<p>My daughter scored in the 93rd percentile or thereabout without taking a prep course and, although we purchased the blue book and encouraged her to study she later admitted she barely cracked open the book. That said, most of her high SAT friends at college did take a prep course, just not the ones offered by outfits such as PR and Kaplan. Her high scoring friends overwhelmingly attended well-financed suburban publics or private schools that offered their own SAT prep courses, some of them non-credit semester-long programs. Few schools in our upstate NY region provide this sort of support so it’s either do-it-yourself or pay for the Kaplan course. Most of the high-scoring kids I know prepped at home. The few kids who have taken prep courses generally scored in the 1750 – 1850 range. That might have represented a significant increase over the scores predicted by the PSAT, but perhaps self-study could have achieved the same improvement.</p>
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<p>Interesting. I was unaware of public school prep courses offered as non-credit classes. Our local teachers organization offers a prep course for pay that, IIRC, partners with Kaplan, but at a lower price.</p>
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<p>I’ll swim beside you. My kids’ high schools (private) recommended prep classes for one and all - with a bit of emphasis should you look to have a chance at NM. Granted some of the top students opted not to take a prep class, but if you polled the NMFs from these schools most had taken some fairly rigorous test prep. Practice pays off when the test is familiar and you don’t have to waste time getting started and when the timing is ingrained enough that you don’t get caught short. Common pitfalls can be avoided when you see them coming … and so on. </p>
<p>The public high school in our area offers an early morning prep class for certain students - not all. Not quite sure what the criteria is, but I do know that some high achieving kids took the class.</p>
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<p>I agree with that. But it doesn’t have to be test prep. By the time D1 took the PSAT in 11th grade, she’d taken the ACT in 7th and SAT in 8th (for Talent searches) and a PSAT in 10th grade. Now obviously this is self selecting to some degree, because only the kids who scored above the 90th percentile in the state standardized testing in middle school were invited to participate in the Talent Searches. And she ended up making NMF/NMS.</p>
<p>And when D2 takes the PSAT for “real” next year, she’ll have had the ACT in 7th, the SAT in 8th, PSATs in 9th & 10th, and practice ACTs in school in 9th & 10th also. </p>
<p>As a matter of fact, she took the ACT in school yesterday; all 11th graders took it “for real,” all 9th graders had to take it “for practice” (scored independently so no record,) and 10th graders had the option. And we chatted about it at dinner. Her 9th grade proctors hadn’t given them timing cues during the test so she hadn’t finished a couple of sections; this year she said they wrote the times on the board so they were able to pace themselves. Then we all chatted about strategy differences between ACT & SAT in terms of guessing vs. leaving blanks; DH was surprised & didn’t know that since he’d only taken the SAT.</p>
<p>All this to say that we are able to have these conversations in my house because of past experience & parental interest. And when official testing time comes there is little to no stress because of a familiarity.</p>
<p>None done in our household (except going through the pretest guide). Two NMFs with a 2230 and 2280. Now they lord it over DW and I. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>The OP will never find a definitive answer to his or her question. </p>
<p>And for good reasons! On the one hand, it seems that we have very few people who “prepped” for the SAT or ACT. On the other hand, the cottage industry that serve the “few” who are seeking such classes is part of multi-billion market. </p>
<p>The reality is that while the definition of “test prep” is usually restricted to the group classes organized by Kaplan, PR, Sylvan, and others, plenty of “prep” comes in various flavors ranging from after-school classes, well-meaning parents and siblings, or private tutoring all the way to the organized “brain labor” camps that are so cherished in Asian communities. </p>
<p>My own perception of the better known “prep” classes is that, as Curmudgeon indicated, they are more effective to help a slightly better than average student earn a slightly better than average score. It does not seem plausible that many (let alone all) potential high scorers are attracted to such offerings or attend one.</p>
<p>While re-entering the workforce after disability, I tutored the SAT and various other standardized tests for a well-known California prep company (now part of a larger, national test company). Over a couple of years I probably tutored over 100 kids, mainly on the SAT Reasoning Test, and primarily on the math portion. I think my average score gain for six one-on-one classes was around 80 or 90 points on the Math section. I cant remember exactly</p>
<p>However, I think the students who benefitted the most were in the 1100-1400 score range (old test w/o writing). On either end of that distribution the ROI was marginal, and less predictable. Coincidentally, I seldom got students outside that range.</p>
<p>And what other posters have said is true good test takers have been taking similar standardized exams for years, probably already intuitively know the basic strategies, and really just need practice to build up their bubble-filling stamina.</p>
<p>The test is fairly different from when I took it in high school, particularly the CR section. I think I recall antonyms, or analogies or something like that. Those types of questions seem to require a bit more practice, although I certainly didnt practice at all in high school. As far as the math section, when I took the exam in 1973 I dont believe I used a calculator, but Im not certain. For some students, effective calculator use can mean several points in the score.</p>
