<p>Has anyone actually taken an SAT/ACT prep class with Princeton/Kaplan? Is it actually helpful?</p>
<p>The teachers are quite good. I was constantly impressed by how well the teachers could answer my questions and specifically pinpoint all the errors and traps I should watch out for. </p>
<p>Sure, they teach the Joe Bloggs method, but most of my teachers just casually brushed through that and said don't use it. Since many of these teachers are from top schools, they know what they are doing. Give it a shot. Its only $999.</p>
<p>Only $999? Excuse me, but that's not even how much my family makes in a month.</p>
<p>sai2004, what class did you take? You didn't say. Sounds like a PR class from the Joe Bloggs reference...I just found out PR has a 200-point increase guarantee (you can retake a special course free if you don't go up 200 points from your last official SAT or a proctored diagnostic)...that's kind of cool.</p>
<p>I think sai2004 is being sarcastic.</p>
<p>Are Kaplan's test prep books better than PR's? What about the ones offered by the College Board?</p>
<p>Go with CollegeBoard. I do not trust PR or Kaplan for SAT (Though PR's SATII books are really good for the content review). I took a PR class and it did not help me. I got the exact same score as my PSAT. The guarantee is good, but they make the first diagnostic test obnoxiously hard, so you don't really need to improve that much to make it. I did not make my 200 point guarantee for the April exam, and have not been contacted about my free refresher course, which they say is guaranteed. Even if they offer it, I'm still not doing it because it is a huge waste of time. In the 2 weeks from when I got my April scores to the May SAT, I did practice tests from the CollegeBoard book and improved 150 points from my April exam.</p>
<p>I second admanrich.</p>
<p>I took a Kaplan course, and it did help, but very minimally. I hate their prep books.</p>
<p>Uh, adman, you're supposed to contact them, not the other way around.</p>
<p>I like PR books much better than Kaplan. Of course, CB is the best!</p>
<p>Yeah, sorry if you couldn't notice my sarcasm. PR is pretty crap (I have never taken a course, but the people they hire are very low level. On their requirements it just says 2100 on SAT, college degree, friendly, can drive, and some junk) My advice. Screw test prep companies. Get your own shiz. </p>
<p>Blue Book
Online Course</p>
<p>Get it
F**k it
Know it
Sleep with it
Do whatever</p>
<p>But get as familiar with real SAT problems as much as possible and you can measure your progress by taking REAL SAT tests.</p>
<p>I had around a 300 point increase from 2090.</p>
<p>Rather strong opinion for someone who's never taken a class, but whatever.</p>