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Kaplan vs Princeton Review SAT & ACT
A detailed, side-by-side comparison of the Kaplan and Princeton Review Digital SAT & ACT prep courses
When comparing SAT and ACT prep courses, Kaplan and Princeton Review have numerous similarities. Both are test prep giants, offering extensive curriculums with video lessons, live lectures, printed prep books, and more. So when the two packages you’re looking at for your SAT/ACT prep are as similar as these two courses, how do you choose? We take a close look at both the Kaplan and Princeton Review Digital SAT and ACT prep courses in this post so you can make an informed decision on which course is best for you.
Find jump-to links above so you can easily navigate through this detailed SAT & ACT comparison.
Video: Kaplan or Princeton Review?
In the video above, John from the Test Prep Insight team breaks down everything you need to know about how the Digital SAT & ACT prep courses from Kaplan and Princeton Review stack up. He covers all the major features like prep books, live online classes, video lessons, and a lot more. Please continue reading our full written comparison below for more detail and analysis.
Why Kaplan Is Better Than Princeton Review For SAT & ACT Prep
To truly compare the SAT and ACT prep courses from Princeton Review and Kaplan, it’s important you understand all the different study materials and features that each company provides. So with that in mind, let’s discuss what Kaplan has to offer and why you should use one of their prep courses to help you prepare for the Digital SAT or ACT exam.
Kaplan Course Options and Pricing
Kaplan offers several different course formats for SAT and ACT prep:
On Demand
Live Online
Tutoring + Live Online
Bootcamp
Unlimited Prep
The On Demand course is Kaplan’s most basic package and carries a price tag of just around $200. This package includes 50 or so video lessons for SAT (30 for ACT), 1,000+ practice problems in the question bank (2,000 ACT) and 2 full-length tests (5 for ACT).
As such, it is really their starter prep package. But as far as SAT and ACT self-study courses go, this is a pretty affordable option. In fact, it is about $100 cheaper than Princeton Review’s comparable offering.
One of Kaplan’s SAT practice question text explanations
At the next level up, Kaplan offers its Live Online course. This is their flagship offering, and generally regarded as their “standard” package. This course includes the same materials as the Self-Paced package, but adds in 18 hours of live class work for SAT (16 for ACT) and a Digital SAT practice book.
At roughly $800, this offering is still a bargain for the resources and about $150 cheaper than Princeton Review’s analogous course.
For students who need extra help, Kaplan’s Bootcamp or Tutoring + Live Online courses are great options. Both of these courses include personalized attention and instruction. These options cost around $800 and $2,000, respectively.
Finally, Kaplan offers its Unlimited Prep package for students that need extended content access and ACT/AP/PSAT prep.
This package is basically the same as the Live Online course, buts grants students unlimited, full access to all of Kaplan’s PSAT and AP prep material, as well as SAT/ACT Live Online classes until December of their senior year. This package carries a price tag of around $2,000.
Course options and pricing current as of date of publication.
Evaluation Of Kaplan’s Coursework
Kaplan provides an all-round stellar SAT and ACT curriculum that is rivaled only by, you guessed it…. Princeton Review. Their course structure is extensive and covers every conceivable testable point on both entrance exams.
They provide this coverage through live classes (unless you’re a Self-Paced enrollee), video lessons, drills, practice questions, practice tests, books and more. This is a lot of study resources.
The highlight of the Kaplan prep course is their series of video lessons. More on this below in the video lesson section, but these videos are about the best in the space.
And complementing these video-based lectures as the other half of Kaplan’s instructional work, Live Online and Unlimited Prep students get 18+ hours of live instruction (16 for ACT).
These classes take place in a digital classroom, with an instructor that is a top SAT or ACT scorer and has been vetted by Kaplan for communication and teaching skills.
My personal experience in the Kaplan Live Online class was very positive. The classes were detailed, engaging and the instruction was excellent. The classes also provided a deeper dive into the material than you get with the video lessons.
One of the Kaplan interactive video lessons
Beyond the video lessons, Kaplan provides students with a couple hundred drills and 1,000+ Digital SAT practice questions and 2,000 ACT problems to test the material you learn.
The drills generally take the form of “select all that apply” type questions and fill-in-the-blank.
These do an excellent job testing what you learn in different ways, increasing comprehension and retention. The drills are backed up by thousands of test-like practice questions.
The Kaplan questions closely resemble real Digital SAT and ACT questions, and are generally very high-quality. And each question is accompanied by a thorough text-based solution (same story with PrepScholar).
My one real complaint with the Kaplan SAT ands ACT prep course is that they don’t provide a corresponding video solution with every practice question like they do with the quiz questions.
