How does PREPARE SAT prep course compare to those of our competitors? 

	PREPARE	Kaplan	Princeton Review	Sylvan	Huntington	Boonswang
Price	$799*/ ACT Prep $75 more (*check for host-school discounts)	$499/$999^	$599/$999	Who knows? $500, $1000, $2,000... Won't tell you upfront	Who knows? $500, $1000, $2,000... Won't tell you upfront	Who knows? $500, $1000, $2,000... Won't tell you upfront
Total Instructional Hours	36!	18/ ^add PSAT-ACT	18/30	?	?	?
Diagnostic Tests	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	?
100+ point Guarantee	Yes	No	No	?	?	?
Tuition Free Scholarships	Yes	?	?	?	?	?
Come back as often as you like for free...	Yes	No/Yes	No/No	?	?	?
Local tesimonials	Yes	?	?	?	?	?
* Depending on course and location.

COMMON-SENSE QUESTIONS ABOUT SAT PREP COMPANIES:   Huntington, Kaplan, Princeton Review, and Sylvan are are nationwide companies. Do they have something that PREPARE doesn't? Sure: inflated prices, elaborate websites, part-time instructors and computerized feedback for their students' diagnostic tests. PREPARE offers sensible prices, a modest website, a full-time professional instructor, and human feedback. Why won't some test prep companies give me a price without an in-person 'evaluation'? I think you can figure this one out.

Why does PREPARE offer so much more instructional time than its competitors?

Because that’s how much time it takes to properly prepare for the New SAT, which has added 50% more material than the old model. The reason my competitors aren’t adding more hours is because they would have to (1) significantly raise their already inflated prices, or (2) take a big cut in their profits. Faced with these unpleasant alternatives, they have chosen to dilute their course offerings.

Recently, Kaplan and Princeton Review slashed their prices in response to the economic downturn. But don't be fooled: their new 'economy-level' prep are cheaper because they also slashed their instructional hours. What a bargain, huh?

What about the lower-priced prep courses at local colleges and the free courses offered by high schools?

Unfortunately, moonlighting teachers—not SAT test experts—usually run the SAT courses offered by community colleges and local schools. In fact, many of PREPARE’s students are frustrated refugees from these programs. But don’t take our word for it: find someone who has taken one of these courses and ask her or her parents if they were satisfied.

Does PREPARE offer a 100-point improvement, money-back guarantee?

You bet. We stick by our students from the first day they walk in our doors to the moment they walk down the graduation aisle; they are welcome to attend extra classes and take diagnostic tests long after their official classes are over—for free. Quite apart from the genuine affection we feel for our kids, from a purely business perspective… the better they do, the better we do.

Still, we are only as good as our students. Therefore, our improvement guarantee comes with the following stipulations: Students must attend 90% of their classes—including regularly scheduled diagnostic tests and brush ups—and do 85% of their assigned homework. (Weekly quiz scores also count toward this homework total.). If they do all this, but still fail to add a hundred points to their SAT score, they get 100% of their tuition back. Fair enough?

Also, we like to see our kids get the maximum value for their investment with PREPARE. Many kids don’t realize that their SAT scores can be applied to college applications months after they have been officially submitted. And since our kids often improve significantly over time (sometimes more than 200 points between tests), we require that they take at least two official SAT tests after completing our course. Furthermore, students who wish to claim a refund cannot do so unless they have exhausted all opportunities to improve their score; i.e., they must take any official SAT test that could still be applied to their college application.