PrepScholar vs. Prep Expert ACT Prep: Which Is Better in 2026?

With college admissions more competitive than ever, one thing that can give you an edge is a stellar ACT score.

If you’re looking for extra help getting your ACT scores where you want them, an ACT prep program can help. Two test prep companies that offer ACT prep are PrepScholar and Prep Expert. While they have a lot of similarities, there are plenty of features that make their ACT prep programs unique.

To help you figure out which one is right for your learning needs and goals, we’ve put together a full comparison of PrepScholar’s and Prep Expert’s ACT prep. Keep reading to learn more!

Section 1: Rationale

Section 2: The Best ACT Prep Winner

Section 3: Comparison of Core Offerings

Section 4: PrepScholar vs. Prep Expert Comparison Table

Section 5: Comparison Point 1 - Instruction Quality and Feedback

Section 6: Comparison Point 2 - Personalization and Adaptive Learning

Section 7: Comparison Point 3 - Test Updates and Alignment

Section 8: Comparison Point 4 - Value

Section 9: Overall Pros and Cons

Section 10: FAQs

How We Picked Our Winners

We’ve spent hours researching, testing, and reviewing real student feedback on both PrepScholar and Prep Expert’s ACT program offerings to give you a thorough comparison of what they have to offer.

As a test taker, you need to know that the core features of your ACT prep program will create a prep experience that fits your needs and guarantees your success on the real exam. To help you find the best program for you, we reviewed both ACT prep companies’ based on the following features and offerings:

• Update frequency
• Price
• Score guarantee
• Variety of products
• Real student reviews

Knowing what you’re buying before you commit is the key to choosing an ACT prep program that gets you the results you’re looking for. Keep reading to find out which ACT prep program is the winner for the kind of student you are!

Prep Expert vs. PrepScholar: Which Has the Best ACT Prep?

For its adaptive, personalized prep, one-on-one instruction from expert 99th-percentile ACT scoring tutors, and 4-point improvement guarantee, we rank PrepScholar as the top provider of ACT prep.

Overall Winner: PrepScholar

PrepScholar delivers quality experiences and consistent results that are carefully tailored to the needs and goals of each student. Built on adaptive tech, PrepScholar’s programs provide personalized study plans in a suite of self-paced courses to one-on-one tutoring, offering customization for every student that’s backed by one consistent score guarantee for all of its ACT prep programs.

While PrepExpert provides cutting-edge ACT prep, PrepScholar’s commitment to tailoring comprehensive, adaptive prep to each student’s needs makes it the overall winner.

Best for Continuously Personalized Prep: PrepScholar

With its adaptive, self-paced course that readjusts question-by-question to provide intensive, targeted prep, PrepScholar is the perfect fit for students seeking ACT prep that stays laser-focused on their individual progress and goals. Combined with live online courses and one-on-one tutoring packages at no extra charge, PrepScholar’s ACT prep program provides personalized prep that will help you meet your score goals.

Best for General Test Prep Strategies: Prep Expert

Across both their SAT and ACT prep, Prep Expert employs a “100 exam strategies” approach, which is designed to fully immerse students in crucial test-taking strategies that teach you to outsmart any exam’s tricks and challenges. Through Prep Expert’s rigorous lesson, practice test, and homework system, students achieve mastery and apply these strategies with confidence on exam day.

Comparing Core ACT Prep Options

To help you understand everything that’s included in an ACT prep program, we’ll provide a full breakdown of both PrepScholar’s and Prep Expert’s ACT prep packages below.

PrepScholar ACT Prep Overview

PrepScholar provides four digital ACT prep options that are designed to meet every kind of learning need: Complete Online ACT Prep, Complete Online ACT Prep + Admissions Bootcamp, Live Instructor Led Classes, and 1-on-1 Online Tutoring.

PrepScholar’s most popular course, Complete Online ACT Prep, is a self-paced adaptive program that includes a smart diagnostic test, more than 50 skill lessons, 2800+ practice questions with explanations, and four official ACT exams to take as practice. This program comes with a year of full access to all included prep materials.

There’s also Complete Online ACT Prep + Admissions Bootcamp, which comes with everything that’s included in the Complete Online package, with the addition of Admissions Bootcamp lessons that take you through every step of the admissions process, from curating your college list, making your application stand out, how to write the perfect essay, how and when to submit your applications, and even financial aid.

