Are Private Tutors Worth it/Best way to Increase Score?

Test Preparation
1

<p>My son took a practice ACT last week from a test prep company. He scored a 21. At home he has taken a couple of practice tests from the McGraw Hill book and scored 26 prior to the practice test so we were really surprised.</p>

<p>He is a good student and has taken a challenging class load. He does have some reach schools to which he wants to apply. He needs at least a 30 on the ACT.</p>

<p>We are trying to figure out the best way to get there. He is taking a heavy course load with a lot of AP courses right now, so realistically his studying/practice will need to be on weekends or over the summer.</p>

<p>I have called the test prep companies and they really recommend private tutoring to best meet his needs but do say that it is very reasonable to raise his score to the 30s with just 10 hours of tutoring. The cost is enormous, but I can see that these strategies may be useful to him on subject tests and AP tests as well as in college.</p>

<p>We could continue to buy the books and have him work through them but I am not sure how effective that will be.</p>

2

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<p>I don’t want to name names, but…Kaplan?</p>

<p>My daughter took a Kaplan-administered mock SAT at her high school. She scored noticeably lower there than she had on the PSAT, lower than she did when she took practice tests from the College Board’s blue book at home, and lower than she did when she took the actual SAT.</p>

<p>I believe Kaplan stacks the deck in its favor when it administers those. I’ve never heard anyone not affiliated with Kaplan express a contrary opinion.</p>

<p>For ACT, I’d suggest you have your son start with the “red book” from ACT (available in bookstores, at Amazon, or I assume from ACT). Whether he works through it alone with a tutor, see what kind of difference that makes, and then chart your course from there.</p>

3

<p>I am not sure if a private tutor is worth it - that is your call - but a very good tutor is the easiest and best way to increase test scores. It is hard to take a class where the other students are at your level and studying on your own is harder to do than with a private tutor.</p>

4

<p>The test was administered by Princeton Review. </p>

<p>I think we will try the ACT book test and see how that goes. It does seem like there is a lot of strategy to taking these tests rather than really testing what the student knows. </p>

<p>If he truly needs a 10 point increase in his score, I would think that would take a lot of practice!</p>

5

<p>There is strategy involved. That is why some people are good test takers and others are not even if they both know the same material.</p>

6

<p>TKsmom, after my kids took the test cold (for real) one time, we did a hybrid of prep for the second (and final) test, as neither were going to stand for weeks upon weeks of classes or disciplined self-study AND both had one weak area that was pulling down their score. They did a reasonable number of practice tests and self-study of problem areas. Then, each had one hour of private tutoring @ $150–gulp–during which the tutor reviewed their wrong answers on past tests and offered very narrow but easy-to-apply strategy tips for approaching specific types of questions that consistently posed issues. </p>

<p>I have to say that in each student’s case, they were able to balance a previously lopsided score by significantly increasing (+75-100 points) their weak area score. This was SAT, so for one, it was pulling math up, and for the other, it was pulling writing (which is grammar and essay) up. </p>

<p>Both kids thought the tutor’s tips were of the type they wouldn’t have readily discovered, distilled as having greatest possible application and “packaged in memory” for use during testing, i.e., every time you see a math problem like this, you can quickly eliminate 2 answers by doing A and then reach the correct result as between the final two by doing B. By knowing, say, the top 5 rules that meet the majority of one’s personal “math issues,” you can see how a student can really speed up math performance, improve accuracy and even have time to go back and check your work.</p>

<p>We are lucky to live in an area where there are several private test tutors, so I could get referrals with strong recommendations by word of mouth. If you want to explore this idea, start checking around with other parents and even your guidance counselors.</p>

<p>Note, in our experience, AP and subject test prep did not extend beyond mastery of curricula and one or two practice tests (published on the College Board site) to learn the testing format. </p>

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<p>Good luck.</p>

7

<p><a href="http://www..com/articles/gaming_the_sat/?taxonomyId=1180020%5B/url%5D">http://www..com/articles/gaming_the_sat/?taxonomyId=1180020</a>
The article is about SAT tutors and classes, but I think it probably applies to the ACT too.</p>

8

<p>Spending $150 dollars for a hundred point gain would be worth it in my book.
DS, who is only a college grad, not a prof teacher, was trained by a big test prep company and taught for a while when he was under employed and needed cash. He thought he really helped his students gain some points. He did not think it a fun job tho.</p>

