Frequently Asked Questions

In addition to 26 hours of classroom instruction and free office hours on Sunday evenings, every Sherpa GRE course includes the following materials, free of charge:

1. Our exclusive seven-volume guide to the GRE Master Key to the GRE
2. More than thirty hours of online video content.
3. Six computer-based practice exams.
4. Our new app for iPhones and iPads, “GRE Math by Sherpa Prep”.

If you’d like to read more about our materials, click here!

Nope. All course materials are covered by your course fee. Everything you will ever need to study for the GRE is included with the course.

To be considered for an instructor position at Sherpa Prep, candidates must score in the top one percent of GRE test-takers. His or her academic qualifications must include a business, law, Master’s or Doctoral degree from a top university, or current enrollment in such a program. He or she must also have several years of experience as an instructor. Once hired, instructors undergo three months of training before teaching their first class. This training is augmented every few months with periodic review sessions to keep instructors up-to-date, and every instructor receives ongoing mentoring from a senior instructor. If you’d like to read more about the qualifications of our instructors, click here!

Absolutely. Check us out on Trustpilot, Google, or Yelp, or read some of the reviews on our Specials & Partnerships page.

Our students are welcome to enroll in a second course one time, free of charge, for any reason! This is a “no hoops” policy that is good for up to one year from the start date of your original course and can be used for any reason. To employ our free-enroll option, just send an email to info@sherpaprep.com, letting us know which course you’d like to join.

The free re-enrollment option must be used to register for a course that begins within one year of the start date of your original course (ie. if your original course begins on March 15, your free re-enroll course must begin on or before March 14 of the following year). The free re-enroll option includes six months of access to the student portal.

Please note that a student who enrolls in a GRE course cannot use his or her free-enroll option to join a GMAT course, or vice versa. Our free-enroll option is intended to help students maximize their preparation for a particular test, not prepare them for a new exam.

Our students are welcome to make up any class that they miss. For a $10 rescheduling fee, we are happy to have our students attend an identical class that occurs on a different date or time, or at a different location. There is no limit to the number of classes that a student can reschedule. If you’ve missed a class, you can make it up! To reschedule, send an email to info@sherpaprep.com, letting us know which class you missed (e.g. class 3 on July 10th), and we’ll send you a list of every upcoming option.

Students can also make up missed classes with private instruction at our “student rate” of $65 an hour.

Roughly 8 to 10 hours a week. We wish that students could simply show up for class and ace the exam. Unfortunately, some of the concepts tested by the GRE are relatively sophisticated, and no amount of classroom guidance can ever do away with student “elbow grease”. We will give you all the “know how” that you will ever need to master these concepts, but it is critical that you work through our course materials outside of class to make it happen.

We do not. To be honest, we are not big fans of such courses. While we certainly understand that some students have chaotic schedules or pressing deadlines, we also know that proper preparation cannot be rushed. The GRE is a challenging exam, and many of the concepts that it tests cannot be mastered over the course of a week or a weekend. There is no substitute for thorough preparation and elbow grease, and we hate to see students short-change their potential if there is any way that they can avoid doing so. We strongly recommend that students hold off their preparation until they can study properly. It’s better to do things the right way and get a solid score the first time around than to throw away money and put a poor score on your GRE transcript.

The answer to this question differs for everyone and generally depends on a host of factors, such as a student’s goals, abilities, and freedom to study. As a rule, we recommend that students consult with their instructor before signing up for the exam. The GRE is challenging, and our course is intensive, so seeking the guidance of an expert who is familiar with your goals, skills, and challenges is something that we strongly recommend before registering!

Once our course ends, students have a number of support options that they can access at any time. They can:

1. Attend our free hours on Sunday evenings for one year from the start date of their original course.
2. Request a check-in with your instructor for one year from the start date of their original course.
3. Receive private instruction at our discounted student rate of $65 per hour. The student tutoring rate is available for up to one year from the start date of your original course.
4. Enroll in a second Sherpa course, at no cost, and with no questions asked! The free course must begin within one year of the start date of their original course.

