When it comes to taking a test, your action plan in terms of studying is crucial to the end result. That’s why there are a number of online and in-person test prep centers willing to give students a helping hand. One name that frequently comes to mind is Magoosh. Learn who they are and if you should use them in this Magoosh review.
Overview of Magoosh
For starters, they have helped more than 1.5 million students study in what they refer to as a stress-free environment. With nine different test prep courses available they have become one of the more popular go-to online test prep platforms across the world.
Here are all the tests they currently offer help in.
Within these courses, you have students from 185 different countries who have watched over 11 million hours of video lessons and answered over 400 million practice questions. In other words, they are widely used.
They started in 2009 but have quickly gained momentum. While it’s hard to measure success ratios, we can gather that despite a hefty price tag, many students would recommend this company to others based on its test predictability and ease of use.
In-Depth Look at Magoosh
In this Magoosh review, we really break down the details so that when students make a decision they can feel confident in trying this brand. To do so we can go ahead and look at how their courses are taught and whether the price tag is worth it or not.
The following categories are most important to consider.
- What they offer with their courses
- How they teach the course
- Time investment and methods
- Additional Resources
- Are there guarantees?
With a thorough breakdown of these categories, we can fully understand how Magoosh works and why they have had so many clients to date.
What a Magoosh Test Prep Class Offers
The online test prep claims they have a lot to offer their students. Interestingly enough Magoosh reviews by students back it up saying the versatility in what Magoosh test prep offers is overall satisfying. We’ve taken a look at the overall courses and test categories they offer but what about each specific one?
Each course will follow the same method for teaching in terms of the fact that they offer different prices and plans (we will get into that later).
Across all test prep classes, you can access the following.
Online Course
While it may be obvious that the course is online, what is not so obvious is that they synchronize its courses with the official test prep books. For instance, if you own the official GMAT book from the year that you subscribe to Magoosh, the platform will take you back and forth from the book to the online class.
While we will get into why they do this in the next section, this is a big reason for their test accuracy and predictability scores across Magoosh reviews.
Magoosh Mobile App
To be frank a mobile app is more common now across all educational apps because it makes learning on the go a lot easier. However, the app has been given a 4+ score and a “very-effective” layout and design.
In other apps, it can be hard to learn because the lessons aren’t configured from the web version to the mobile app. But with Magoosh, the mobile app fits perfectly on your iPhone or smart device so you can see the lesson clearly.
This is especially important with diagrams related to math questions where the numbers may be hard to see.
Free Trial & 6-Months Access
Some of these online test programs come at a pretty steep cost which is why it is important to offer good incentives in terms of joining and remaining a member. While some of the different plans offer different timelines, in general, you can count on being able to access your online account for 6-months.
This is more time than most of the other test prep programs offer as many of them don’t exceed four months. But not a lot of users want to commit to six or even four months of learning with the wrong company which is why a free trial for a week is actually a great introductory benefit for students who wish to try it out.
How Does Magoosh Teach Their Classes?
When it comes to the actual plan users say the different learning materials and vices for students to take advantage of are great. From study plans to flashcards, Magoosh offers a variety of resources to aid different types of learners.
Study Plans
The first part of success when it comes to using this particular test prep is coming up with a study schedule to achieve your goals. While you will have 6-months to go at your own pace, you can also choose a slow, moderate, or aggressive study schedule.
With your desired results in mind, you are given a schedule to follow with exact lesson numbers, homework activities, and quizzes to complete to stay on track.
Video Lessons with Official Books
Within these study plans, you will be brought to the video lessons which are ordered numerically and essentially by chapter in accordance with the official book. What’s great about this is that not everyone loves learning from video. You can go ahead and read from the synchronized lesson in your official book, complete the assigned questions in the official book, and then work from the online platform with similar questions.
Anything that becomes unclear from the passage reading can be further explained in a different and visual way through the video lessons. The lessons also contain script reading beneath it and their own study guides to explain things a little differently.
Quizzes with Video Explanations
When you get to the part where you start answering quiz questions online, a major resource and benefit is regardless of whether you get the question right or wrong, it is accompanied by a video explanation of why the correct answer is just that. Correct. This is something that the book may not be able to fully grasp.
Practice Tests
Unlike the quizzes, there are practice tests that mimic the exact test you are going for. This not only prepares you in a way that will work on focus but the questions themselves have been reviewed as “accurate” and “predictable”. This is because they use previous years’ test questions from the official exam.
They also offer tips and tricks to taking the test that is outside of just knowing the answers. For instance, they talk about:
- Timing
- Good sleeping and eating habits
- Skipping questions
- Answer eliminations
With this, it addresses those who may be really smart but struggle with test-taking.
What’s Your Time-Investment Look Like?
We mentioned that you are likely to receive 6-month access to the course itself. There is technically a 1-month option that we can review in prices and plans but realistically most students will work off of their 6-month timeline.