PrepScholar’s Live Instructor Led Classes give you up to 36 hours of expert-led classes in a live, online classroom. You’ll get to learn in a small group of up to nine other students and get feedback and answers to your questions in real-time. This program includes everything in the Complete Online ACT Prep program as well as the Admissions Bootcamp, both at no additional cost.

With the 1-on-1 Tutoring program, you can get 4, 10, 18, or 32 one-on-one tutoring hours with a 99th percentile-scoring tutor. You’ll pick the tutoring package that best fits your schedule, needs, and goals, and receive a fully personalized prep experience.

Each of PrepScholar’s ACT prep programs include a 4-point guarantee, customized weekly prep plans, and 60+ hours of prep content.

Prep Expert ACT Prep Overview

Prep Expert offers six ACT prep packages: ACT Video Course, ACT Founder Course, ACT Weekend Review, 6-Week Flagship Course, 8-Week Capstone Course, and 1-on-1 Tutoring packages.

ACT Video Course is a self-paced, asynchronous online course. It includes 200+ ACT prep lessons, 30+ hours of video content, and 1,000+ ACT practice questions. With this course, you’ll get one year of full access to prep materials and a general score guarantee.

ACT Founder Course is essentially the same course as the basic ACT Video Course, except that the video lessons are taught by the founder of Prep Expert. This self-paced course includes all of the same prep materials as the basic self-paced package, but with two years of access to course materials and a 2-point score guarantee.

ACT Weekend Review is a live online crash course that students take in two six hour sessions over one weekend, ideally right before their official ACT exam day. In this last-minute review, students focus on high-yield topics, questions types, and strategies that are most likely to improve their score. Prep Expert encourages students to take this course as a refresher after taking one of their full-length online courses.

PrepExpert also offers two live online ACT course options: the 6-Week Flagship course and the 8-Week Capstone. Both come with full access to ACT Video Course materials, plus 3-hour live classes taught twice a week by 99th-percentile scoring ACT instructors. In between each class session, students complete practice exams and homework. During class, you’ll engage in live Q&A sessions with classmates and instructors.

Prep Expert notes that 6-Week Flagship is designed for students seeking general score improvement, whereas the 8-Week Capstone is for those aiming for 99th-percentile ACT scores. The 8-week capstone includes ACT Weekend Review at no extra cost. Both live online courses come with a 4-point score guarantee.

Prep Expert also offers 1-on-1 ACT tutoring packages. You can choose from 4, 8, or 16 tutoring hours with a top 1% scoring tutor and customize your plan to prep for one, two, or all ACT sections. All tutoring packages come with the option to change tutors or subjects at any time.

With the exception of the ACT Founders course, which is taught by the company’s founder, all of Prep Expert’s ACT courses are taught by top 1% scoring instructors and come with a 14-day risk-free cancellation period.

PrepScholar vs. Prep Expert Comparison Table

To help you get a handle on how PrepScholar’s and Prep Expert’s core offerings compare, check out our side-by-side comparison table below.

Comparison Point 1 – Instruction Quality and Feedback

Effective ACT prep is defined by the quality of its instruction and the feedback it provides students. Here’s how PrepScholar and Prep Expert compare on this aspect of ACT prep.

PrepScholar

PrepScholar’s ACT prep programs are built around the belief that targeted, personalized practice is essential for achieving a high score. Their approach centers on helping students grasp how the ACT is structured while also teaching strategies to navigate and outmaneuver the test’s common traps–an important factor in boosting performance.

The program offers more than 60 hours of instructional material along with over 50 skill-focused lessons that address the most important concepts tested on the ACT. Each lesson blends short video explanations with written content, making the material easy to absorb. Afterward, students complete quizzes that reinforce key ideas and highlight areas where they may need additional review.

One standout feature of PrepScholar is how they handle incorrect answers. Every one of the 2,800+ practice questions includes a detailed explanation that breaks down why wrong choices are incorrect, how they’re designed to mislead, and how to approach similar problems in the future. These insights play a major role not only in understanding the material but also in improving scores.

Additionally, PrepScholar includes four official ACT practice exams taken from the Official ACT Prep Guide. Unlike some companies that create their own tests, PrepScholar emphasizes the value of practicing with authentic exam materials. After completing these tests, students receive feedback that helps them monitor their progress and focus on areas that need the most improvement.