If I could ask for one thing, that would be it. And interestingly, this is the same singular issue we had with Princeton Review’s course.
In addition to the lessons and practice work, Kaplan also provides 2 full-length Digital SAT practice tests (5 for ACT). For the record, Princeton Review provides more simulated practice tests though.
Finally, Kaplan also provides a set of very respectable SAT and ACT prep books. The Kaplan “Course Book” in particular is worth noting, as it contains a boatload of great testing strategies and content review, interlaced with graphics and practice problems.
As noted above, the highlight of the Kaplan course is their video-based instruction. These video lessons are seriously next level and are better than Princeton Review’s video lectures. In fact, they might be the best in SAT/ACT prep.
Rather than some prerecorded lecture with grainy footage that you get with other prep providers, you get a series of short, engaging clips that take a very casual approach to teaching.
Your instructor sits on a couch (sometimes with a Starbucks coffee in hand) and teaches the lesson in a very conversational manner. It kind of feels like you’re listening to a friend tell you a story.
Another view of one of Kaplan’s stellar video lessons
Additionally, as the instructor speaks, animations, catchy graphics and text appears around them for increased understanding. But it is not just a casual chat in these videos.
From time to time the screen will cut to a digital whiteboard where your instructor will work a practice problem to exemplify a point.
The instructor still appears on screen in the bottom corner with their tablet and stylus, but the focus becomes how to work through the example question step-by-step.
These interspersed problems keep the lecture light and varied.
This format, combined with the short length, makes for a very engaging lesson that grabs and holds your attention. It really surprised me how much valuable content their instructors could share in such a short and light-hearted lesson.
In terms of lecture effectiveness, I can’t see it would get much better than these Kaplan video lessons.
Highlight: Modern Digital Platform
Lastly, I know this may be a minor point for some people, but our team prefers the user experience of Kaplan’s digital platform over Princeton Review’s.
The Kaplan online platform is intuitive, simple and aesthetically pleasing. Overall, our team was very impressed.
Why Princeton Review Is Better Than Kaplan For SAT & ACT Prep
Now that you have a good idea of what Kaplan has to offer, let’s turn the tables and discuss the major reasons to consider using Princeton Review to help you prepare for the Digital SAT or ACT.
Princeton Review Course Options & Pricing
Unlike other Digital SAT and ACT prep companies that offer just one or two options to choose from, Princeton Review provides four course formats for their students. And this is for good reason. Each is very different in terms of features, price and more, accommodating every learning style and budget. The four choices include:
Self-Paced
Essentials
SAT 1400+/ACT 31+
SAT 1500+ Tutoring/ACT 34+ Tutoring
The Self-Paced course, Princeton Review’s entry level package, runs for just under $300 for Digital SAT or ACT only, or around $500 for the combined SAT/ACT dual package.
For reference, this is $100 more than Kaplan’s comparable self-paced course. This package offers video lessons, practice questions and practice tests, but not books or live classes.
I do note here that you get more practice problemsand practice testswith Princeton Review than with Kaplan.
Directly comparable to Kaplan’s Live Online course, Princeton Review offers its Essentials package. This course is Princeton’s flagship offering and carries a price tag of $950.
And just like Kaplan, this package offers the same materials as the self-paced version but kicks in 18 hours of live class work and prep books.
It’s really weird just how similar these offerings are. The main difference is just price ($150 difference) and that you get more practice work with Princeton Review.
A sample Princeton Review SAT practice question
Unlike Kaplan, however, Princeton Review offers a couple of unique packages built around score guarantees. Their 1400+ and 1500+ SAT prep courses and ACT 31+ package promise scores of at least those respective amounts.
That is, the 1400+ course promises a score of at least 1400 on the SAT and the 31+ score promises a score of at least 31 on the ACT.
Now, there are some requirements around this guarantee, such as a threshold initial score, but this is pretty cool.
These packages accomplish this promise through additional live class work and 1-on-1 tutoring, with a focus on the toughest subjects. In terms of price, these packages start north of $2,000.
If you are looking for a more affordable SAT or ACT prep course, you may want to consider Magoosh.
Course options and pricing current as of date of publication.
Evaluation Of The Princeton Review Study Materials
Very similar to Kaplan, Princeton Review offers an extremely comprehensive SAT and ACT curriculum, with the same general study resources as their main rival.
That is, live classes, video lessons, practice questions, prep books and practice tests make up the foundation of this course.
The Princeton prep work starts with their 135+ video lessons. We did find the Kaplan video lessons to be slightly better, but Princeton definitely holds its own.
