<p>I'm a sophomore and don't have the time to take an SAT prep class because i want to take a class over the summer. I also don't feel like it's necessary. </p>
<p>I feel like everything that you would do in an SAT prep class you can do yourself with an SAT book right? Right now i'm scoring about 1900 with about 750-800 in math and 550-600 for reading and writing.</p>
<p>Is there a way for me to improve my reading and writing score with SAT prep books? Or is it a NECESSITY to go to a prep class? And which book would you recommend to self-study with.</p>
<p>So as long as you work hard studying, it shouldn’t be a problem. About how many hours a day did you study for and what were your scores before and after?</p>
<p>Actually, a pretty frequent pattern in my school is that the self studiers score a lot higher than the Kaplan/LGR students - by a lot, too. The only kids I know who scored 2150+ self studied, and most of the kids I know who took Kaplan were around 1600.</p>
<p>Careful preamble. It could be that the kids that were stronger test takers to begin with didn’t feel the need to take a prep class. That doesn’t really say anything about the effectiveness of the prep classes. Quite possibly the kids who took Kaplan and scored 1600 would have gotten much lower if they hadn’t taken the prep class.</p>
<p>I think it really depends on how motivated you are to self-study. I’m taking an online prep class this summer because otherwise I know I won’t actually put aside any time to study! It just depends on the sort of person you are. Either one can work.</p>
<p>I self studied for a week and a half before the test. It was around 2-3 hours per day for 10 days; I had a practice test book with 10 tests, and I did one per day. I didn’t do the math practice because I didn’t need to do it, but if you did the math it would probably add another hour per day. I’d grade them after I took them and then review every problem I missed until I understood in detail the grammatical rule behind the question (for sentence correction) or the techniques used in the passage (for critical reading). I made a list of the rules associated with the problems I missed and reviewed that list before each test. I never had very much trouble with the vocabulary parts, but if you do, you should work on vocabulary well in advance of doing the practice tests (probably at least a month of learning prefixes and root words). I have no idea how to study for that part because I never did.</p>
<p>Most of the SAT is EXTREMELY formulaic and will contain the exact same question with different words on every single test date (there’s always an illogical comparison, a subject/verb agreement error, a gerund with a possessive, etc.). You’re just training yourself to recognize the recurring questions. </p>
<p>You could probably do a lot less on each individual day if you started earlier, but I’d rather be miserable for a week than be moderately unhappy for a month.</p>
<p>As far as improvement, I got a 190 something on my sophomore PSAT and low 2100s for the first few practice tests. I got a 2340 on the real SAT. I think the improvement was entirely due to my doing gobs of practice tests in the week leading up to the test.</p>
<p>The only subject I self-studied was math, so I can’t help too much. I did about an hour and a half of review a week, a combination of practice tests and reviewing the math for around a month, it increased my math score by 110 points. For CR reading a lot for fun is really all you have to do to get a good score. Among my friends who read a lot for fun I have the lowest CR score with a 680, the more you read the more the section will come naturally.</p>
<p>Check the SAT preparation forum. This issue has been discussed ad nauseam for close to a decade. There are slight differences among prep classes, but the consensus is that the group classes a la PR, Sylvan, or Revolution Prep are close to worthless. I think they are pure garbage and a total waste.</p>
<p>Some people do better on standardized tests then others. Tests of general knowledge aren’t really something you can ‘study’ for since they tend to cover a wide variety of topics spanning most of h.s. If you aren’t good with math, then anything you do to become more proficient will certainly be of benefit.</p>
<p>Preparing by getting to know the types of questions that get used (i.e. data sufficiency) is important so you don’t waste time during the actual test figuring out what exactly that style of question is. Paying to take expensive test prep classes is probably a waste of money.</p>
<p>It would be better to know what you are good at and understand how to best budget your time then trying to better your verbals score by trying to memorize the definitions of obscure words that may/may not be part of the real test.</p>
<p>There are too many factors involved to accurate answer this question. If you’re the type of student who’s willing to self-study for multiple APs and score well on them, then you would probably be able to self-study the SAT as well. Otherwise, a prep class might be better. But I hesitate to generalize.</p>
<p>I know it’s a different test, but I got a 36 on the ACT just by taking a few practice tests and focusing on my weaknesses. In my opinion, prep classes are a waste of time and money; you can be just as effective on your own.</p>
