The Princeton Review

Completely unreliable. They canceled my son’s December ACT Prep course just a couple days before it was scheduled to start, forcing us to delay his test date. But they put us in a February course, so we agreed to stick with them.
Took my son to the first class yesterday only to find the doors locked, not a soul around, no signs, no nothing. Called the Princeton Review 800 number and was told, «Oh, yeah… We canceled that course.»
So now we have to postpone my son’s plans to take the ACT again.
Horribly irresponsible company. Horrible customer service. Hence, horrible review.

Very disorganized and poorly managed! The communications from TPR are mostly marketing and they send several emails EVERY DAY for different products. There are weird, sloppy elements to this place, e.g., there isn’t a sign outside the building in the back to tell you where to enter! And if you enter from the Ventura Blvd side, where there is a sign, they won’t ket you in! And when I mentioned this, the office manager seemed confused that they would need to put up a sign to tell you which door is TPR. We were also not told that my child must attend 4 additional test dates from 9 – 1:30 on Saturday! She found this out AFTER taking four classes! When I questioned why this was not mentioned when we first signed up, the manager again seemed apathetic in her response. The classroom is claustrophobic — too many small desks crammed into a tiny windowless room — makes for a very stressful experience. Each student pays a different rate — depending on what private school they attend — many parents felt ripped off after comparing what they had paid. I DO NOT recommend sending your child here. They only want your money but do very little to give you a reasonable return on your investment.

A friend recommended the SAT Ultimate class. We signed up for the $ 999 class that had a guarantee that my son’s scores would improve by 150 points or we would get a full refund. We were sorely disappointed.
1) First they canceled the class we had signed up for, so we had to drive to another one at a less convenient time and place.
2) Because of this change, my son was unable to attend one class due to a wedding he was involved in. They told us that nullified the guarantee, that there was no other class he could take to make that up. However, they assured me that most student’s scores go up by at least that amount, so not to worry if he was keeping up with the homework. They told me they’ve only had to refund the money to one student in all the time they’ve been doing this.
3) Despite attending class, doing the homework and studying on his own, my son’s scores only improved by 80 points even though he had not studied for his first SAT exam.
4) I wrote them to complain about this. I felt their marketing and their assurances to me were dishonest and that we’d really been taken for the $ 1,000 and all the time my son had invested in the program. I never heard back from them. EVER. They had already told me my refund was invalid — I would just appreciated some response and explanation as to why our situation would be so different from everyone else’s.
The one positive: my son enjoyed his teacher.

Princeton review had better times/​locations that fit with my schedule. I enrolled in the GMAT prep course. There were many errors in my books and online tests, the instructor was late many times but very gregarious, and the Anna, the person who coordinated everything got back to me maybe ¹⁄₃ of the time when I called and emailed. Elias, the Hard Math Workshop instructor and online tutor was amazing. It wouldn’t be bad to take online courses at all I realized after I finished!
It depends on what test you are taking but I think Kaplan would have been a better choice for the GMAT. I think TPR is better for the SAT.

I had Josh Hsu as my tutor for the ACT and SAT subject tests, and I am so pleased with how much my scores improved! Josh did a great job teaching me effective techniques on how to approach each section of the tests.
I am glad that I chose TPR to help me prepare for my standardized tests, and I highly recommend their tutoring services.
Thank you so much Josh!

I recently enrolled in an MCAT course with the Princeton Review and have been extremely satisfied with the quality of the teaching. Josh Hsu, my verbal reasoning and writing instructor, was fantastic. His teaching was clear, engaging, and very effective and this is reflected in my score. I was also very happy with my other instructors: Garrett (Physics), Kim (O-​Chem), Michael (G-​chem), and Raffi (Bio).
The only reason I hesitate to give TPR 5 stars is due to some logistical difficulties I had with scheduling the class, as well as some problems I had with the web site; however, the material and the teaching were both outstanding. It was well-​worth the money for me.

My daughter spent 4 hours taking the online SAT course only to find out that her work was somehow «lost». When I called to ask about it, they offered for her to take it again. How can they be so careless? NO THANK YOU. SHE WILL NEVER USE PRINCETON REVIEW.

We had a terrible experience with these guys. We paid 1500 bucks in full in advance, and three weeks later, the night before the class was to start, we got a phone message canceling the class. They did not give a reason for canceling. They did not offer another option date or choice. To top it off, It took FIVE weeks of phone calls and an act of congress to get our money back.
Princeton Review has zero understanding of how to communicate with customers. They certainly lost us as customers for life. In an age where money is tight and competition for new customers is hard fought, this company did a textbook job on how to underperform and lose customers.
They handled the entire process of the refund like rank amateurs with a lot of clueless people handling the phone on their end. I would strongly suggest people avoid using this outfit.
We took our business to Sylvan, and things are working out well with them.

I used this place for SAT tutoring and it really helped. The proctors are very nice and know their stuff. The tutors here are extremely knowledgeable and helpful.
Parking is expensive, but I think it’s free on the weekends, actually, because there’s never any parking attendant.