The service was great! I attended the private tutor session, and it came with verbal and quant in-person course. The best benefit of Kaplan is they have sufficient supplement resource, including Qbank, webinar, and practice tests. The Qbank was a practice system that could select practice questions from the database according to you choice of question types, time/number of practice, and your needs. The webinars were about different topics from lecturers, and you could watch those either in real-time or in record. There were 7 practice tests, including one real-experience test which you took the test at an actual location with actual setting as the actual GRE.

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I decided to take the Kaplan In-Person Plus course because it offered an accelerated course of study within the time frame I needed prior to take the GRE. Here are the pros and cons of the course:

Pros:
The option to take the course in 6 weeks was wonderful, although it meant dedicating all of my free time to either the class or coursework

The instructors were great teachers and engaging. In particular, Rohini went above and beyond to work with her students outside of the classroom and to help with any issues (including quant, even though she taught verbal) and offer support

The online resources are extensive and give you a lot of opportunity for practice

The customer service -- when I initially called, I didn't expect to have someone talk me through the whole process, discuss whether I should take the GRE or GMAT for business school, and then follow up later with an email. Even when I called back later to discuss issues (see below), I always found the customer service representatives willing to go above and beyond.

Cons:

"Plus" course -- the main reason I paid extra for the plus was because I was told I could have access to two extra math courses -- basic and advanced -- and that I would have three coaching sessions. I specifically asked about what would be covered with the tutor and was told we could go over whatever I wanted. First of all, there was no advanced math class in the package, although when I called customer service they signed me up for it for free since I had been told it was included. The "coaching" is discussed separately below. All in all, I did not feel as though I was getting what I was initially offered, and when I called to express my disappointment, was refunded the extra cost of the "Plus" course. I do not think it was worthwhile.

Coaching -- Although my coach was a nice lady, she admitted early on in our Skype session that she mostly taught SAT students and hadn't done anything with the GRE in awhile. I am not sure why I would be matched with someone who was unfamiliar with the test they were supposed to be helping me with. When I asked her specific questions about the test, she needed to look up the answers. I was excited when she offered to give me feedback on the essays from my first practice test, but after six weeks and several reminders from me, I had no feedback, so I called and asked Kaplan for a refund for the Plus course.

Strategy, strategy -- the course is VERY strategy heavy. While I think it is important to learn strategies for test taking, I think learning the actual content is equally, if not more important. After not seeing an improvement in my test scores despite following the course of study, I moved to a different company that focuses more on teaching the actual content, and saw a very quick increase in my score. Strategy clearly is not everything.

Limitation of online resources -- after the completion of the course, it is suggested that you continue to take practice quizzes from the quiz bank. While the quiz bank was initially awesome because of the number of questions, I soon found the explanations for the answers to be limited and quite confusing. When my score plateaued and I felt like I still didn't understand the material, I switched to a company that offered video explanations for every answer, which really helped with my score.

I was very unsure about the whole test prep and bschool application process at the start and really wanted an in-person course. While I appreciated being able to ask questions of the instructors, I am not sure this was the right course for me.

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I signed up for the GRE prep course as a way of reviewing specific information and for the extra accountability of a teacher. The specific quant and verbal concepts were covered well, exactly as I hoped. However, I did not expect the depth of strategic analysis and break down of test taking strategies. Kaplan knows the GRE (and other tests), it understands how the tests are written and what it is looking for. By breaking that down and giving us simple, albeit not intuitive, strategies Kaplan gave me the ability to greatly improve my score. Rather than going into the test with anxiety, I was confident that I could break apart each question, understand exactly what it was looking for and quickly find the right answer.

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Being out of school for three years and never being strong at standardized testing, the GRE was beyond daunting. I initially bought a workbook and thought that would be how I would prep. I suddenly felt even more overwhelmed and like I had to climb Mt. Everest alone. I chose Kaplan and the In-Person Plus because I really felt like I needed all the help I could get. It was the best decision I ever made. Kaplan breaks down every concept from basic addition to Geometry and gives you resources for whatever stage you are at. Ever coach, in person teacher and even customer support team members I interacted with were beyond helpful. My teachers went above and beyond to review essays, create extra resources and questions. I am so thankful for their help. My score went from a measly 292 to a 312!!!

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