PrepScholar Vs. Princeton Review (Which Is Better?)

PrepScholar and Princeton Review both offer great prep courses.

But since you’re here, you must be wondering – which one is better and more effective for SAT, ACT, GRE, or GMAT? In this overview, you’ll find all the information you need about the pricing, features, and benefits of each option. Below you’ll also find comparison tables so you can see which course will suit you best. I hope it’s going to help you make the right decision!

In summary, here are the winners in the PrepScholar vs. Princeton Review comparison (click to see the current discounts):

• SAT – Princeton Review’s “SAT 1400+ Course” is the winner (You can now get $200 off your course)
• ACT – Princeton Review’s “ACT 31+ Course” is the winner (You can now get $200 off your course)
• GRE – PrepScholar’s “12-month GRE Course” is the winner (You can now get $360 off your course)
• GMAT – PrepScholar’s “Customized Online GMAT Prep Course” is the winner (You can now get $300 off your course)

But why exactly is it the case? And which features make these prep courses stand out? Let’s find out by checking the categories below.

Related content: Kaplan Vs. Princeton Review

PrepScholar Vs. Princeton Review – A General Overview

There’s a big difference between the Princeton Review and PrepScholar. TPR was founded in 1981 and now operates on a large scale, employing over 4,000 teachers and tutors in the United States and Canada. It offers a wide variety of prep courses for all kinds of standardized tests. In their offer, you’ll find self-prep courses, live-online courses, in-person classes, as well as intensive boot camps all designed to give you lots of intensive preparation time before college admissions start. Princeton Review is seen as a premium brand on the market, but in fact, their prices are more or less the same as other ones from the competition. PrepScholar is a different company altogether. It was started by Allen Cheng and Fred Zhang, two guys who got a perfect scores on both the SAT and the ACT. They later graduated from Harvard and started designing their prep courses, based on their experiences and feedback from hundreds of students. Now they are employing a select group of instructors, all of whom either scored perfectly on the test they teach about or were in the 99 percentile. This makes them uniquely qualified to teach new students how to master all areas of specific tests. PrepScholar offers a wide range of materials including great video content, and an extensive blog, full of tips about test preparation.

SAT – PrepScholar Vs. Princeton Review

Overall score:

• PrepScholar: 8/10
• Princeton Review: 10/10

If you’re looking for a comprehensive SAT prep option, then the 1400+ course from Princeton Review is best. But it all depends on what you need and what’s your budget for a prep class. The one from Princeton Review is more expensive. But it’s a full-package option that will give you guaranteed results. The name of the course says it all. In 2 months of intensive prep, you’ll be able to score 1400 points or higher or get your money back. The SAT course from PrepScholar is cheaper (around $397). But it looks like it was just recently updated from the old to the new SAT, and the materials may still be a bit outdated. What’s great about this course is that it gives you over 700 videos in which expert tutors go through practice questions one by one and give you a detailed explanation. Also, you’d get 6 realistic standardized practice tests as well as a diagnostic quiz to complete at the beginning of the course. But that’s still not a lot compared to the huge amount of materials you’ll get from Princeton Review. First, you’ll be guided by an expert instructor (who scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT) all the way through. Second, you will have 24/7 on-demand tutoring available to you. Anytime you get stuck with any question, you can reach out to your assigned teacher and get the response within a couple of hours maximum. This type of assistance is indispensable if you want to get a high score because nothing can replace a great teacher. Moreover, with TPR, you will take a ton of practice tests for successful SAT prep. The best thing is that 4 of them are proctored, which means you will have to complete them under the watchful eye of your instructor. This will give you a better taste of what the real-world exam looks like, and it’s a perfect remedy for test-related anxiety. Other than that, you’ll get 20 extra practice tests that’ll boost your SAT score. That’s more than you would get from any other company on the market. All in all, if you’re looking for a top course that will guarantee a high score, TPR’s “1400+” is what I would recommend.