For those seeking more hands-on support, PrepScholar also offers tutoring options with personalized, one-on-one instruction. Tutors are top-performing ACT scorers in the 99th percentile who are trained to develop customized study plans and guide students through sessions tailored to address their specific weaknesses and reduce mistakes.

Prep Expert

Prep Expert’s ACT courses are fully focused on equipping students with hundreds of strategies that will help them ace the ACT. Through a rigorous process of sitting through lessons, completing homework, and taking weekly practice tests, you’ll get the continuous practice you need to master score-boosting strategies.

In the self-paced ACT Video Course, students learn over 100 strategies developed from perfect-score insights that are designed to simplify complex concepts. The course also includes full-length ACT practice exams, homework assignments, and quizzes to reinforce learning and track progress. Through the progress tracking dashboard, students and parents can monitor improvement and areas for continued growth. Students complete lessons and other course content on their own time and have a full year of access to the course.

Live instruction courses are structured so that students meet twice a week for three hours with a 99th percentile scoring instructor, and take a weekly three-hour self-proctored exam. These practice test-heavy courses lean on the idea that simulating real ACT exam conditions will help students build the stamina and confidence they need to perform well on the ACT. As a bonus, live class sessions are recorded, so students who miss class can view them at a later time.

While the strategy-first curriculum is effective, some reviewers describe self-paced video content as essentially a lecture series instead of a modern, dynamic learning experience.

One novelty feature that Prep Expert offers is their ACT Founder course. This premium version of their self-paced ACT prep is taught by Prep Expert’s founder. It’s worth noting that the Founders courses follow the same curriculum as the 6-Week Flagship course, with the additional opportunity to engage in Q&A and receive feedback from Prep Expert’s founder.

In one-on-one tutoring sessions, students receive customized guidance in ACT strategies and practice from 99th-percentile scoring tutors. Reviewers highlight tutors’ engaging teaching styles, comprehensive prep content, and the efficacy of strategies for tough areas like pacing and trick questions. Some note that the workload is heavy, requiring full commitment from students who opt for one-on-one tutoring.

Prep Expert allows you to choose your instructor for live classes and your tutor for 1-on-1 tutoring.

Winner: PrepScholar

Prep Expert’s live instruction classes, built around curated official ACT practice materials, offer a solid foundation in key exam strategies for the new ACT. But PrepScholar’s approach to answer explanations is unique–and the feature that sets them apart from other ACT prep programs.

PrepScholar treats answer explanations like mini-lessons that guide you through your mistakes, which is the most effective way to improve your ACT scores. This emphasis on guiding students through why answers are wrong is distinctive–and it’s what makes them the clear winner when it comes to instruction quality and feedback.

Comparison Point 2 — Personalization and Adaptive Learning

If you want to see real ACT score improvement, you need a prep program that adapts to your performance to drive continuous progress. Below, we cover how Prep Expert and PrepScholar compare on personalization and adaptivity.

PrepScholar

Customization and adaptability are central to PrepScholar’s approach to ACT prep. Their program breaks learning down by individual skills and adjusts to each student’s needs, helping them concentrate on the areas that require the most improvement.

At the start, students take a diagnostic assessment that measures their performance across all ACT-related skills. Using these results, PrepScholar creates a personalized weekly study plan tailored to the specific content and practice each student needs. This plan is updated regularly, ensuring that students consistently focus on the areas where they can make the greatest gains and use their study time effectively.

The platform’s adaptive system responds to students’ performance on each question, allowing for more efficient progress. As students complete quizzes and practice exams, their study plan is continuously refined to keep them working on the skills that will drive the fastest improvement.

For those enrolled in one-on-one tutoring, personalization goes even further. PrepScholar uses ongoing performance data from drills and practice tests to match students with tutors who specialize in their weaker areas. Tutors then design sessions based on the student’s progress, adjusting the study plan over time to provide focused, targeted support.

Prep Expert

Prep Expert provides an extensive repository of strategy-focused ACT lessons, but their platform provides no adaptive lesson plans. This means that Prep Expert’s ACT prep courses won’t route you toward topics and practice based on your performance, leaving you with generalized strategy-drilling and no personalized prep plan.

