<p>My family is willing to pay for me to get enrolled in a prep course. Should I take an SAT prep course and (hopefully) get that dismal 1900 raised to at least 2000? Or should I drop the SATs, take an ACT prep course instead and hopefully fare better with that instead? I am a junior who intends on applying to selective colleges.</p>
<p>P.S. - I have 4 SAT prep books, intending to do independent study, but I ended up not touching them. If I enroll in an SAT prep course I don't know what I'm going to do with these books; if I enroll in an ACT prep course I don't entirely trust myself to be able to raise my score up to 1900 all on my own. Advice please?</p>
<p>You should not take a prep course. You are at a point where any of those tricks that princeton review will teach you will be useless, regardless of SAT or ACT. It would be much better to spend that time differently. </p>
<p>At this point, I believe independent study can help you get into the 2200 range.
But you need to be motivated and have a lot time to work.</p>
<p>Agree. I got a 1900 the first time. The week before the SAT, I used the blue book and score increased by 170, but for CR, hella decrease. I blame the harsh curve.</p>
<p>i was in the princeton review prep class for the sat…my first diagnostic test i started off with an 1870, and on the march sat i got a 2240. their strategies were really helpful for me and definitely helped to improve my score a lot. </p>
<p>i also got an act prep book from princeton review to read over and take the act in june just to see if i do better, and if i dont, i will not send the scores to any colleges.</p>
<p>This March was my first time and I got a 1910. I brought my score up from an initial practice test score of 1760 with some light independent study and a 3 practice tests. I’m going to do heavy studying over the summer and retake the SAT in October and November.</p>
<p>Prep courses are known to be generally bad. Half of it is probably teaching you useless tricks, when all you need is solid practice and learning with good testing material.</p>
<p>I know many of you are saying I shouldn’t take a prep course… I did intend to follow that advice–I bought a lot of SAT prep books with the intention of doing independent study–but I found out I was not focused enough to do it, hence the 1900. Enrolling in a prep course, if anything, will force me to study. </p>
<p>Moreover, I can’t convince my parents not to enroll me in a prep course, anyway, so studying on my own is pretty much out of the window, and the prep course mandatory.</p>
<p>Now the question was, “Which prep course: SAT or ACT?” If you do bad on the SATs, would it be better to take an ACT prep course (because they say studious people and girls do better in ACTs) or stick to the SAT prep course?</p>
<p>I have about 5 SAT books that I haven’t touched. </p>
<p>If I take an ACT prep course, I assume this summer I won’t be focused enough to study for the SATs, and thus I’m not going to be able to raise my SAT score.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if I take an SAT prep course (and hopefully raise my SAT score), then I feel like I just wasted money buying these 5 SAT books I ended up not using.</p>