Studying with the best PSAT prep courses is a win-win when it comes to getting ready to take college admissions tests (like the SAT) as well as a chance to potentially earn a National Merit Scholarship!
How We Evaluated the Best PSAT Prep Courses
We looked at 4 major categories when evaluating the best online PSAT prep courses. These categories were: Curriculum, Pricing, Platform, and Real Student Feedback. After seeing how each course ranks in these categories as well as reading our short PSAT prep reviews, we think you’ll have all the knowledge necessary to make a great decision for your prep!
Prefer a home study program instead? Start with these PSAT prep books.
3 Best PSAT Prep Course Reviews
| 1. Prep Scholar – Best Overall 2. Princeton Review – Best Live Online 3. Kaplan – Best Live Instruction |
Prep Scholar
Prep Scholar’s PSAT course is only offered in an on-demand format with the option of adding on 1-on-1 tutoring for an additional cost. It’s a substantial program – 98 skill lessons, 4,000+ practice questions and 150+ hours of content, with about 40 hours of study recommended before test day. Here’s how the early part of it runs:
First hour: Take a smart diagnostic test
This smart diagnostic test can be taken the first day of signing up for the course and will immediately pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses.
Skill training lessons
There are 98 skill lessons covering 45 fine-grained skills, each built from a text and video lesson, a focused practice quiz and a quiz review. Progressing from one lesson to the next depends on proving you’ve absorbed the concepts.
Take a full-length practice test
You’ll work through an official full-length PSAT practice test – the course includes 6 of them, and the interface mirrors the College Board’s Bluebook app.
Continue customized prep
You’ll continue a customized study plan with additional lessons and practice tests until your test date.
PrepScholar backs the course with a 150-point score guarantee – miss it after completing the program and they refund the course. That’s a promise rather than an average result, but it’s a more specific commitment than anyone else on this list makes.
This is the best PSAT prep course for: Students who are seeking a National Merit Scholarship and would like to see a significant score increase.
A year's access to a customizable study plan with over 210 hours of content and a 150+ point score guarantee.
Related: The 5 PSAT Study Guides You Need in Your Prep
Princeton Review PSAT Essentials Course
Their PSAT Essentials course comes at a fraction of the cost of Kaplan for the live online option, making it our top pick for any students seeking a live online classroom option.
Like the other PSAT prep courses in this list, you will gain access to study tools such as practice tests with detailed explanations, smart reports of test performance, and the ability to practice on your weaknesses using information gathered from past test performance.
The live online course comes with a higher score guarantee, which can be a bit of a relief for students who are nervous to spend such a large amount on a single PSAT prep course.
The Princeton Review also offers college admissions consulting for students who are looking for a bit of extra guidance on the application process. You can learn more in our review of the best college admissions consultants.
This is the best PSAT prep course for: Students who prefer a live online classroom setting.
Includes 18 hours of live instruction and 5 full-length practice tests. Get 15% off with code: TPN15
- Handy and unique flashcard creation tool
- Leading, popular test prep company
- Live instruction from certified PSAT experts
- Higher score guarantee
- No physical books with online course
- No self-paced option available
Kaplan PSAT Prep
Kaplan now sells PSAT prep as its own product rather than only as part of a bundle, and it comes two ways: self-paced at around $300, or live online at around $500. Both are cheaper than anything else on this list, which makes Kaplan the budget pick now that it’s standing on its own.
The self-paced course gives you roughly 13 hours of on-demand video lessons, 2 full-length practice tests, the question bank, a hardcopy Kaplan PSAT prep book and teacher support over chat and email, with 6 months of access. For a student who mostly needs structure and a book to work from, that’s a lot for $300.
The live online course adds classes that meet once or twice a week for about three hours a session, in the evenings or at weekends. The difference that matters is being able to ask a question and get an answer there and then, rather than emailing and waiting. For roughly $200 more, most students who struggle to self-start will get their money’s worth from that.
Either way you work through Kaplan’s PSAT strategies and content and sit 2 full-length practice tests, with analytics afterwards showing which skills are costing you points so you can adjust what you study.
The live online course includes the self-paced material at no extra cost, so those 13 hours of video are there to reinforce whatever comes up in class. Worth knowing before you decide the cheaper option is the safer one – the gap between them is smaller than the prices suggest.
If you’re going to sit the SAT or ACT afterwards, look at the bundles before buying PSAT prep on its own. Kaplan College Advantage runs from about $650 to $3,500 depending on the tier and bundles PSAT, SAT and ACT prep – on-demand and live online – with 5 hours of 1-on-1 tutoring and 6 hours of college advising. Unlimited Prep sits in similar territory at roughly $2,000 to $2,400. Neither is cheap, but if you were going to buy PSAT and SAT prep separately anyway, the maths can work out.
This is the best PSAT prep course for: Students who want live instruction without paying Princeton Review prices – or who want the cheapest credible self-paced option.
On top of a 15-hour live online PSAT Prep course, you can also gain access to Kaplan's ACT and SAT live online courses as well as AP review courses.
