Is the Princeton Review Prep course useful? Are Any?

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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<p>I guess I'm kinda reflecting on the PSAT scores of my peers and I... Sophomore year I'd had the highest score at my school (of 400), at about a 199 or 200 I think. Knowing this, I felt pressured to get national merit this year, so I would say my confidence wasn't that high. This one kid, however, took a Princeton Review SAT course over the summer, and a Princeton Review PSAT "cram session" or whatever the weekend before the exam. I'm not sure that his score improved at all. I think this is bad.</p>

<p>Sophomore year, the average score throughout my school was about a 150, and I don't think his deviated from that trend at all. Yet he came in on test day prepared with all of the critical reading "tricks" he'd boasted about the week before that he learned at his prep courses, and still made about a 150.</p>

<p>How does this happen? I didn't prep at all between my freshman, sophomore, and junior years, like many other people, and yet I improved by about 25 points per year just because of my increased exposure to math and vocabulary, and my improved writing skills from having to write essays for English. And I'm not bragging; a ton of people on CC do the same...</p>

<p>I guess what baffles me is the fact that he was so confident, learned all of those tricks to isolate the section that the question asked about and such, and finished both CR sections with like 5-10 minutes to spare, and still lacked improvement. Did Princeton Review make him worse? Can it make up <em>at all</em> for a general lack of aptitude in any of the sections? That is to say, must a kid have some unrecognized, unharnessed talent in a subject for prep courses to help, or can any kid benefit from knowing the ins and outs of the test?</p>

<p>What do you guys think? Because I was literally shocked by the scores of a few of my peers who I had thought were pretty smart/well prepared.</p>

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<p>I think a prep course or prep study guide CAN help some students. It seems to me that kids who have been reading at a level beyond their grade level for years are poised to earn the best scores on CR and writing. Those who grow up in homes where English is spoken “properly” are also at an advantage on CR and W. Kids in those two categories already have an extensive vocabulary and already recognize proper English without much additional tutoring.</p>

<p>Math seems to depend on the student’s quality of education, that student’s dedication to really learning and knowing the material along the way (math is a series of stepping stones … can’t skip the foundations and think you’ll do well later on, even with study guides), and the student’s innate ability to master math concepts.</p>

<p>So, I think that a student’s starting point, or expected score-range, is largely pre-determined by the time he/she is a junior and about to take the test. Work ethic. Innate abilities. Quality of education he/she received in prior years. Immersion in a proper-English-speaking environment. All are factors that cannot be gained at the last minute by a study guide or prep course.</p>

<p>However, I also think that prep courses and study guides CAN increase that “starting point” score by, sometimes, significant amounts – maybe 30 points on average? Maybe more? 50? </p>

<p>I’ve seen my sons’ study guides. They list multitudes of vocab words kids are supposed to memorize. Good grief! Really? My kids didn’t memorize any words from those lists. They’re big readers, so they trusted that their own vocabularies would see them through the test. And they did well.</p>

<p>But the study guides and prep courses do explain HOW to take the test … when to guess, how guessing and wrong answers impact your scores, etc. And they do give pointers on how to eliminate some wrong answers to make guessing more advantageous. And they show you the toughest or trickiest problems in hopes that you’ll avert “danger” on the real test. If you have the proper foundation in the 3 subject areas already, it’s much easier to apply those “tricks” and recognize the dangers once they’re pointed out to you by the prep course. The study guides also offer lots of practice problems and practice tests – to build confidence and to provide repetition, repetition, repetition – which can help.</p>

<p>So, in sum, YES. I think study guides can help. But they’re only building on the foundations that you and your education system have already put in place. I wouldn’t think a kid who scores 150 on his/her first practice test in his/her junior year would be able to pull that up to a 220, let’s say, for the real exam – no matter how many study guides or prep courses he/she takes. That’s why (I think) colleges like standardized tests like PSAT, SAT, and ACT. It’s really tough to fake it … you’ve had the exposure AND paid attention to the material AND have the brain-power to do well, or you don’t.</p>

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<p>Courses like Princeton Review can help you bring a score from like 100-150 to 170-200. If your aiming for a good score, Princeton Review classes won’t really give that extra boost.</p>