Instead, students are encouraged to create their own adaptive experience by analyzing practice test results and using them to pursue ongoing practice that focuses on eliminating their weaknesses. This level of self-direction may be overwhelming for some students, especially given the volume of practice materials they’ll need to sort through in order to build any kind of custom learning plan.

While Prep Expert’s test-taking strategies are top-notch, they are emphasized at the expense of a more targeted focus on identifying students’ mistakes and correcting them, which is the most efficient way to boost your ACT score.

Despite their lack of adaptivity, Prep Expert’s ACT course do provide some crucial opportunities for personalized learning. Live instruction courses come with weekly office hours outside of class, where you can ask questions and receive feedback in real-time. While they’ll have to apply it on their own time, students can take the feedback they get from office hours and use it to address their weaker areas to eliminate mistakes.

Students can also choose a live instruction course package that’s tailored to their specific score goals. The 6-Week Flagship course is built for students seeking up to a 4 point score improvement, regardless of their starting score, and the 8-Week Capstone is designed for students who want to earn a top 1% ACT score.

All of Prep Expert’s 1,000+ practice questions come with detailed answer explanations. But feedback on homework is much more limited, with students receiving only the correct answer and no details on why wrong answers are incorrect. Because homework makes up a significant portion of the course curriculum, there’s a risk that this generalized practice could eat up time that students might otherwise spend on prep that’s tailored to addressing their problem areas.

One area where Prep Expert somewhat compensates for the lack of adaptivity is through their AI tutor. The Prep Expert AI tutor provides 24/7 interactive ACT tutoring with video, voice, and step-by-step question walkthroughs. It can also create a personalized study plan tailored to the student's test date, schedule, and performance, with real-time plan adjustments based on evolving strengths and weaknesses. However, the AI tutor is a separate subscription from Prep Expert’s main ACT course offerings. It also lacks a score guarantee.

Prep Expert’s most customizable prep comes in the form of one-on-one tutoring sessions. Students can choose packages that focus on a specific ACT section and choose a tutor who specializes in their struggle areas. This one-on-one guidance is often praised as Prep Expert’s most effective offering for tailoring prep to your learning needs and goals.

Winner: PrepScholar

Prep Expert provides some neat personalization opportunities through features like live Q&A sessions, weekly office hours, and highly customizable one-on-one tutoring packages. But what sets PrepScholar apart is its purpose-built adaptive platform. PrepScholar’s program adapts lesson by lesson, recalibrating in order to meet the unique learning needs and goals of each student. With its deeply adaptive learning system, PrepScholar’s ACT prep programs comes out on top.

Comparison Point 3 — Test Updates and Alignment

In order to provide the most cutting edge prep, ACT prep programs must be continually updated to align with the current version of the ACT. Read on to find out how PrepScholar and Prep Expert compare on test updates and alignment.

PrepScholar

PrepScholar’s ACT Prep has been fully redesigned to reflect the new Enhanced ACT that came out in 2026. While many other test prep companies have simply tweaked their programs, PrepScholar has rebuilt their ACT prep from the ground up, redesigning lessons, practice questions, and their entire interface to give students the most realistic experience possible.

This ACT prep program update comes with 50 refreshed skill lessons that align with the skills tested on the Enhanced ACT, new strategy lessons that target the structure and tricks of the ACT, expanded coverage of skills that weren’t emphasized in English, Math, and Reading on the old ACT. You’ll also have the option to opt out of Science prep if you don’t plan to take that optional section of the ACT.

Additionally, the updated ACT prep program includes 2800+ brand new practice questions, Math questions that have been fully rewritten for the ACT’s new four answer choice format, and a refresh to the prep interface that aligns it more closely with the ACT’s new section lengths and pacing.

PrepScholar recognizes that the ACT is still in transition. That’s why their redesigned ACT prep program continues to cover both paper-and-pencil and digital exam delivery formats.

Thanks to these updates, PrepScholar is able to provide a fully emulated Enhanced ACT prep experience, with an interface that’s designed to mirror the ACT’s new format and design, so students can get an authentic feel for what it’ll be like on exam day.

Prep Expert

At present, the labels used on Prep Expert’s ACT courses create some confusion about when and the extent to which their ACT prep has been updated. Each course is accompanied by a supplemental label that reads, “New ACT,” but there are no explanations on Prep Expert’s website that explain what this label means.

