5 Best ACT Prep Courses in 2026 (Objectively Tested) 

Given the importance of ACT scores, investing in an ACT prep program is one of the best ways to ensure your student's success in today's highly competitive college admissions landscape.

To help you make the best purchasing decision, we have personally purchased and thoroughly reviewed the top ACT online prep courses and classes on the market to guarantee that your student is equipped with the best resources for success. 

Our ACT Prep Course Winners

Best Overall: The Princeton Review 

Best for Self-Study: PrepScholar

Most Comprehensive ACT Strategies: Prep Expert

Best Budget: Magoosh

Best ACT Practice Material: Kaplan

The Princeton Review - Best Overall

The Princeton Review's ACT Prep course ranks highly on our ACT course ranking list for good reason. The Princeton Review is one of the oldest, most established test-prep companies.

If you're looking for the best and the boldest ACT score improvement guarantee for your student, The Princeton Review ACT Prep is for you.

Their most popular ACT prep package, the ACT 31+, puts students in the highest subset of ACT test-takers with a 31+ point guarantee, or an ACT score boost up to +6 points.

The course features 36 hours of live instruction with the option for in-person or live online instruction, allowing for flexibility in learning styles and student schedules. 

Students enrolled in the course will have access to 24/7 on-demand support, where they can get help with questions related to the ACT prep material. 

In addition to the 24/7 on-demand tutoring support, students get access to their ACT Advantage Sessions.

These are hourly-long virtual classes held three times a week, where students can work with expert instructors to hone their skills in different ACT areas.

For those looking to advance their ACT prep, The Princeton Review offers their ACT 34+ Tutoring program, which is available online and in person.

This course targets high-achieving students who want the guarantee of a 99th percentile ACT score to be competitive for extremely selective schools like Harvard, Yale, or Stanford.

The course consists of rigorous and thorough prep materials, access to an elite group of tutors, interactive video lessons, and 1-on-1 tutoring. 

For students looking to master the ACT's fundamental test-taking strategies, The Princeton Review offers the ACT Essentials course, a stripped-down version of the ACT 31+ course.

The ACT Essentials course contains 18 hours of expert-led classroom instruction, customized study plans, and access to their ACT Advantage Sessions and self-paced SAT courses.

Note that all instructor-led ACT courses from The Princeton Review include access to their online platform with additional resources, such as live class recordings and ACT practice questions and tests.

Access to this online platform is extended for 365 days from the day the live classroom instruction begins.

Prices for the ACT Essentials course start at $949, the ACT 31+ course starts at $1,749, and the ACT 1500+ Tutoring course starts at $278/hr.

You can get 15% off all ACT courses on The Princeton Review website using our exclusive discount code SOJOURNING15 at check out. 

Read our full review: Princeton Review ACT Course Review

PrepScholar - Best for Self-Study

PrepScholar offers premium courses with an emphasis on personalized learning, made possible by their unique data-driven learning algorithm.

Their online ACT course platform measures your student's performance as they go through the course and creates the most effective prep plan of any self-study ACT course on the market.

This customized approach can be helpful, as student quickly identify their weak areas and spend more prep time on these areas. 

Like many of the other top ACT prep companies, PrepScholar offers a +4 point ACT score increase guarantee, with the possibility of a full refund if your student's score does not improve after course completion.

One advantage of PrepScholar is its vast library of materials. With over 70 ACT skill lessons and 51 skills to practice and master, they teach all relevant skills your student needs to learn.

PrepScholar also boasts the largest ACT question bank of any ACT prep course on the market.

With over 4,300 ACT practice questions and detailed answer explanations in both text and video format.

They also offer 60 hours of high-quality instructional videos and up to six practice tests referenced from The Official ACT Prep Guide book, which they provide when you purchase any of their ACT prep packages.

By utilizing official ACT prep material, PrepScholar ensures that students are adequately prepared for the real ACT testing conditions. 

PrepScholar offers five different ACT prep packages. Their most popular is their self-paced Complete ACT Online Prep course.

In addition, they have options that include expert-led classes and private tutoring. 

Alternatively, you can buy a self-paced course with two years of access and expedited support or a dual ACT and SAT prep course.

Courses range from $397 to $995, with an option to make monthly installment payments.

You can get a $50 discount off the price of their ACT and SAT courses using our exclusive link. 

Read our full review: PrepScholar ACT Course Review

Prep Expert - Most Comprehensive ACT Prep Strategies

Prep Expert offers ACT courses in various formats, including self-paced, live classes, and online tutoring. Similar to The Princeton Review, they also provide some prep services in person - but that depends on your location.

Prep Expert's value proposition is the 100+ ACT-specific test-taking strategies they've identified as critical for a high ACT score.

These strategies were developed by the founder of Prep Expert - who achieved a perfect score on the SAT - in collaboration with Maria Filsinger - a perfect scorer on the ACT. 

Many of these ACT-specific test-taking strategies are bottom-up solution tactics, which are effective methods of attempting problems on multiple-choice exams like the ACT.

We liked their lessons for how well they combine the standard top-down solution tactics that students are accustomed to in high school with these bottom-up solution tactics.

This way, students gain a different perspective on attempting ACT problems.

Whether you purchase their self-paced course or their popular 6-week flagship live course, you will find these key ACT test-taking strategies constantly emphasized. 

