become familiar with the nuts and bolts and improve to master level.
About Magoosh
Magoosh is also a great option for students to prepare for GRE. Every plan of Magoosh is online and are available to computer, tablet, and smartphone. It has no class meetings, no textbooks, no DVDs and no specific timeline, all you have to do open Magoosh on your computer, tablet or smartphone and get started instantly. It offers video lessons on the basis of your progress and also shows a comparison between you and other students. So that you can recognize your potential, skills, and abilities.
Magoosh offers a series of study plans from 1 week to 6 months and that depends on how much time you have left for GRE. The best thing about it that these plans are free on the website and GRE blog even if you aren't able to buy the plans for this course. But it has premium study material which can only be accessed after you purchase them. It has a number of questions, instead of having a large number of questions it simply offers the best material. It offers a more optimized study than a classroom. You can access the material whenever you want, you can also repeat the videos.
When you buy into a Magoosh test prep course, you approach their test prep entry. You additionally gain admittance to their iPhone, iPad, and Android application. The majority of their exercises, problem sheets, and tests are on the whole accessible on the application.
The Magoosh GRE test prep courses are totally on the web, without any books or programming to request or bear, giving you the adaptability to examine in a hurry.
They likewise work superbly of giving elective arrangements. One of the most significant aptitudes to realize when contemplating for the GRE is when to utilize genuine math, and when to utilize rationale. Your regular test prep clarification will just demonstrate the math-based arrangement.
The Magoosh recordings additionally exhibit the rationale based arrangement and reveal to you why the rationale based arrangement could be better (and when you're facing the clock, as a rule, the rationale based arrangement is quicker). At the point when a math-based arrangement is important, the recordings will frequently give you alternate routes to help take care of the issues.
Magoosh vs Kaplan: Practice Material
Magoosh
It doesn't offer a lot of options but the content of courses of 1-month and 6-month time period is exactly the same. It provides around 250 video lessons, 1,200 practice questions, and 3 practice tests. The video lessons have a time of around 4-5 minutes tops. So to watch all of the videos you have to give the time of around 21 hours. The practice tests don't have the same practice questions, they are different from the practice questions but the method is the same.
There is a category mentioned in the questions from easy to very hard. You can take questions on the basis of your progress. If you are a beginner then easy questions are best for you. It also shows the GRE score predictors on the basis of your test scores.
Even it provides less material than Kaplan, it still offers a large number of videos and practice questions. Sometimes students don't use most of the Kaplan material. Magoosh satisfies the need for a student with even a small amount of resources.
Kaplan
It is costlier than Magoosh because it offers much more material than Magoosh. It has around 5,000 practice questions, 7 practice tests, 180 hours worth of lessons in the video library and it also provides 4 GRE related textbooks/workbooks. The self option has around an additional 18 hours of course time on top of all the other features and it is only available online for 6 months.
It provides 35 hours of elective live instruction with supplemental Math and advanced math material. Every lesson is over 7 hours with 200 practice questions. It also has some other options which includes additional tutoring and coaching sessions but you have to pay for it additionally.
It also has score predictor same as Magoosh. But it compares the scores on the basis of subjects like you score much better on verbal questions than mathematical question then it will show you more math questions in practice sessions during the program to make you equally good in maths too.
Magoosh vs Kaplan: Essay Help
Magoosh
Even if the verbal and quantitative sections requires more time and focus, the essay writing section if GRE is also important but unfortunately Magoosh doesn't offer any feature regarding the essay.
It has many videos, blog posts and tips in articles about how to write the Analytical Writing Assessment. These are useful but there is no comparison to actual practice essay sessions that are going to be graded and given feedback.
Kaplan
It has an essay writing feature where you can submit up to 2 essays at a time and the qualified instructors of Kaplan will grade them and you can see your score within a few days. These instructors give their individual feedback on your essay writing skills and also tell you how to improve it. In the matter Essay writing Kaplan is best from Magoosh.
Magoosh vs Kaplan: Courses Guarantee
Magoosh
It offers a guarantee of 5 points of increase in your final GRE score. If you completed the whole course of Magoosh like watched all the videos, take all the practice questions and explanation videos on the question which you apparently answered incorrectly and still haven't got the increase of 5 points on the exam then you will get a full refund for the course.
But to avail this offer you must have given a GRE test before taking the course and that test scores are not older than 5 years. You have to send a copy of your score before signing up for the course. Magoosh offers a better guarantee than Kaplan.
Kaplan
It only offers a guarantee of 1 point of increase in your final GRE score. It means if you even scored 1 point higher than your last score then you can't avail the guarantee. But similarly as Magoosh, you have to take all the practice questions, practice tests and video lessons to be eligible for the guarantee.
But keep in mind that Kaplan has over 5,000 questions, 7 practice tests and 18 hours of content to go through. You will not get the money-back guarantee if you don't complete all the course options.
