Personal thoughts on PrepScholar?

I know that there might be threads on this already, but what are your personal thoughts about prepscholar? is it a scam, is the 240+ point increase legit, or are there any better programs out there?

I’m an SAT instructor with no affiliation with PrepScholar at all. I don’t know about the 240+ increase claim (although that’s not an unreasonable number for great prep), but it appears to me after some investigation that PrepScholar is a pretty solid prep company that doesn’t spew tons of BS.

I use PrepScholar, and let me just say, it is phenomenal. I got a 230 point increase after the first two weeks. :-bd

We weren’t looking for 240 point increase just to get from 2150 to 2300+ (it’s harder to get increases when you’re near the top end!) and it worked for my D.

D16 did not find it useful. She was mainly using it to increase her math ACT score (from a 26). The material was supposed to adapt to her current level, but she found that they stayed at a very low level. She got frustrated and gave up after one or two tries with the website. She increased her composite by 3 points and her math to 30, mostly using other methods.

@bouders I am currently trying to increase my ACT math score, because it is dragging down my composite. What methods did your D use to increase her ACT math subscore?

@neuprospect98 Her math score mainly went up because she hadn’t learned trigonometry the first time she took the ACT, but had learned it by the second time. She worked with the red book and the Princeton Review 1296 practice question book. She was getting 32/33 on the practice tests and is aiming for techy schools, so the 30 was actually disappointing.

A 240+ is obviously false If they claim for all students. Can I get that if I have a 2400? I would like a 2640. Or even a 2160 to 2400. Sounds unlikely. These programs are useful for forcing you to study, but perhaps after attempting self study as a less expensive alternative to tutors, it won’t hurt, but the increase will be your work, not theirs

@andyis I think you need to read the guarantee more closely. It doesn’t say that everyone will get a 240+ it says if you successfully complete their course and you do not have a 240 increase OR reach 2300+ they will refund your money. I was very happy to not be in a position to be eligible for a refund:-)

I didn’t even read it but even if it were 2060-> 2300, I would think it could be a stretch for some. That wasn’t my point. I just wanted to say that 240 is not necessarily the same for everyone and it is usually a person’s own effort, rather than a program.

I guess I’m not seeing your point. Yes it is more effort for some to increase their score by the same amount as others. I have a son that never opened a book to make an A in the same class my daughter studied nightly for the same grade.

Of course its the person own effort that that increases their score, no one ever said other wise but for some people using a program can make prepping more efficient. Some people don’t need programs and self studying works well for them. In my D’s case she hit a wall at 2150 we tried a tutor, it didn’t help, she also had limited time to study. Prepscholar helped identify the specific areas she needed to master to get her to her goal 2300+

I am sitting at 1970 right now, and I haven’t started junior year of high school yet. I really want to get the score up to around a 2200 (or higher!) and I have been trying to work on it myself. However, I get distracted VERY easily and find it hard to stay on task (I might have ADD…) but do you think that prepscholar would work for me? And I am not really looking to spend extra money or utilize the additional add on that they have because money is not in abundance for me.