Verified by Rick Lopez, M.Ed.
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.
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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.
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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 offers several different course formats for SAT and ACT 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
➡ Read our full review of the Kaplan SAT prep course and ACT course.
