DD is a strong test taker generally, but has some very rigorous schools on her list. I am having analysis paralysis on choosing a method to help her raise her score. DD1 was not as motivated academically, went to a $50 Saturday prep class, and raised her SAT 300 points (on 2400 scale) with minimal outside studying. DD2 has straight As, and took her first official prep test yesterday. I expect her to get 90th percentile-type results. Should I recommend she she study using Khan academy, saving her time for other things? Or invest in an adaptive test prep company to speed the process of upping scores, even though it is further away and time consuming? Or just do “spot tutoring” from the guy who helps her with Algebra at our home, who says he does sat/act prep as well?
prepscholar might be a good alternative. It has more structure than Khan and can pinpoint areas that need brushing up. also won’t break the bank quite as much as other prep courses and definitely cheaper than private tutoring. My child is using the $399 package which seems to work because child is self-motivated and actually does study.
I have twin DD’s who brought an initial ACT diagnostic of a 33 composite to a 34 composite across 2 of 3 sittings and a 35 superscore by working wth an individual tutor at different intervals over the one year between the three sittings. The key for the third stating was to be able to focus on the 1-2 areas that needed a boost to get to a 35 superscore - if was accomplished with twice weekly skpe sessions over a month time period - certainly worth the investment.
Thank you for the responses!!! We did only minimal prep with D1 and she ended up at her perfect school, so I’m not going to pressure her, but she does want to bump her score up from 1250 with no studying. Funny. DD1 hated the ACT and focused on theSAT, and this one did much better on the mock ACT than her first try at the SAT.
My kids self studied with prep books. Second one had almost perfect scores (2380). For a motivated kid, that can work, too.