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Magoosh vs Princeton Review SAT & ACT
Detailed guide comparing the Digital SAT & ACT prep courses from Princeton Review and Magoosh
Princeton Review is one of the most popular Digital SAT and ACT prep options on the market, and for good reason. Their coursework is incredibly robust and has a proven track record. However, for value-seeking students (and their parents), the Princeton price tag can leave them looking for cheaper alternatives – like Magoosh. We provide our thoughts on whether budget-friendly Magoosh stands up to Princeton Review in this detailed comparison guide.
As this is a long and detailed comparison, we’ve included jump-to links above to help you quickly navigate this article.
Video Review: Princeton Review or Magoosh?
In the 2025 video above, Lara from the Test Prep Insight team breaks down the key differences between Magoosh and Princeton Review for ACT and Digital SAT prep. She highlights pricing, lesson formats, and which course may work best for beginners or budget-conscious students. Read on for the full written breakdown..
Reasons to Choose Princeton Review for SAT/ACT Prep
Here are the areas in which our team sees Princeton Review winning over Magoosh for Digital SAT or ACT prep.
Evaluation of SAT/ACT Coursework
In terms of straight volume and effectiveness of coursework, Princeton Review takes this category. As much as we love the Magoosh SAT and ACT prep offerings, they just can’t compete with Princeton Review. For one, Princeton Review offers more hours of video lessons and live class time. They also give you more SAT practice questions and full-length practice tests than Magoosh, although Magoosh offers more practice questions and practice exams for the ACT.
Princeton Review’s SAT curriculum is one of the best in the SAT prep space
Looking at the quality and depth of each company’s curriculum, Princeton Review wins on that front as well.
More on every aspect of both companies’ courses below, but in short, we just found the Princeton Review content and delivery of prep material to be more engaging and effective (and in fact ranks near the top of our list of Best Digital SAT and Best ACT Prep Courses).
Video Lessons
Though Magoosh provides a library of 200+ video-based lessons that are solid in their own right, Princeton Review’s video lectures are simply stellar. We loved everything about them: the short, engaging length, delivery format, and well-crafted content.
A look at Princeton Review’s video lessons
Rather than getting some stuffy lecture with a teacher talking from behind a podium for 90 minutes or more, you get highly digestible 4 to 10 minute videos.
A view of a typical Magoosh lesson
In addition, notes, graphics and sample problems are superimposed on the screen between you and the teacher, and they often grab a marker to mark up the screen right in front of you.
It’s a really cool effect, making for some of the best video lessons in the Digital SAT and ACT prep space.
This is a pretty simple category to dub a winner, as Princeton Review offers students prep books, while Magoosh does not.
To be totally transparent, Magoosh does off a standalone ACT prep book on Amazon for $20, but it’s not included with your Magoosh ACT prep course (why, I don’t know).
But if you do decide to use Magoosh for your ACT prep, we do recommend it as a supplement to the course. As for Princeton Review’s prep books, we had no complaints.
The Princeton Review SAT prep books
They track with and supplement your core online coursework, and offer tons of sample problems, test taking strategies and testable subject matter review. They are perhaps a second to only Kaplan’s books in this industry.
Content Access Period
As both companies offer students 1 year of access to their online materials, this is a dead tie. One year is more than enough for most students.
Live Classes
This is an open and shut case, as Magoosh doesn’t even offer live classes. If your student learns best in a live classroom setting or needs a little extra hand-holding, Princeton Review’s live online classes are a great resource.
Instead of providing a live online option, Magoosh’s highest tier, the Premium + On-Demand Classes package, gives you 18 hours of pre-recorded lessons that were originally taught by an instructor who was leading a live class at the time. Sure, the explanations are longer and a little more in-depth than the brief video lessons you get with Magoosh’s basic plan. But to me, nothing compares with the experience of being able to ask a question live and get an immediate response.
Princeton Review, on the other hand, offers the best live class experience in the Digital SAT and ACT prep industry, hands down.
Not only do you get plenty of live class hours with Princeton (18 or 36 hours depending on your package), but the curriculum of these live classes is excellent. They have their lesson plans down to a T.
Score Guarantees
This is a very interesting category to judge. On the one hand, you have Magoosh, who offers a score increase guarantee of at least 100 points with their Digital SAT prep and 4+ points with their ACT prep. Very impressive.
Then you have Princeton Review, who offers a basic score increase with their self-paced and essentials courses (i.e. one point increase), but some very cool minimum score thresholds with their premium courses.
