Princeton Review or Kaplan

Test Preparation
1

<p>I plan on taking SAT classes over summer (by the way I'm a sophomore). Which one should I take, Kaplan or Princeton Review? And what's more worth the cost: Private Tutor (which is really expensive), Small Group, or the actual class?
Thank You</p>

2

<p>A private tutor who used to work for Kaplan told us that the methods and philosophy between Princeton and Kaplan are fundamentally different. Princeton is more “how to outsmart the test writer” while Kaplan is more concept based. Princeton teaches how to eliminate the answers, while Kaplan focuses on understanding the question. </p>

<p>I have never used Kaplan so I don’t know if that description of Kaplan is accurate. However, based on my oldest son’s experience with the Princeton Review group course, I do think that accurately describes Princeton Review’s approach. I thought the PR course did help him with the writing portion of the SAT – his weakest subject. However, I don’t think the he showed any gain on the Math or CR portion. </p>

<p>I was not impressed with the large group classes and will not be signing my other two kids up for them.</p>

3

<p>Will I see a greater increase in my score if I take Princeton Review or Kaplan? I plan on taking PR.</p>

4

<p>my advice is: don’t take PR or Kaplan. Get yourself a Official SAT book by collegeboard- (known on this forum as the blue book), and take the practice tests. There are so many people here that have took the courses and didn’t benefit from PR or Kaplan at all. However, the choice is really up to you. But my advice is… self-study because I don’t think you’ll achieve a significant score boost with the test prep companies.</p>

5

<p>Kaplan and Princeton Review are both a waste of money.
Do what jk511 is saying.</p>

6

<p>Agree with above. And don’t take a class, they’re a waste. Study on your own and try to do all your studying with official questions (this is especially important for the verbal section!).</p>

<p>DO practice test after practice test. Buy both PR and Kaplan BOOK for tips, but most of them are pretty obvious. Sometimes, you’ll find you have a much better way of doing it than they advise (i.e. one book said read the questions for verbal beforehand, the other said don’t).</p>

7

<p>just get the books</p>