LSAT – Kaplan Vs. Princeton Review (Test Prep In 2024)

What’s better for LSAT – Kaplan vs. Princeton Review?

As you know, your Law School Admission Test (LSAT) score will determine if you go to your dream school or not. The competition for spots in the top schools is fierce, and most students decide to invest in a quality prep course that will boost their chances of success. There are two major prep companies in the market – Kaplan and Princeton Review. But which one offers better LSAT courses and materials?

A quick summary of the findings:

• The best course overall – LSAT Ultimate from Princeton Review
• The second best course – Kaplan Live Online LSAT Course

LSAT – Kaplan Vs. Princeton Review – A General Overview

If you’re prepping for law school, you want to learn from the best. Both Kaplan and Princeton Review offer attractive courses that will help you to get over 150 points, and maybe even 160 points on your exam. The companies offer classes led only by teachers who passed the LSAT themselves and achieved a score of at least 165. This is great because you will be able to learn practical strategies to deal with the test without any theoretical fluff. But if you dig deeper into student forums, you find that teachers from both companies sometimes lack the necessary teaching skills. Sometimes it’s I hit-or-miss type of situation and you need to be lucky enough to get a great instructor. But still, the LSAT courses are highly rated and offer great, digital and printed materials you can use to take your scores to the next level. Moreover, both courses are priced at a similar level, with a cost of around $1000 for the live online options and $700 for the self-paced ones.

The “Live Online” Courses Comparison

The most popular course option among students is the “live online” one. It’s the best option because you’ll be paying “only” around $300 more than for the self-paced course, but in return, you’ll get many hours of live online instruction. During 3-hour long intensive classes, these guys will walk you through the most important concepts necessary to successfully pass the test. But why is Princeton Review a more attractive option here? The price of both courses is almost identical and hovers somewhere around $1000. But with Princeton, you’ll get more value for your money. Instead of just 28 hours of instruction, you’ll get 84 hours, which is almost three times more. In 4 months, that’s a lot of study time to get you prepped. This includes some good strategies for the LSAT writing part as well. Princeton Review offers you 6 full-length practice tests (compared to 3 from Kaplan). These tests are “self-proctored” which means you’ll pass them with the use of an online dashboard, with a timer, etc. to mimic the actual test-taking environment. Passing these mock tests is crucial because it will give you an idea of what to expect in the real-world exam. But what makes Princeton a better “live online” option is the ability to get in touch with your instructor at any time. This is great because it establishes an open communication channel and allows you to get all your doubts resolved quickly. Besides these couple of points, the courses are similar and they’re both worth your consideration.

Here are all the features of the two courses at a glance:

	Kaplan Live Online LSAT Course	LSAT Ultimate from Princeton Review
Price	Check the price here	Check the price here
Hours of live online instruction	28 hours	84 hours
Books	2 books provided with the course	2 books provided with the course
Full-length practice tests	3 (+ all previously released LSATs)	6 (+ all previously released LSATs)
One-to-one instruction	No (but you can get it at an additional price)	No (but you can get it at an additional price)
Instructional videos	LSAT channel with hundreds of videos	150+ hours of instructional videos available on the student portal
Practice questions (containing explanations)	All previously released LSAT questions (8000+)	All previously released LSAT questions (8000+)
Access to the instructor outside of class	No	Yes, you can access your instructor in person, by phone or via email
Higher results guarantee	Yes, if you don’t improve your score you get your money back or you may take the course again at no additional cost	Yes, if you don’t improve your score you get your money back or you may take the course again at no additional cost
Access to a mobile app	Yes	Yes
Length of access	4 months	4 months

 

The “Self-Paced” Courses Comparison

When it comes to “self-paced” courses, the only difference is that you don’t get access to the live classes, and instructors. In this case, both Kaplan and Princeton Review courses come at an almost identical price and offer similar features which you can compare below.

Here are all the features of the self-paced courses at a glance:

	Kaplan Online Self-Paced LSAT Course	LSAT Self-Paced e from Princeton Review
Price	Check the price here	Check the price here
Hours of live online instruction	0 – self-paced	0 – self-paced
Books	2 books provided with the course	2 books provided with the course
Full-length practice tests	3 (+ all previously released LSATs)	6 (+ all previously released LSATs)
One-to-one instruction	No (but you can get it at an additional price)	No (but you can get it at an additional price)
Instructional videos	150 hours of on-demand LSAT videos	150+ hours of instructional videos available on the student portal
Practice questions (containing explanations)	All previously released LSAT questions (8000+)	All previously released LSAT questions (8000+)
Access to the instructor outside of class	No	No
Higher results guarantee	Yes, if you don’t improve your score you get your money back or you may take the course again at no additional cost	Yes, if you don’t improve your score you get your money back or you may take the course again at no additional cost
Access to a mobile app	Yes	Yes
Length of access	4 months	4 months

 

Other LSAT courses available from Kaplan and Princeton Review

Besides the regular “live online” and “self-paced” courses, there are also a couple of other ways you can prepare with both companies. These options are not as popular but could be helpful depending on the way you like to study. Kaplan offers “in-person” classes where you go to a classroom and study in a formal setting. This sounds cool, but these classes often get canceled, plus you need to commute which takes precious time. There’s also one-to-one tutoring you can take but it starts at $2799. And there is the “intensive” boot camp which costs around $4000. Princeton Review offers a “Fundamentals” LSAT course which consists of 30 hours of intense live online study that’ll boost your score by a few points before the exam. Princeton also offers private tutoring services, but they’re quite pricey and start at $167 per hour (and you need to do at least 10 hours of instruction so you do the math). All in all, I would disregard these additional options and simply go with a “live online” course.

What about the LSAT books?

Each company has its own two flagship books you can grab from Amazon to further your preparation. These titles cost between $20 and $40 and are a steal if you’re a student on a budget. They’ll give you access to 2 to 4 full-length practice tests you can complete in your spare time, as well as some additional strategies on how to deal with difficult questions. These books (along with some extra materials) are also provided if you sign up for the self-paced or life-online course. They’re between 400 and 900 pages long and receive mostly positive reviews. But beware because they contain some minor errors. I suggest you read the Amazon reviews carefully to see which one is best for you.

LSAT Books from Kaplan:

• LSAT Unlocked: Proven Strategies For Every Question Type + Online
• LSAT Logic Games Unlocked: Real PrepTest Questions + Proven Strategies + Online

LSAT Books from Princeton Review:

• Cracking the LSAT Premium with 3 Real Practice Tests, 27th Edition
• LSAT Decoded (PrepTests 72-81): Step-by-Step Solutions for 10 Actual, Official LSAT Exams

What Students Are Saying?

I suggest that before making a final decision, you should check services like Trustpilot, where you’re going to find the actual comments from students who took the courses both from Kaplan and Princeton Review. Simply go there and use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + F to find the relevant reviews about the LSAT courses. They’re mostly positive on both sides but you’ll always find a few people who are not entirely satisfied with the course. I found they are pretty similar for both companies and they both maintain a solid 4 out of 5 ratings from students. You’ll also see that both companies are pretty responsive and eager to resolve any customer complaints and improve their services in the future. But if you still need more information, I suggest digging around Reddit boards to get into the nitty-gritty.

Conclusion

Passing LSAT with flying colors is a major challenge for a lot of students. The past is far from easy, so that’s why you need prior preparation. Both Kaplan and Princeton Review offer great prep courses in many variants. But as you can see from this quick comparison, Princeton Review has a slight edge over its competitor and it’s probably the best test prep you can take if you want to boost your score and get into your dream law school. Next up, you may want to explore a guide to the best legal book publishers.