Is Paying $100's for GRE Test Prep Worth it?

[copper889]

I actually will be applying for FAll 2013 grad journalism admissions. I'm currently a junior. Kaplan is on our campus with an 8-week (1 session for 2 hours each week) classroom program for about $1000. There are also classroom programs over the summer sort of the same scenario but with 4 - 6 sessions from Sherwood, Kaplan, PowerScore, etc. all in the range of about $800.

1) is it worth it?

2) when do students usually take the GRE?

3) Do students take it more than once?

[pheonixx]

I took the Kaplan course before my second GRE retry and raised my verbal by 100 points and my quant by 140 (old scale obviously). Totally worth it for me.

However, I also studied harder this time around unrelated to the Kaplan course and really focused on my vocab.

I started studying at the end of April and took the test in July so ~2.5 months of studying.

Some people can do great without a course so it's really up to you. I did a bunch of work for my parents for months and they ended up paying for the course. There's no way I would have been able to pay for the course myself.

[Sarah0601]

Kaplan test preps are worth spending but If you are looking for something of a lesser price you can search online resources. I found this some time back http://www.wiziq.com/course/2526-improve-your-gre-quantitative-score online course which includes practice questions as well as answer explanations. I took this along with other test preps like kaplan to prepare for my GRE Quantitative section and was of great help. Its for $50 so not too expensive too.

[constantSun]

$1000 is a lot of money, but how much are you willing to spend on your total education? What is the cost per credit at your school?

OR would doing well on the test enable you to go to a "better" school? OR one that might offer you more $$$?