An SAT prep score guarantee sounds like a promise: improve or your money back. Read the terms and it is a list of chores, deadlines and paperwork, and the refund is the reward for finishing all of them. Here is what five guarantees actually require, taken from each company's own terms as of September 2026. Terms change, so check the current page before you buy.
We build Sigma Prep. Our row is last, and it says plainly that ours is not a score guarantee.
Five guarantees, side by side
| The promise | What you must do | The strings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| PrepScholar Complete, $397 | 160 points or a full refund | Pass every assigned lesson, or repeat it until it is no longer assigned. Complete every assigned practice test. Take an official SAT within 60 days of finishing. | Your baseline must be an official SAT or PSAT from the last four years. College Board must mail your full score history to their office; a digital report does not count. Claim within 360 days of paying. One refund per household. An after-score of 1530 or higher does not qualify. |
| Princeton Review Self-Paced, $299 | A higher score than your starting score, or tuition back | Complete the coursework in the dashboard and at least four practice tests, each in one sitting under official timing. | The starting score can be your first practice test inside the program, so a rough first test makes any later score "higher." Claim within 60 days of the official test with the score report and a request form. The refund is tuition minus material fees and shipping. Students starting at 1400 or above are excluded. Any increase counts. |
| Kaplan, about $200 On Demand | A higher score than your baseline, or your choice of a refund or 12 more weeks of access | Complete every required lesson, homework set and practice test before your access ends. Take the official test at the next administration after the program. | The baseline comes from a previous official SAT or a proctored Kaplan diagnostic. Any increase counts, even one point. You must choose refund or extension within 90 days after access ends, and you cannot have both. Purchases through deal sites are excluded. |
| Magoosh SAT | 100 points or a full refund, if your previous score was 1350 or below | Watch every lesson video, complete every practice question, and watch the video explanation for every question you miss. | You need an official SAT taken before Magoosh, less than five years old. Email the before-score report when you sign up and the after-score report to claim. A separate 7-day money-back guarantee covers any reason. |
| Sigma Prep, $49 a month | Not a score guarantee. 14-day money-back, any reason | Nothing. | Email support within 14 days of your first payment. No form, no score report, no reason required. Every payment in the first 14 days is refunded. |
What every score guarantee has in common
- You must finish everything. Every lesson, every practice test, every homework set. A score guarantee is really a completion guarantee.
- You must test on their schedule. Within 60 days of finishing, or at the next administration. Life does not get a say.
- You must prove it with official reports. Emailed, uploaded, or in PrepScholar's case mailed by College Board directly to the company.
- The bar can be tiny, or the baseline can move. "Higher" means one point at Kaplan and Princeton Review. And when the baseline is your first practice test inside the program, a nervous first sitting does the guarantee's work for it.
How to read one before you pay
- Find the terms page, not the ad. The ad says "guaranteed." The terms say what that costs you.
- Count the chores. Every "complete all" is a condition you can fail.
- Check the baseline rule. An official score from the last few years is honest. A first practice test inside the program is not.
- Check the deadline and the paperwork. Sixty days, ninety days, 360 days, mailed reports.
- Check the exclusions. High starters, one refund per household, deal-site purchases.
What Sigma Prep does instead
The subscription has no score guarantee, on purpose. A guarantee that requires finishing every lesson guarantees completion, not learning, and it turns the refund into a project. Ours is simpler: take the free diagnostic and the free full-length test first, then if you subscribe and it is not for you, email us within 14 days and every payment comes back, no questions.
Try the free diagnostic, twelve real SAT Math questions, no card, or take the free full-length practice test with a free account.