But before enrolling for the course you have to go through a GRE test similarly as an official exam. The score of this test will become the baseline for the guarantee. If you don't want to take the refund it also offers a retake option means you can take the course again for free. But once you take the retake option then you cannot get a refund of your money. Both options are good and it completely depends on what you want to do.
Magoosh vs Kaplan: Refund Policy
Magoosh
Magoosh offers a refund policy in the case where you don't think that course is good for you within 7 days of signing up. You will get your money refunded once you apply for the refund they will not ask a single question. You don't have to provide a reason for quitting the course. In that manner, Magoosh is better than Kaplan.
Kaplan
It doesn't have refund policy like Magoosh. Once you sign up for the course then there is no returning back even after signing up now you don't want to take the course. The money is gone. Then you have to take the course even if it doesn't help you in your preparation for the GRE.
Magoosh vs Kaplan: Performance Analysis
Magoosh
Magoosh's dashboard records the performance of you. It analyzes your performance and after the analysis, it suggests you practice tests and questions. It tells you to focus on a particular area. Based on your performance you will see your score and a comparison between you and other students it will help you realize your potential, skills, and things which you're good and bad at.
After the analysis, it is easy for you to navigate wherever you need to go to give a good performance in the final exam. You can repeat questions, videos and practice sets over and over again to increase your scores. There is no limit on that. That's why it is good but not as good as Kaplan's performance analysis.
Kaplan
Kaplan provides a smart report on your scores of practice exams and provides a guide to break down your performance individually. You can keep a track of your progress, your weaknesses, your strength, your skills and things you're actually good and bad at. It is actually made in a way to tell you to focus on weaknesses like which specific are you need to study more to improve your scores.
It has a chart which shows your scores over time and you can also your scores of all time and compare it to other tests you've taken already. With these, you can identify your strengths and weaknesses after that the recommended option will show you to focus on a particular area.
Additional Options And Packages
Magoosh
Magoosh doesn't offer any additional package or option. It offers only the basic option for preparation which you can avail for a small amount of money other than there is no add-on option in Magoosh. You have to be satisfied with the basic options.
But still, if you get good at basic option then you probably won't need any kind of add-on option. In this particular area, Kaplan is better than Magoosh.
Kaplan
As a student, if you're not ready to buy the full package of Kaplan then you can buy the additional option or package to work on a particular skill of yours. It has also smaller packages to offer you just hone your skills. If you're already good at fundamentals and only wants questions to practice then you can buy the add-on option of Kaplan for a small amount of money.
In just $200 you can avail the 2,500+ practice questions, a practice test and an official test day experience.
Magoosh vs Kaplan: Pricing
Magoosh
The price of Magoosh is reliable than any other online test preparation course. It offers the full library course materials, videos and practice tests for six months in just $149 . The price is less for the same amount of content only for 1 month of the time period.
The time period is different but the material is exactly the same in both the courses. It is a very affordable option with a lot of resources which makes it an awesome course. Students who can't join the real classroom but they still can prepare for the GRE with Magoosh with just a small amount of money.
Kaplan
It offers many different options for different prices. If you want to prepare for the GRE in person or you want to take online live classes then Kaplan is the best option for you.
If you wanna learn on your own then you can take the self-paced option which is available at the rate of around $700.
It is four times of Magoosh's prep course. To avail the premium plus option you have to pay an additional $200. The option of in-person and live online sessions is relatively costly than Magoosh.
It charges around $1,499 for these options which makes it hard for an average student to buy this course.
Related Links:
Magoosh vs Kaplan: Which course is better? 2019
In my opinion, the Magoosh course is the safest and most economical GRE prep course. But in the area of study materials, Kaplan has a lot to offer than Magoosh. To get a better experience on how to score in GRE Kaplan is better than Magoosh because it has a package of in-person and live online sessions which are far better than already recorded questions and videos.
There is not an instructor option in Magoosh means you have to take the course all by yourself and there is no-one to guide you through it but Kaplan provides many qualified instructors to guide you through your preparation regarding GRE.
If money is not a concern of yours then Kaplan is the best option for you. But it doesn't give you a satisfying money-back guarantee like Magoosh because in Magoosh it guarantees that you will score 5 marks more than your previous official GRE test if not then you'll get your money refunded but in the case of Kaplan it only offers you 1 point of increase in your final score and if you can't get the increase then they'll return your money back or you can take the course again but only for 3 months.
If you think retake is a good option then refund on the money then you should choose it.
Magoosh also offers a 7-day refund policy in case you don't think Magoosh is suitable for you and they won't ask a single question to you but in the case of Kaplan there is no refund policy for you means once you've signed up for the course you can not go back from it.
Magoosh also offers free resources like more than 1000 practice questions and Kaplan only lets you take a practice test for free other than that you have to pay for it.
At last from all the above topics I think Magoosh is better Kaplan for various reasons.
