StudyPool.com

Step 1: About StudyPool.com

We want to begin this review of Study Pool by pointing out that this is not a writing service. Instead, they refer to themselves as a micro tutoring site. Here’s what that means according to StudyPool.

A student will go to the StudyPool.com website to ask an academic question. Then, tutors will review that question and send bids to help provide the answer.  Students may ask anything from a simple factual question to a complex research inquiry as an alternative. Once the student accepts the bid, they work directly with the tutor. 

In essence, Study Pool is a tutoring clearinghouse. This means they simply act as the go-between for students and tutors.

Since this isn’t a writing service, we had to make some adjustments to our review process. For example, there was no written work to judge for plagiarism or grammar. However, we were still able to judge quality and reputation by taking the following steps:

• Explored the StudyPool.com website
• Read customer reviews
• Researched the company on Reddit, BBB, and other online sources to gauge reputation
• Compared prices to similar services
• Searched for discounts and coupon codes
• Reviewed Study Pool policies
• Engaged with customer support
• Explored payment methods, site security, and extra features

So, is this a writing service or not? We did learn through our research that students select from a variety of categories when asking their questions. One of these is ‘writing questions’. So, it does appear as if some writing help is available. However, it isn’t structured like standard writing services where a particular number of pages is guaranteed.

Keep reading to learn more about what we learned. Our final verdict is in the last section.

Step 2: Quality of Products and Services

We read online reviews and testimonials in order to learn as much as we could about the quality of products and services offered by StudyPool.com. Like many sites that use the bidding process, we learned that quality depends very much on the experience of the tutor. The reviews we read were very mixed. We had the opportunity to review a few samples that we obtained, and our experience was that much of the work that the tutors here are doing isn’t particularly special. Students may be able to get similar results by asking for help from their peers or joining a study group.

Step 3: Writers and Support

Writer quality at Study Pool varies quite a bit. Some appear to have exaggerated their qualifications by quite a bit. That’s concerning for sure. We did contact customer support with some basic questions. They were polite, professional, and helpful.

Step 4: Prices

The cost of getting help from StudyPool.com can vary widely. The pricing structure here is very complex. Prices depend on a variety of factors such as the type of help the student is seeking, and how complex the work is. Students who sign up to submit questions have to set a budget and estimate the number of hours it will take for someone to complete the work. This is done via a form on the Study Pool website. They must budget a minimum of 20 dollars per hour. However, students are encouraged to set their budgets as high as possible to get more bids. It’s also important to keep in mind that the actual amount of time it takes to get the answer they need could be much longer than those minimums. One common complaint from students was that tutors seemed to try to stretch the work out as long as possible to charge as much as possible.

Step 5: Additional Features and Discounts

We didn’t find any sort of discount system or promo code that students can use to save money. However, that is understandable given the bidding nature of Study Pool. 

In terms of extra features, there is a lot here. However, most of it is premium content that requires a subscription to access. Students who opt for one of the two tiers of subscriptions can access study guides, notes, and other documents. Much of this is crowdsourced from other students. Subscribers can even enter their college or university to access materials that are specifically relevant to their school. This includes academic papers that have been uploaded by other students.

While we don’t think this makes StudyPool.com a scam, we do have concerns about proper disclaimers. It would be nice if the study guides were accompanied by a warning that students would be committing fraud if they used these as their own papers. Also, while the study guides are legit, the site should make it clear that they aren’t a substitute for reading and understanding the materials.

Verdict

After weighing the pros & cons, our final verdict is fair. Based on our research, we believe that Study Pool is trustworthy enough that services are delivered after students place an order for bids. Additionally, we found that some extra materials are quite useful for studying. Unfortunately, we are still unable to provide a full endorsement as the quality of work appears to be very uneven. Some students were quite happy with their answers. Others complained of low quality, failure to meet their deadline, and difficulty in obtaining a refund when their tutor failed to do the work that they agreed to complete. We highly encourage students to do their own research and to consider other services.