Magoosh

Magoosh is an online test prep company offering self-paced courses for admissions and language exams. Its home page lists eight tests, the GRE, GMAT, SAT, ACT, TOEFL, IELTS, MCAT and LSAT, so the same product serves a college applicant, a graduate school applicant, a future doctor or lawyer, and a non-native speaker proving their English. It is a learner product: students sign up, work through lessons and questions on their own schedule, and track their progress as they go. The company describes itself as "a small team on a mission to improve test prep" and states its aim plainly: "We believe we can level the playing field by giving every student access to effective, affordable, and engaging test prep tools." The name, the site explains, is a play on the Old Persian word magush, "one who is highly learned, wise and generous."

What a course includes

The home page describes three building blocks.

Self-paced courses. Each course combines "Expert-crafted practice questions, engaging video lessons, and detailed explanations," all "backed by analytics to track your progress." The video lessons are the part learners mention most. On the GRE side, students name the instructors Chris and Mike, and one describes the lessons as "highly comprehensive and step-by-step." Another says the course taught the underlying math and English rather than tricks for tackling the test, which is what he had been getting from an expensive classroom course. Every practice question comes with an explanation, and learners describe two forms of feedback on progress: score predictors, and a running score range for each section of the test.

Personalized AI tutoring. Magoosh offers an AI-powered tutor that provides "Instant scoring, step-by-step guidance, and targeted feedback."

Mobile apps. Magoosh publishes "iOS and Android prep and flashcard apps," pitched with the line "Turn any minute into study time." One GRE learner cites the flashcard apps, video lessons and score predictors together as the features that sold her on the product.

Behind the software sits a support team. Several learners describe emailing a question about a practice problem and getting an answer back, one saying she "would receive an answer and explanation right away," another that every question was "answered within 24 hours." Outside the courses, Magoosh runs a blog that one learner says he followed regularly before subscribing, and the site links to its YouTube channel.

The scale behind it

The home page headline says "More than 10 Million Students Have Said Hello to Stress-Free Studying," and the page adds three usage figures: 550 million practice questions answered, students in 185 countries, and 13 million hours of video lessons watched. It also shows an average rating of 4.7 out of 5. Those numbers describe the whole platform across all of its exams.

What learners report

The home page's "Wall of love" carries detailed stories, all from GRE students, and they give a clearer picture of how the product is used than the feature list does.

A future physical therapist from the United States studied for one month and moved from 149 to 152 in math. She had prepared before from a book alone and says the videos "were what really made a difference for me because I learn best when I have a teacher who explains the lessons to me," adding that Magoosh was "way more affordable than most other options."

A student from India with a science background prepared for about 45 days and reports a combined score of 310+. He says he "subscribed for a free 7 day trial" and bought a premium membership before it ran out, found the practice questions "a bit more difficult than the actual GRE," and sums up the method in one line: "This is where Magoosh scores."

A learner from Germany spent four months with Magoosh and raised her Quant score from 146 to 158, the threshold her target program required, after a year of preparation with other material had not moved it. She credits the teachers, who "are really on a student's side."

A returning student who had spent three years teaching English abroad was intimidated by the GRE; she read testimonials and watched a few sample videos before signing up, and ended up scoring better on verbal than on math, the reverse of what she expected. A future education policy student who chose Magoosh because she learns "through doing many problems" describes "an extensive database of questions" and a program she "could use whenever I liked, following my own schedule."

Other stories add detail on the service. A student whose one month subscription was about to run out four days before her test emailed the team and had it extended. A learner from Brazil liked that the lessons go deeper than "superficial theory" because "GRE has been changing a lot lately." A computer science applicant from Ecuador, studying for 3 to 4 months, calls the price "very fair and honest" and the customer care "great." A chemical engineering student who prepared for one month took both Magoosh and PowerPrep practice tests and valued that she "could track my progress whenever I practiced questions."

Pricing and access

The home page publishes no prices. Learners' stories refer to a premium membership, a one month subscription and a free 7 day trial. For institutions, the footer links to School & District Plans and a Partner With Us page.

Who it suits

Magoosh suits a self-directed student who wants to prepare at home, at their own pace, with a teacher explaining each concept on video and a large bank of explained questions to practice on. The stories show it working for very different people: a career changer returning to math after years away, an international applicant who found classroom coaching expensive and shallow, and a professional with two years of work experience heading back for a master's degree. The AI tutor and mobile apps make it practical to study in short sessions, and the range of eight exams means a student can stay with one familiar platform from the SAT or ACT through to a graduate admissions test.

The format is self-study rather than live teaching, so a learner who needs a scheduled class or a personal tutor to keep them on track should plan their own routine. Within that format, the mix of video teaching, explained questions and quick email answers is what its learners single out most often.