Princeton Review GRE Review

Princeton Review has over 35 years of experience in test prep, and that experience shows in their comprehensive GRE course. In this review, we’ll go through what you can expect from this course to help you decide if it’s right for you.

Princeton Review’s GRE course includes both live classes and online lessons you can work through in your own time. They also provide top-notch tutoring services. While the course’s price point is a bit higher than many other GRE courses and you get a shorter access period, overall Princeton Review offers a great course that leaves you feeling prepared for the GRE.

Princeton Review is perfect for students who want a GRE course with a mix of live classes and online material. Plus, with its engaging video lessons, this course is also great for visual learners.

We love Princeton Review’s detailed, instructor-led video lessons. We also love their drills that use computer adaptive practice questions. We also like that they have eight full practice tests and interactive score reports. Their live classes are also helpful for learning strategies to ace the GRE.

Princeton Review provides a shorter access period than many other GRE courses—they only offer 120 days of access while other courses offer up to a year. They also don’t have any quiz banks or customized practice questions. Plus, they don’t have a mobile app or mobile-friendly online platform.

Princeton Review has three plans: Self-Paced, Fundamentals, and GRE 162+. The Self-Paced course costs $499. Fundamentals costs $1,199. GRE 162+ costs $2,299. All four courses offer 120 days of access.

With the Self-Paced course, you’ll get eight full GRE tests and over 2,570 practice questions. You’ll also get access to video-based lessons, interactive score reports, and computer adaptive drills. Plus, you’ll get access to the Math Fundamentals class. This class is taught live online, and it reviews foundational math concepts.

If you choose to do the Fundamentals course, you’ll get 24 hours of expert-led live classes. You can do these classes live online or in-person. You’ll also get eight full practice tests, over 3,500 practice questions, over 470 online drills, and interactive score reports.

With GRE 162+, you’ll get 45 hours of expert-led live classes. This includes 25 hours of math classes and 20 hours of verbal reasoning classes. Plus, you’ll get 20 additional hours of supplemental quantitative and verbal reasoning sessions. These sessions focus on key topics and practice questions. You’ll also get a personalized study manager who will guide you every step of the way as you study for the GRE. In addition to all this live instruction, you’ll also get access to 4,400 practice questions, drills that are only available for the GRE 162+ course, and eight-full length practice tests.

While these courses are on the pricier end of the GRE course spectrum, they provide a ton for your money. We also like that they have a few different price points. Princeton Review also frequently offers deals for their courses, so be on the lookout for those.

Princeton Review’s online platform is easy to use. When you log in to your account, you’ll see a clean and simple dashboard. This dashboard has clearly marked tabs that take you to your lessons, practice tests, study schedule, and resources.

It’s also easy to find your live class schedule on your dashboard. On the righthand side of the dashboard, you’ll see a box that says, ‘Upcoming Classes.’ Here, you’ll see the date and time of your next class.

If you like studying with physical materials, Princeton Review also has textbooks available. These textbooks work as a supplement to the course, and they’re easy to read and follow.

The one negative of Princeton Review’s online program is it isn’t mobile-friendly. They don’t have a mobile app, and you also can’t complete lessons on your phone.

Most students were happy with Princeton Review’s GRE course. Many students said that they liked that Princeton Review offered essay grading. Other students praised their tutors and class instructors, and some students liked the practice questions and drills.

Many of the negative reviews were from students who felt that the practice tests didn’t match up to the actual GRE. They said that they felt Princeton Review’s practice tests were too easy. Some other students said they had difficulty with the math portion of the online course, and they wished more time was spent on fundamental concepts.

In general, Princeton Review had far more positive reviews than negative ones. Students were mostly happy with their experience with the course.

We found Princeton Review’s course simple to use and helpful for learning test-taking strategies. The video lessons are engaging and do a great job at explaining concepts. The drills do a good job covering a wide variety of subjects at different difficulty levels. The solutions to the practice questions were well-written and easy to follow.

We did miss having a mobile app and a quiz bank. Overall, though, we found Princeton Review’s course to be comprehensive and easy to understand.

Helpful Lessons With Videos

Princeton Review’s GRE course is broken down into four categories: Math, Verbal, Essay, and Strategies. Within each of these units, you’ll find numerous lessons.

Most of these lessons follows the same pattern. You’ll start by watching an ‘Essentials’ video. These short videos feature Princeton Review instructors standing behind a pane of glass or in front of a whiteboard. They’ll then write notes or solve a problem on the pane of glass.

After you watch the ‘Essentials’ video, you’ll see a ‘Getting Started’ slide that gives an overview of what you’ll learn. Then, you’ll watch a ‘Discover’ video that provides more insight into the topic. These ‘Discover’ videos also feature an instructor who talks you through the topic. Then, you’ll hit the ‘Explore’ portion of the lesson, where you’ll work on practice questions. You’ll end the lesson with a ‘Stepping Back’ slide that summarizes what you learned. After each lesson, you’ll go through a series of drills that will reinforce what you learned.

Princeton Review’s online lessons are mostly easy to follow. Every video has a closed captioning option, and the videos will leave you with a good understanding of the topics you’re learning.

