<p>Depends on the course. Some of them aren’t helpful.</p>
<p>I took an in-person course in my local area and then used self-study materials to supplement that class.</p>
<p>I just self-prepped. It would’ve helped me to know that the SAT is basically just looking for a long essay, but in the end I figured it out anyway, after two sittings :P. I’m now waiting on my January SAT results but I’m sure I’m getting higher than a 6 or an 8 on the essay, and self-prep should’ve helped me get a much higher score, which is what I’m expecting.</p>
<p>For those who can’t afford a course, or are looking for additional materials, the online Sparknotes are very helpful. Also, the SAT homepage offers a free, official test that will be automatically graded. It is amazing.</p>
<p>With self-prep, I got a 1440/2210 first, then a 1600/2350, for a combined 1600/2370. Honestly, taking engaging classes and studying from books like Kaplan, Barron, and Collegeboard’s official SAT prep book are the only way to go. Additionally, sparknotes.com has a fantastic SAT database as well as several free practice tests.</p>
<p>My friends who took the prep course agree that it was a waste of their time. It comes down to how much you already know and what is tripping you up on the exam.</p>
<p>Paid prep courses are a waste of time unless you take the class with students who have similar scores and a teacher who is smart enough to know what to skim over and what to focus on. </p>
<p>Studying on your own is good if you have the discipline to sit yourself down to do so.</p>
<p>I took two courses and the strategies taught increased my scores drastically. However, if you cannot afford a prep course, then utilize resources online (eg. look up vocab and idiom lists on quizlet.com) and take practice tests on your own using the blue book from college board.</p>
<p>Hope i helped</p>
<p>I took a prep course, 10 weeks from the summer-> october SAT. Incredibly expensive, 2k+. Ended up with a 2330, so I’m happy. Thing is, I started with a 2000…reading these posts, I feel like I should’ve self studied, oh well!</p>
<p>Took one. NOT worth it. waste of time and $. better spent doing research.Kthxbye</p>
<p>For the SAT I did two different in-person prep courses. I found them extremely helpful because they provided a more dynamic environment to learn key SAT skills such as vocabulary recognition and essay development. However, for the ACT I only used self-studying methods. The ACT is definitely more knowledge based than the SAT, and the ACT questions are much more straightforward. Therefore, I found that an in-person course for the ACT was unnecessary. However-everyone is different!</p>
<p>I am in the 11th grade and I took Kaplan and it was ok. I also tried studyboost and it was great. They sent questions right to my phone for free. I am looking to score in the 2000-2400 range so I’m hoping that with studyboost and some other materials I purchased I will get there.</p>
<p>I tried Kaplan. They have some free test and also studyboost has free questions. You can set up studyboost to send SAT questions to your phone any time of the day.</p>
<p>I did take an SAT prep course at my local community college, but for me it was really necessary since all classes in my school were taught in a foreign language, so I felt I was ill-prepared for the test. I think most kids wouldn’t need them though.</p>
<p>I took a prep course for the ACT last summer, but I felt like everything was available online and that only the motivated students would benefit from it. Everybody else, including me, didn’t do much of the work during the course.</p>
<p>For those who have taken prep classes, did you take them online? or in person? All of us don’t have the luxury of taking classes in person if the place where you live, doesn’t offer such classes.</p>
<p>Can you recommend some of the prep classes.</p>
<p>My school offered a prep class, that most juniors (including myself) took. It was worth it. I haven’t really used any of the strategies from the class, but it gave me access to practice tests, which was incredibly beneficial.</p>
<p>I took the PSAT my sophomore year without any prep and received a 186 and my parents freaked out about how low my score was. They’re now wanting to enroll me in an 8-week SAT bootcamp class for around $4000 over the summer because they want me to receive a 2300+ score. I think I can just self-study and improve my score for the October SAT, because in my opinion $4000 for an SAT prep class is just ridiculous. My CR score is great because I love reading/writing, but my math is weak. I feel like if I focus on working through math problems from prep books and learning & familiarizing myself with the math topics I’ll be able to improve on my math score.</p>
<p>At this point, it appears that the prep course did not work out for s.</p>
<p>I took an SAT prep class. It was all right and they definitely covered a lot of material, but because there was such a disparity between students’ SAT base scores, it did not help individuals much. There were students who were excellent in math but the majority were not, so there was a focus on concepts that the excelling students were familiar with. Those classes tended to be a waste of time for them. Overall, the classes focused on the needs of the majority (which is understandable,) but I don’t think that they helped me very much because I needed help mostly in critical reading. We also took many practice essays, most of which I scored perfect scores on. However, on the actual tests, while I left feeling just as confident, I scored 8s consistently. The strategies didn’t really help me, but I’m sure they were useful for others.</p>
<p>I just went to a small little after school session offered by my school on strategies this year as a sophomore. I am luckily not going to have to take it again after my 35 in April.</p>