Our PrepScholar Review will answer your questions: How good is PrepScholar, and is it worth it? What are the benefits and features, and how does it work?
What Is PrepScholar?
PrepScholar is an online prep course with a group of SAT experts dedicated to helping students master the SAT. Students can sign up for an affordable online prep program for the SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, and more (read below). The online test prep courses are tailored to fit your needs. PrepScholar is a top-ranked prep program that competes with the Princeton Review and Kaplan Test Prep.
SAT experts created this program after completing their SAT and ACT in 2013. They were unhappy with the PrepScholar prep service and found the teachers/tutors uninspiring. The price for their prep was too high, and they wanted to create a business that guaranteed growth on the SAT. PrepScholar employs a group of SAT experts committed to helping students master their SAT. These employees are perfect scorers or 99%ile scorers. The company doesn’t allow its service to become stagnant; they consistently add new practical lessons.
PrepScholar takes in student feedback to continuously update their curriculum and research SAT trends and changes to better their program. These changes make it one of the best SAT programs available. PrepScholar has prep programs for the SAT, PSAT, ACT, College Admissions, GRE, GMAT, and TOEFL. Each comes with its money-back guarantee. We will look at this more later.
According to PrepScholar, the College Board reports that PrepScholar students improve their scores over four times as much as any other prep program, and more than 90% of students who signed up to PrepScholar saw a score increase. That is more than what the College Board predicted.
How Does PrepScholar Work?
More than just video lessons and reading material, the program works by creating individualized lesson plans based on a diagnostic tool administered only after sign-up. PrepScholar offers customized instruction that gives exact step-by-step instructions on what and how to study for the SAT, what lessons to take when to take practice tests, and how to review your mistakes. PrepScholar is a service that will diagnose, guide, and motivate students to increase SAT scores.
The Diagnostic Test
Using its Smart Diagnostic software, PrepScholar finds each student’s skill level and customizes instruction based on the results. The diagnostic feature consists of 60 questions, which will take 60-80 minutes to complete, using computerized adaptive testing. The computerized adaptive testing means the student’s answers will guide the test to ask next. The diagnostic tests aim to determine the precise skills students need to improve their overall score—the diagnostic tests over 30 SAT skills.
After the diagnostic test is complete, PrepScholar creates an individualized lesson plan, so the student is always working on skills that will give them a high SAT score. Concentrating on the weaker skills first will ensure growth. The lesson plan will adapt as students take lessons, getting harder if needed or more accessible if the change isn’t occurring. Using a diagnostic to guide an instructional method makes PrepScholar stand out above all other SAT/ACT test prep programs. Students need a curriculum tailored to their needs, and PrepSchoolar has it figured out.
Full Guidance
The guidance of PrepScholar is top-notch. Once you’ve taken the diagnostic test and gotten your plan, PrepScholar gives exact step-by-step instructions on what to study, what lessons to take, and when to take them and sit the test. You will have reading lessons, drilling questions, and a chance to review your mistakes. Your lesson plan includes practice tests, but there is no guessing about when you should take them; the plan tells you. Available through your dashboard, PrepScholar assigns 10-15 lessons a week. These lessons may include strategy lessons, quizzes, or practice tests. You do get some choice; you get to decide which subject you want to work through first. If you are struggling, you have access to tutors during this time. They cost more, but we will look into the tutoring aspect later.
Increase of Motivation
PrepScholar tries to motivate you through several avenues. First, delivering weekly email reports is one-way PrepScholar tries to drive completion. These reports go to both parents and students. The reports show the number of lessons completed and the number of hours that studying occurred. You will receive compliments when studying is going well and warnings for when you slack off. You will be notified about your strengths and weaknesses. PrepScolar has created several reports to keep track of progress and motivate. These reports include a time tracker so you can make sure to complete your goals.
A skill chart shows progress and how much progress you have to make to complete the course. Finally, there is a log of all progress. This log will show you a complete record of work and past quizzes. Viewing these previous quizzes can help improve SAT scores. Although the PrepScholar program tries to motivate its students, it is tough to do so. Students need to be self-driven, and confidence is vital to high test scores.
Program Outline
PrepScholar has outlined its curriculum to make it the most beneficial and best use of time. The first ten minutes of the PrepScholar course is for sign-up and program choice. After the first ten minutes, the first hour is set aside for the diagnostic test. The next two-ten hours are for your first eight lessons. The design of each lesson is three parts. The first 20 minutes of each lesson is for reading texts and watching videos. The next 20 minutes is for question practice. The questions you get are SAT-style and focused on the skill you are learning. The lesson’s final part requires you to look over the items missed and read a detailed explanation with the correct answer given. You can’t skip this part, and it is vital to understand the explanations to see growth in your SAT scores.
