Magoosh SAT Review (2020-2021)
Table of Contents
Magoosh is an online provider that hosts lots of learning across many standardized tests, including the SAT and ACT, GRE, and GMAT and IELTS. Magoosh is a large brand that has built its popularity by having an easy to use learning platform that is intuitive, clear, and looks attractive.
The resources they have available are of good quality and will help most students to achieve a good SAT score. If you’re looking for high-quality learning and can stretch your budget further, we recommend having a look at some other courses, as discussed in our Best SAT Prep Courses article.
Magoosh is a popular choice for top-up learning amongst students, as their courses are affordable and provide a good selection of learning videos. In this review article, we’ll break down the elements included in Magoosh’s SAT prep courses, the pros and cons, and help you to understand if this SAT preparation is right for you and your learning style and will help you to achieve a good score.
Course Options
Magoosh offers one set of SAT prep resources to students and packages these depending on how long you’d like to study. If your SAT test date is quickly approaching, you can sign up for 1 month of access, for $100, and complete the course quickly throughout the month.
If you have longer to study, you can sign up for 3 months of access, with a cost of $300, or 12 months of access, with a cost of $1200. This is a simple pricing structure, where every month is worth $100, even though the content provided is the same.
Furthermore, Magoosh sometimes has discount codes or offers available, which brings the price down considerably. Often, the price for a year of access is around $300 with offers applied. When we compare this cost to other learning providers, it’s easy to see why Magoosh is popular and seems appealing.
Learning Resources
The main method of learning on Magoosh SAT Prep courses is through the 200 video lessons available on-demand. You can work through these video lessons at your own pace, and choose to cover the SAT prep sections in whichever order is best for you.
The videos should cover the knowledge and skills required to get a great overall score on the SAT. The Magoosh SAT platform also allows you to take notes during the videos, and mark when they are completed.
However, Magoosh is not specific about the style or length of these videos, so it’s unclear if they are recorded video lessons that are led by a teacher, animated short videos or instructional sessions. Depending on your learning style, you may find that a particular learning style is preferable for you compared to reading text or making notes.
The learning resources provided by Magoosh are a good standard, and you should see a score improvement from completing this test prep course. However, if you’re looking to excel in the SAT or improve your score by 200+ points, then the learning provided by Magoosh may not be sufficient. If you’re already working at a score of 1300 points or more, then you’ll need a specialist SAT Prep program to help boost your score higher.
Magoosh also offers a range of study plans to follow while completing test prep. These vary in length and focus areas on improving your strengths and weaknesses. The prep SAT course is self-paced and requires you to be determined, motivated, and focused on completing the study.
Practice Tests and Questions
Magoosh has 1,750 practice questions included in their learning packages, which cover the 4 key sections of the SAT test. You can complete these practice questions at any time in random orders, so you’ll have many opportunities for practicing your SAT skills.
The 1,750 questions cover the 4 sections, which works out to be around 430 questions per topic. This may seem like a lot, but compared to other online courses, the amount of questions offered is quite low.
To support your learning while completing questions, Magoosh gives you a video or text explanation for each question. If you answer incorrectly, you can immediately get support on which is the correct answer, and how to improve next time. This learning technique will help you significantly to learn and adapt quickly.
Also included in the course packages are 3 practice tests that are taken from your pool of questions. This approach is unusual and limits students opportunities to experience full-length practice tests. Most other learning providers will give students at least 3 full-length practice tests or official College Board tests as part of their course.
Furthermore, Magoosh requires you to create your dummy run tests from your pool of questions. Each test would be approximately 150 questions, so if you’re collating 3 practice tests, you will be using 450 of the 1,750 questions, which is a reduction of 25%! This leaves you with only 325 questions per SAT section.
It’s a shame that Magoosh limits their students in this way. We recommend looking for a different learning provider, like The Princeton Review, if completing lots of practice tests, and at least one full-length test is an important factor for you.
Score Predictions
Magoosh is one of the only learning providers to have a score predication service built into their SAT prep course. The score prediction is a calculation that uses your learning data to predict the overall score you could achieve in the SAT.
It looks at the data from your completed questions across all the sections and collates this to produce a predicated score. Over time, you will see the predication changing, hopefully getting better, as you progress through the course and perform better in rehearsal questions.
Having a score prediction provides a good indicator for understanding your potential, areas of strength, and weakness. It will also help you to set a goal for your SATs prep and work towards achieving it.