Breakdown of Best PSAT Course by Category
We have spent a lot of time reviewing popular courses and wanted to give you a chance to see how we rank them based on the following 4 factors: curriculum, pricing, platform, and student feedback. Read on to see our thoughts for each:
Best PSAT Course by Curriculum
It doesn’t matter what bells and whistles a prep course tries to sell you on if their curriculum isn’t up to snuff. All three of these courses have curriculum that meets our standards, though to varying degrees. Each of these courses come with different amounts of instruction hours, practice tests, practice questions, and study plans.
Prep Scholar
5/5 stars
This course is loaded with 150+ hours of content, 4,000+ practice questions written for the Digital PSAT, 6 official practice tests and customizable practice sets. They receive a 5 out of 5 for their study plan.
Princeton Review
5/5 stars
As expected by The Princeton Review, you’ll gain access to a comprehensive curriculum that includes 18 hours of live online instruction as well as access to over 2,000 questions with full explanations.
Kaplan
5/5 stars
A solid, comprehensive course with about 13 hours of on-demand video, 2 full-length practice tests and a hardcopy prep book. It’s the thinnest curriculum of the three, but it’s also the cheapest by some way.
Best PSAT Course by Pricing
We rate these courses by their cost, but keep in mind that some courses do come with greater value. PSAT prep, overall, is quite expensive when you consider that the test is helping to prepare you for the SAT, in which you’ll still need to prep for.
If these prices are going to put you over the edge with future SAT prep courses added in the mix, then we recommend a course that prepares you for the PSAT and the SAT. The Princeton Review and Kaplan both offer these hybrid courses and may be worth looking into.
Prep Scholar
3/5 stars
At $397, PrepScholar is the priciest self-paced option here and includes no live instruction at all. You’re paying for depth of material rather than time with a teacher.
Princeton Review
5/5 stars
Although $799 is nothing to scoff at, this is for a live online course. It comes in at nearly half the price of the Kaplan live online course!
Kaplan
5/5 stars
Kaplan now has the cheapest PSAT course on this list – around $300 self-paced and $500 live online, since they started selling PSAT prep separately rather than only inside a bundle. If you’ll be sitting the SAT later, their College Advantage bundles are worth pricing up too.
Best PSAT Course by Platform
Our #1 tip for choosing a prep course with a great and intuitive platform is to try whatever trial option is available for the course. At the end of the day, you may prefer the layout and feel of one course over another or enjoy some other features that you weren’t expecting, such as the analytics, customizable practice sets, or simply just the ease of switching from one task to another.
If you do not have time to try a trial course of all of these PSAT prep courses, then you can see our platform reviews here:
Prep Scholar
4/5 stars
Their platform has a lot of features and is powerful, but it feels a bit outdated.
Princeton Review
5/5 stars
All of TPR’s courses come in an easy-to-use dashboard that even your parents could navigate.
Kaplan
5/5 stars
Kaplan has a clean, intuitive platform that is comprehensive and easy to use.
Best PSAT Course by Student Feedback
Prep Scholar
5/5 stars
For being a bit less relevant in the test prep industry, Prep Scholar actually has a lot of credibility for its prep courses and most Reddit mentions describe increased scores.
Princeton Review
4/5 stars
Student feedback for the Princeton Review’s PSAT course is positive overall, but students do note that the practice tests on the Princeton Review are harder than the real PSAT.
Kaplan
5/5 stars
Most students agree that the content covered is very similar to the PSAT and diagnostic test scores are generally close to what they score on the real PSAT.
Best PSAT Prep Course FAQ
What is the best PSAT course?
Our top choice, overall, is the Prep Scholar PSAT prep course. You’ll get a year’s access of affordable and personalized PSAT prep.
How much does a PSAT course cost?
Self-paced PSAT courses run from about $300 for Kaplan up to $397 for PrepScholar. Live instruction costs more – roughly $500 for Kaplan’s live online class and $799 for Princeton Review’s PSAT Essentials. Adding 1-on-1 tutoring starts around $995.
When should I start preparing for the PSAT?
The majority of students will take the PSAT in either the fall of their sophomore or junior year and use the summer before the test to prep for the PSAT.
Do I need a PSAT prep course?
You should be utilizing a PSAT prep plan, whether that is with a PSAT prep course or a PSAT book to guide your study plan.
Are PSAT prep classes worth it?
For those who hope to earn a scholarship with the PSAT or who plan on taking and prepping for the SAT, then taking PSAT prep classes are definitely worth the investment. You can find free courses, as well, including from Khan Academy.
Is the PSAT harder than the SAT?
The PSAT is actually a little easier than the SAT, objectively, but it may seem harder for students who have spent less time preparing for the PSAT versus those who prepare extensively for the SAT.
Bottomline on the Best PSAT Prep Courses
Regardless of the PSAT prep course you ultimately purchase, all of these courses will cover the PSAT comprehensively and, when combined with consistent practice and study on your end, should get you to the PSAT score you desire! Happy studying!
Have you tried one of these PSAT prep courses? Share your thoughts below!