Magoosh GRE Review
Table of Contents
Magoosh GRE is a popular learning platform thanks to its reasonable prices and a good offering of learning resources. If your budget is less than $200, then Magoosh could be a good option, but it has it’s downfalls too and is only available online. In this review article, we look at Magoosh’s GRE course features and the drawbacks that the online platform faces.
Magoosh is an online platform that provides learning materials for a wide range of exams, including GMAT, GRE, SAT, LSAT, and IELTS. Magoosh was founded in 2009 and brought together education experts to create test prep materials for students. Based in San Francisco, Magoosh supports students across the world with their online learning platform.
Price Package
The standard pricing for the Magoosh GRE plan is $894 for six months, but they very often have discounts available on their site or through our discount codes. The cost is usually lowered to between $180 – $250 for six months after a discount, so it is great value for money.
Magoosh is popular with students thanks to its low cost and six months of access. It’s ideal to wait a few weeks until the next offer comes along to save yourself $600, it’s not worth paying full price for this Magoosh course.
If your GRE exam is coming up soon, you can purchase one month of access to Magoosh for GRE at a higher cost of $149 for the month. This option is good for some last-minute practice problems, test prep and practice questions.
Resources
Magoosh is a little vague on the learning resources provided, including the style and length of online GRE learning videos on this GRE prep course. They use phrases like ‘comprehensive coverage’ and ‘helpful video lessons,’ rather than the more specific details that other learning platforms use. Therefore, it’s difficult to assess the quality of their learning materials, which may be brilliant or not.
All of their resources are available online, and Magoosh does not offer live online sessions or in-person sessions. This means that you will not be in contact with a tutor or expert throughout your course, unlike some other learning providers. If you’re the type of student who can self-motivate and follow a set study plan, this course could be ideal for you.
If, however, you’re looking for high-quality materials, lessons directly from teachers, and a tutor to help guide you, take a look at some other companies like The Princeton Review, Manhattan Prep, or Kaplan. Check out our Best GRE Prep article for information on the best platforms available.
Practice Questions and Tests
Magoosh GRE offers 1,200 practice questions, which is a significant amount, but it comes with a catch. Magoosh recommends that you take three practice tests throughout your study, but any practice tests that you want to take are using questions from this pot of practice problems.
The practice tests are around 90 questions per test, reducing the number of questions you have in the pot by 20% and putting a cap on your test prep. Magoosh is one of the only platforms to limit their practice questions and cut into student resources.
Furthermore, even when you have set aside 230 practice questions to use in your test, they won’t appear in a GRE Test format. Magoosh does not offer a full-length GRE test simulation, as many some courses do, giving you the feel of a real GRE test.
This is an important factor for students to consider, especially if you have not taken a standardized test like the GRE, GMAT, or LSAT before. Full-length computer-based practice tests are a great way to understand the test format and your strengths and weaknesses.
Video Explanations
While you’re working through the practice questions, there are several great features to help build your understanding and correct answers. When you answer a practice question, Magoosh will provide you with video and text explanations that describe the correct answer and alternative solutions or conclusions.
These videos are a great way to quickly understand each question’s specifics and build your understanding so that you get the correct answer next time. Video explanations are better than text as more information is included, and a visual representation of the solution.
The Magoosh platform also times your response and compares this to the pace of other students. As the GRE is a time capped test, you have to work quickly, and knowing and improving your speed will be vital to mastering the GRE.
Easy to use Interface
Magoosh understands the importance of having an excellent user interface. So in 2015, they redesigned their website, product pages, and student sections to create a natural flow, easy to read dashboards and simple navigation through the learning resources. This helped to put Magoosh on the map and is a factor that makes Magoosh GRE prep popular with students.
Mobile App
One of the great features of using Magoosh is the quality of its online platform. The Magoosh GRE interface is easy to use, intuitive and accessed from your PC, tablet, or phone with the mobile app. All the learning material is online, including practice questions and video lessons.
A mobile app is rare for GRE test prep courses, so consider if this is an important factor for you as you will be able to complete GRE prep on the go. Magoosh offers the app so that even if you have limited access to a PC, you can use the app as a great way to keep up with regular study.
Self Guided
GRE prep with Magoosh is flexible for your schedule with a range of study plans to guide you. If you’re self-motivated, organized, and determined, this planning style could work well for you. You can study at any time, and any place with this prep course as all the materials are available online and on-demand. Make sure to regularly review your study plan to stay on track and hold yourself accountable for your GRE prep progress.
Magoosh only offers a self-guided option to navigate through their learning, unlike other GRE courses that offer live online video lessons, or in-person lessons.
Magoosh offers support by email, but this is mostly for technical issues rather than learning support or tutor guidance. If you’re the type of student who benefits from a person guiding you or offering advice, then using Magoosh’s online course may not be right.
