<p>I realize I should be posting this thread over on the SAT/ACT forum, but I feel most trusting of you posters in this forum.</p>
<p>Which form of ACT (or SAT) prep would you suggest? I've read over on the ACT/SAT forum where some start prepping in 7th grade and then there are some who only take a few practice tests a few weeks before. I talked with the college counselor 2 weeks ago and he didn't have much input, only to caution our S. from taking it too early because of the level of stress it causes. I'm not actually following his advice on that tho, as S. usually doesn't get too stressed about much. He said we could get a couple of books to read through (but he never offered any titles...)</p>
<p>S. has been doing the College Board "SAT Question of the Day" but we know he needs much more. </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>My D started with minimal prepping sophmore year and stepped it up with lots of studying junior year. The plan was to take it as many times as it took to achieve the scores she needed for the schools was looking at. She took it twice this year along with the ACT twice. This last test (June 2) was important because doing well on it left time to do SAT ll in October which is required by some schools. My opinion is to do it as many times as you can until you reach the scores you NEED! My D has taken it twice and improved enough to stop and focus on audition material! The more they take it, the more they learn the format and what they need to study.</p>
<p>Not much help from me on this one. My son has did no studying, beyond the question of the week, and maybe one study guide set of questions. He never took the PSAT or ACT. Took SAT ("I" I guess it was then) sophomore and again junior year, both results within 50 points. I'm remembering 1350-1450 range. </p>
<p>He/we were satisifed given the direction his college choices were.</p>
<p>I just used the books, and for me it was a lot easier for my scores to go up when I repeatedly took the ACT, while on the SAT, my scores decreased.</p>
<p>I am very opposed to the overprepping stress for the SAT, but then again, I have a kid who refused to prep at all, took the test once, and decided to call it a day. He did just fine for all of his schools, or so we have been told.</p>
<p>If your son is a self starter, I would simply purchase him the College Board prep book (it's big and blue), which has numerous practice tests. No better way to prepare than by taking practice tests, which can be done for the cost of a book at home, rather than hundreds or even thousands of dollars through a prep course.</p>
<p>Knowing that she was headed for a music school, daughter did no test prep work at all, preferring to maximize time spent practicing and performing. No books, no classes, no practice questions, she just went in cold. She took the SAT I twice, improving about 50 points in each section the second time around. We saw no need to do anything beyond that.</p>
<p>DS prep for tests was a ditto of BassDad's DD.</p>
<p>What does your son say about prepping for the exams? Does he feel he has the time in his schedule? (He's drum major in the MB, has a part-time job and a new cello teacher as I recall.) If he's not begging for SAT classes, let him put the time into practicing. For performance majors, it's all about the audition.</p>
<p>Wow, great memory! No, he's not asking for extra prep. I'm sure he is not worried about it at all. He's perfectly fine to walk in the morning of the test, unprepared and go for it. It's me that's worried. The infamous college counselor said he had done some preliminary calculations of previous tests he took in 8th grade and came up with a possible 25 on an ACT and in the same sentence said he realized that S. needs to step it up this next year (jr.). Well, of course, that got me particularly freaked out (silently - not exposing my emotions and worries to my son). I figured if he can get a little extra time in for ACT prepping, it wouldn't hurt. </p>
<p>I probably need to step aside and let him handle it as he always does, flying by the seat of his pants. I'm the organized one, he gets by on a lot of luck.</p>
<p>Since you're local (Chicago area like me), most HS's around here offer ACT prep starting around the January timeframe to coordinate with the required Illinois State taking of the ACT during mid-April. That's what we did with both children and it seemed to be good.</p>
<p>Don't let that counselor make you nervous - there are plenty of better things to worry about. 25 ACT or the equivalent 1140 out of 1600 SAT I is actually fine for quite a few of the music schools out there, but I'll bet your son does even better. I think a lot of GC's use the same tactic - their calculations predict a range of scores and they tell you the low end of that range to get you to study harder. Normally that is a good thing, but not if it comes at the expense of a music student's audition material.</p>
<p>For us test prep was beneficial. She only took the SAT once and the ACT once, unlike friends who went through it multiple times. Prepped for the SAT timed right before she took it end of Junior year, but not the ACT. It made her more comfortable with the process. Since she was applying to and preferred universities the scores were important for general admittance to the university and for merit scholarships. The audition got her into the music schools and music scholarships but the scores and grades got her the full compliment of what was available and made her choices more robust.</p>
<p>Test prep helped me a lot. I wasn't a great test taker in the beginning even though I thought I was a great writer and had even won a few creative writing contests. A good prep course should teach you that things like the essay are very formulaic - 5 paragraphs, strong body sentences, etc!</p>
<p>I'm actually in the Chicago suburbs and my parents checked out a couple of options - Princeton Review, Kaplan, and some other options. In the end my parents bought Prepme.com for me. My tutor was from the University of Chicago and was pretty helpful. I used it for the PSAT and for the SAT and also the ACT since that's required in Illinois. What I liked was that I could do it on my own time frame since I am busy with soccer and other activities and the live daily tutoring was helpful. </p>
<p>Whatever you do, check out different options and good luck!</p>