Princeton Review SAT Review

Princeton Review Self-Paced SAT & ACT Bundle

Princeton Review has several tiers, starting with its self-paced course. All study materials for this tier are accessed via the online platform. This tier doesn’t offer live classes or tutoring. It provides access to the foundational study resources that this course is built on. Here are the features you can expect.

• Over 3,000 practice questions with text explanations.
• SAT and ACT practice tests.
• 377 Online drills to put your knowledge to the ultimate test.
• 100+ video lessons.
• Pay $200 for 10 hours of personal one-on-one tutoring.
• Unique study plan personalized to a student’s performance and current level of knowledge.

Princeton Review Essentials SAT Course

This is the most popular tier that Princeton Review offers. Most people refer to this as their standard course. It includes access to all of the materials in their self-paced course.

Additionally, the Essentials tier includes more practice tests, live instruction, and eBooks. Since live courses are offered, students will also gain access to proctored practice tests, which are designed to perfectly mimic real test-taking conditions.

• 18 Hours of Live Classroom learning.
• Full access to SAT Live Online learning sessions.
• Over 100 high quality study videos.
• 9 SAT practice tests and 14 ACT practice tests.
• Personalized homework assignments.
• Interactive goal setting catered to each student’s individual needs.

Princeton Review 1400+ Course

This tier is designed for students applying to top colleges. The SAT 1400+ tier guarantees that you will achieve a score of 1400 or higher on the SAT. If you score lower, you’ll be eligible for a refund.

Following the course outlined in this tier will place you in the top 5% of test takers. In addition to the resources listed in previous tiers, members of the 1400+ course will get the following benefits:

• Instructors who scored in the top percentile on the SAT.
• Proven strategies that are guaranteed to increase a student’s score to 1400 or higher.
• 36 hours of in-person live classroom instruction.
• Customized homework plan.
• One-on-one tutoring that goes above and beyond that provided in previous tiers.
• Practice drills that are AI driven to meet each student’s individual needs.

Princeton Review SAT Features

We dove into the Princeton Review SAT prep course and paid close attention to every detail. Our goal is to help you make the right decision.

Coursework

Princeton Review creates a unique study plan for each student based on their needs. The coursework guides students through their customized study plan and makes sure they study the right topics. This guided approach really makes this prep course shine.

The study material itself is quite good too. A study unit takes approximately 30 minutes to finish and the course takes this time into account when creating a study schedule. Each unit consists of three parts. You start out with a brief recap of previous lessons to make sure you understand the concepts required in the new unit. You can skip these videos if you don’t need the refresher.

Then you move onto the learning phase by watching a video, viewing slides, and reading your textbook. Finally, you put everything learned into context by practicing.

Practice Questions (Custom Practice Sessions)

Practicing follows each learning session and is quite straightforward. Expect around 10 practice questions with each practice session, give or take. However, more complex topics have multiple practice sets assigned to them. We loved this feature because it makes sure that these more complicated topics are fully engrained in your mind before continuing.

The quality of practice questions does a great job of simulating the real SAT. Some former students claim that they are actually more difficult than the real test.

Answer Explanations

Princeton Review SAT prep includes detailed text explanations with all practice questions. These explanations break down the logic behind each answer to describe why it’s either correct or incorrect. These text explanations are impressive and provide students with the information they need to learn from the experience.

Practice Exams

We were impressed with the practice exams. You can expect to find at least 4 SAT exams, and if you purchase one of the higher tiers, 9 SAT exams.

In addition to full practice tests, the course also gives you access to tests that are comprised of a single subject. This lets you focus on a single area if it needs work.

User Interface and Dashboard

Given the fact that Princeton is considered a top brand, we expected nothing less than a perfect dashboard. We weren’t disappointed. It’s everything we expected – clean and easy to navigate.

The dashboard itself provides access to a student’s overall goals, daily assignments, a planner, and monthly review of their progress. Unfortunately, the designers felt it necessary to separate daily, weekly, and monthly information into tabs. This feels odd given the design of the overall course.

Everything else is wonderful though. Navigation is a breeze once you’ve learned where everything is location and messed around with it. It only took us a few minutes to learn enough to masterfully navigate through the entire course from the dashboard.

Video Lessons

Video lessons are the highlight of Princeton Review SAT prep. It’s clear right away that a lot of care was put into their development. Videos are engaging, short, and focused to make studying a breeze. They deliver everything you need to learn the information with no fluff.

The developers at Princeton know their target audience and produced these videos to meet their requirements.

An instructor appears on screen and engages the viewer. The instructor actually writes on the screen as they speak to emphasize essential points. This creates a highly engaging experience. It’s quite clear that Princeton invested heavily in video production.

Score Reports and Predictor

After taking practice exams, you’ll be presented with a detailed report that shows how you performed in every category. This is a great tool for determining where you need to dedicate future studies. There are two important metrics that are shown in this detailed report:

• Nationally Representative Sample Percentile: Compares your score against all students in the United States.
• SAT User Percentile: Compares your score against other SAT-takers.

After taking a practice test, Princeton’s system also provides you with an SAT score prediction. This is an estimate of your score if you were to take the SAT right then. We’re not sure how accurate this score prediction really is, but it’s a great tool for guiding future studies.

Supplemental Study Resources

Princeton Review provides a ton of additional resources but we feel like the Advantage sessions are what really stand out. If you’re struggling with a specific topic, then this is a great way to strengthen it.

Instructors dive deep into topics to help students gain more insight into them. Sometimes, this extra nudge is all that’s needed.