<p>Yes, some students can self-study their way to a ridiculously high score. Many cannot, which is why prep classes exist.</p>
<p>I took the PSAT, looked at my weak areas, and then took the SAT and got over 750 on both math and verbal. Basically, I realised that my weak verbal area was in vocabulary, so I spent the next year looking up every single word that I came across that I didn’t know. I wrote the word in a notebook, referenced the page (if it was a book for English class), then later looked up the definition, wrote it down, and then looked back at the sentence in question so I could understand how the word worked. </p>
<p>The prep classes do a shortcut on that by giving you the thousand or so words that you likely do not know, but may be tested on.</p>
<p>Likewise, I looked over my test and tried to understand exactly what certain reading questions really meant, or why some answers were right and others were wrong. It’s not an easy process, but it’s valuable.</p>
<p>Test-prep companies help you with a shortcut: teachers explain it all to you in class, so you know that “inference” means “logical step that must be true based on the information given”. Likewise, test prep can give you the top grammar mistakes, the top types of grammar tested, and lists of idioms. On your own, you could go over dozens of tests and figure all of that out yourself.</p>
<p>I think it depends. For bad test takers, the prep courses will probably help more than self-studying. For people who just need to review the concepts, the prep courses will probably be a waste of money, although now that I think about it, the only people I know who took prep courses (a small class of 14 people or so) didn’t score any higher than 1770.</p>
<p>Personally, I self-studied for two weeks, but I only used online resources and 2-3 practice tests because I’m international and they don’t sell SAT prep books where I live. It didn’t really work because I had a panic attack during the first math section after I couldn’t understand a question (the answer came to me after I stepped out of the building, great job brain!) and probably got half the questions wrong, haha. I just get way too nervous, and I don’t even know why, my top choice schools didn’t even require SAT scores. Ah well. I guess it would’ve been better if I had studied for longer than 2 weeks.</p>
<p>ariesathena, last statement about figuring things out for yourself just by doing practice test after practice test and grading yourself each time is especially true. Although some people are just more inventive than others and can catch onto techniques that others wouldn’t get unless it’s explained to them.</p>
<p>it all definitely depends on how you are as a person and how determined you are. Some people work better when working with another person. Other people prefer to study on their own. I’m a lot better at studying alone, and didn’t take a prep course, and still brought my score from a 1980 to a 2240, with a 12 essay. It also depends on how motivated you are. If you think that you will actually keep up on your self-studying schedule, then self-study, but if you think that you’ll end up slacking, then it would be better to get a tutor or prep class which pretty much forces you to study.</p>
<p>Only take one if you don’t feel motivated to study. I took one because I thought I “should”, but it really didn’t help me at all besides making me more motivated to study on my own, which was what really made the difference.</p>
<p>I self-studied and improved my 1850 freshman year score to a 2340 at the end of my junior year. Never took a prep class; used only the blue book and the Direct Hits books.</p>
<p>Many of my friends at school took prep classes, and I recall only a small handful receiving above 2000. If you can sit down and study on a regular basis, I’d recommend self-studying.</p>
<p>Last summer, I went to a SAT prep camp and scored consistently in the 2200 range on the practice tests. I felt like the classes weren’t helping, so I went home and self-studied the Blue Book for a month.</p>
<p>I received a 2370 on my first sitting in November; I even thought the questions on the actual SAT were harder than the previous practice tests.</p>
<p>It all boils down to just sitting down and breaking open the books.</p>
<p>First time I ever took a full-length mock SAT was during the diagnostic exam of my prep center, and I scored a 1960. I took it over the summer (4 days a week for around 6 hours) and scored a 2100 on the real exam this March. My lack of improvement came from lack of motivation and self-studying (I didn’t even do the center’s Hw…). The curves also hit me very hard (1 omit = 760 on math). </p>
<p>I plan to self study this summer (summer before senior year) and come out with a large improvement. Good luck to you and me I guess. </p>
<p>As for the classes, it depends on your teacher A LOT. The constant mock exams make sure you take the length exams periodically (something a lot of self studyers lack the motivation to do). There are a few tricks EXPERIENCED teachers can give you that you will never find in any prep book. </p>
<p>I mean it depends where you are. If you score under 1700 that means you definitely need help with basic concepts. If you know your concepts and just want to get accustomed to test, just self study.</p>