Frequently Asked Questions

About Our Classes

What materials are included in the course?

Every Sherpa Prep course includes 4 books and 8 computer adaptive GMAT exams, as well as 500+ pages of our exclusive materials and 30+ hours of online video.

We have spent years developing our materials, and continue to improve them on a daily basis. They provide extensive analysis of every question type, from the most basic to the most advanced, and provide access to essential information that goes well beyond what you will find in store-bought materials. Whether a given topic is a strength or a weakness, the depth and clarity of the material will allow you to develop a firm control of the fundamentals of that topic and to practice them to the point of mastery.

To complement these materials, we also provide our students every Official Guide for GMAT Review and eight computer adaptive GMAT exams. These books and exams provide thousands of examples of actual GMAT questions, and provide students the most realistic preparatory questions available anywhere.

Do I have to pay for the course materials separately?

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

What are your instructors’ qualifications?

To be considered for an instructor position at Sherpa Prep, candidates must score in the top one percent of GMAT 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!

Do you have any testimonials or references that I can read?

Absolutely. Check out our Testimonials & Specials page!

Are your classes guaranteed?

All our courses are guaranteed by our Free-Repeat policy. This policy allows students to repeat their course one time, free of charge, for any reason. This is a “no hoops” policy that is designed to protect students from any circumstance, no matter how unusual or unfortunate. And because our guarantee has no time limit, students can feel assured that they will have our support whenever they need it. To make use of it, students simply need to let us know that they need to repeat their course and we do the rest!

What are my options if I have to miss a class?

If an emergency comes up, we are happy to have our students attend a class that occurs on a different evening or at a different location. However, we strongly encourage students to take our courses in the order that they are given, as each class builds upon the classes before it!

Students can also make up missed classes with private instruction at our “student rate” of $40 an hour. Most students find that 1.5 hours of private instruction equates to one full class session.

How much work should I expect to put in outside of class?

Roughly 10 hours a week. We wish that students could simply show up for class and ace the exam. Unfortunately, many of the concepts tested by the GMAT are quite 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.

Do you offer weekend boot camps or intensive, one-week crash courses?

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 GMAT 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 GMAT transcript.

How soon after the course should I take the GMAT?

We recommend that most students take their exam 1-2 weeks after their course ends. While students will receive every piece of information that they need to score in the 99th percentile by the day their course ends, most students are better off giving themselves an extra week or two to master that material properly. In our experience, we have found that private schedules have a way of interfering with most students’ preparation at least once during their course. An extra week or two is a great way of ensuring that all the necessary exams, notes, and books are completed before taking the GMAT.

What if I need more help after the course?

In the unlikely event that students need more help after our course, our free-repeat guarantee and our special “student rate” for private instruction will remain good at any time. To make use of either, students only need to give us a call and we’ll take care of the rest.

About Enrollment

Why is your course so affordable?

Needless to say, we get this question a lot. Common variants include, “what’s the catch?” and “are you a scam?” Personally, we think students should be asking a different question: “why are other courses so expensive?”

Most national companies pay their instructors $18 to $26 an hour. Course venues typically cost $10 to $20 an hour. Classroom materials usually cost $40 to $80 dollars a student. So, in a course set in a large conference hall, with 40 or more students each paying $1,500 or more to attend, where is all the money going?

If you ask around, you’re typically told that the high course fees are necessary to support “research” or to assure “the highest caliber product possible”. What’s odd about such explanations is that even at our prices, we can afford to limit our courses to 12 students or fewer, offer students twice as many classroom hours, and pay our instructors up to three times the industry standard. What’s odder still is that we can also afford to provide course materials that are considerably more extensive and far better researched.

The truth of the matter is that high course fees are used to support nation-wide advertising campaigns, endless tiers of middle management, and multi-million dollar compensation packages for top-level executives.

By keeping our overhead low and organization streamlined, we can give students a great product at a reasonable price.

How do I register for a course?

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, go to our “Class Schedules” 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 256-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 9:00am to 6:30pm, Monday through Friday, and 10:00am to 3:00pm, on weekends.

What is the last date I may register for a course?

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.

May I show up for a class and register there?

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

Can I join a class that has already started?

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 $40 an hour. For more on this rate, check out our Private Instruction page.

Do you offer any discounts?

Absolutely. Check out our Testimonials & Specials page!

What is your refund policy?

Students are eligible for a full course refund up until two days before the start date of their course, save for a $99 cancellation fee. After that point, the course fee is final. In the case of emergencies, course purchases can be postponed and used at a later date, or given to a colleague or friend.

Unfortunately, these policies are necessary to ensure that (1) students do not reserve, and thereby withhold, our limited classroom space from other customers, and that (2) Sherpa Prep materials and techniques are not used or distributed elsewhere free of charge.

Can I pay in installments?

We are happy to let anyone pay in installments, as long as the entire course fee is paid prior to the start date of the course.

About Us

Did you use to be Test-Ease?

Yes we did.

Why did you change your name?

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

Why did you choose the name Sherpa?

To climb Mt. Everest, most people employ Sherpas to reach the summit. A Sherpa is an elite mountaineer who rigs the most treacherous portions of the mountain so that their clients can also complete the ascent. We think it’s fair to say that many students think of the GMAT as their personal Mt. Everest -- a formidable obstacle that they’re better off not tackling alone.

We also think the word sounds cool.