They offer SAT packages that promise scores of at least 1400 or 1500 points, and an ACT package that guarantees a score of at least 31. Those are some semi-crazy guarantees.
Of course, there is fine print around these promised scores, so make sure to check their legalese, but very cool nonetheless.
But in terms of declaring a winner, we like the fact that Princeton gives you a much higher score guarantee. If you’re looking for some security to make sure you get a top score, Princeton Review has you covered.
Now that you have a good idea of the areas in which Princeton Review is better than Magoosh, let’s flip the script and talk about the advantages of going with Magoosh for Digital SAT or ACT prep.
Pricing & Course Options
Without a doubt, Magoosh offers better bang for your buck than Princeton Review. In fact, Magoosh offers better value than just about every prep provider in the Digital SAT and ACT prep space (except for maybe PrepScholar).
At roughly $130 for their self-paced package and $400 for their course offering with on-demand prerecorded class sessions, they’re budget friendly prep packages are unparalleled in this regard.
So, major edge to Magoosh. The bigger question though is whether this value is enough compared to Princeton Review’s incredible quality.
Princeton Review also offers private tutoring for students who need personalized instruction.
Digital Platform & User Experience
Given the price difference here, you would think that Princeton Review would win this category by a mile because of their significant resources.
However, after thoroughly using each course’s platform, we actually prefer Magoosh here. Kind of an upset win for the little guy.
Their digital interface is clean and ultra-intuitive. Their user experience is so straightforward that a child could navigate it.
Magoosh’s clean and easy-to-use dashboard
Princeton Review’s UX, on the other hand, is just average. Since they don’t really offer anything to write home about, Magoosh gets the edge.
Practice Material
Looking at the quantity of practice tests you get with each course, it just depends on whether you’re primarily focusing on the SAT or the ACT. Princeton Review offers 9 practice Digital SAT exams to Magoosh’s 3 (yes, you read that correctly), and 5 simulated ACT’s to Magoosh’s 11. So if you’re just looking for SAT prep, you’ll get more with Princeton Review, whereas Magoosh is better for ACT prep.
In terms of quality, both providers offer highly realistic practice questions that closely match the real thing.
An example Magoosh SAT practice question
Magoosh and Princeton each offer practice questions that do a fine job matching the difficulty, length, and content of real exam questions.
In terms of their ACT resources, however, Magoosh is clearly the winner, as they give you access to official practice questions and practice exams from the actual ACT. There’s no competing with the real thing, so if you’re only wanting to review for the ACT, Magoosh might be the right call. If you’re studying for both tests, however, it’s a much closer call.
Extra Resources
Another surprising win for Magoosh in this category. While Princeton offers a handful of helpful resources, including their bonus SAT/ACT Advantage sessions, Magoosh simply offers more.
I’m talking two mobile apps, 24/7 email and chat support, suggested study guides with tips, flashcards, and AI tools including essay grading and an AI tutor. It’s surprising how much valuable stuff Magoosh packs into such a budget-friendly course.
This is a very close call for our team to make. On the one hand, there is a lot to like about the Magoosh Digital SAT and ACT prep courses.
We love their bang for your buck, high value pricing, deep library of Digital SAT and ACT video lessons, official ACT practice questions, and the fact that every problem comes with a short video explanation for visual learners. Magoosh is the right choice for families on a budget and students who are only preparing for the ACT.
Still, Princeton Review simply provides the better overall prep course, especially for students who are reviewing for both tests or primarily focusing on the SAT. Their curriculum is more robust, with deeper lessons, better and more engaging video lectures, best-in-category live classes, and mountains of practice work to keep even the busiest student loaded up with prep work.
At the end of the day, our team prefers Princeton Review for Digital SAT and ACT prep, especially if you’re serious about getting a top-tier score and money isn’t such an issue.
Which SAT review course is better, Magoosh or Princeton Review?
While our team likes both the Magoosh and Princeton Review Digital SAT and ACT prep courses, rating them both out very highly, we ultimately prefer the Princeton Review course.
Is Magoosh SAT prep worth it?
Yes, Magoosh SAT prep and ACT prep is absolutely worth it. While their curriculum is not as robust as Princeton Review’s, this budget-friendly prep option still packs a punch.
Is Princeton Review SAT prep worth it?
Yes, the Princeton Review SAT and ACT prep courses are worth it. With their high quality video lessons, engaging live classes and mountains of practice material, they rate out as one of the best prep providers in the space.
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