Anyone have experience with Princeton Review's LiveOnline prep course?

[iojove]

Hi there,

 

I would really like to take an in-person course, but in an effort to save money, I am considering the LiveOnline Prep Course through Princeton Review.  Does anyone have experience with these courses?  Do students really have an opportunity to ask questions and speak to the instructor?  I don't want to spend $700 only to find out that there really is no functional difference between the "instructor-led" LiveOnline course and the "self-study" online course.  I've had online courses before through Coursera, and even though they were led by instructors, there was never a way to ask the instructor questions.  All questions were posted to a student-centered forum where students would do their best to answer each other's questions.  While that is fine for a free course, I would not want to pay the ridiculous prices P.R. is asking, only to find that an instructor is never available to assist students.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[jml5676]

I am currently enrolled in the Princeton Review LiveOnline GRE course.

I, like yourself, wanted to enroll in an in-person GRE prep course. Unfortunately, no one else on my campus shared my desire, and due to low enrollment, the in-person class was cancelled. I was not thrilled about taking an online course, but I decided to give it a chance. 

I'm glad I did!

Students definitely have an opportunity to ask questions, whether through the use of a microphone, or by typing out a question. My instructor stops right away when she notices a question was asked. The teacher also 'calls on' students to answer questions, which I find to be very engaging. If you have a question while completing homework during the week, you can even e-mail your instructor. 

The course teaches you awesome shortcuts and quick methods to getting the answers, and I have personally seen an improvement within my performance after a few weeks. 

While it is pretty pricy, I would say that it is worth the money!

[iojove]

Thank you so much, jml5676!  You've really helped allay my fears about spending so much money on an online course & tipped me in the direction I was already leaning.  

 

Best of luck with your GRE

[iojove]

Update:  I just had my first LiveOnline course yesterday.  First impressions:  I like the instructor a lot (Rachel Rodabaugh).  She's funny and engaging.  The online interface is well-designed and makes it easy for everyone to interact.  We don't use video in our course, though, so we don't get to see each other or the instructor.  Although this means there is no face-to-face interaction, I'm sure it makes the online experience much smoother in that we are not all competing for bandwidth. 

 

As for actual class content, it's hard to judge from just one class, but so far it seems just like what I read in the TPR book, Cracking the GRE.  So, I am already familiar with the techniques we are using.  My concern is that I may come away from the course no better off than I was by simply using the book.  However, I will suspend judgement on this for now, and post further updates as the course continues.  The biggest benefit I can foresee, regardless of actual content, is that the class forces me to spend some time each day studying and gives me workable goals with required homework as well as additional drills.  Math is such a headache to me that I am much more likely to space off or get distracted when studying on my own.  For this reason, the class will help me no matter what.  Also, it's nice to have an instructor and other students to act as a sounding board, of sorts, since others can often help with things I might not understand on my own.  At times, I flat-out misunderstand a question or even overlook a piece of given information completely.  That is when it really helps to have others around to point out what I'm missing.  Of course, I won't have any help like that when I sit the GRE, but this is good practice for me. 

 

To sum up:  If you are a highly motivated self-starter when it comes to GRE studies, you could probably get by with simply reading TPR's Cracking the GRE.  If you need additional motivation and practice like me, you might benefit from the LiveOnline course.