Princeton Review.... Thumbs down
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13 Aug 2003, 13:20
If this is a little bit off subject I apologize. I just finished Princeton Review and would be happy to share my experience. I don't want to sound elitist, but I believe that Princeton Review is of the greatest benefit to those who are scoring in the low 500 range on the exam.
I took my first practice test two months ago, and scored a 620 on it. Because there are not a lot of students in my area that enrolled, there were only six students in my class, and they had all scored in the low 500's. The Princeton Review was very effective in helping these students improve their scores to the 600 range. However, once you get there, to continue improving, more hours and different materials are necessary (ie. Kaplan LOL). For instance, I spent the first six weeks without missing one homework question in their guide. Their tips are helpful, and their strategies tremendously effective in helping to answer 5-600 level questions. At the end they only spent one class discussing the types of difficult questions that a test-taker needs to answer to improve to 700 or above. A much neglected theme, scoring very well. This is why I consider this a class to help students get by. It's not ambitious enough.
One other thing. There is this stereotype that their tests are easier than the real GMAT. This is true, but their scoring is way too strict. Despite only missing three on one of their official tests, I only scored as high as 44 on math. On my first powerprep exam recently, I was careless and still scored a 49 on math. Verbal was right on par though. If you take one of their classes consider the tests as practice. Improving your score on their practice tests will improve your ability to score well on the real thing (most likely, although I have only taken PP), but don't take the actual scores seriously.