<p>Did anyone take the SAT Kaplan course and get a 2200 or higher? Is it the best course out there? What about the books, do they sum up everything u need to know to get a 2200 or higher. I have the course books but don't know if i should use them. </p>
<p>Is the course for Kaplan close to the actually SAT 1 exam?</p>
<p>if you are scoring around a 2200 on practices DO NOT take any course, it will not help you, all that will help you improve is practice. if you are trying to improve to a 2200 i would advise not taking the Kaplan course. I got a 211 psat and took the Kaplan course and wound up going down to a 2060 combined, me and another kid were a lot smarter than most of the other kids in our class, and we wound up getting nothing out of the class, since the teacher couldnt explain the really hard questions, and spent too much time on easy stuff that was focused for the less intelligent students in our class. I did get a high score in ztetris86 during class, 191 lines, so in a way its kind of worth it :)</p>
<p>Most courses like that are geared toward people aiming for much lower scores than 2200.</p>
<p>My cousin took it and he didnt do very well with it.</p>
<p>a friend of mine took it, they help A LOT on the essays, but he still got really, really low overall... and what's surprising is he's actually really smart. so my advice would be that if u need writing improvement, u should take it, if not... it'll prolly make u dumber lol</p>
<p>Shop around. It's like anything else; some places are good, and some are bad.</p>
<p>The most important thing I learned was understanding how to look at the problem and what to do with it. I am pretty smart, but I just wasn't used to tests like the PSAT and SAT. W/o prep my soph PSAT score was 183; by the time I took it this year (junior year) I had brought it up to 224. It wasn't because I had gotten so much smarter but because I became experienced at doing the problems. </p>
<p>Once you have learned the basics like parallelism in sentene structure, just take practice test after practice test to refine your skills. (as long as you have someone to show you what you did wrong and how to fix it).</p>
<p>I would recommend a place with a set-up like this (which is like the place I went to):</p>
<p>*10-15 beginning class sessions to explain strategies and how to approach types of problems.
*workshops that are about an hour long for each subject and include practice sections and their respective reviews.
*practice SAT/PSAT every 2 weeks at least (it really helps you stay sharp on the tests).
*personal and interactive things you can do like watch vocabulary videos and/or computer vocab lessons.</p>
<p>Make sure the teachers are good above all else; I wouldn't limit myself to Kaplan.</p>
<p>Kaplan is probably the worst possible choice out there, for any student, but especially students in your score range. A Kaplan course may literally cause a DECREASE in your score. The best way to increase your score is probably to hire a private tutor who REALLY knows the test well, has scored a 1550/1600 or higher himself on the exam, and has a track record of great improvements with past students (ask for references). PM me more for advice if you need.</p>
<p>I took a Kaplan course--the $899 one. On my diagnostic test I scored a 1580(570V/590M/420W), which actually scared the hell out of me. It was also the first time I've seen what the SAT was actually like, since I've never taken the PSAT's or anything. Anyways, when it came down to the real deal, i scored a 1860(540/680/640). It seems to me that the writing section is really coachable, so if you really need help with writing, a small course should help. However, you shouldn't rely on their strats for CR because they seem to have dropped my score permanently.=(</p>
<p>Edit: After looking at my score report, i actually got a 420W on my diagnostic test=/</p>
<p>Well...I started in the 2100 ish range and I got a 2360 on the real thing... Kaplan helped a bit in CR...a bit in W....</p>
<p>but it really jsut forced me to study for a while. I liked Kaplan very much though...but my class was also kind of dumb (no offense)...so if you are intellectually talented...this is going to be painful...the teacher teaches you like a kindergartner and is a robot....</p>
<p>I highly reccomend for those shooting for a 2150 or better that you hire a private tutor.</p>
<p>well i hav never had a tutor but one of my friends went for the Princeton Review course.
he had a diagonstic of 1850(620M,600 Cr,630W). he got 2190 on the final.(760 M,700 Cr,730 W). so i guess its more a relative thing..
works for some people, doesnt work for some</p>
<p>which one is better with math because math is my weakest section</p>
<p>kaplins-math tutoring was focused on the easy-medium questions, get a tutor...or a book... i liked "Maximum SAT"-pulled up my score</p>
<p>Like my teacher said...what you put in the course, you will get out of it. If you work really hard & do all the homework and practice tests..you WILL improve significantly. Some think that if you take the course and don't do any of the work you will improve..not true.</p>
<p>Many of my friends (5 actually) did Kaplan, and all of them disliked it. All of them said it helps only on the writing. But one of my friends got over a 2000, and she said courses in general just make you sit down and study more...which helps the most. If you're trying to up a 2200...don't waste your money.</p>
<p>I did Princeton Review, and thought their course was really good....it brought my score from a 1710 to a 1910 (my first SAT try). </p>
<p>I suggest doing Princeton Review's SAT Refresher Course which is basically 3-4 SAT tests in a SAT environment, all timed, essays graded, etc. I plan to do that along with my self studying over the summer, as i want to get over a 2000. If you want to know more, just go to princetonreview.com</p>
<p>Like 2PInZ, I also did Princeton Review too along with its Refresher Course. My score went from a 1960 to a 2210</p>
<p>My son did very well on the PSAT, but we hoped the Kaplan would help with the essay writing. It was useless. They gave him totally unwarranted zeros on a couple of the practice essays with absolutely NO comments. Total waste of money and he scored lower on the SATs than the PSATs. He ended up with a 7 on the essay.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the courses which do not use official CB exams as diagnostics are probably giving you inacurrate (and most likely deflated, at least at the start of the course) scores. One of my students who previously took a PR course before using me scored about a 1500 on his first PR diagnostic, yet his PSAT score at about the same time was about a 190! (PR can readily claim a <em>400-point</em> improvement afterwards for the student when they really did nothing for his score. He scored about an 1800 on the SAT immediately after the PR course.) As an experiment (and check of accuracy), I would advise those in PR and Kaplan courses to self-administer a diagnostic from the Blue Blook to compare those results against the scores in the course. You may be surprised...</p>
<p>Godot has a very good point..</p>
<p>that is correct...</p>