Related content: The 4 Best SAT Prep Courses To Take

Here’s a comparison of the main features of both prep courses:

	PrepScholar New SAT Course	Princeton Review SAT 1400+ Course
Price	Check the price here	Check the price here (Get $200 off your course)
Practice questions	7100+	8000+
Full-length practice tests	6	20 practice tests + 4 proctored practice tests
Video content	700 videos	No video content
Mobile learning app	No	Yes
Guarantee	Yes, a score improvement guarantee	Yes, 1400 points or your money back
Length of access	12 months	12 months
Prep books	No	Yes, 2 prep books
Email assistance	No	Yes, 24/7 on-demand tutoring

ACT – PrepScholar Vs. Princeton Review

Overall score:

• PrepScholar: 7/10
• Princeton Review: 10/10

Here’s another course where the budget “indie” option like PrepScholar cannot win against a professionally structured, yet more expensive course from Princeton Review. In the ACT category, TPR offers one of the most in-depth prep courses out there. It’s called “ACT 31+” and the company guarantees that you will get at least 31 points on your test or you’re eligible to get your money back. PrepScholar offers a guarantee as well, but that’s only a 4-point increase, which is still nice for a self-prep course. But the main strength of the Princeton Review vs. PrepScholar approach lies in its high intensity. You can sign up even a couple of months before the actual teacher-led class begins and already enjoy access to all the materials. But once you start prepping with an instructor (who scored in the 99th percentile on the ACT), you will enjoy two months of intensive study that will give you enough skill and confidence to get at least 31 points. This kind of score threshold has been chosen for a reason, as it will allow you to get to the vast majority of colleges in the country. So basically you can treat this course as a passport to your dream school and get accepted by the college board. Except for attending live classes, you’ll be able to contact teachers through email, or the well-designed student portal where you find answers to all of your pressing questions. Additionally, you’ll be equipped with review and prep books (something you won’t get from PrepScholar), and you’ll get a personalized study plan, based on your unique strengths and weaknesses. But the course from PrepScholar shouldn’t be disregarded because it also offers a lot of good value for the money. You will get up to four real practice tests, almost 2000 practice questions with detailed explanations, as well as hours of useful video lessons. If your budget is a bit lower and you prefer to study on your own then it’s still a viable option. But overall, TPR will give you a more thorough prep and allow you to go into the test hall with more confidence and skill.

Related content: The 4 Best ACT Courses To Take

Here’s a comparison of the main features of both prep courses:

	PrepScholar Complete ACT Online Prep	Princeton Review ACT 31+ Course
Price	Check the price here	Check the price here (Get $200 off your course)
Practice questions	1800+	8000+
Full-length practice tests	4 practice tests	4 scheduled full-length practice tests (auto-proctored available) + 7 extra practice tests.
Video Lessons	60 hours	No
Mobile learning app	No	Yes
Guarantee	Yes, 4 point improvement guarantee	Yes, 31+ points on ACT or your money back
Length of access	12 months	12 months
Prep books	No	Yes, 2 review and practice books
Email assistance	No	Yes, 24/7 on-demand tutoring

GRE – PrepScholar Vs. Princeton Review

Overall score:

• PrepScholar: 9/10
• Princeton Review: 7/10

When it comes to GRE prep self-paced courses, PrepScholar has a slight advantage over the Princeton Review. First of all, their feature-rich course is extremely affordable. Right now you can get it for $38 for 12 months of access. This is great if you are looking for a budget option that will still give you a lot of benefits. The Princeton Review course here is around 10 times more expensive if you’re looking at the comprehensive package. But at the same time, it won’t give you many more materials than what you would get from its competitor. With PrepScholar, you’ll start with an adaptive diagnostic exam that will help you assess your current level of skill. Then, based on your score you will receive a guided study plan customized to your unique needs. For example, if math is your main weakness, you’ll have to complete more multiple-choice practice questions for this section. In total, you will get over 1500 GRE core practice questions. What I like most about them is that they will vary based on your current skill level. If you need a lot of improvement you won’t face the hard questions at the very beginning. Instead, you will gradually move up the ladder and increase the difficulty with time. Then you can start crunching over 800+ more advanced questions that will give your brain a solid workout. The only disadvantage here is that you’ll get only two full-length practice exams. That’s not enough but you can always buy one or two prep books (which usually contain 2-3 practice exams) and use other supplementary material. The Princeton Review offers 8 practice tests so you can still use their course if that’s an important feature for you. Princeton Review also offers more practice questions in total (2574+), as well as a “math fundamentals” course which it’s pretty useful if your math skills are a bit rusty. Another advantage to a higher-priced course is that you’ll get a GRE essay review from one of the instructors. But overall, I still think that PrepScholar is the winner in this comparison because of the pricing.