In addition, we host periodic seminars on a variety of topics that are available only to Sherpa students.

Your course purchase provides six months of access to our student portal, starting from the day your course begins. Our free-enroll option, which is good for up to one year from the start date of your original course, also supplies six months of free access. If, after completing your course, you would like to make use of the additional six months of access that comes with your free-enroll option, but do not feel the need to enroll in a second course, just send an email to info@sherpaprep.com: we would be happy to grant you the additional six months of access that come with the free-enroll option in lieu of enrolling you in a second course!

Because we want it to be. Giving students the best possible experience at a good price is something that’s important to us. We’re teachers. We care about what we do and we care about helping people.

Yes, we could offer shorter classes with fewer perks, and we could raise our prices considerably. Doing so, however, would make us just like everyone else. We exceed industry standards because students deserve better. Were we to offer anything less, our students would be a lot less successful — and Sherpa Prep a lot less popular.

If you are interested in enrolling in one of our courses, there are two ways to do so - through our website or over the phone. To sign up through our website, visit the Find a Course page and click on the course that you would like to take. Rest assured that your credit card and personal information will be completely safe and secure throughout the checkout process. We utilize 128-bit encryption, the latest and strongest level of SSL encryption currently available. To sign up over the phone, give us a call at 202-248-1679. Our hours of operation are 9am to 8pm on Mondays through Thursdays, 9am to 6pm on Fridays, and 10am to 5pm on weekends.

Our courses have no registration deadlines. We do, however, encourage students to sign up as soon as possible. We keep our classes small and they can fill up fast. If you wait until the last possible moment to register, we cannot guarantee that the course you want will still be available.

Unfortunately, we do not accept walk-ins. All course purchases must be made in advance.

As long as that class still has space, absolutely. While we recommend that every student take his or her course in order from beginning to end, we recognize that some students have tight schedules and pressing needs. Missed classes can be made up on different dates or with private instruction at our “student rate” of $65 an hour. For more on this rate, check out our private instruction page.

Our students are welcome to switch courses up to 48 hours before their course starts. To do so, just send an email to info@sherpaprep.com containing the start date and location of the course that you’d like to join.

If your course has already started, there are two ways to switch courses:

1. You can use your free-enroll option to join a new course. Our free re-enroll option may be used to enroll in any course that begins within one year of the start date of your original enrollment.
2. If you'd prefer to hold onto your free-enroll option, just send us an email on the start date of any course that you’d like to join. If we still have an extra seat, we'd be happy to give it to you at no cost (without using your free-enroll option)!

We do! You can find them on our Specials & Partnerships page. Please note, however, that there is a limit of one discount per customer. We cannot combine offers.

Sherpa Prep students may request a full refund up to 48 hours prior to the start of their course, less a cancellation fee of $50. (The cancellation fee is necessary to offset the non-refundable fees charged by your credit card company and/or SplitIt). After this point, our course fee is final. In the case of an emergency, we are happy to postpone a student’s enrollment at no cost, provided that we receive proper documentation. Because of our commitment to small class sizes, this is a no-exception policy.

Please note that postponement or rescheduling of the original course date will not extend the refund eligibility period. A student who enrolls in a course that begins on July 31st at 6:30pm EST, for example, can receive a full refund at any point prior to July 29th at 6:30 pm EST, but no later, regardless of whether they later switch to a course that begins on a later date, such as August 15th or September 1st.

Yes! Our students can use SplitIt to break our course tuition into two, three, or four monthly installments. If you do not wish to use SplitIt, or are unable to do so, we can still set up an installment plan for you. Our only requirement is that the installments be completed before the start date of the course that you wish to join. If this interests you, just send an email to info@sherpaprep.com, detailing the payment schedule that you would like and we’ll take care of the rest! We can structure the plan any way that you’d like and will confirm your enrollment after the initial installment has been paid.

