Kaplan GMAT Review 2024: Is It Worth Your Money? (TRUTH)

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If you’ve ever dreamed of studying in one of the best colleges and obtaining a management degree, you know how important it is to prepare for management exams.

Achieving a good GMAT score is crucial for getting into a reputable business school or college, and this requires extensive practice and quality coaching.

When preparing for these exams, it’s essential to have the best study guide and study material.

That’s where the Kaplan GMAT Review comes in. In this review, I’ll provide insights into Kaplan’s offerings and how they can most benefit you.

I’ll cover everything from its technical details to its advantages, so let’s get started without delay.

Kaplan GMAT Review 2024: Should You Go For IT??

Kaplan quotes, “Your edge in a competitive world.” This implies that Kaplan wants to provide its best to each student and has been making all the extra efforts to do so.

From helping students apply to different universities to actually helping them achieve their goals, Kaplan has it all.

It also understands that in today’s competitive world, one must think outside the box and become innovative.

Kaplan

 

Kaplan has surely justified the statement “Encourage Innovation.” By learning various languages through its language learning courses, Kaplan wishes to make every student bilingual.

“Invest in your ambition” is what makes Kaplan stand out from the rest. It has also ensured that it has changed Kaplan’s very traditional dimensions and transformed the lives of students.

Features Offered By Kaplan:

In this Kaplan GMAT Review, below mentioned are the features being offered by Kaplan for the students-

Kaplan GMAT Review- Features

1. Kaplan Self-Test:

One of Kaplan’s best offerings is self-testing, which allows students to take tests for themselves and analyze them properly.

This aids the students in alleviating their scores and achieving solid results in the actual exam. 

2. The Most Interactive Classes

Kaplan ensures that you have classes that are absolutely free of boredom. It brings you classes in the most alluring and fun way!

Interaction through chat boxes and live sessions keeps the user interested and plugged in, ensuring that more work is done without really getting bugged.

These interactive sessions enhance the user’s productivity. The interaction also makes sure that doubts are cleared while the session is going on. And who doesn’t like to interact while learning? 

3. Specially Designed Language Classes

Kaplan has literally gone out of its way to provide its users with the best services. They offer special language learning courses in English, Spanish, and German to ensure that their language skills are toned enough.

This not only enhances a person’s personality but also enhances their communication skills. This is a really liked feature because many people enjoy learning new languages.

4. Worldwide

By worldwide, I mean Kaplan sells its courses worldwide. It has classrooms in North America, Mexico, Europe, and Asia.

5. Has the Most Strategized Plan Ever!

With the best teachers, the most progressive technology, and the most efficiently formulated test plans, Kaplan makes sure that they put in their best to let the students stay determined and focused.

6. Effective Strategy and Content

Kaplan is said to have a very effective strategy for its students that is made in accordance with the content.

The content and the strategy must evolve together. Both must work together to achieve the optimum results. 

7. Additional features

Kaplan also sells additional online courses in insurance providers, finance, securities licensing, architecture, and wealth management.

These add up to the student’s resume, making them more competent by developing their skills and making them more versatile. 

8. Distance learning

Kaplan offers another cool feature: Distance Learning. If a student can’t take physical lectures but still wants a degree, this option allows them to take it from a distance, too! 

What Modules Does Kaplan Offer?

Kaplan offers students a myriad of modules to choose from. These modules focus on the academic aspect and pay great attention to the overall development of a student.

I will give you a small briefing on some modules that you might find constructive and advantageous.

1. Kaplan Leadership and Professional Development

This is a module where a student is trained in order to achieve a versatile and multi-faceted personality.

Their soft skills, communication skills, and leadership qualities are developed so that they can easily face personal interviews and group discussions in the future.

Through this, Kaplan makes sure that they have been meeting the users’ specified needs.

2. Kaplan Financial Education

Kaplan’s financial education is literally a savior! Even during a pandemic, Kaplan has provided all the aid possible.

