<p>"The costs can be obscene. The value can be suspect. But, if you can afford it (even if it requires some struggle), shouldn't you hire an SAT tutor for your child? Isn't it your obligation as a parent to give your kids a jump start on a great college, great career, great life?"</p>
<p>What do you guys think?</p>
<p>Fox Business article: </p>
<p>I don’t think it’s worth the cost. I scored high on my SAT with barely any study (I studied with the blue CollegeBoard book I bought on amazon). They’re just a recap test of everything you’ve learned in high school, all you need is practice timing yourself and getting used to the way they formulate questions.</p>
<p>Wow loaded question. for my kid, it would have been total waste of time and money for CR. probably would have been helpful for math in hindsight. however. kids are so busy as it is I don’t know how many want to spend their high school days on this. I sure didn’t…</p>
<p>There are certain score ranges (>1800, >590 for a particular section) where scores can be improved by test prep classes and even then it depends on the kid.</p>
<p>The article presents the case for when formal SAT preparation courses are productive and when they aren’t extremely well. My experience is that it is an accurate assessment.</p>
<p>The need for SAT tutoring is highest for smart students who have subject related gaps. The reason for such gaps is varied. It may the fault of the schools they have attended, transitions between different educational approaches, mediocre English language skills, or lack of stimulation in their family environment. For these students a one-to-one tutoring approach is much more likely to yield good results than a packaged one to many SAT preparation course. The one to many approach often focuses on test taking strategies and methodical practice to improve test taking efficiency. It misses students with skill gaps, providing them with recipes rather than foundations.</p>
<p>For smart self motivated students (such as many of those on college confidential) without major subject skill gaps SAT courses are not necessary, and indeed they may be counter-productive. Disciplined self study is the better answer. Test taking strategies are not all that important if you can quickly figure out the right answers.</p>
<p>
Whatever your thoughts are on test prep, the answer to this question is a resounding “NO”. You are under an obligation to feed, clothe, house, and educate your child until adulthood - period. Anything else is a gift - and I say this as a child whose parents gave her a lot. I know that my college education was an amazing GIFT. My sister took test prep - as a GIFT to help her out. Costs to fly me to national science competitions? Gift. Third-hand used car? Gift. They didn’t “owe” me any of that and weren’t obligated to do it. </p>
<p>(For the record, my parents only paid for me to take the exam once. No test prep. No tutoring. No second chances. Whatever - they could have told me to get a job and pay for the first SAT test.)</p>
<p>Sorry. Cranky today.</p>
<p>I am a tutor, and I have started tutoring as young as 10th grade for SAT at this point. If the parents want to pay, I am happy to oblige. I thank my mother for putting me in SAT classes when I asked, thus allowing for me to get an 800 on the math section, and probably have earned back tenfold what that class cost her. I probably should give her some of my earnings…</p>
<p>Depends on the expected gain from a boost in SAT scores. If the boost in SATs has a shot of netting your kid $5,000/year scholarship he or she wouldn’t otherwise get, then it may be worth it. It also depends on how much tutoring would help versus self-study from a book. I studied out of the Blue Book and effectively increased my score 240 points from the PSAT, so tutoring probably wouldn’t have been worth it.</p>
<p>I paid for private tutors for middle and youngest sons. Both extremely bright, but extremely lazy. They would never have prepped on their own and I didn’t have the energy or the time to nag. Both scored really well 32 and 34 on the ACT. Would they have done as well without the prep? Not sure. As they say, for piece of mind " priceless".</p>
<p>I mean peace of mind!</p>
<p>depends on the student entirely. For me, tutoring helped raise my score from a 1280 on my diagnostic to a 1540 on the real thing (this is back when it was out of 1600) and while I was definitely smart enough to handle it on my own, like cheekymonkey says, it made it more relaxing to have someone taking care of me and telling me what to study etc and allowed me to focus on actually doing the prep work instead of stressing out over whether what I was doing was enough or correct.</p>
<p>I went to a ritzy private school where private tutoring was the norm and not coincidentally over half my graduating class scored in the 1500s/1600.</p>
<p>It depends on the person. Some people find it easier to learn when they are taught by real people, others prefer gathering the knowledge by themselves from books and various other sources. Try it out.</p>
<p>For lower scoring students (<1700) large group classes are beneficial.</p>
<p>However, students scoring at least 600 in each subject are much better off with private tutoring, as it is not really about test taking with them its more specific items. </p>
<p>I am a rising junior and I took an SAT with no studying in March at a test prep center under the same conditions as a real one. I scored a 1900, and score analysis showed a gap with Geometry and grammar in particular. These are the kinds of specific questions that are better addressed with a tutor than in a larger group setting.</p>
<p>I don’t think people should be spending so much money on SAT lessons, tutoring sessions, boot camps, etc. SATs just go over what you’ve already learned in school–practice will improve scores and it’s not worth it to spend $2000 on a summer camp. Seriously. The SATs should not be that big of a deal, but unfortunately they are.</p>
<p>The answer deserves a clear distinction between tutors and the generic “test prep” a la Princeton Review or Revolution Prep. In many cases, private tutors are worth every penny they can charge. The same cannot be said about the group classes.</p>
<p>Just study (Blue Book.)</p>
<p>It’s the same stuff.</p>
<p>Indeed the test is a big deal… But it simply disgusts me when students spend their summers/winter breaks in classes and memorizing vocabulary words etc on their free time (opportunity cost!). Grammar rules are important as well, but the extent to the nit-picky SAT standards and trying to pick out the errors on the MC question is more of mastering a test trick (through practice and tutoring) than a necessary college or life skill. Once you get your number, get into college engineering, what are you going to do with all of this rather useless knowledge anyways?</p>
<p>If you are talking about a usual SAT prep course, I think studies show that they only raise scores about 50-100 points in total, which in itself isn’t bad. Moreover, it gives a good familiarity with the test,which also is beneficial. HOWEVER, in my high school, there was an Asian group of kids who had a group SAT tutor for over one year! The results were fantastic for each kid participating in this group.</p>
<p>Definitely sign up for a class or tutor if you have trouble focusing when you study or you learn better passively. I’m taking a Kaplan class starting on Tuesday on I’m expecting a 100 point increase from them.</p>
<p>While it is good to understand the test format and type of questions ahead of time, it is really not a test you can ‘study’ for or be tutored at in the traditional sense. Basic math concepts you learn all through h.s. you either know or your don’t, similarly with the english related elements.</p>