<p>kaplan tutoring aint to hot either. i took it and i feel like a fool for wasting not only all that money, but my time and energy as well. check out xiggi's method and do that, thats what im doing now.</p>
<p>The 200 point guarantee is a scam. They give you their own diagnostic test using their own questions, make it really hard, give you a score, then later reduce it by 100 points because they said they used the wrong curve. Then when you take the SAT, you get 200 points higher than you got on their phony diagnostic test, but not much higher than you got on the PSAT. That's my story at least.</p>
<p>PR guarantees 200 pts either by their diagnostic test or by your own SAT scores. They guarantee 2100+ in some honors courses, but i think you have to score a 1800-1900 on the diagnostic test for that.</p>
<p>PR helps alot with pacing, tricks and methods. I think it's worth it because you refresh your memory with a lot of stuff you learned back in 8th/9th grade and you get into the habit of sitting for 4hrs on a saturday when you do their practice tests. Also, their practice tests are more comprehensive than the actual SAT tests, so you get prepared more. </p>
<p>I hear a lot of it also depends on the teacher though... private tutors would probably be the best help, but they are pretty expensive. </p>
<p>One of my friends went from a 1750ish to a 2150 on the SAT with PR. Another went from 1600ish to a 1970... but then another only went up like 100 pts because she slacked off and didn't do all the hw.. so I'm sure it depends on what youre willing to put in too.</p>
<p>Obviously if you are already scoring a 1900+ without practice/prep, you don't really need PR or Kaplan.. just get one of those books and teach yourself. I wouldn't suggest Kaplan, partly because my teacher was an idiot, but mainly because the methods sucked.</p>
<p>Anybody can practice for the Critical Reading and Math from a workbook, but really improving one's Writing score might require human instruction. How good is the Princeton Review course for the writing section? How do they teach it to a group?</p>
<p>Obviously they're not actually guaranteeing that your score will go up (unless they take the test for you). They're just saying what they'll supposedly do for you if/when you don't improve. Read the fine print. </p>
<p>If there are very few conditions attached to the guarantee, that's because all they're doing is letting you take the course again. Big deal. It didn't help you the first time. Besides, is your time free, especially if you're a senior?</p>
<p>If the guarantee is that you'll receive free tutoring or your money back, expect a lot of fine print and ridiculous qualifiers. For example, they measure your improvement from your lowest practice test. Or they make you take the class again and the test again before you get money back. Or you only get money back if you didn't improve AT ALL, not even by 10 points. Or the "guarantee" is void if you miss any sessions or don't do any assignments.</p>
<p>my take is that no book will ever help increase score, it's a matter of repitition and understanding the nooks and crannies of the test, u get to noe the tricks and the more u see it, the better u get, but some might disagree, afterall those book companies make lots of money</p>