So daughter is hs soph and is above average student with numerous honors classes and eventual AP classes. She is extremely involved in school extra curricular and has tons of community service. Her PSAT and ACT scores were on the lower side so we are considering test prep. We will lean toward ACT because of the less weighted Math on final score.
Question: Is $5,000 reasonable for 20 weeks of prep? (2hr sessions, 2 x per week). We are realistic in hoping to score in the 25-30 range. Is 20 weeks to long? not enough? Would we be better off with ACT practice test guides and use the 5k toward school costs? Hoping the CC board can steer me in right direction. Thanks in advance
Seems like starting cheaply (e.g. by doing an old released test and then checking what specific areas need prep) would make more sense than spending $5,000 and 80 hours.
In NJ, $5k seems a bit high, but if you’re North Jersey maybe not. Most people I know pay about $100-$150 an hour. The big place that a lot of D21’s classmates use had an early special for summer prep- 43 hours for about $3k. That’s out of our range. We’re doing 1 hour/week starting late June, then a community college “intensive” that’s 9am-4pm Monday - Friday the week before the August SAT. That runs about $300. S17 used the community prep class and it worked well.
I just re-read your post - 80 hours? For $5000 that works out to a good hourly rate. It seems like a lot of prep to me (20 weeks) but if your D is up for it…
It’s important to know your student, and how self-motivated they are. There is no way, and I mean no way, D19 would have studied as diligently on her own as she did with a tutor. And she is a high achiever.
We used a tutor 2x/week for 90 minutes total (1 60 min session, 1 30 min session). We started about 12 weeks before the test…I personally think 20 weeks is too much lead time and 4 hours per week too much tutor time. D19’s tutor did give problem sets (from past tests) each week to do in between sessions, I would guess the problem sets took 1-2 hours on average.
If you think your student would be able to self motivate and study on their own, definitely save the money and do review books. If not, get a tutor. $62.50/hr seems relatively inexpensive for an ACT tutor…yes I know there can be large differences depending on geography. In suburban Chicagoland, most ACT tutors range from $100-$200/hour.
If she took the real ACT as a soph, I would expect her scores to be higher junior year both due to having additional schoolwork and being more mature. But, of course still needs to prepare for the test.
We used old practice tests, followed by a question-by-question analysis of why something was answered incorrectly. Testes without analysis are worthless. DH has always maxed out standardized tests, and was perfect in this role. I worked on grammar rules and sample essays (back when the SAT included them). Did not use test prep services, and it was not even on the table at $5,000.
What @mathmom said - and like mathmom, we live in an area as pricey as N NJ. Seems as if starting with less (much less) and seeing how much difference it makes would be wiser.
That seems like a huge $$$$ amount, plus 20 weeks? That’s 5 months of test prep…4 hours a week.
We had our kids take the SAT once…with self prep, and then each did a prep course. One kid had a 300 or so point increase…the other didn’t increase by one point.
@thumper1, definitely not a parent push. That’s why I’m reaching out to the experience of members who can give good sound advice. 5k would go a long way toward school costs. My daughters not going to Harvard.
I’d suggest that before you make that kind of investment, you try out a few tutoring companies to figure out which your D likes and works with, best. Most reputable organizations will offer a free session or a diagnostic test. Personally, I would not be inclined to write a $5k check upfront, even though you may eventually spend that (or more) - and 80 tutoring hours is A LOT of prep., no matter which way you slice it.
I simply compiled all previous tests (crack site…) I could get my hands on and kids (S19 and D20) grinded through sections during the week and full tests on the weekends. As soon as the practice subscores m were in the ballpark of the target scores, I knew they were ready.
First off - have her take the SAT to get a baseline so you know which test to focus on. I would then sign up for an inexpensive Princeton review course. Only after that would I even consider tutoring and most certainly not a contract for 5k.
Since your daughter is still a sophomore, why not try practice books and the free ACT Academy the next few months? If still no uptick, try a group class for act prep in the summer. Small group classes in my northcentral NJ area are around $1200. Ds1 attended one and it was useful.Word of mouth is the best referral for local test prep centers not part of a chain.
If group test prep still doesn’t work, a one on one experienced tutor may be a better bet .
The 5k package has a lot of hours. Many of these places count practice tests as part of the session hours. And hire students to teach the classes. So investigate those aspects.
The test prep industry is totally unregulated. Due diligence is key.
Do you have to be locked into the $5k and all that time? Is this a private tutor, or with a small group? For that price I assume private. With my D we went private. Each session she came in with the practice test the tutor had assigned her as homework. The tutor went through it and showed her what she did wrong and why. This tutoring actually ended up helping her with math skills the following school year, so it was well worth it from that perspective. After about 15 hours of tutoring she kept on getting the same scores in the same sections and everyone agreed that should be (and was) the end of the tutoring sessions. I think each kid differs as far as how many hours of study are needed before they hit their plateau, but the tutor we used said you’ll know. Also, if it is a private tutor, make sure that they adjust how many hours your kid spends on each section depending on your kid’s strengths and weaknesses, rather than just following a standard script that spends an equal 20 hours on each section.