From our first-hand review of their ACT programs, Prep Expert stands out from other competitors in the area of test-taking strategies. 

Every instructor or tutor on their platform has scored in the top 1% of the ACT, so you can be confident that your student will be coached by a high-caliber ACT teacher. 

Courses range from $896 for the self-paced course to $1,696 for their premium 8-week ACT live course.

From our first-hand experience, Prep Expert's live six-week ACT prep package is a good budget alternative to The Princeton Review's ACT 31+ prep package.

Read our full review: Prep Expert ACT Course Review

Magoosh - Best Budget

If you're looking for a budget self-paced course, Magoosh is an excellent option.

Their Premium self-paced ACT course offers 1,300+ practice questions, four practice tests, 175 video lessons, and curated study schedules. 

In addition to these elements, Magoosh offers some unique features.

For example, they offer a 4+ point score improvement guarantee, with a full refund if your student's progress does not meet the guarantee. 

Magoosh stands out from the competition for having the most detailed answer explanations. For all ACT practice questions on their platform, you will find answer explanations in both text and video format.

As you might expect from a self-paced prep-focused provider, they do not offer private ACT tutoring. 

However, they provide an academic support team to help your student with questions sent via email. This support is unique among self-paced courses and can be a great resource. 

Magoosh also offers a choice to take their self-paced course with live recorded classes, taught by highly qualified teachers who have earned scores in the 99th percentile on the ACT.

Courses range from $129 for the Self-paced Premium course to $399 for the Guided study premium with 16 hours of on-demand ACT live class recordings.

Read our full review: Magoosh ACT Course Review

Kaplan - Best ACT Practice Material

After the Princeton Review, Kaplan is the other best-known test prep company, with prep courses for pretty much every admissions exam there is.

Kaplan boasts an exclusive partnership with the ACT Inc, the makers of the ACT exam, which allows them to incorporate interactive official ACT prep questions into their course platform.

Thereby giving students the closest experience of simulating an actual ACT exam day condition.

Using good practice questions is essential when taking the ACT, as designing realistic ACT exam questions is often challenging and expensive for test prep providers. 

Kaplan does not have the same range of ACT courses as the Princeton Review. Still, they offer live online classes, a self-paced course, and online tutoring with a self-paced course.

Though their ACT prep options are more budget-friendly than those from the Princeton Review, while still being adequate.

They also have a question bank of over 2,000+ official ACT questions for practice in smaller increments. Their Live Online ACT course even comes with a print ACT prep book.

Kaplan also offers free online events, including a sample class, parent workshops, and events hosted in partnership with the ACT.

These offerings can help you gauge the quality of their courses and get some inside tips on preparing for the test. 

Prices of these Kaplan online ACT courses range from $124 (On-Demand ACT course) to $799 (for their lowest-starting online ACT tutoring program).

Read our full review: Kaplan ACT Course Review

Tips on Scoring Deals and Saving Money on Test Prep

As you know, preparing for the ACT or Digital SAT can be expensive for families.

This disparity in test-prep affordability has led a growing number of schools to adopt test-optional admission policies in a bid to level the playing field. 

However, there's no need to worry!

Drawing from our knowledge of the college test prep market, we've compiled a collection of unique tips designed to help families save big on ACT or SAT prep, without compromising tremendously on quality.

Lookout for payment plans

An easy win for most families is to shop with test prep providers that offer payment plans over several months - which can lower the upfront financial burden and allow you to invest in a higher-quality prep course for your student.  

Shop during off-peak seasons

The next secret hack is to keep an eye out for sales and discounts during off-peak periods - which in the college test prep market occurs at the end of the year. 

During these periods, it's common to find test prep providers offering as much as 50% OFF.

Savvy buyers often take advantage of these savings by purchasing summer ACT prep programs well ahead of time for the upcoming year. 

By simply planning ahead and shopping strategically, you can secure a top-notch prep course for your student at a significantly reduced cost.

By joining our free college planning newsletter below, you'll gain access to exclusive discounts and be among the first to know when the best deals from top test prep providers we recommend become available.  

Consider budget-friendly alternatives

For those families working with a tight budget, consider investing in self-paced courses, especially if your student is the self-motivated type, as these are the most affordable of the three options.

We recommend the Magoosh ACT course as a good budget option for the self-paced student.

Ask for financial assistance

Another critical and often forgotten tip is to ask about any financial assistance from the test prep provider you're considering, research the options and eligibility requirements, and encourage your student to apply if they meet the criteria.

This can help cover part or all of your student's test prep costs.

Review Methodology

At Sojourning Scholar, we've performed first-hand reviews of over 70 test prep products - such as books and courses - with an eye toward the test prep product's quantitative and qualitative features.

We assess quantitative factors such as the product price, duration of access periods, and quantity of practice material.

Qualitative factors affect how much value a student can get from the product.

They include the qualifications and experience of teachers or authors, the effectiveness of the self-paced or live course curriculum, student support quality, and customer policies.

To perform this round-up review, we purchased and tested 8 popular ACT prep programs on the market.

Spending over 100 hours watching on-demand video lessons, attending live classes, and completing the ACT practice questions and practice tests on the online platforms.

This allowed us to holistically assess the quality of these self-paced and live ACT prep programs before making a strong recommendation.