Free Trial
If you’re not sure about whether the Magoosh SAT prep course is right for you, there is a free 7-day trial that you can access! The trial gives you an opportunity to review the Magoosh learning platform, including the layout, language used, and structure of learning. You’ll have access to a few learning materials and practice questions.
By completing a free trial, you’ll get an idea of whether the learning materials are right for your style of learning, and your academic level, without having to commit to enrolling on a course or paying for the first month. This is the ideal way to test the materials and make sure they are suitable for you.
Magoosh also offers a 7-day money-back guarantee, so if you choose to start enrolling in a course, and then figure out within your first week that it’s not right for you, contact the team at Magoosh, and they will refund your course fees.
This is an excellent option for students who are unsure what type of learning they need or for those who would like to try out the Magoosh SAT material with a safety net to support them.
Score Guarantee
Like many learning providers, Magoosh offers a money-back score guarantee. Once you’ve completed a Magoosh course, your score should increase by 100 points on the SAT, compared to the previous SAT test that you have taken. If you don’t see an improvement of +100 points in these conditions, you can get your money back!
This guarantee provides students with the peace of mind that if they put in the work, they can achieve great results. Most students that work hard and complete the study will see an increase of 150 – 200 points in the SAT, but you need to work hard, complete the Magoosh SAT learning, and often prepare to get high scores.
Mobile App
Magoosh SAT is one of the only learning providers to offer a learning app alongside their SAT prep course. The Mobile App helps you learn on the go – on the bus, after sports activities, or on your way to work. If you lead a busy lifestyle and find fitting in time to study difficult, then the app can be a great way for you to transition into learning mode.
The app will allow you to watch short videos, complete some dummy run questions, and keep track of your progress, wherever you are. No other learning platforms provide an app with their SAT prep, so if this is an important factor for you, consider learning with Magoosh.
Would Magoosh SAT suit you?
Magoosh SAT courses are entirely self-led, which means that the responsibility for SAT learning sits solely with you. Self-led and self-paced courses are best for learners that are motivated, determined, can handle autonomy, and put in the effort to get the work done.
Magoosh offers no moral support, tutoring, or teacher guidance through their prep courses, so you will need to work effectively on your own. Some students thrive in this environment and will be able to complete SAT preps regularly and with their full focus.
If you are the type of student that needs advice, guidance, or a stern word, then you may want to look at some other learning provides, like The Princeton Review, who offer live online video lessons and coaching.
Furthermore, the learning style of the Magoosh SAT test prep is to watch, digest, and practice. This way of learning can offer few opportunities for interaction, and it can be difficult to work through a problem or confusion.
If you are the type of student that likes to work with textbooks or discuss topics with classmates to gain a full understanding, you may want to consider using a different learning platform to complete your test prep.
Cons
In all of our review articles, we are sure to bring you the negatives as well as the positive elements of each prep course. With Magoosh, their offering on the surface seems very appealing and popular with students, however, when we go deeper into their resources, there are a few points we should bring to your attention.
Firstly, Magoosh is limiting their student’s study by not providing any full length or official College Board practice tests to complete in their SAT prep. This puts students at a disadvantage, as they won’t be prepared for what the test paper looks like or how to use the paper and answer sheet technically.
Furthermore, Magoosh recommends completing up to 3 practice exams. Still, the questions used to populate these exams are taken from the pool of questions, which again limits the amount of practice that students can complete.
Secondly, Magoosh does not provide much detail on the style of their video lessons, which makes it hard for us to assess, and difficult for students to understand if the lessons would suit their learning style.
Many other providers have scheduled live online lessons that are hosted by experienced teachers, which is a much better offering in comparison to the SAT test prep from Magoosh. Being involved in a live online classroom lesson gives students the opportunity to interact with their teacher and better understand the topic.
Students can also connect with others on their course to increase their learning outside of the sessions. If this sounds like it matches your learning style, then maybe Magoosh is not the right course for you.
Summary
Overall, Magoosh has created an SAT Prep course that is affordable, provides good learning and some rehearsal questions, and will help many students to increase their SAT score. Magoosh offers additional features, including a Mobile App and score prediction service.
If, however, you’re looking for additional support, high-level learning, or the opportunity to complete many practice questions and tests, you might want to consider a different learning provider.
Please take a look at our Best SAT Prep Courses article to get an idea of the other available courses and find one that might suit you and your learning style.