Kaplan Pricing Review

Kaplan GMAT Review - Price Plans

1. Complete GMAT Prep Course: Starting from $1850

Pay as low as $155/month or choose 0% APR with Affirm.

  • 27 hours of in-person or live online instruction
  • 6 official GMAT practice tests
  • GMAT Official Guide included
  • Full set of GMAT strategy guides
  • Dynamic Question Set Builder with over 1,000 practice problems

2. Advanced GMAT Prep Course: Starting from $1750

Pay as low as $146/month or choose 0% APR with Affirm.

  • Focuses on the most challenging material
  • Minimum score requirement needed to enroll
  • 6 GMAT practice tests
  • Full GMAT strategy guide set
  • Includes Manhattan Prep’s Advanced Quant Guide

3. On Demand GMAT Prep Course: $850

Pay as low as $71/month or choose 0% APR with Affirm.

  • 25+ video lessons
  • 6 GMAT practice tests
  • Full set of GMAT strategy guides
  • Complete the study plan with assignments for every stage
  • BUNDLE EXCLUSIVE: Option to add an admissions program for application support

4. Private Tutoring GMAT Prep Course: Starting from $2900

Pay as low as $242/month or choose 0% APR with Affirm.

  • 1-on-1 personalized instruction
  • Custom study plan tailored to your needs
  • Flexible timeline and goals for any GMAT version
  • All books and study resources provided
  • Hourly tutoring and flexible packages are available

Why Choose Kaplan Over Other Platforms?

Below are some of the Pros of Kaplan that make it better than the rest-

1. Live Online!

I doubt whether any other online platform than Kaplan provides students with Live Online lectures.

Classes with 100% live facilities, an interactive chat box making it easy for the students and the tutor to interact, an option to record the whole video so it is easy to playback later, or good for anyone who misses it out too.

These features make online life one of the best parts of Kaplan. 

2. A super cool online interface

Kaplan has a very user-friendly interface. Its users don’t have to spend a lot of time navigating, and all the tabs and their functions are easy to find.

This results in less time being wasted on finding out or “correctly” using the website or the app.

3. A large variety of questions

Kaplan provides a very comprehensive range of practice questions —more than 1000, whereas the other competitors tend to provide around 800.

This makes more room for extra practice and being safe, just in case! Kaplan has also been making sure that the students have plenty of questions to work on.

4. Helps you prepare for a whole range of exams

Kaplan helps students prepare for not only the GMAT but also a wide array of exams, including the GRE, IELTS, SAT, PSAT, and TOEFL.

5. Proper access to six full-length tests

Kaplan has it sorted for your students. It grants full-time access to six tests with questions similar to the original GMAT exams so that students have a basic and generalized idea of how the exams really function. Kaplan is prepping you already!

6. Variety of course formats to choose from

Kaplan offers a range of formats from which to choose. These formats are designed to suit the different yet specific needs of the customers. The three formats that Kaplan provides are:

  • Self-paced 
  • Live Online
  • In-Person

These formats allow users to learn at their own pace and in their comfort zones. Many users have also highly complimented these features!

7. Physical textbooks

Another great feature of Kaplan is that it provides physical study material. It provides not only two extensive, comprehensive, and knowledge-rich textbooks but also an extremely resourceful GMAT prep guide.

These guides or textbooks contain all the important details one must know about the MBA process. Users have also commented on how this guide comes in handy when going through the admission procedures.

8. Flexibility and Guidance

Kaplan is very high on flexibility and guidance. This is because they work 24/7 and have experts working with the students all the time.

This makes the working hours very flexible for students and attracts more such students.

The guidance provided by Kaplan is the best, without a shadow of a doubt.

They have the most prepped teachers to serve the students, making sure that students are guided in the best way possible for their exams and their future. 

9. Score boosting strategies

It is vital to have a properly planned and formulated strategy for boosting a score that leads students to good MBA colleges. An average score would lie between 300 and 600, but to get into a good-graded college, the score must be above 700.

For this, constant and rigorous practice with optimum time utilization is necessary. A proper strategy is required to achieve this.