Yes. Prior to their first class, all students must provide an up-to-date state issued ID such as a driver's license or passport whose name and picture match those of the student attending the class. In addition, all live online students are required to keep their video feeds on during class to ensure proof of identification throughout the course.

We are happy to supply a certification of completion to any student who requests one!

Yes we did.

We enjoyed the joke, and we know that a lot of you did too. Unfortunately, it was time to grow up.

Along the most mountainous regions of Nepal live an amazing group of people known as Sherpa. Many Sherpa are highly regarded as elite mountaineers, renown for their hardiness, experience, and expertise as guides. Most expeditions to Mt. Everest are assisted by Sherpa, who prep the most treacherous parts of the ascent to help others reach the top.

Naturally, we deeply admire the Sherpa. We may not risk our lives to help our students — the GRE (mercifully) isn't dangerous — but we know how to guide them from the base of the GRE mountain to the summit.

Just bring a pen, paper, and ID. We'll provide the rest. If possible, we also recommend that you bring a smartphone, tablet, or laptop to class. There's no need to buy anything. All the course materials -- the books, exams, app, and video content -- come with the course, free of charge.

When you enroll, our books will be delivered within 24 to 48 hours by Amazon Prime. All other materials will be provided the first day of class.

It's not. Our books will be delivered to you within 24 to 48 hours by Amazon Prime and a loaner copy will be provided in class.

There isn't. If you'd like to get started ahead of time, great! Begin working through our book on Arithmetic & "Plan B" Strategies and start memorizing level 1 of our vocabulary list. (You'll find this list at the back of your book titled “Sentence Completion & the Essays”, which can be found in the “materials” section of your student portal.) None of this is required, though. If you don't do anything before your first class, you'll be just fine.

For a $10 rescheduling fee, our students are welcome to make up any class that they miss in any other course that we offer. To do so, send an email to info@sherpaprep.com. Let us know the class that you'll miss (e.g. "class 3") and we'll send you a list of upcoming make-up options.

Office hours are held online via Zoom every Sunday evening from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. ET. Live Online or at our Dupont Circle location. To attend, just send an email to info@sherpaprep.com no later than 6 p.m. on the Friday beforehand!

You can. Send your new contact information to info@sherpaprep.com. We'll update your records accordingly.

Our students are welcome to switch courses up to 48 hours before their course starts. To do so, just send an email to info@sherpaprep.com containing the start date and location of the course that you’d like to join.

If your course has already started, there are two ways to switch courses:

1. You can use your free-enroll option to join a new course. Our free re-enroll option may be used on any course that begins within one year of the start date of your original enrollment.
2. If you'd prefer to hold onto your free-enroll option, just send us an email on the start date of any course that you’d like to join. If we still have an extra seat, we'd be happy to give it to you at no cost (without using your free-enroll option)!

When you enrolled, a personalized welcome email was sent to the email address that you used to sign up. If you enrolled during working hours — which are 9am to 8pm Monday through Thursday, 9am to 6pm on Friday, and 10am to 6pm on weekends — this email was probably sent within a few hours of enrolling, if not sooner. If it's been more than 24 hours since you signed up, and you haven't received our welcome email, check your spam folder. If you still can't find it, or believe that you may have deleted it accidentally, please reach out to us at info@sherpaprep.com!

Two things. First, read through your personalized welcome email. This contains valuable information regarding your course. Then read through the reminder we'll send you the night before your course starts. These two emails contain everything you need to know before your first class.

In addition to 26 hours of classroom instruction and free office hours on Sunday evenings, every Sherpa GRE course includes the following materials, free of charge:

1. Our exclusive seven-volume guide to the GRE Master Key to the GRE
2. More than thirty hours of online video content.
3. Six computer-based practice exams.
4. Our new app for iPhones and iPads, “GRE Math by Sherpa Prep”.

If you’d like to read more about our materials, click here!

Unfortunately, no. Our intellectual property may only be viewed by students who have purchased one of our courses. Transferring or sharing any of your account credentials is not permitted.