Prep Expert (previously known as 2400 expert) is a test preparation service that offers a variety of courses aimed at helping you get higher SAT and ACT scores. I have spent many hours researching this company and have listed the main questions people have had about them below. At a later date, we’ll also be compiling user reviews of Prep Expert and will publish them here, so stay tuned for updates.
Who’s behind Prep Expert?
Prep Expert was founded by Dr. Shaan Patel, who had achieved a perfect SAT score studying on his own and wanted to create courses to help others improve their SAT scores.
Was Prep Expert on Shark Tank?
Yes. Prep Expert was on Shark Tank in January 2016 and got a $250,000 investment from Mark Cuban, in return for 20% of the company. While the other sharks were concerned about Patel’s lack of commitment to the business (at this time he was also a student studying to become a doctor), Mark Cuban was attracted by the brains and talent of Patel and brought into the business primarily as an acquihire.
How successful is Prep Expert now?
Very. In the past few years, Prep Expert has been on a very strong growth curve and has turned into a highly successful business. According to this June 2020 article, Prep Expert had “made $20 million” by this time and has had over 50,000 customers (that would match the $20 million number based on the typical price Prep Expert courses sell for). Prep Expert also lists over 50,000 customers at the time of writing on their about page.
Are there any coupon codes for Prep Expert?
Yes. Use the coupon code SHARKTANK to get $200 off courses — a big discount! I’ve tested this and it works at the time of writing.
Are Prep Expert courses good value for what you get?
Prep Expert courses cost between $299 for their weekend review courses and up to $1,099 for their 6-Week in-person prep courses. Most people go for their $799 6-Week online prep courses, which should last for 72 hours in total and come to a cost of around $11/hour, which is reasonable (there will of course be many students taking the course with you, so you won’t be getting 1-on-1 help).
Is Prep Expert entirely online, or do they have classes in real life?
The only in-person class offered by Prep Expert is their 6-Week Flagship SAT course (also available online), which can be done in Las Vegas, Nevada or Princeton, New Jersey. All their other courses can only be done online.
How many instructors are there on Prep Expert? Who are they?
Here are the instructors currently doing courses for Prep Expert (as the head of the company, Shaan Patel no longer teaches himself):
- Clay Cooper
- Daniel Lee
- Celina Paudel
- Dr. Will York
- Nishi Patel
- Hassan Bhatti
- Nathan DeVera
- Kevin Parrish
According to Prep Expert’s homepage where you can click on each instructor and read a short bio, every single one of these people scored within the top 1% on the SAT. I also Googled each person and looked up their background, and without a doubt, every one of these people is extremely well qualified to teach SAT and ACT courses.
In addition to the people above teaching Prep Expert courses, there are also several other people doing private tutoring on Prep Expert, and you can expect Prep Expert has a similarly high standard for private tutors (on their hiring page you can see they ask what standardized exams you’ve scored in the 99th percentile on). You can also see some of the people who work at Prep Expert on their LinkedIn page here.
Are the reviews for Prep Expert legit?
Prep Expert has some stellar reviews on some of the review aggregator sites:
- Trustpilot (currently 405 reviews, average 4.6/5)
- Reviews.io (currently 2,291 reviews, average 4.62/5)
- Yelp (currently 18 reviews, average 3.5/5) (this just applies to their in-person Las Vegas class)
- Facebook (currently 52 reviews, average 3.9/5)
I’ve read through a lot of these and the plethora of positive reviews are definitely legitimate — there is no way Prep Expert is posting fake reviews to these sites or hiring someone to do so. I have also read through all the negative reviews for Prep Expert, and most of them are from parents whose child did not get a significantly higher score after taking a course with Prep Expert. It is inevitable that not 100% of students who take a course with Prep Expert are going to improve their scores, just as with any learning platform, so some negative reviews there are to be expected. Other negative reviews are from people who were upset about not getting a refund from Prep Expert (see below).
Is Prep Expert’s money-back guarantee legit?
Prep Expert offers a refund of their courses under certain conditions:
- A refund of a 6-Week flagship course (SAT or ACT) if you do 100% of the practice tests and essays, 90% of the homework assignments, have an attendance of over 80% and fail to improve your SAT score by at least 200 points (up to a 1450) or your ACT score by at least 4 points (up to a 32)
- A refund of a 3-Week flagship course (SAT or ACT) per above, but with the requirement that you fail to increase your SAT score by 100 points or your ACT score by 2 points
- A refund of a self-paced course if you complete everything 100% and fail to improve your SAT score by 10 points or your ACT score by 1 point
You also must submit a refund request within 30 days of getting your test score.
Prep Expert is strict on these requirements. If you fail to meet every one of them, even if you miss by 1%, you’re unlikely to get a refund. Prep Expert may offer you a free course on the house if you complain enough, but expect them to stick to these terms when it comes to refunds no matter what the circumstances. There have been complaints of technical/internet issues causing a student to miss out on submitting a practice test or essay, making them technically ineligible for a refund, and even in these cases Prep Expert will refuse a refund request.
How does Prep Expert compare with its alternatives and competitors?
Check out this article (Crush The GRE) and this article (Test Prep Insight) for in-depth comparisons between Prep Expert and its main competitors including Princeton Review.