Ideally, you will want to choose the 3-month test prep study plan so that you can review all the materials and take the test halfway through your subscription. You can then go back and adjust your plan on how to better prepare.
Not all students need the same amount of dedication which is why you may find some students spending hours a day whereas others spend hours a week. The time investment in other words is up to you.
Additional Resources Offered
While those who have used this program before admit there are a lot of great resources that are sufficient enough to achieve great test scores, many ask, what else is there? Of course, you can always upgrade to the highest plan and take advantage of additional resources.
While we will address support, tutoring, and live classes, please note that live support is available to everyone.
Magoosh Support
Anyone subscribed to their program has support available to them in two convenient ways. You can either access the “Help” tab through the dashboard section or you can email them at help@magoosh.com.
The Help tab will bring you to a number of resources on the spot to answer your questions and concerns as quickly as possible. But if these pages aren’t getting the question answered that’s why there is an email so you can talk to an agent specifically about your personal issue.
Tutoring Options
This program does in fact offer tutoring options. Those with premium accounts will get discounts as tutoring sessions in general cost additional money outside of your plan. You can buy one session at a time or multiple. The main purpose of buying tutoring packages is to have someone individually walk through the course with you and have a one-on-one experience.
Live Classes
Another great benefit of those who are taking advantage of their highest plans offered is the live classes that you can jump into. This makes it no different than if you were attending an online school or university. While of course, you can still go at your own pace through the lessons that are recorded, this gives you a chance to talk to the teacher and engage with other students that are enrolled in this program.
What About Failing?
As we mentioned before, getting an exact success rate can be difficult. They offer a number of incentives that lower your risk for choosing them. For starters, they offer a full-refund 7-day money-back guarantee if you decide that this program is something you utterly hate.
But they also do score improvement guarantees depending on what test you are taking. Some courses will offer a minimum increase in points or guaranteed to beat your previous score or they will give you your money back for the course.
This is something usually advertised alongside the plans and pricing.
Magoosh Pricing
When it comes to Magoosh we can really look at three different plans that they offer for each of their courses. Let’s take a look at each one, what you get, and the price that comes with it.
This is an example of the GRE Test Prep tiers.
Premium – 1 Month – $149
- 1-month account access
- Comprehensive coverage of MAth, Verbal, and AWA.
- Video lessons
- 1400+ practice questions
- 3 practice tests
- Study schedule
- 5+ point guarantee
- Pause your plan
- Score predictor
- Ask an expert
Premium – 6 Months – $179
As you will see listed below there is no difference between the plans except six more months and $30 which is why many don’t bother with the first option.
- 1-month account access
- Comprehensive coverage of MAth, Verbal, and AWA.
- Video lessons
- 1400+ practice questions
- 3 practice tests
- Study schedule
- 5+ point guarantee
- Pause your plan
- Score predictor
- Ask an expert
Premium + Classes – $179 (limited time offer)
In addition to the bullet points listed above you will also receive:
- Unlimited live drop-in classes
- Over 30 hours of on-demand video classes
- All-premium benefits
Of course, pricing will differentiate course to course because of the extensiveness of the tests. Some courses can go up to $719 for a premium class.
Tutoring
Again while using the example of GRE you can expect to pay $110 for one one-hour session of tutoring, $500 for five one-hour sessions, or $900 for 10 sessions.
Pros and Cons of This Online Test Prep
This can be a lot to take in which is why experiencing the trial for yourself is always a good idea. But let’s go over the pros and cons of using this platform because so far we haven’t heard a whole lot of bad things!
Pros
- Elaborate online study program with an easy to follow layout
- Plans created for individual schedules to meet test score goals
- Offers a variety of test prep classes taught by experts
- Offers longer log-in access compared to other test preps such as Princeton Review
- Better mobile design compared to other Test Prep classes
Cons
- Can be a bit expensive depending on which class you take (but prices are better than other providers so all in all, they’re not the most expensive)
- Not worth investing in the 1-month program
- The range of price varies significantly from course to course
Conclusion
When reading Magoosh Reviews one thing becomes evident. There is no shortage of material depth for users to explore regardless of which course they are enrolled in. And with a variety of different learning methods, it seems like everyone is covered to some degree. This explains why they have such a big user base all over the world. 185 countries to be exact.
If there was one drawback to focus on, it would be that the product is not the cheapest. While you may have access to live classes taught by real experts, sometimes the price feels difficult to justify when other test prep classes are doing just fine in producing results. This is why they offer a lot of score improvement guarantees with bigger margin increases to outdo their competitors.
This is also a great online test prep program for anyone that needs to stay organized. Their lesson plans are easy to follow and feel no different than taking a class at a university. This is especially true when you buy any of their tutoring packages. While this program may seem to cost a bit more, they are worth every dime.