And guess what? Kaplan does it all for its users, from having a proper strategy to actually helping students with good scores! 

10. Experience

Experience matters a lot! Kaplan has been in this field of education for more than 82 years now and has served with the utmost quality. During these years, Kaplan has known what the exams demand.

This really benefits the students in umpteen ways. Kaplan, as a platform, now knows what questions are asked in the exams and what the examiners really want the students to know.

This also helps Kaplan strategize effectively and create practice questions accordingly. It has now trained more than one million students worldwide, so you know you’re on the right track.

11. Material advantage

With more than 5,000 questions, test papers, live sessions, CDs, textbooks, and an overall preparation guide, Kaplan has the best study material. Its students have always given great reviews about how accurate the material has been.

This is a great advantage to Kaplan as most of its students trust the material.

This material advantage also gives you access to the six full-length GMAT tests, which are computer-adaptive, and makes sure the student is prepared for the actual test.

Why are you waiting? Go take advantage of the material for yourself!

12. Free Classes for Trial

Sometimes, students are unsure of which online platform to trust and invest in. Kaplan completely understands this notion of students, and so it provides free lessons.

These lessons help students decide whether or not they find these courses beneficial. You can, too, go and try them for yourselves!  

13. Has a Great Logical Reasoning Section

To anyone who wants to achieve a great sectional score in Logical Reasoning or Data Interpretation, Kaplan has your back! They have a great range of questions for LR.

A properly well-formulated sheet with questions of all the difficulty levels is created. So, anyone looking for a master in logical reasoning, here’s your savior!

16. Allows You to Register and Buy Books

Kaplan provides you with a variety of books online. These books help in a more in-depth preparation for the exam.

Registration of these books can be done online through their official website or on Amazon. Kaplan has surely taken care that its students get all the benefits. Grab your book now!

17. K+ Learning System

K+ learning system is a specially designed learning system for learning English on Kaplan. It is like an additional course that adds value. English is considered a global language.

Knowing English is necessary for communicating efficiently. This shows that Kaplan wants to give students not only knowledge regarding the exam but also to improve their personality and soft skills.

Being able to communicate well in English also helps the students do well in their personal interviews and group discussions. So, I hope you now know why Kaplan is the market leader!

18. A Refund is Available Too

If any of Kaplan’s users find issues after subscribing and paying for the course, Kaplan allows refunds. If the requirements are not met, the user can demand a refund within a stipulated period.

If the user believes that his/her needs are not being met, the refund option helps them. 

19. Some Free Resources Too!

Kaplan does not charge for everything, and I mean it. Kaplan does give out free resources, and you just have to make sure that you’re signed up for them!

What Improvements Does Kaplan Need?

Kaplan GMAT Review

Nothing is perfect, and so is Kaplan. Below are some of the improvements that I consider to be needed by Kaplan.

  • Customer Service

Here’s a problem: Kaplan does not provide a comprehensive overview of the questions it provides the students with. When students send in questions or complaints regarding any issues they face, Kaplan’s customer service does not reply!

Even if they reply, it comes in very late. The customer service at Kaplan can be described as very ineffective. This becomes a major drawback and discourages the students because their questions go unanswered.

It can also be described that the online responsiveness is too shallow, and it takes an average of three to seven business days to hear back from them.

  • Quality Might Become An Issue

A lot of student reviews and feedback show that the questions that Kaplan screens become very repetitive at times. This repetition of questions becomes annoying for students and makes them feel less competent.

Some students also complain about how this reduces their efficiency. Uh oh, a bad quality created a bad impression!

  • Training Sessions are the Bare Minimum

In terms of quality and time, Kaplan has been falling short. They do not really provide enough time for the users’ training. The live sessions or even the self-paced sessions are too short in duration.

The time limit does not help the students comprehend the whole concept clearly, implying that the durations must be longer to help the students do more.

Users have also complained that the “180” hours of teaching are not sufficient and that this period needs to be increased. However, one can communicate this issue to Kaplan customer service and get it fixed!