The next part of the program is to take a full practice test. Like the real SAT, you will complete this practice test with paper and pencil. After taking the test, the answers will be entered into PrepScholar to get the score almost immediately. You also can upload your essay for PrepScholar teachers to grade and give feedback. From this point forward, students will continue working on their customized plans. The final step in the program outline is to master the SAT. PrepScholar says their baseline for completion is 40 hours, but more may be needed depending on the student. Following the program outline will give students SAT score improvement and a 160+ point guarantee. If the framework isn’t monitored or not completed, PrepScholar will not ensure its services.
Pricing
PrepScholar offers five different levels for purchase. All of them build on top of one another. The first level of PrepScholar is the Complete SAT Online Prep program. It is the most popular plan. Users get one year of access to 210+ hours of content, 7100+ question bank, 700+ video lessons that encourage problem-solving, and 98 skill lessons that include strategies. Also included in this plan are 49 fine-grained skills to master. All sections (math, reading, writing, and essays) are within this plan. The user can find detailed answer explanations and customized diagnostic quizzes. Finally, this plan contains ten certified SAT practice tests. The Complete Premium plan is the same but gives two years of access and includes expedited support.
The next plan is the PrepScholar Classes. The PrepScholar Classes add expert-led classes that are online with top teachers. The teachers with PrepScholar must be perfect scorers or 99%ile scorers. They are highly qualified and go through a rigorous screening process. The expert-led classes are small group instruction.
The Complete+ Tutoring plan adds hours of tutoring. When this package is purchased, students generally double their points of improvement. This option adds to personalized teaching. The final option is the Dual SAT prep & ACT prep program. It grants access to PrepScholar SAT prep and ACT prep programs.
Tutoring – Plan A or Plan B
PrepScholar offers two tutoring plans. As mentioned before, tutoring can take place through PrepScholar. The teachers are highly qualified, and coaching is one-on-one and face-to-face. The one-on-one approach will encourage active learning and working during a lesson. It is more than just a teacher reading materials to you; it is active and encourages engagement and analyzing strengths and weaknesses. When purchasing tutoring lessons, you can choose between Plan A and Plan B. Plan A gives you more tutor hours and less self-study time. Plan B gives you more self-study time and less tutor time. There are three levels of tutoring available, varying from 4 hours of instruction to 50 hours of instruction.
Free Resources
Whether you decide to sign up for PrepScholar or not, PrepScholar is a service that offers some free resources to help you be successful in taking your SAT and ACT. They offer prep E-Books, and articles and have a blog. Nine eBooks range from calculating scores to tips and tricks to scheduling practice tests and taking the real deal. The articles cover three topics. The first topic is tutoring, the benefits of coaching, and how to optimize your tutoring time. The next item is understanding and mastering the SAT and ACT. The final topic covers articles designed to help you plan your future. These articles help you get into your perfect college or university and help you get into Stanford or Harvard University. The last free resource is the PrepScholar Blog. This blog help with the use of PrepScholar and mastering the SAT and ACT.
Our PrepScholar Review
“Online Test Prep Done Right” is PrepScholar’s motto, and we agree. Although the company is relatively new, they are a company that will be around for a long time. It won’t take much longer until they beat Princeton Review. Their consistent improvement shows they are in for the long haul. There are so many positive aspects of PrepScholar.
Money-back guarantee and free trial
The founders of PrepScholar fully back their program. This support is evident through their trial period and a money-back guarantee if the student does not improve the score by 160 points.
PrepScholar is a service that offers a 5-day risk-free trial. During the trial, students can complete up to 10% of a program; if they don’t like it, they don’t have to continue their curriculum. If you are unhappy with the course or your scores, you can request a refund. The money-back-guarantee is for all new students. This guarantee says if a student does not improve by 160 points on their SAT, they will get their money back. There are some exclusions, so be sure to read the fine print. Any negative customer reviews come back to not qualifying for the money-back guarantee, so check and double-check. Money-back guarantees are for the SAT, PSAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, and TOEFL. Each test has a different goal to receive your money back if not met.
The organization is essential to PrepScholar, and students can see improvement without being overwhelmed. Several users have said that working through their PrepScholar plan feels like playing a video game. When you master a lesson, it is just like “leveling up” with each experience. We feel like PrepScholar is better than a live class or tutor as the student gets to work at his/her own pace. PrepScholar gives anytime and anywhere access as it is online; however, there is no app. Another positive aspect of PrepScholar is that lessons are not just content lessons but also strategy lessons. The strategy lessons help with how to take the SAT and ACT.
Fair Pricing
The pricing may seem more expensive than SAT prep books; however, that is the flat price. No additional fees, curriculum fees, or other fees will pop up during the process. Included in your cost is technical support, which is essential to ensure the completion of the program. If you want to tutor, be sure to purchase a plan with it; otherwise, you will have to pay more money. PrepScholar is that it is only for self-starters and self-motivators. If you are a self-starter and self-motivator, PrepScholar can do wonders to help you improve your SAT score. There are numerous success stories of PrepScholar students; will you (or your child) be the next? PrepScholar is a world-class test prep service with a world-class tutoring service that will help you take your next step into a successful future.
If you still need more practice tests, you can take up to 8 full-length SAT practice tests for free at Khan Academy.
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