Magoosh vs PrepScholar

whitch is a better site to test for the act?

I don’t know anything about Magoosh, but my son used Prep Scholar. He got a 29 in March, he used Prep Scholar over the summer for about 50 hours (5 hrs a week) and got a score of 34 in September.

He liked the way it was set up but it is a lot of time to complete the entire program, 50+ topics and several levels on each topic. Each topic has a written explanation then you take a test - if you do well on the test, you move up a level, if not, you eventually have to take the section again. He didn’t finish - probably had another 20 hours or so to go.

He didn’t do as well on the essay portion, 24ish, but they were switching over to the new essay format at that time, so it may be better now.

My opinion is that it would be very tough to complete the program (which you have to do) and not improve to qualify for the refund. I’d be surprised if they gave many refunds.

They use the Red Book for practice tests and had him complete 5 tests over the summer - I’m not sure how much he would have improved if he hadn’t signed up but just took the 5 Red Book tests and reviewed his mistakes. In my opinion, taking the practice tests, reviewing your wrong answers is the best way to improve your score no matter what program you use to improve.

Whatever you decide, best of luck, in the end you have to do the work to get the score but Prep Scholar definitely makes it easy to focus on the areas you need to improve. For us, it was worth the price compared to signing him up for some of the local classes offered.

Wow thanks so much from a 29 to a 34 wow!!

I took the ACT twice before I studied with Magoosh, the first time taking a prep class at school and both times using the “Real ACT” prep book from college board. I got the same score of 32 both times. For the colleges I was shooting for they might let you in with a 32 IF your GPA was high enough but I was looking to use the ACT to make up for freshman and sophomore year mistakes that brought down my GPA.
As a sort of last-ditch option I asked my parents if they would finance the one-month Magoosh plan before I took the December ACT. I studied for a minimum of an hour a day for about a whole month until I took the ACT. I loved that their practice questions all had well-thought explanation videos, and their overall conceptual teaching videos were immensely helpful in brushing up on the weaknesses I had pinpointed through my earlier ACT’s (mainly Trig and the science section). The test-taking strategies and “before the test” tips also made me a lot more confident going into the test.
I got a 35 on that December test, and I honestly think it changed my life. I’m getting scholarship offers from these colleges I was nervous about getting into. The math and science sections in particular went up 5 and 4 points respectively. Unlike prep scholar, Magoosh does not specifically require you to complete everything, allowing me to focus on my weaknesses.
I would 100% recommend Magoosh to anyone looking to do well on the ACT (in fact I already have twice to my friends and their scores went up 3 and 4 points respectively).
Best of luck!

1 prior post?

Hmm… what are the chances that you really are a high school student posting on CC for the first time, Magoo… err… I mean 10sstuddent?