<p>i've never taken a course or anything, but i brought my score up about 200 points by buying multiple study books...not so much for the teaching sections, but i found that many books have different types of questions. when test day comes, i've usually seen all of the questions before since i've used several practice books. when i only used 1 prep book, i was seeing stuff i had never seen before at the end of the math section and i couldn't figure it out.</p>
<p>however i dont think a well reputed complany like PR or even Kaplan will do such things..
then again ppl do the strangest of things at times..</p>
<p>brand_182's point makes a lotta sense and is quite true. Its like broadening your horizons..</p>
<p>they (pr + kaplins) totally deflate the scores. My friend got a 230 on the PSAT and a 1700 on the "Kaplins Diagnostic", complete rubbish, ah well the practice helped...ill report back with my score( i took kaplins to)</p>
<p>I have a close friend who already had very high SAT scores (~2150) and wanted to get his scores up to close to 2300, and he took private tutoring with The Alpha Method.</p>
<p>He got his scores up to around his goal, and said he loved the program, that it was very personally targeted. Anyway, that might be a good choice for those of you looking to increase an already high score. My friend sticks by this company fiercely, so either he's crazy or it's the real deal.</p>
<p>keep in mind that Godot is a private SAT tutor so of course he's going to say derogatory things about prep courses and recommend tutoring instead...</p>
<p>Whowhatwhere,</p>
<p>Before you offer such categorical statements, you may want to do some research. I happen to have taught for both PR and Kaplan prior to starting my own business, so I am also speaking from experience. I will continue to give honest assessments of other courses and books on this site, whether or not they involve private tutoring (and note that I also run classroom courses occasionally). One classroom course I WOULD recommend, for example, is probably the Testmasters course (the company in Texas). I'm not exactly sure how they do it, but they sure do churn out a lot of perfect scores. And I have recommended lots of books on this site (one of which is RocketReview), even though they are potentially competition in the future. I'd love to see a good sample size of "before" and "after" OFFICIAL PSAT/SAT scores from PR and Kaplan students and have those show a significant improvement (on the order of 150+ points on the new SAT), but I very much doubt that the students improve that much (my guess for the average overall improvement would be about 70 points at most). In general, all students should be suspicious of scores obtained from "fake" SAT diagnostics.</p>
<p>I took Kaplan, it sucked. Just take a bunch of practice tests. (Brief but to the point)</p>
<p>Godot
What course or techniques do you offer and can u give me an overview of what to do on each sections?</p>
<p>Do you teach a course, if so what is it called?</p>
<p>Godot again has a point...</p>
<p>collegefreak,</p>
<p>I own a private tutoring company that offers one-on-one tutoring courses for the SAT, among other exams. It wouldn't be possible for me to summarize all of my techniques in a limited space, and my methods are best appreciated and learned in person anyway. I guess you might have to wait until my book is published (whenever that may be), but that might be too late for you. :)</p>
<p>We run a classroom SAT course every year at one of the top-ranked private high schools in the area, and we might be doing more classroom courses in the future.</p>
<p>You'll find that most of the companies teach many of the same techniques. Sometimes, it's not so much the techniques that make the difference -- it's how they are taught and who is working with you. And, at the risk of sounding obvious, it also takes a lot of hard work on YOUR part to get the big score improvements.</p>
<p>JR PSAT = 185, 1st PR diag = 1790, 2nd PR diag = 1860, 3rd PR diag = 2180, first SAT 1990, 2nd SAT = 2090. . . </p>
<p>The PR diags just got easier and easier, the course did not really help out all that much, maybe the writing section, but not worth 900 bucks. You can get the same results by buying study books.</p>
<p>Godot is again right.. Hardwork on our part is usually a sure guarntee to a great score...
I would also like to say that at times people score higher when studying on their own than when in a course or somethings.This is probably because all of us arent made the same way... Some things suit some people.. I guess its upto us to analyse what we feel most comfortable with and then proceed accordingly..</p>
<p>Godot can u send me any vocabualry list, which voacbulary list would u recommnad</p>
<p>1) PR's practice tests do not inflate or deflate scores. Not only are they calibrated and beta-tested on large (and varied) sample of students, but they are used in different orders to ensure equivalence. It's no marketing scam that inflates scores to look good, sorry! It's hard to tell whether any other company does this. Only a big company would have the resources, probably. Also, the distribution of content is the same as that on the actual SAT. Of course, real tests are still your best bet (use those up first!), but it's a rare person who would be able to qualify the subjective differences between the two. They would not be able to find any objective ones. But it's fun to pretend. Just like some people think that certain months' tests are easier (quite possible) and that this will somehow increase their final score (nope). Or most folks who claim they know a foolproof way to spot the experimental. It's not usually correct.
2) PSAT and SAT scores are not comparable. The score grid, item response curve, testing population, content, difficulty, and length are different, among other things. Don't expect to just add a zero to your PSAT score and get your SAT score (assuming no preparation in between), unless you are willing to be wrong by up to a couple hundred points on each subject. Oh, also, SAT scores don't predict scores on any other standardized tests either, in case you were wondering.</p>
<p>How should one approach studying from different books?</p>
<p>Executive summary:
Get the CB Blue Book and online course tests. Study the test content and answers, slowly and carefully. Strategy is a very large discussion, and there are many opinions on which books are best. Anyway, if you want to see whether a strategy works for you, try it out on the tests above, old 10 REAL SAT's, etc. After you feel that you've learned all the content and strategy to do all types of questions, start doing timed sections. Keep learning any vocabulary you didn't know (this can take a while, so the earlier you begin the process, the better. Work on skipping questions that are too long/hard, returning to them later, if time permits, and agressive guessing as time runs out. Do the test in the registration bulletin (it's the March 2005 SAT), and see whether you can get a hold of the other released SAT's (October 2005, January 2006, May 2006) from friends. Take all 4 as full-length practice tests, with the proper breaks, in a quiet setting, in the morning, starting around 8:45a.m. The 4 weeks before the test would be best, doing one a week. Analyze your work on each test. Decide on what you will change after each test, and adapt.</p>
<p>From a mom, asking the students:
So how can I motivate my child to do the practice tests? I can spend money and commit this dear person to time through Kaplan, but the motivation still needs to be there to go deeper. Do I just have to wait and fret until a cool peer decides to practice? Procrastination would be a major problem. Do I threaten attendance at the local community college or offer carrots of money? Do I request advisers at college visits to whack her over the head with an SAT prep book?
This dear person, a rising junior, has an OK first SAT test score, but needs to raise it if she wants to meet her goals. As a former National Merit scholar, I know these scores are worth money. I'm seeking advice from other students, who may have already figured out how to deal with their own meddling parents or work with them for their future.</p>
<p>From the comments im reading many of you all dont really like the class that Kaplan offers for the SAT I. What about the private tutoring that they offer, has anyone tried it, is it any better? I was thinking about that route because I know that I need a tutor and I know that I want to go through and organization that has been around for a while.</p>
<p>i took the Kaplan course and got a 2190. i don't really think that it was a result of the course though. for example, we took 4 practice tests with Kaplan. On the essay, i got 12s on three of them. However, on the actual SAT, I only got a 9/10 (I took it twice). There are some techniques that I learned that were kind of useful, but honestly I wouldn't reccommend taking the Kaplan course.</p>