PrepFactory Review: Test Prep That Fits Your Budget

PrepFactory offers individualized online practice for the ACT and SATs. Perfect if you don’t have the money for private tutors to help you maximize your scores. The tool is available to teachers, schools, and individuals. It uses gamification to help each user focus on their weakest areas while teaching materials and test-taking strategies. 

After all, if you’re hoping for a spot at most selective colleges and universities a high standardized test score will typically help your chances of getting in.

To get a high test score on these tests, you need to know the material, understand the questions, manage your time, and have effective test-taking strategies that will help you ace the exams. Studying for college entrance exams like the ACT and the SAT can be brutal and even really smart people typically need to use test-prep materials to help them maximize their test scores.

Here’s what you need to know about it.

What Is PrepFactory?

PrepFactory is an online platform designed to help students boost their ACT and SAT scores. It does this through re-teaching content that’s found on the test, teaching test-taking strategies, and providing individualized learning journeys to help students maximize the time they spend studying. It gamifies the learning process by having students earn experience points as they progress through the lessons. 

Unlike most test prep sites, PrepFactory doesn’t focus solely on individual student preparation. They also  offer programs for individual teachers and even entire schools.  

They also offer teachers a free Algebra 1 curriculum and plan to add Pre-Algebra, Geometry, and Algebra 2 in the future. 

What Does It Offer?

PrepFactory offers tools and tracking to help with SAT and ACT prep. It also offers an Algebra 1 curriculum designed to help teachers meet Common Core Standards and build standardized college entrance test prep into daily instruction.

School, Teacher, And Individual Pricing

Unlike most entrance exam tools, PrepFactory offers multiple pricing models. The pricing models are designed to serve individuals who want to prepare for the college entrance exams on their own, ACT and SAT prep teachers, and school administrators who want to build test prep into classroom instruction.

Pricing is very reasonable at $10 a month for individual students, $400 a year the Classroom License which is for teachers, and $8 per student for the School License which is needed if you are teaching over 100 students. 

Diagnostic Tests and Gamification To Drive Focus

PrepFactory suggests 11 diagnostic quizzes to start the program. When you take these diagnostic tests you will receive individualized module suggestions to help you improve your test score. PrepFactory uses Experience Points to suggest the most important content for you to improve your test score. Any suggested content with 500 XP is considered a priority focus area for helping you to grow your test scores.

While XP may seem like a gimmick, gamification is a proven strategy to help boost engagement. Anything that boosts engagement is a win when it comes to test prep. It’s notoriously boring, but the more you practice, the better you will perform on the real test.

Equal Focus on Strategy, Content, And Quizzes

Learning test-taking strategies is the best way to quickly boost your ACT or SAT score. By understanding the test and scoring design, you’ll be more prepared to understand the questions and maximize your score on the basis of knowledge you already have.

Of course, if you have several months to prepare for your standardized test, you will have time to learn (or relearn) some of the content on the test. PrepFactory encourages learning content through Problem Sets where you work through test-style questions. The answers include robust explanations of both the correct and incorrect responses.

Related: College Entrance Exams 101: What To Know

Common Core Standards Algebra 1 Course

One of PrepFactory’s differentiators is that it integrates classroom instruction with test prep instruction. The platform currently offers a free Algebra 1 Curriculum that includes problem sets, quizzes, and tests. This is a free curriculum that facilitates both online and classroom instruction for teachers who want to use it.

PrepFactory plans to roll out more curriculums that will not be free but will continue to address Common Core Standards and integrate ACT and SAT prep in appropriate ways.

Are There Any Fees?

Prepfactory charges $10 per month for any individual who wants to use the site. 

ACT and SAT prep teachers can pay $400 to use the site for themselves and up to 50 students for the remainder of the school year.

Finally, PrepFactory charges $8 per student per year when a school decides to enroll all its students in PrepFactory. This is for groups of 100 or more. 

How Does PrepFactory Compare?

Believe it or not, PrepFactory isn’t the lowest-priced standardized test prep option on the market. That honor belongs to Khan Academy which offers robust SAT Prep for no cost to any students. Both of these offer real-time feedback for students, but Khan Academy was developed in conjunction with SAT test provider, The College Board.

Plus, Khan Academy offers eight full-length tests. However, Khan Academy focuses exclusively on SAT prep, but PrepFactory offers strategies for improving on the ACT test as well.

There are other paid services, such as Prep Expert, that offer test prep and more. Prep Expert has SAT and ACT prep but also offers tutoring and admissions counseling. They guarantee a 200 point increase on the SAT and their classes are with a live instructor. It's more expensive than PrepFactory but if you are looking for additional services it might be a good option. 

How Do I Open An Account?

As an individual, you can sign up for a PrepFactory.com Account using the Sign Up page on the website. You’ll need to provide your first and last name, your email address, and a password. You also need to connect your account to a credit card, so you can pay for the monthly subscription.

After you’ve subscribed, you can log in with just your email address and password. Teachers and school students who are using the platform can also connect using a common educational platform called ClassLink.

Is It Safe And Secure?

The PrepFactory.com Terms of Use and Privacy Policy is light on details surrounding its security procedures. The site uses single-factor authentication and third-party payment processors, but it doesn’t disclose additional details about its security design. For example, it is not clear whether information about a student’s progress is encrypted at rest, and it’s not explicitly stated that its payment processing uses encryption during transit to avoid holding credit card details in a risky location.

The Privacy Policy assures that PrepFactory.com will not sell personal information and that it will only use personalized information for purposes authorized by a student and their guardian. At this time, the only purpose of the site is to provide academic services to students.

Overall, PrepFactory.com may leave something to be desired in terms of online security, but students provide very few personal details that could lead to outsized risk. Overall, the site uses Academic security standards which are lower than the bank-level security standards that larger sites (including most shopping sites) have adopted. While students face some risk of identity theft while using PrepFactory.com, the site is unlikely to be a target for identity theft crimes.

How Do I Contact PrepFactory?

PrepFactory only offers an email address. You can contact them at hello@prepfactory.com.

Is It Worth It?

PrepFactory.com is well-designed for school instruction, and schools that want to help students prepare to get into college should consider using the platform. It offers cost-effective tools that could replace some expensive curricula and supplement other curricula at a low per-student cost.

Students who want to study for the ACT may decide that PrepFactory is their best option. The site seems to be more tailored to the ACT testing strategy than the SAT test strategy. However, those who want to study for the SAT are better off using Khan Academy which is both free and more robust than PrepFactory.com’s offerings.
On the basis of cost alone, I would recommend trying the PrepFactory platform before signing up for expensive private tutoring.

PrepFactory Features