9

<p>If the motivation and the initial drive is there, no test company will be required. The blue book, DH1+2, Silverturtle’s guide are all that is needed to get a 2200+, oh, and a bit of luck as well :slight_smile: .</p>

10

<p>An experienced private tutor can offer:
-a streamlined approach…this should result in dozens of hours saved and should justify a high price per hour
-structure
-encouragement and additional challenge
-more material (most experienced tutors accumulated material over the years)</p>

<p>Problem is:
-the best tutors are found by word of mouth
-the best tutors book up</p>

<p>But as in anything:
the success–or lack thereof–largely depends on the student’s effort and ability to listen and apply new methods.</p>

11

<p>^bump</p>

<p>I appreciate responses so far.</p>

<p>Any other suggestions or inputs? I’d like several opinions before I consider laying out $185/hr for a tutor!</p>

12

<p>I wouldn’t pay that for a tutor. Just get prep books and take a lot of practice tests.
Go over the wrong answers very thoroughly each time to avoid making similar mistakes on the real test. IMO, the SAT is easier to prep for than the ACT. There are more “tricks” to the SAT. ACT is more knowledge- based, and more dependent on speed than the SAT.
Can your kid get from a 26(21?) to a 30? It is not impossible, but it will be difficult. Just put in the hours doing the practice tests. Good luck.</p>

13

<p><<if the=“” motivation=“” and=“” initial=“” drive=“” is=“” there,=“” no=“” test=“” company=“” will=“” be=“” required.=“” blue=“” book,=“” dh1+2,=“” silverturtle’s=“” guide=“” are=“” all=“” that=“” needed=“” to=“” get=“” a=“” 2200+,=“” oh,=“” bit=“” of=“” luck=“” as=“” well=“”>></if></p>

<p>I don’t know about the particular guide that is being recommended, but I agree with some dogged working through the SAT books on one’s own. My own child’s experience is that she didn’t want to take on another commitment (e.g. formal SAT tutoring) on top of an already oversubscribed life. We were happy to pay for it, and she declined our offer. She was extremely disciplined about going through the SAT books–at least, a few tests, weekly, along with checking her answers and ferreting out the why of her wrong answers.</p>

<p>Her one and only SAT (over 2300) was a few hundred points more than her PSAT would have predicted (which I don’t think, frankly, is a great predictor). I think my daughter improved, in part, because she did the dynamic of taking a standardized test, repeatedly, but I also think she improved simply because she aged. She was an older, better test-taker–her executive order function had improved–and she is a kid who is a year to a year and-a-half than her grade peer group.</p>

<p>Some very capable kids are just inherently good or poor standardized test takers. We don’t know anyone who was “hyper-tutored” and then improved dramatically. We know a lot of kids with private tutors who improved somewhat. A lot of her friends–all excellent students–feel like the private weekly sessions were a waste of time, not that they didn’t do well,even though they reported scores of 2150 to 2300+. They just didn’t credit the tutoring with the improvement. </p>

<p>My daughter also feels that her SAT score was her doing, and I think that that is a great and necessary confidence booster, especially as she makes her way out into the world.</p>

<p>Interestingly, my daughter did no review for the SAT II (subject) tests and got over 730+ on them. She felt that those tests were much more curriculum-based and pretty much tested what she had learned in school, concretely.</p>

<p>If you have a disciplined student, go for the workbook and no tutor approach, maybe, or, alternatively, maybe have your kid ply his/her way through the workbooks and then isolate what are recurrent mistakes for him/her on the test and take those questions to a tutor.</p>

<p>185/hr seems prohibitive unless you are talking about NY city, proper, where I have heard private tutoring can be 500/hr., which I think is better spent on therapy for the over-stressed, over-subscribed high schooler, frankly.</p>

14

<p>My formula for high scores (I suggest you try it)</p>

<p>SAT Math:
Dr. John Chung’s SAT Math (The book is designed for students already scoring in 600+ range of math and want to get it to 800)
Official SAT Study Guide (BlueBook)</p>

<p>SAT Writing:
Silverturtle’s guide
If your child has trouble with essays get “The Sat Essay Formula: That Gets High Scores”
Official SAT Study Guide (BlueBook)</p>

<p>SAT CR:
Silverturtle’s guide
Direct Hits Volumes 1 and 2
Lots of analytical and advanced literature (essays would be great) - My suggestion: “The Best American Essays of the Century (The Best American Series)”
Official SAT Study Guide (BlueBook)</p>