Kaplan vs. Princeton Review

<p>Hi Everyone
So I am currently trying to decide which SAT prep course to take, but I am having a hard time deciding between Kaplan and PR. I would really appreciate it if anyone can give me any info concerning their experiences with either course and if anyone can give their opinion as to which course is most effective</p>

<p>Test Takers is really good if you live in the NY area .</p>

<p>I went to PR and it was okay.</p>

<p>Most people on this forum will tell you that both courses are bunk (yes, I just used the word bunk; I don’t know why.). Personally, I’d advise you buy a copy of the Official SAT Guide (published by the College Board), also known as the Blue Book on CC. In addition, Direct Hits Volumes 1 and 2 have been continuously praised as the most effective way to tackle the sentence completion questions on CR.</p>

<p>Your best bet would be to motivate yourself and self-study using the BB, DH, CC, and any other books recommended by other users (I haven’t really had to prepare for math or writing, so I can’t really recommend anything there). Kaplan and PR courses are usually a waste of your time and money.</p>

<p>^Agreed. SAT courses only help the unmotivated. </p>

<p>But if you are really set on taking one a class, PR is definitely superior to Kaplan.</p>

<p>If you need to get some help, know a few important things first:</p>

<ol>
<li>Who teaches.</li>
<li>The teaching methods – how to approach those SAT problems. </li>
<li>Fees</li>
</ol>

<p>PR and Kaplan hire college grad. with 95 percentile to teach. Most of the ways they use to solve problems are the same you get at your school. </p>

<p>Just google some other Prep places to compare them, you will find some much higher quality and most effective ones. </p>

<p>One place that I know has perfect-score tutors with even a Ph.D degree and former professors. They teach the ways to solve any SAT math problems in 30 seconds or less, which are very different than you learn here or your school. You can watch their free videos to find out. </p>

<p>Best of all, you can ask SAT math questions and get answers from the perfect-score tutors for free without enrolling in their programs.</p>

<p>@easiermath what math site is that? That helps you solve in less than 30sec?</p>

<p>I was hoping that everyone searches for a few sites and tells us the best one you found. We then compare them here based on those criteria — teachers, methods, and fees. Sometimes our parents can do a better job screening them for us. </p>

<p>Let me start first. </p>

<p>Teachers ---- Perfect-score, Ph.D. degree, former professor.
Methods ---- 30-second problem-solving methods.
Fees — free (or ask them). </p>

<p>The site is at</p>

<p>[Faster-Than-Light</a> Math! — 30-second SAT Math problem-solving](<a href=“Campingpladser – Camping”>http://www.FTLmath.com/)</p>

<p>If you need to see the 30 second tricks, simply use a free sign in. Otherwise you will see the videos with the solutions that the other places teach. </p>

<p>Ask your math questions here and answered by the perfect-score tutors:</p>

<p>[Free</a> SAT Math Help](<a href=“Campingpladser – Camping”>Campingpladser – Camping)</p>

<p>Actually, Kaplan take people who scored in the 90th percentile and above.</p>

<p>^As well as people that scored in the 89th percentile and below.</p>

<p>Just think this: If you scored in the 99 percentile, why do you want to work for PR or Kap for $15/hour when you can make $45/hour? If you scored in the 90 percentile, you cannot advertise saying that you are in the 90 percentile, so you cannot get your own clients, then you may want to work for PR as your transitional job. So the big firms can only hire lower tier tutors. The small ones you see with high quality perfect-score tutors only work for themselves, they will never for PR. Therefore you get higher quality from small firms.</p>

<p>Students and their parents who did not know or couldn’t figure out this logic end up in the PR or Kap’s classes, that explains their low scores in the first place.</p>

<p>Not sure about PR, but don’t bother wasting your time with Kap. I’ve found so many mistakes in there it’s not even funny.</p>

<p>Thanks to everyone, but I would still like to hear about some experiences people have had with each course…like what were some sat scores earned as a result of the classes or how the courses may have not been beneficial</p>

<p>My impression w Kap is that it guarantees better score, which is half and half chance. If you don’t take its course, you still have a 50% random chance to get better. Does anyone know what guarantees PR offers?</p>

<ol>
<li> Tell your parents to give you the $500 they were going to pay Kaplan for the course ( Kaplan Sucks)</li>
<li> Buy any prep book from a local bookstore</li>
<li> Get a good calculator and a timer</li>
<li> Take your test on Saturday and start at 8: am</li>
<li> Reward yourself after each test</li>
<li> Follow the instructions in the book to figure out your score</li>
<li> Go over what you missed and try to improve next time</li>
<li> Repeat steps 4 to 7 four times</li>
<li> Take the real test</li>
<li> Treat your parents to a nice dinner to celebrate</li>
</ol>

<p>Can someone tell me why there are so many negative comments about Kaplan and PR? </p>

<p>run2010, if buy any prep book would work, then Kap and PR have a lot of prep books, did you mean that their prep books also work well for you? If so, then Kap does not suck. </p>

<p>I have no relation with Kap or PR and never used their services, just want to be objective and fair. </p>

<p>SAT test takers have only a few time experiences with the test, while some professionals study the test inside and out. They know that CB uses the same tricks on the tests year after year and those prep experts in the know use the same methods to unlock the tricks. Some really effective ways to solve any SAT math problems in 30 seconds or less are never be published in the books or the web. You can only get them from face-to-face prep tutoring. I learned one fast method and use it in many different problems, it really saves me a lot of time to figure out by myself.</p>