Related content: The 4 Best GRE Prep Courses To Take

Here’s a comparison of the main features of both prep courses:

	PrepScholar 12-month GRE Course	Princeton Review GRE Self-Paced
Price	Check the price here	Check the price here (Get $200 off your course)
Practice questions	2300+	2574+
Full-length practice tests	2 practice tests	8 practice tests
Video content	150 hours of video lessons	65+ video lessons
Mobile learning app	No	Yes
Guarantee	7+ points or your money-back guarantee	Standard score improvement guarantee
Length of access	12 months	6 months
Prep books	No	No
Email assistance	No	Yes

GMAT – PrepScholar Vs. Princeton Review

Overall score:

• PrepScholar: 8/10
• Princeton Review: 7/10

If you’re looking for a low-priced, but effective GMAT prep program, the course from PrepScholar is a slightly better option here. The first thing here is the price. For PrepScholar, you’ll pay only $259, while the self-paced option from Princeton Review will cost you $499. Another thing, Is that with the TPR course you won’t get any specific score improvement guarantee. But with PrepScholar, you are guaranteed to improve your score by at least 60 points. This kind of guarantee shows you that the designers of the course are confident about their materials. Also, with PrepScholar you have a 5-day risk-free trial during which you can test the materials and see if you like them. But with Princeton Review, you either decide to sign up or not and there’s no turning back. Additionally, with PrepScholar, you’ll get a diagnostic assessment, a customized study plan, over 1000 multiple-choice practice questions with detailed explanations, and most importantly, 10 GMAT strategy lessons. And optionally, you can add 1 hour of private tutoring with a 760+ scorer for only $99. However, there are a few advantages to taking the higher-priced option from Princeton Review. For example, you will get 10 practice tests, compared to only 4 from PrepScholar. Moreover, you will get 0.5 hours of live Q&A sessions during which you can ask any questions related to the test. These sessions are conducted every week and they are a great option to get clarification if you are stuck with a particular type of question. Another advantage of taking the Princeton Review GMAT course is that it comes with the official GMAC guide which is worth checking out. Other than that, the course from PrepScholar delivers a great deal of value, and it’s a better option if you’re looking for a budget self-prep option.

Related content: The 4 Best GMAT Prep Courses To Take

Here’s a comparison of the main features of both prep courses:

	PrepScholar Customized Online GMAT Prep	Princeton Review GMAT Prep With an Edge Course
Price	Check the price here	Check the price here (Get $200 off your course)
Practice questions	1000+ practice questions	1200+ practice questions
Full-length practice tests	4 practice tests	10 practice tests
Video content	100+ hours of video content	100+ video lessons
Mobile learning app	No	Yes
Guarantee	Yes, 60 point improvement guarantee	Standard score improvement guarantee
Length of access	4 months	6 months
Prep books	No	Yes, the official GMAC guide
Email assistance	No	Yes

 

Conclusion

As you can see, PrepScholar and Princeton Review have different company profiles and offer a variety of prep courses. TPR is more versatile and has more options to choose from. Its competitor, on the other hand, is more specialized in a specific self-prep approach that’s also bringing great results for students. I hope that this overview helped you to make up your mind to take the right course for one of your biggest future exams and tackle the college admissions process. Next up, you may want to explore a guide on how to start writing your college blog.