Just buy $30 book and practice. It’s better to develop some self study habits. Also save time going to and coming from prep academy.
Get the Real ACT book and take all the timed practice tests and analyze all missed questions. It only takes self discipline and practice to improve.
I don’t think $5K is a good value for a prep course. (I have been doing test prep tutoring for 15 years and don’t charge nearly that much.) Prep courses and tutors don’t have any special information that isn’t readily available online or in prep books at a fraction of the cost. Courses/tutors can provide a schedule and organized method of study for students who are unlikely to prep on their own, but they are often unnecessary.
@BmacNJ : This is about your daughter & her needs & about her learning style. Additional free or less costly resources are great to know about, but only helpful if they meet your daughter’s needs & suit her learning style and that she uses them in a disciplined manner.
A problem with “self tutoring” or “self study” is the risk that the student continues repeating a mistake or inefficient approach.
I know many law school applicants who self studied for LSAT retakes. Those who did well were brilliant individuals who spent an enormous amount of time reviewing old LSAT tests & LSAT course review guides. It was their job for almost an entire year.
Part of the difficulty in assessing your daughter’s situation is that you have no set goals, just a desire to achieve an ACT score in a broad range from competent to very good (25 to 30). When considering applying to test optional schools, it suggests–at least to me-- little faith in your daughter’s ability to do well on the ACT.
@Publisher. At first I was saying no way. But after thinking about it if someone could sorta guarantee me that my kid would score a 33/34 the rhetorical question is… “is it worth it” well if they got merit or full ride then yes I guess it is. From a business standpoint to spend $5,000 to get a $30,000-full ride e then is a no-brainer.
I would separate getting into law school, graduate school, med school differently. I might find it worth it in those situations.
But still the kid needs assessment up front and to me a psat it not it.
Princeton Review guarantees a point increase…i forget how much it is. My kids were very vigilant about doing the work, and attending the classes.
One kid improved almost 300 points…on the 1600 version of the SAT. The second kid didn’t improve one point.
Second kid was offered the chance to take the course again for free. No thank you. We told her not to take the SAT again.
She got accepted to the college of her choice.
This poster has already said his kid isn’t aiming for schools in the top 20. Examples of schools they have already visited are Marist and Fairfield, both test optional.
There are 1000 colleges on that test optional list including some very good schools that also meet full need for all…Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Holy Cross, University of Chicago, for example. Plus hundreds of other colleges, many very familiar even to the high flying CC crowd.
There are plenty of great schools this student can apply to without a standardized test submitted…at all. And there are plenty that will accept her with an ACT of 25…or even less.
This kid is in 10th grade. I’m still wondering why this student even took the ACT as a 10th grader…since most don’t take it until near the end of their junior year in HS. This student took the ACT a full year or more earlier than most students (kid already has her score).
I don’t think HS should be consumed with SAT or ACT prep. Let’s just say, even MCAT and LSAT test takers don’t start prepping 1 1/2 years before they take the test…other than making sure they have the requisite course work.
This 10th grader is likely taking courses that will give her a better knowledge base now and in 11th grade. Plus, she has taken this test once already, and sometimes just knowing HOW the testing goes is helpful to students.
And I still say…try the SAT too.
agree 100%.
Part of the reason prep courses guarantee improvement is because the students are better and smarter as a group as they mature through high school. I would speculate that students given no special assistance (tutoring) would perform best in the first half of senior year.
The test prep likely helps, but to directly correlate any increase to one facet of a child’s experience is a dramatic over-simplification. Princeton Review is simply playing the odds. Letting someone repeat the class for free doesn’t cost them anything…it’s a win no matter what for them.
OP: Would it make a difference if the tutor’s services were free of charge ?
I didn’t read this entire thread but my son was able to improve his ACT from a 24 to a 30 by prepping at home. The biggest issue with the ACT, for him, was how quickly he needed to work. He first took the test blind (no prep) in December of his junior year. He didn’t get to finish certain sections so he had to just fill in bubbles (hence the 24). To prep for future tests, we found old tests online and divided up the tests into their sections. Once a week (or so) he took a timed test on 1 section (30-45 mins tops). We did this in the spring and summer and by the time he took the exam in September, he was well versed on the speed element. He also studied the front of the ACT prep book to review grammar and used Kahn Academy and YouTube to brush up on Math concepts.
While I think investing in a tutor for SAT prep can be invaluable (can translate into great merit aid opportunities), $5,000 seems way above market - at least where we are. I would shop around for other options/good fit. But, ultimately, as Publisher wrote, you need to make the decision based on what your child needs. Practice tests might work for some, not for others. A tutor can assess your child’s strengths and weaknesses and efficiently target areas that need support/practice.
Some publics are test optional or test-does-not-matter for some classes of applicants.
However, test scores may still be used for placement in English and math courses (though colleges typically have their own placement tests as well).
We’d still need to know what above average means. Could be a 3.0, could be much better. What I can’t get past is spending 4 hours/week for multi weeks, when other activities could enhance her life and growth, as well as her college choices and chances. I’d be so tempted to put the 5k into what benefits her aside from the college race- including family time together.
This is a bigger decision, with several moving parts, than just improving scores, especially if you’re looking at test optional colleges.
I think OP’s daughter needs to be careful about the amount of time dedicated to preparing for ONE portion of her college resume. A price tag of $5,000.00 will mean a lot of expectations to maximize the money spend, which means a lot of time (and possibly an inordinate amount of pressure from parents and from the kid herself) that will be taken away from classes (GPA) and EC’s. Do all of the lower-cost things that others have suggested first, then have her take the test. With some time (maturity, familiarity, more knowledge) under her belt, she may not need outside help. Our D did an 8-week, 1 x per week prep class held by an outside company at her HS - I think it was about $200.00. If nothing else, it gave her studying some structure, but she also worked from an additional book we bought her. Took the ACT once, was fine with the score, and didn’t bother taking the test again. Got into a top state flagship.
OP: Both the University of Arizona & Arizona State University are standardized test optional (neither SAT nor ACT required).
Test prep IS gaming the system when done to the extreme, post #67. One learns the material by taking classes and doing well in them plus using one’s innate ability. We forced our son to go through a couple of practice tests for the ACT and SAT even though he done them in middle school for Talent Search purposes. Perfect SAT, almost perfect ACT. Much better scores than his preHS ones.
You do not need test optional schools, you need an appropriate fit. Don’t ignore schools requiring tests or you skip so many great ones that may be the best fit.
UAz and AzSU give awesome automatic merit awards to kids who are National Merit Finalists, so if your student is interested in those Us and may be a NMF, it may be worth looking into.
I paid 1200 and it was intensive 2 days a week. She really helped my son with the reading portion of the test. I think 5,000 sounds like a lot. He started in January and took the April test. (some weeks he could not make it there two times) He scored a 30.
No, I think that’s way too much, but that’s just me…even in our affluent area test prep doesnt seem to cost that much
Never. Just no.
Yikes! Not reasonable. Gives me a stomachache to think about paying that much!
not a perfect answer, I spent 5k for my son to do it, he got a 35 in one sitting. Will likely mean multiples of that in terms of merit. He did a lot on his own also, but he went from a 29 Pre-ACT to a 35 in 5 months of work. 5k relative to what is likely a 150-300k total cost for college is reasonable to me. but I understand its a lot of money.