Practice Drills Featuring DrillSmart Technology

For the drills at the end of each lesson, Princeton Review provides two options. You can choose to use DrillSmart Technology, or you can pick your own drills to do. The DrillSmart algorithm features adaptive technology that gives you questions that match your skill level. If you do well on one set of drills, the next one will be harder. Or, if you struggle with a set of drills, the next set will be a bit easier. This adaptive technology ensures that you’re working on questions that are right for you.

Alternatively, you can click ‘Choose all Drills’ and decide which drills you want to do. You’ll be shown the difficulty level, and you can decide if you want to do easy, medium, or hard drills.

After you finish the drills, you can read through solutions and strategies for solving the problems. Between their practice tests and drills, Princeton Review provides thousands of practice questions.

Strategies Section

Princeton Review is one of the only GRE courses to offer a Strategies section in their online course. The Strategies section features a wide variety of lessons that will help you on test day. For example, they have a lesson on ‘parking your thinking.’ This lesson discusses how effective test-takers will ‘park their thinking’ by taking what’s going on in their head and writing it on the page. Lessons like this help you approach the GRE from a strategic point of view, saving you valuable time on the test.

Eight Full-Length Practice Tests

Princeton Review has eight full-length practice tests. These tests use computer-adaptive technology, just like the actual GRE. If you perform well, the questions will get increasingly harder. These practice tests are similar to what you’ll find on the GRE, leaving you feeling more confident on test day.

Interactive Score Report

After you complete a practice test, you’ll get an interactive score report. This helpful score report can be sorted by topics, question type, and time spent on questions. You’ll also get detailed explanations of how to solve every question on the practice test. The data in this score report will help you decide where to focus as you continue studying for the GRE.

Live Classes

Princeton Review has both live in-person and online classes. Because of this, even if you don’t live near a Princeton Review center, you can still take advantage of their live classes. All of Princeton Review’s classes are taught by GRE experts. These experts will be able to answer any questions you have, and they’ll leave you feeling ready for test day.

Free Content

Before you pay for Princeton Review, you can try out some free content with their 14-day free trial. With this free trial, you’ll get to do a few lessons from the Strategies section, Math section, and Verbal section. After you finish each lesson, you’ll be able to do some drills. This will give you a good sense of what Princeton Review’s practice questions are like.

During the trial, you can also do one full-length practice test for free. After the test, you’ll get access to an interactive score report.

Princeton Review also frequently has free online strategy sessions. These online classes are 90-minutes, and they’ll provide you with helpful strategies for test day. Plus, they’ll give you a sense of what you can expect from Princeton Review’s paid classes.

If you’re interested in Princeton Review’s tutoring services, you can get one tutoring session for free. All of Princeton Review’s free content will help you decide if you want to commit to paying for the course.

One-on-One Tutoring Options

If you’d like one-on-help with study for the GRE, Princeton Review has tutoring. These tutors are all GRE experts, and they can help you with any questions you may have about the test.

To ensure you’re getting the best tutor for you, Princeton Review uses prioritized tutoring matching. After you tell them what you want to focus on in your studying, they’ll match you with the right tutor. Princeton Review’s tutoring services start at $156 per hour.

Analytical Writing Essay Grading

Princeton Review is one of the only GRE courses to provide live grading. They offer this service with all three of their plans. After you submit your essay on a practice test, a GRE expert will review it. They’ll score the essay and provide personalized feedback to help you improve. Your score and personalized feedback will be emailed to you about three to five days after you turn in your essay. You can also access your score on your dashboard.

Live Chat

If you have any questions while you’re going through the course, you can talk to an expert through Princeton Review’s live chat box. This chat box is located at the bottom of the screen. After you ask a question, an expert will typically get back to you within a few hours.

Score Increase Guarantee

If your GRE score doesn’t increase after you finish Princeton Review’s program, they will refund your money in total. This guarantee applies to all three of their GRE courses.

To make use of this feature, you’ll need a baseline GRE score. If you took the GRE before doing the Princeton Review course, be sure to send them your score report before starting the course. If you haven’t taken the GRE yet, you can use your first Princeton Review practice test as your baseline score. To do this, you’ll need to take the practice test in one sitting while observing official time limits.

If your GRE score doesn’t increase after doing the Princeton Review course, send them your score report within 60 days of taking the test. Then, you’ll get your money back. Or, if you’d like, you can take Princeton Review’s course again for free.

Shorter Access Time Than Other Courses

All three of Princeton Review’s courses offer four months of access. In comparison, many other courses provide anywhere from six months to a year of access. While you can get a lot of studying done in four months, you’ll need to plan out your time more than you would with other courses.

No Mobile App

Princeton Review doesn’t offer a mobile app for their GRE course. Their online platform also isn’t mobile-friendly. If you try to look at lessons on your phone, you’ll be prompted to view the material on a desktop computer. This can make it difficult if you want to study while you’re out and about.

No Question Bank or Customized Quizzes

Some GRE courses, like Kaplan, offer a question bank. You can use the question bank to create customized quizzes. While Princeton Review does offer tons of practice questions and drills, they don’t have a question bank. You won’t be able to create quizzes that are unique for you. You’ll only be able to use the practice drills and tests Princeton Review provides.

Princeton Review’s GRE prep course is comprehensive and includes a good mix of self-paced online lessons and live instruction. With Princeton Review’s thousands of lessons and practice questions, you won’t have to worry about running out of practice material. Their live classes are also perfect for students who like a more directed approach to test prep. Overall, Princeton Review is a good choice for any student who’s studying for the GRE.