Taking a different approach than Kaplan, Princeton Review employs a video format of your instructor standing onscreen before a plain white background.
As they deliver their lesson, written notes and practice problems are superimposed on the screen around them. Specifically, the text is actually superimposed in front of them.
A look at the Princeton Review SAT video lessons
This allows the teacher to use a marker to write on the screen and mark up the written text and onscreen practice problems as they see fit. This creates a really engaging and dynamic experience that does a nice job of holding your attention.
Additionally, like Kaplan, these videos are quite short – generally just 5 to 15 minutes in length depending on the subject. As such, the Princeton Review videos are also a good fit for high school students.
Princeton Review also provides some top shelf textbooks. I found these books to be extremely well-written and clear. The content review and testing strategies contained in the primary course book, the SAT Manual (ACT Manual for the ACT course), were drafted in an easily understandable fashion and sprinkled with great example problems.
When it comes to practice material, Princeton Review easily gets the win. In terms of volume, Princeton Review beats Kaplan almost across the board. They provide 2,000 SAT and 1,200 ACT practice questions, to Kaplan’s 1,000 SAT and 2,000 ACT problems.
In addition, Princeton Review provides 6 Digital SAT practice tests and 8 to 14 ACT simulated exams, to Kaplan’s 2 SAT and 5 ACT exams.
But in terms of quality, the two companies are about the same, both offering superb practice material(same story when comparing Magoosh as well).
Princeton’s practice questions, like Kaplan’s, closely mirror official Digital SAT and ACT questions, and I had a hard time discerning between Princeton Review’s practice problems and real exam questions when side-by-side.
Highlight: Live SAT & ACT Classes
The highlight of the Princeton Review SAT/ACT course is their live instruction. Whether you’re in the Essentials, ACT 31+ or SAT 1400+ course, you’re going to get some first-rate live lessons.
I found the Princeton Review instructors to be about the best around. The Princeton Review instructor of the course I took was smart, a great communicator, and very funny.
He was always open to questions and seemed to know the exam as well as the test makers themselves.
In addition to some best-in-class instructors, Princeton Review’s live classes also deliver a great structure and excellent content. The lessons are jam-packed with all of the most important Digital SAT and ACT details, covering both content review and test taking strategies.
Princeton Review gives you some helpful shortcuts and techniques for getting to the correct answer as efficiently as possible. Further, the content portion of the lessons truly cover everything that may come upon the exam.
When you factor in the total hours (between 18 and 36 depending on your course), with the quality of the instructors and content of the lessons, these live classes are absolutely first-rate.
Highlight: Score Guarantees
As mentioned above, Princeton Review offers 1400+ and 1500+ courses for the SAT, as well as 31+ and 34+ courses for the ACT, which as you can probably guess based on the names of the courses, correspond to those scores as money back guarantees.
Now these courses do cost extra (over $2,000) and there is some fine print attached, but still, if you’re serious about scoring high and getting accepted into a top tier college, it’s hard to argue with Princeton Review’s score guarantees. This is something that Kaplan simply doesn’t offer.
Highlight: Content Access Period
Lastly, Princeton Review beats Kaplan when it comes to content access period. With Princeton Review, you get one year for access to their prep materials, as compared to 6 months of access with Kaplan.
Therefore, if you plan on studying for an extended period of time, or you plan on taking the Digital SAT or ACT exam multiple times, then this might push Princeton Review ahead of Kaplan for you. Ultimately, it just depends on your specific situation and timeline…
Verdict: Kaplan or Princeton Review For SAT & ACT Prep?
As you’ve likely gathered by this point, the Kaplan and Princeton Review SAT and ACT prep courses are very, very similar in terms of features, content and delivery. This can make choosing between the two extremely difficult.
That said, after a full review and analysis of both courses, our team gives the overall edge to Kaplan as our favorite here, primarily because their courses are more affordable than Princeton Review’s and we prefer their video lessons, which I think are extremely important for high-school aged students.
Which SAT/ACT prep course costs more – Kaplan or Princeton Review?
On average, Kaplan provides the more affordable course. Their course options range in price from $200 up to $800, while Princeton Review’s cost somewhere between $300 and $1,600.
What’s the biggest difference between the Princeton Review and Kaplan SAT & ACT prep courses?
While the courses from Kaplan and Princeton Review are very similar, the largest difference surrounds instructional material. Kaplan shines with some first-rate video lessons, while Princeton Review’s highlight is their practice material and score guarantees.
Do Princeton Review and Kaplan both have higher score guarantees?
Yes. Both Princeton Review and Kaplan each offer their own form of higher score or your money back guarantees.
