Target Test Prep is a growing GRE and GMAT prep company that focuses specifically on raising quant scores. At the time of writing, they only have GRE Quant prep and the Verbal for the GMAT is in beta.
Their GRE prep course makes it in our top 5 GRE prep courses for this year and in this detailed Target Test Prep GRE review, we’re going to share with you some of the highlights of this course as well as real student testimonials. If you’re still on the fence about what course to take, read on to see our final verdict:
Pros
- More affordable for those just needing Quant improvement
- Instructor-led HD videos detail step-by-step solutions
- 6 detailed study plans to choose from
- Customizable practice sets and tests
Cons
- No office hours with instructors
- Score increase guarantee fine print
- Requires purchase of 2 extra GRE practice tests for prep
- There is no scheduler to help you to plan out your studying and timing
Course Pricing Options
GRE Flexible Prep
Price: $99/month
Summary: The most flexible in terms of monthly billing/cancel anytime policy. This course includes 600 GRE math lessons, 800 HD content videos, over 3,000 GRE practice questions, customized practice sets, and includes a GRE score increase guarantee.
GRE Dedicated Study
Price: $229
Summary: Pretty much the same content as the GRE flexible plan, but with 4 months access for $229. This brings the monthly cost down to $74.75/month for those who are looking to prep within a 4-month window.
GRE Maximum Learning
Price: $399
Summary: The longest and most affordable GRE prep option for those looking to invest in 6 months of GRE prep. All of the same content, but with 6-month access, bringing down the monthly cost to $66.50 per month.
Curriculum Review
When you enroll in a Target Test Prep GRE course, you will be prompted to work through your first GRE practice test with them. It’s always advisable to first start with a diagnostic test so that you can see your baseline score and where, specifically, you will need to be focusing your efforts moving forward. Their 40-question practice test gives you 70 minutes to complete and, when finished, you will receive your study plan and some equation sheets for download.
It’s advised to spend an average of 150 hours working through all 38 modules, in the order that they are presented in the course. The first phase of the study plan (module 1-33) is the knowledge, content, and skills-development phase. In the second phase (module 34-38), you spend time practicing and applying these skills with 4 official GRE practice tests. As you can see, this course doesn’t necessarily provide you with a study schedule or advise you on how long to spend on each concept or topic. This flexibility for the student can seem either like a godsend or stressor, depending on how granular of a study plan and schedule you want in a GRE prep course.
First Phase (Knowledge, Content, and Skills-Development) Modules 1-33
The majority of these modules follow a similar format. Each module is dedicated to a specific Quant topic, such as Inequalities and Absolute Values, Roots and Exponents, Linear and Quadratic Equations, etc. When you begin a module, you will first complete a review quiz. To move forward, you should be achieving a score of 75% or higher in accuracy. The next step is the readings, videos, and example GRE videos for that module. There are anywhere between 20-50 lessons in each of these sections. After completing these lessons in the module, you’ll be able to practice the concepts with 3 different practice sets (Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulties). These tests specify what accuracy you should be hitting before moving forward onto the next module.
Second Phase (Practice Test Phase) Modules 34-38
The second phase of this prep course is the practice. It’s recommended to devote about 4-6 weeks, since there are 4 official GRE practice tests and it’s advised to work through only 1 per week. They provide you with the link to download the 2 free ETS PowerPrep Online tests and then you’ll need to purchase the other 2. This is all performed outside of the Target Test Prep studying dashboard and requires you to set your score and view the analytics provided by the ETS.
Platform
The Target Test Prep GRE platform is pretty no-frills and is easy to use and navigate as a first-timer. The dashboard is divided into Study Plan, Chapters, Tests, Error Tracker, Analytics, Bookmarks, and Resources.
Analytics
I’m a fan of their Analytics, which has a nice feature that allows you to see your accuracy progress weekly (which would be most helpful during the last few weeks of practice sessions). They break out your performance by topic as well as subtopics so that you can pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses to raise your score faster.
Student Feedback
Student feedback can be one of the best ways to get unbiased information on a course. Here you can see a mix of reviews, showing how each student’s experiences can vary depending on the instructor they were given as well as their experience with technical support.
-Source: GRE Prep Club
-Source: GRE Prep Club
-Source: GRE Prep Club
Who Needs This Course
The ideal student for this course is looking for a low-fuss way to increase their GRE Quant score. You should be self-disciplined and able to problem-solve on your own. If you are wanting more of a personalized approach to your prep and frequent interaction with tutors/ experts, then you should not get this course. They do offer a bit of personal interaction with tutors and experts via chat box, call, and email, and reply time is around 10-30 minutes – This can be better than commercial prep courses.
I don’t advise choosing this course if you intend on needing tutoring, as they are currently not offering this as an add-on.
This course is a really great value, but it’s worth reminding you that there is no other section that this course will prepare you for outside of Quant. If you need a more comprehensive prep for all subjects but that is still focused on the Quant section, then I’d suggest opting for the Manhattan Prep Just Math, as it includes their all-subject on-demand course for free.
Refund Policy
Because of the fine print, we think it’s worthwhile detailing the Target Test Prep score increase guarantee. To become eligible for the score increase guarantee (and full course refund), you must a) have taken an official GRE before purchasing the prep course, b) email a copy of the official GRE score report to team@targettestprep.com within 2 weeks of purchasing the course, and c) submit your new official GRE score report to team@targettestprep.com within 2 weeks of taking it, d) have completed all 38 modules and e) practice tests.
I always find the statements on the homepage as “score increase guarantee!” a bit misleading when it comes to the eligibility requirements and proactivity required on the student’s end before knowing whether or not their scores will increase. This is pretty par for the course in the test prep world, however, so it’s always in your best interest to read the fine print of any refund policy for GRE prep before you purchase.
Learn more about their refund policy here.
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