Score Guarantee and Predictor
Magoosh GRE guarantees that you will add 5 points to your previous GRE score, and give you a refund if this is not achieved. They want you to succeed. They have a great reputation for responding to students and helping with questions and advice through email. The score guarantee applies to students that have taken the GRE course before and have a verified score.
Furthermore, Magoosh offers a Score Predictor, which is a unique service. The predictor uses data from previous Magoosh students and looks at your progress so far across each section to create a reasonable score prediction. This can help plan your study and focus on areas of weakness.
Free Trial
A 5-day free trial is available, an awesome opportunity to review the materials before you sign up and decide if this GRE test prep course could be best for you. The trial will give you access to online GRE resources, including some videos and practice questions. You’ll get a taste for this GRE prep course format, and we highly recommend using the free trial before signing up.
Free Resources
As well as the free trial, Magoosh offers a range of free resources on their website and blog, which can help you get started on GRE prep. These include study plans, articles, and flashcards and recommendations for the materials included in the paid course. Combine this with the free trial to review and get a sense of what the Magoosh platform is like to study with.
Tutoring
GRE Magoosh also offers a range of tutoring options for students that need a little extra. Tutoring is the best way to get specific advice or explanations that are personal to you and set up to support your learning specifically. The Premium tutoring option also includes an essay grading for the Analytical Writing section, which is a great opportunity.
Starter: 1-hour tutoring session, discussing 2-3 areas of focus, costing $100
Verbal: Verbal lessons and 4 hours of tutoring for $350 ($87.50 an hour)
Math: Quantitative Math lessons and 4 hours of tutoring for $350 ($87.50 an hour)
Premium: Covers both the Verbal and Quantitative sections, PLUS essay grading and review. This tutoring costs $600 for 8 hours of tutoring ($75 an hour)
Cons
As with all our GRE review articles, we’re honest about each course provider’s good and bad points. Unfortunately, Magoosh falls with many negative points on their GRE courses, especially compared to other learning platforms.
Practice Tests – Magoosh does not offer a full computer-based GRE practice test, which is a key negative point. Many other courses offer at least 4 full-length tests, some as many as 7 tests. The questions used in your recommended 3 practice tests for Magoosh are taken from your bank of practice questions. Creating three practice tests reduces your practice questions by 20% and limits the amount of practice you can do.
Quality and Range of Resources – Magoosh is vague in their descriptions of learning material and video lessons. Still, we can gather that they are short and specific to one topic or problem area. While this may be brilliant flexibility for some students, others will need more structure and assurance of high-quality materials.
Lack of Live Online or In-Person Sessions – Magoosh only offers an online test prep platform for the GRE, which means they do not offer teacher-led live sessions. If you’re the type of student who benefits from hearing a teacher, being part of a class, and following a timetable, this is not the course.
Lack of Guidance – As Magoosh is a self-guided course, there is a lack of direction, guidance, or timetable to follow. They do offer some study plans which can help to format your GRE test prep if you’re a motivated student. While the customer team is available by email, don’t expert, personalized guidance or feedback from a tutor.
Overall, Magoosh is a good platform that offers learning materials and does help students to prepare for the GRE and achieve a good score. It’s affordable, making it popular with students, but it’s not the highest quality course available. If your budget is small or you need some top-up or refresher learning, then Magoosh could be ideal for you.
A student most suited to learning with Magoosh GRE is someone that is self-motivated, can stick to a study plan, understands concepts quickly, and needs little practice to get the correct answer. If you’ve completed the GRE test previously and want to boost your score, this course could be ideal.
Furthermore, this online-only course’s flexibility is perfect for many students that lead a busy lifestyle of study and work and are squeezing in GRE study into their limited free time.
The resources offered by Magoosh are comprehensive and will help increase your knowledge in the verbal and quantitative sections of the GRE exam. You should see your score increase by at least 5 points in each section, and also your answering pace should increase. Magoosh has a brilliant learning platform and mobile app that helps students learn on the go and navigate and control their own learning.
However, Magoosh has several drawbacks, with the main issue being the number of practice questions and practice tests offered. Compared to other GRE courses, Magoosh’s offering is significantly lower, which could hinder your GRE test prep and mean that you don’t get your best score possible.
If you typically get exam stress or anxiety or haven’t taken a standardized test like the GRE or GMAT before, you would probably benefit from a course with several practice tests included in the package.
If affordability isn’t your issue and you can stretch your budget to $500, then take a look at Kaplan or Manhattan Prep in our review articles. Both Kaplan and Manhattan Prep have a great course offering with high-quality materials and many practice questions tests included.
We’ve reviewed Magoosh against Kaplan – which you can find here, and we’ve looked at Manhattan Prep against Magoosh too – which you can find here. Comparing the two courses helps you get a comprehensive view of the packages available, figure out the features you like, and are important to you.
Ultimately, this will help you find the best course for you, enabling you to get the best GRE score and get accepted into the business school or graduate program you desire.
