Kaplan Test Prep: Review

http://www.kaptest.com/

I'm applying to college this semester, and while I've taken the SAT a couple times and have a decent score, I thought I'd try the ACT and see what happened. I got Kaplan's ACT course so I could have an easy way to keep track of what I've covered and how much time I've put into studying. Here's what I think:

Pros:

• Lots of diagnostic tests - There are 6 tests, which is more than enough to get a rough idea of what kind of score you'll get.
• Promptness of scoring the test and essay - They promise scoring to be completed in 3-5 business days, but I got my first diagnostic test and essay back, graded, in 2 days. 
• Great layout and easy visualization of where you are in the course - At the bottom of the main course page, there are two bars that show what percentage of the course you have covered and what percent you have "mastered". Also, you can set a goal for the score you want, and that shows up on the side in a sort of pie chart which is great for easy comparison of what diagnostic scores you're getting, your goal, and the max ACT score. And there is a nice countdown to your test day where you can easily see it.

Cons:

• "Guided practice" questions have no answer explanations.
• Answers to the quiz questions are often not explained well - After you finish the quiz, you're taken to another page where the answers are explained.  Most of the answers aren't very clear and you'll have to open another tab to be able to look at the question and answer at the same time.
• You can't redo the quizzes you haven't mastered.
• You can't change your mastery level - To "master" a particular skill, you must get 80% of the quiz correct. This is substantial to a lot of people, but there's a huge amount of students who already have a good score (scoring in the 80th-upper 90th percentiles) and want to perfect it. Obviously getting only 80% of the questions right is something they're already doing and aren't happy with.
• A lot of the practice sets are about "Kaplan Strategies", not actual ACT content, and although I'm scoring pretty high on the actual test content, I'm getting 40's and 60's on the "strategies", because a lot of the answers seem to be a bit ambiguous and not relevant.
• No new strategies - Everything they tell you to do on the ACT is something I already used for the SAT or I've heard a thousand times.
• This is just a nit-picky thing, but... the tutors in the videos are a little too smiley and script-y sounding. There's a certain amount of smiling and autonomy that is okay, and then it just gets creepy.

In the end, I would have picked a different course if I could have a redo. I'd recommend Kaplan for someone who is shooting for an average/slightly above average score or someone who is new to standardized testing in general.