  • No Explanation of the Answers Given

This becomes a huge loophole. Many of Kaplan’s answers have no explanations, which makes it very strenuous for students actually to grasp the various concepts for better learning.

No explanations also leave the students unattended with doubts in their minds. Leaving them like this can become very dangerous for their understanding. 

  • The Prep Material is a Little Shallow

Here, little shallows imply the material is not really up to date and is a little ineffective. Some users have complained that the questions are not very brain-pondering and are pretty easy, too.

It can be good for beginners but not for those who are already done with their basics and want a set of challenging questions.

  • The Online Content Tends to Expire!

Even though Kaplan’s biggest advantage is its online content, we must not forget that it expires after a certain period of time. It has to be renewed after its expiry, which can strain our pockets.

If the content were free for a lifetime with only payment, it would’ve been better!

  • It Has Typos and Errors!

What a major fallout! Typos mean that Kaplan has typing errors where users have noticed incorrect spelling or grammar sometimes!

This brings down the standards of such market leaders and makes the students doubt their authenticity and reliability.

Kaplan GMAT Review- Should you Buy It or Not?

It’s now time for me to give an honest verdict on Kaplan. I feel it is an exceptional platform. In my opinion, anyone, from a beginner to a pro-level student, can use Kaplan.

It’s an easy user interface, and a commendable range of questions is undoubtedly unbeatable.

They also have extra facilities depending on the region. In India, they provide their students with “Kaplan International Pathways,” “Kaplan Schweser,” and “Kaplan Test Prep.”

These are like the extra benefits a user did not expect. After analyzing its pricing scheme and weighing its pros and cons, I would surely recommend Kaplan!

Pros and Cons of Kaplan GMAT Prep:

Pros:

  • Comprehensive study materials with a wide range of practice questions, video lessons, and mock tests.
  • Experienced instructors who are highly knowledgeable in GMAT.
  • Adaptive practice tests that adjust difficulty based on your performance.
  • Mobile app access allows you to study on-the-go.
  • Score guarantee offering a refund or free course if your score doesn’t improve.

Cons:

  • It is one of the pricier GMAT prep options.
  • The volume of material can be overwhelming for beginners.

FAQs

👉How to pay for a course?

One can pay for an online course on Kaplan through a major credit card.

👉I might miss the next online lecture, can Kaplan help me compensate with this?

Kaplan advises students to attend the online lectures in order to get maximum benefit but if due to some unavoidable reasons you tend to miss out on the session, the online live classes can be recorded and there is a playback option for such instances.

👉When can I expect my resource material to arrive?

The textbooks, MBA guide, and all the other resource material that a student is entitled to after subscribing with Kaplan reach the student in an average span of five to seven business days.

👉How can I provide feedback to Kaplan?

Feedback can be provided to Kaplan through their official website [email protected]

Quick Links

Conclusion: Kaplan GMAT Review 2024– Is it Really Worth Your Money?

Kaplan is a solid option that students must choose. However, they can use other guides in conjunction to achieve a better score.

Using other guides with Kaplan will make sure everything goes hand in hand and gives better results.

Other supplements like official practice tests and other in-depth guides will make the whole learning process more effective.

Therefore, in conclusion, it is suggested that other supplements be used with Kaplan to achieve better results and a solid GMAT score.

Kaplan Online Course for GMAT is surely a great platform. However, like every digital platform, it has its own set of advantages and shortcomings, which can be ignored with some meticulous practices.

Kaplan provides all the necessary tools for abiding by ethical practices and dedicating all efforts to the success of the students. 

Hopefully, this Kaplan GMAT Review will help guide you in choosing the right GMAT course.

aishwar

I am the Founder of GizmoBase and also cofounder at Affiliatebay.net, a digital marketing agency that specializes in content and data-driven SEO. With over 7 years of experience in digital marketing and affiliate marketing, I have developed a deep understanding of various domains, including ecommerce, startups, social media marketing, make money online, affiliate marketing, and human capital management. I am passionate about sharing my knowledge and expertise in these areas to help businesses thrive.

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