Based on our research, we’ve concluded that this label refers to adjustments made to Prep Expert’s ACT curriculum to reflect the biggest changes made to the Enhanced ACT, including the switch from four to three sections and the shorter exam duration. Without detailed information from Prep Expert, however, it’s difficult to know for sure.

Outside of these new labels, there isn’t any indication that Prep Expert has made deeper updates to their ACT prep curriculum to align with the new Enhanced ACT.

While it doesn’t appear that Prep Expert has, for instance, designed brand new video lessons to align with the Enhanced ACT, the test-taking strategies they teach are still applicable. At its core, their strategy-based approach provides effective prep for both the old and new ACT. However, students might find mastering these strategies easier and more relevant if they were applied to Enhanced ACT question types and content in highly engaging video lessons.

In general, Prep Expert relies on the credibility of its use of official ACT practice questions to provide up-to-date prep. The extent to which it recalibrates its strategy content on a regular basis isn’t clear.

However, it’s worth noting that the ACT is still in transition. It’s possible that Prep Expert has plans to do a more meaningful ACT prep update, but if that’s the case, they haven’t announced it yet.

Winner: PrepScholar

Prep Expert’s use of official ACT practice materials ensures that students receive exam-accurate practice. But because of the way that PrepScholar completely rebuilt their adaptive platform to stay fully aligned with the Enhanced ACT, they edge out Prep Expert on test updates and alignment.

Comparison Point 4 — Value

Before you commit to an ACT prep program, you need to know that it’s going to bring you maximum value. Here’s how PrepExpert and PrepScholar compare in terms of value.

PrepScholar

PrepScholar’s ACT program offers are as follows: Complete Online ACT Prep, Complete Online + Admissions Bootcamp, Live Instructor Led Classes, and One-on-One Tutoring. Higher-tier programs offer more personalization and customization, and they increase in cost accordingly.

PrepScholar’s core program is its self-paced course, Complete Online ACT Prep. With this program, you’ll get full online access to PrepScholar’s premium ACT prep content, which includes a smart diagnostic test, 2,800+ practice questions, drills, lessons, four practice exams, and feedback and answer explanations. Complete Online adapts your study plan continuously based on your performance on assessments, but you won’t receive live or one-on-one instruction during this self-paced program.

All PrepScholar ACT programs include full access to the materials and content that come with Complete Online ACT Prep. In addition to these prep materials, each higher tier ACT prep program layers more personalization on top of the adaptivity that’s baked into the core Complete Online ACT program. All higher tier programs include PrepScholar’s Admissions Bootcamp for free, and students can easily bundle SAT prep with ACT prep.

To meet the needs of every type of learner, PrepScholar’s Live and One-on-One Tutoring packages offer a range of options for program hours, difficulty, and cost. Live Instruction packages range from 4 to 32+ hours and offer Beginner, Essentials, and Advanced courses that vary in difficulty and are built to help students achieve specific ACT scores. If you go with one-on-one tutoring, you’ll have the choice of 4, 10, 18, or 32 hour packages.

All of PrepScholar’s programs are backed by a 4-point score improvement guarantee for students who meet all course requirements. However, a small number of reviews have noted some difficulty navigating the refund process. To avoid confusion, it’s crucial to read the terms of the score guarantee before seeking a refund.

While you can access PrepScholar’s prep program using a mobile device, the company doesn’t provide a dedicated mobile app. Since their programs weren’t custom-built for a mobile experience, you’ll want to be prepared for a different user experience if you choose to study on a mobile device.

PrepScholar packs an impressive degree of personalization into every program tier thanks to their proprietary, built-in adaptive technology. That personalization translates to more value. When an ACT prep program is meticulously tailored to your learning needs and goals, it’s going to do an excellent job of helping you achieve your score goals quickly and efficiently, bringing you maximum value for every dollar you spend.

Prep Expert

For ACT prep, Prep Expert provides two self-paced courses, two live instruction courses, a weekend bootcamp, and one-on-one tutoring. Higher tier programs with live instruction and one-on-one guidance come at a higher price point.

