SAT and ACT Prep Courses Compared: Free Tools, Prices and Guarantees

Start with free Bluebook and Khan Academy for SAT, or ACT’s official practice resources. Add Schoolhouse for a free recurring SAT group. For paid study, Magoosh is the lower-cost choice among the plans below; PrepScholar suits students who want its customized weekly program and can justify the higher price.

Regular U.S. prices were checked November 2–3, 2026. Compare the course format, billing period, and refund conditions together when choosing a plan.

Compare free and paid options

Resource or plan	Published price	Format and useful distinction
College Board Bluebook	Free	Official full-length digital SAT practice and interface preview
Khan Academy Official SAT Prep	Free	Skill lessons, quizzes and explanations linked from practice results
ACT official practice resources	Free	Sample questions and full-length practice-test access
Schoolhouse SAT Bootcamp	Free	Peer-led Zoom groups for Math or Reading and Writing
Magoosh SAT Premium, monthly	$49/month	Self-paced lessons and practice; renews monthly
Magoosh SAT Premium, annual	$129/year	The same Premium study tools with 12 months of access; renews annually
Magoosh ACT Premium	$129 for 12 months	Self-paced ACT preparation; fixed access term
Magoosh ACT Premium plus On-Demand Classes	$399 for 12 months	Premium access plus 16 hours of recorded instruction
PrepScholar Complete Online SAT Prep	$397 for 12 months	Adaptive self-study plan; separate $495 version adds an AI assistant

Sources: Bluebook, Khan Academy overview, ACT practice, Schoolhouse, Magoosh SAT, Magoosh ACT and PrepScholar SAT.

Choose the service you will actually use: skill lessons, scheduled group sessions, a customized study plan, or individual tutoring. Compare the full price for that format and your available preparation period.

Use Bluebook and Khan Academy for different tasks

Bluebook’s short preview lets you explore the interface, but it is untimed and does not provide a score or answer feedback. For a scored baseline, choose a full-length practice test.

Afterward, use My Practice to inspect the result and questions. College Board links to Khan Academy walkthroughs and relevant skill lessons. Khan Academy organizes SAT skills into Foundations, Medium and Advanced levels and offers course challenges, quizzes and unit tests.

This creates a practical sequence: full test, error review, targeted lesson, new practice questions, then another full test after further preparation. Repeating full tests without examining errors gives you more scores but little information about what to change.

If practicing with accommodations in Bluebook, remember that selecting a practice setting does not approve accommodations for the real test. College Board directs students to request approval through their school’s SSD coordinator, preferably at least seven weeks before testing.

Choose ACT materials that match the enhanced test

ACT’s current official practice page provides subject questions and access to free full-length tests. Its enhancement FAQ explains the transition to the enhanced format.

Use the current ACT format and the sections you will take for timed practice. Older questions can help with particular skills; reserve current-format tests for a complete timing rehearsal.

Ask how many included full-length ACT tests match the enhanced exam’s timing and structure. Check a sample before paying for a large practice library.

Our SAT versus ACT guide explains the current formats. Decide which test suits your application plan before paying for a long course.

Free live support exists

Schoolhouse offers separate SAT Math and Reading and Writing bootcamps. Each runs for four weeks, with two 75-minute sessions per week and a maximum of 10 learners. That is 10 scheduled session hours per bootcamp.

Its tutors are trained student peers who scored in at least the 95th percentile on the section they teach. The bootcamps target section scores of 400–690. Schoolhouse recommends allowing at least four weeks for one bootcamp and eight weeks if sequencing both.

Understand what paid access buys

Magoosh’s SAT Premium page lists more than 2,500 practice questions, more than 200 video lessons and up to three practice tests assembled from its question pool. Monthly and annual Premium subscriptions provide these same study tools.

The ACT Premium plan costs $129 for 12 months, with a four-payment option of $32.25. The $399 ACT plan’s four installments are $99.75. Those are installments toward a fixed total, not a cancel-any-month membership. Its ACT FAQ says plans do not auto-renew; pausing access does not cancel installment obligations.

Magoosh SAT subscriptions automatically renew at the end of the selected month or year. Set a cancellation reminder around your last planned test; the ACT product has different billing terms.

PrepScholar’s base SAT plan provides 12-month access, a diagnostic and a customized weekly program. Its page recommends at least 40 hours of study. The AI-assistant version costs $495, an additional $98. Live classes start at $895 and individual tutoring at $995, with package-specific hours.

Choose Magoosh when self-paced lessons address the gaps in your error log and the price fits the preparation window. Consider PrepScholar when you will follow its customized weekly assignments. For consistent attendance, compare a scheduled group with another self-study library.

Read score guarantees before relying on them

Magoosh advertises a 100-point SAT improvement guarantee for students with qualifying prior scores of 1350 or below who complete its program. Its ACT page advertises a 4-point guarantee for qualifying prior scores of 30 or below, also subject to completion and detailed terms. These are separate from its seven-day refund policy.

PrepScholar advertises a 160-point SAT guarantee, but its terms contain specific eligibility conditions. They include completing assigned lessons and tests, a qualifying official baseline, an official retest within the stated window and a timely refund request. The refund test also requires an after-score below 1530 and improvement below 160 points.

For example, an eligible baseline of 1450 followed by 1540 is a 90-point gain. The score is above the stated 1530 ceiling, so “less than 160 points” alone would not satisfy that refund condition.

Save the applicable guarantee terms and record the qualifying baseline, required work, retest deadline, refund-request deadline, and amount refunded. Use those conditions to assess the refund protection while choosing the course for its teaching format.

Try a two-week study routine before buying more content

Try this two-week routine to identify the support you need:

In week 1, take an official full-length test under appropriate conditions. For every wrong or guessed answer, record the skill, your reasoning and the reason the correct answer works. Group errors into content gaps, misreading and time management.

Complete three focused 30-minute sessions on the most frequent skill problem. End each with new questions, not immediate repetition of answers you remember. Record whether you can explain the method without looking at the solution.

In week 2, continue three focused sessions and add one longer timed section. Review unanswered questions separately from incorrect attempted questions. Those patterns may call for different practice.

At the end, decide what is missing. If you followed the schedule but cannot understand a concept, targeted instruction may help. If you rarely started, a scheduled group or accountability arrangement may be more useful than another question bank.

Compare the total purchase with the time available

One or two months of Magoosh SAT Premium cost $49 or $98. Its $129 annual plan becomes cheaper if you need three months or more: three monthly payments total $147, which is $18 more for a shorter access period. Choose monthly for a brief preparation window and annual for a longer schedule or planned retest. The annual purchase page displays the yearly total and renewal terms.

Count the weeks before the last accepted test date for your colleges. A large course library has little practical value if your schedule cannot accommodate it. Check the college-specific testing guide before planning a retest.

Try sample lessons to check whether you understand the explanations and can navigate the practice. Stay with free tools when they address the gaps; pay for instruction or structure only when you have identified a need and time to use it.