If you took the ACT before September 2025, forget most of what you know about it. The Enhanced ACT is shorter, gives you more time per question, makes Science optional, and calculates your composite from English, Math, and Reading only. Math questions now have four answer choices instead of five. It is, for practical purposes, a new exam.
That creates a problem for prep companies. Years of lessons, strategies, and question banks were tuned to the old test. Some providers rewrote everything. Most patched what they had and called it “updated.” As a student, you can’t always tell which is which from the sales page.
So this post grades the major self-paced ACT courses the way a teacher would grade a rewritten essay: not on whether they changed something, but on whether they actually did the work. PrepScholar earns the top mark, and it isn’t especially close.
The short version: PrepScholar’s Complete Online ACT Prep ($397, or $495 with the AI Learning Assistant) rebuilt its entire curriculum for the Enhanced ACT, delivers 3,000+ expert-written questions and 4 full-length tests in the new format, adapts to each student’s weaknesses, and backs it all with a 4-point composite guarantee that extends up to a 34. No other self-paced program manages more than two of those four things.
The report card
| Program | Price | Enhanced ACT rebuild | Questions / Tests | Guarantee | Adaptive | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PrepScholar | $397 | Full ground-up rebuild | 3,000+ / 4 | 4 pts, up to 34 | Yes | A |
| Kaplan | $179 (6 mo) | Updated, scope unpublished | 2,000+ / 3 | None | Limited | B |
| Acely | $588/yr | Updated | ~6,000 / 20 | 5 pts, only if starting ≤26 | Auto-updating plan | B- |
| Magoosh | $129 | Updated | 1,500 / 4 | 4 pts, only if starting ≤30 | No | B- |
| Princeton Review | $299 | Updated, scope unpublished | Unspecified / 5 | None for self-paced | No | C+ |
| Khan Academy | Free | Partial | 1,000+ / varies | None | No | C+ |
| PrepExpert | $1,196+ | Updated | 1,000+ / 6 | 4 pts, up to 32, live tiers | No | C+ |
| UWorld | $449 | Updated | 2,500 / 1 | None | Limited | C |
Grades weigh Enhanced ACT alignment most heavily, then content depth and quality, personalization, and the strength of the guarantee.
Why PrepScholar gets the AIt didn’t update the old course. It replaced it.
PrepScholar’s response to the new format was to start over: 54 skill lessons rewritten for the current test, Math questions re-authored for the four-choice structure, pacing strategies recalculated for the shorter sections, and a practice interface that mirrors the timing students will feel on test day. Students who aren’t taking Science can drop it from their plan entirely.
Kaplan, Princeton Review, Magoosh, and the others all say they’ve updated for the Enhanced ACT, and they probably have. But none of them describe what changed or how much. When a company can’t tell you the scope of a rewrite, assume it was smaller than yours.
The questions are written by people, and there are a lot of them
3,000+ practice questions, 4 full-length tests, and 60+ hours of instruction, all authored and vetted by ACT experts and perfect scorers rather than generated by a model. That matters more now than it used to: with fewer questions per section on the Enhanced ACT, each one carries more weight, and drilling on material that doesn’t match the real test’s difficulty curve can cost you points on test day.
Acely posts bigger raw numbers (roughly 6,000 questions and 20 tests), but its bank blends official items with in-house and AI-assisted content. Volume is easy to manufacture. Calibration isn’t.
It knows the difference between a 21 and a 28
A student stuck at 21 in English and a student stuck at 28 need completely different work. PrepScholar’s platform runs a diagnostic, builds a plan around the gaps it finds, and re-routes as those gaps close. It is the only self-paced ACT course here with end-to-end adaptive routing. Acely’s plan auto-updates after sessions, and UWorld will show you weak topics, but neither steers the whole curriculum. Everyone else hands every student the same sequence.
The guarantee has a number in it, and no asterisk maze
PrepScholar guarantees at least 4 composite points if you start below 31, and at least a 34 if you start at 31 or higher. Miss it after completing the course and you get a full refund.
Compare the fine print elsewhere. Kaplan and Princeton Review offer no guarantee at all on self-paced ACT prep. Magoosh matches the 4-point figure but only for students starting at 30 or below. PrepExpert’s 4-point guarantee tops out at 32 and is tied to its expensive live tiers. Acely’s 5-point guarantee requires a starting score of 26 or lower, a three-month subscription, 500 completed questions, 10 full tests, and corrected mistakes on all of them. UWorld offers nothing.
Parents can see what’s happening
Progress reports and SMS reminders go to parents, so consistency doesn’t depend on asking a teenager how studying is going. No competitor in this comparison offers that.
Fair credit where it’s due
Kaplan is an official ACT teaching partner, which means its course includes real, previously administered ACT questions. That’s a legitimate edge for strong self-studiers who mainly want authentic practice and don’t need adaptive guidance or a refund promise.
Acely has more full-length tests than anyone, which is useful given that ACT.org itself only publishes two official Enhanced ACT practice tests. If your starting score is 26 or under and you’ll put in the volume, it’s a reasonable budget option.
Magoosh remains the cheapest structured course with video lessons at $129. Its 1,500-question bank runs out fast if you’re pushing for 30+.
Khan Academy is free and well-organized, but unlike its SAT partnership with the College Board, it has no official relationship with ACT, Inc. Use it to shore up fundamentals, not to learn the new format.
Princeton Review has a big brand and five tests, but its self-paced ACT course is excluded from the company’s own score guarantee.
PrepExpert is the choice if you specifically want small live classes from high-scoring instructors and can pay several times PrepScholar’s price.
UWorld offers a solid question bank with good explanations and almost nothing else: one bundled test, no lessons of note, no guarantee.
How to check for yourself
Before buying any ACT course in 2026, ask three questions:
- Can they tell you what changed for the Enhanced ACT? Specific numbers (lessons rewritten, questions re-authored) are a good sign. “Fully updated” with no detail is not.
- What score does the guarantee promise, and who is eligible? If you have to read a terms page to find out, the guarantee is working harder for them than for you.
- Will it treat you differently from the student sitting next to you? If everyone gets the same lesson order, you’ll spend hours reviewing skills you already have.
PrepScholar answers all three cleanly, which is why it holds the top grade. Run the 5-day free trial, take the diagnostic, and watch the plan build itself around your results.