Prep Expert packs the most value into their live instruction courses. By differentiating course packages based on students’ score goals, they help students calibrate into the prep program that’s most likely to help them make the kind of progress they’re seeking. With the 6-Week Flagship course, Prep Expert’s most popular offering, students get 72 hours of live instruction, plus access to self-paced video content, at a competitive price.

However, during busy seasons, Prep Expert’s live instruction classes can have a teacher-to-student ratio that’s extremely high, sometimes reaching 100 students. When live classes reach 60 students, they add a teacher’s assistant to help manage the class. While these courses promise live Q&A and weekly office hours as opportunities for one-on-one guidance, with such a high volume of students, individualized attention may be more limited than advertised.

Additionally, Prep Expert’s courses don’t come with a consistent access period. The ACT Video course comes with one year of access, while the ACT Founder Course comes with two years of access. With the 6-week and 8-week live courses, you’ll only have access to course materials for 60 days after your final lesson.

Prep Expert states that you can use their prep platform on any device, including mobile, but they don’t offer a dedicated mobile app.

Prep Expert’s ACT courses come with a 14-day risk-free cancellation period. Customer reviews are generally positive about Prep Expert’s score guarantee, though some claim that they were unable to receive refunds despite their students completing the full course requirements.

Winner: PrepScholar

While Prep Expert’s live instruction classes offer more affordability hour-for-hour, because class sizes can fluctuate wildly, one-on-one guidance isn’t guaranteed. For students seeking a program that provides a customized experience by adapting to their needs at every tier, even the most accessible price points, PrepScholar is the clear winner.

Overall Pros and Cons

Both PrepScholar’s and Prep Expert’s ACT prep programs come with benefits and drawbacks. Below, we outline the pros and cons of each one:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

After reading through all this information about PrepScholar and Prep Expert, you may have some additional questions. We’re covering the most frequently asked ones below.

Is PrepScholar or Prep Expert better for ACT prep?

While both programs provide a highly realistic prep experience with proven test-taking strategies, they’re built to meet different kinds of learning needs. For independent students seeking a program that continuously adapts to their needs and grows as they grow, PrepScholar is the top choice for ACT prep.

Is test prep worth the investment?

Yes! Research shows that students who engage in structured, consistent test prep see meaningful score improvements. Higher test scores can boost your chances of getting accepted into your choice colleges and receiving scholarships. Whether you go with an online course like PrepScholar's, private tutoring, or a self-led routine with a few prep books, you’ll be on the path to better scores as long as you fully commit to the prep program you choose.

Is ACT test prep worth it?

Yes! Research shows that students who engage in structured, consistent test prep see meaningful score improvements. Higher test scores can boost your chances of getting accepted into your choice colleges and receiving scholarships.

Whether you go with an online course, private tutoring, or a self-led routine with a few prep books, you’ll be on the path to better scores as long as you fully commit to the prep program you choose.

How do I choose the right ACT test prep program for my learning style?

Choosing the right test prep program for you starts with knowing how you study best and what your prep goals are. If you prefer flexibility and the option to work at your own pace, a self-guided adaptive program like PrepScholar’s may be the right fit.

If you know you need customized, one-on-one guidance, you may want to choose a tutoring program. Ultimately, the best test prep program for you is the one you’ll stay committed to and engaged with, from the moment you get started till your test day arrives.

Does adaptive ACT test prep actually improve test scores?

It does! Here’s why: adaptive testing programs use diagnostic data to pinpoint the specific skills and content areas where you’re losing, then focus your customized prep program on reviewing those areas. That means you’ll spend your prep time on making improvements that can translate to actual score gains!

What makes an ACT prep service better than a more general AI tool?

While general AI tools are appealing for their ease of use, when it comes to getting quality, accurate ACT prep, they are to be used with caution. Many general AI tools still provide inaccurate information and make unverifiable claims, which can lead students toward ineffective test-taking strategies and incorrect answers.

ACT prep services are purpose-built to engage students in research-backed, verifiably accurate and effective ACT prep. 

How often should test prep materials be updated for them to be reliable?

A sign of a trustworthy, reliable test prep program is its responsiveness. When the SAT, ACT, or any other standardized test changes, test prep programs should be proactive about updating their materials to mirror the latest exam version as authentically as possible. If a test prep company responds proactively to exam changes, uses expert-backed learning theories to shape their prep program, it’s a good sign that their prep materials are reliable.