Thousands of companies and private tutors offer SAT prep, which has become a huge business in recent years. A few companies have emerged from the pack to become the best-known national programs.

Some cities have great local SAT prep firms, and you should seek these out. But if you don't know of an excellent option in your town, these classes will serve you well with proven methods, lots of resources, and well-trained instructors.

Do your own research, as programs are constantly changing.

1.   Kaplan SAT Course

Kaplan's standard classroom course includes 12 sessions and 36 total hours of classroom time. Four practice tests are administered, and each student is given a huge amount of optional take home study material and practice tests.

Kaplan knows what it's doing and has plenty of resources available for its students. On the negative side, its standardization and need for thousands of teachers means this might not be the best option for high-scoring students.

2.   Princeton Review SAT Course

While Kaplan is a bigger company, as of last year Princeton Review actually had a slightly larger market share for SAT prep. Unlike Kaplan's money back guarantee, Princeton Review's guarantee promises only to work with you again if your score doesn't improve by 200 points.

Princeton Review's courses are capped at 12 students. A typical class appears to be 11 sessions of about 3-4 hours each--comparable, if not identical, to Kaplan's schedule.

3.   Test masters SAT Prep Course

Test masters became popular years ago with its (pre-law school) LSAT courses. Now Test masters offers SAT courses and they're using the same stategy of more hours, more detailed curricula, and more accomplished (and much better paid) instructors that made them so successful in the LSAT market.

Test masters' course is 60 hours long, which is much more class time than offered by Kaplan or Princeton Review. Instructors scored in the 99th percentile on their own SATs, which is rare in the industry. Currently, the course is offered only in California.

4.  Power score SAT Prep Course

If Kaplan and Princeton Review can be considered competitors, then Powerscore would probably be considered a competitor of Test masters. Like Test masters' SAT course, Power score's course is taught only by instructors who scored in the 99th percentile. The curriculum is rigorous and long.

However, the Power score course is the least expensive of those listed here and its 46 hours is still much less class time than Test masters offers (for better or worse).