<p>I do think some sort of prep can benefit almost anyone; the question is what is best for each particular student. Theres also the $$$ factor. I actually benefitted myself from verifying some secrets about the test, which I already sort of sensed for example, the fact that the drawings are always to scale unless otherwise noted, and that it is seldom necessary to actually work out a ratio problem or to fully solve multiple linear equations. I also learned that sometimes it yields better and quicker results to just plug in numbers, or try out the answer choices. For some students these little tidbits can make a big difference, or at least free up time to work more difficult problems. But I think many of these strategies are self apparent, or printed in any of a number of books.</p>
<p>An informal poll among our circle of friends with kids having taken SAT Prep classes trends along the lines of a) if you can afford it, it does not hurt and b) my kids will never crack the prep books I bought them so I am paying someone to force them to practice!</p>
<p>The funny thing is when I ask the kids if they think it was useful and the consensus reaction is eyes rolling/shoulder shrugging/head shaking NO.</p>
<p>My observation over the years is that the NMF in my D’s HS are all top students anyway, so the SAT tests are very much an IQ test, no surprise there. The cream rises to the top.</p>
<p>My conclusion based on experience and extensive reading: A motivated student who normally does very well on standardized tests can usually self-prep using the official materials with excellent results.</p>
<p>An unmotivated student who needs structure or a student who needs to review some concepts can usually improve test scores with a prep class. However, it is still up to the student to pay attention, learn what is taught, and apply the information on the exam. Merely going to a prep class won’t magically raise scores.</p>
<p>My DD scored in the top 1% with no prep course. That’s not to say she didn’t practice for it. She did the SAT question of the day for about a year before and the word of the day from a dictionary site to widen her vocabulary. She said this really helped. She also took the PSAT since she was a freshman and is two years ahead in math so she’s already in Calculus as a Junior. These factors all helped her.</p>
<p>The Collegeboard question of the day is emailed to you and is free. She would do them in big batches, she didn’t want to do them every day.</p>
<p>Many high scorers at dd’s school and all prepped, Usually in the form of private tutoring. DD did minimal prep ( 4 hours with a tutor) and scored very high. Many students prepped for six months or more. It definitely can work.</p>
<p>Save your money, just use the blue book. Understand what you don’t know, learn it, and then retest. It is a standardized test and is therefore easily defeated.</p>
<p>I agree that practice tests are an important part of any prepping strategy. Both of my sons took a lot of practice tests.</p>
<p>D took a prep class and when the time comes, S will too.</p>
<p>I’m surprised that so few of your kids did, most students I know who live near me took a prep class, especially those who were applying to the more competitive schools.</p>
<p>With S1, practice was to make sure he was familiar with the types of questions and to make sure he hadn’t forgotten any SAT math (he was taking DiffEq at the time he took the SAT).</p>
<p>Someone else’s post reminded me that S2 signed up for the SAT Question of the Day and he said it was actually useful practice. Kept doping them even after he was finished taking the tests, just for grins. (I have weird children.)</p>
<p>What also seemed to help was that DH or I would go over the practice test with each S and analyze the answers. This might mean parsing the reading passage, explaining a grammar rule, or reviewing some math rule/strategy. Practicing without followup seemed pointless.</p>
<p>What can I say…we offer the full range of college services at our house!</p>
<p>IMO, there are a few kids who are so good at standardized test-taking that they can pick up the SAT or ACT cold and nail it the first time. These kids don’t need any test prep. </p>
<p>A somewhat larger number are good at standardized testing but better if they’re familiar with the format, the kinds of questions that are asked, test-taking strategies in general and for particular tests/sections, and have taken timed practice tests to be sure they’re working at a pace that will allow them to finish. These kids usually don’t need test prep classes but will score best on the second or third sitting for the same test, with some good, disciplined self-prep in between. My D1 was in this category; she boosted her scores from very good to outstanding without outside help, but it took some hard work.</p>
<p>Then there are those who, although their abilities might be similar to the self-prep group, find it easier to prep with help from a tutor or a group class. Face it, sitting in your room doing SAT or ACT practice tests is no fun at all; it’s pure drudgery. It takes a certain kind of discipline that not every kid has at 16 or 17. An external accountability structure like a tutor or a class might help some of these students buckle down and do the work. It’s still ultimately up to them to find the motivation, focus, and discipline to make it pay off, but probably some fraction of the kids in this group boost their scores significantly with the assistance of tutoring or classes.</p>
<p>Finally there are those—a much larger number—who are not as strong standardized test-takers. Some are very good students, others less so. Some have anxiety issues around big tests that may or may not go away with prep; in some cases, they may only get worse. Some may be motivated to take full advantage of tutoring and prep classes and really buckle down and do the work, others less so. My guess is most of the people in the prep classes fall into this polyglot group; and my guess is the results for this group are as divergent as the group itself. Some could tell you stories about adding hundreds of points to their SAT scores. Others will tell you it was money down a rathole; and for them, it probably was. Trouble is, it’s difficult to tell which category your kid will fall into until well into the process.</p>
<p>^^^
I think you nailed it.</p>
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<p>or perhaps the school principal runs a test-prep company. I know a test prep company in my area sends ads to the kids using the school address and logo on the envelopes.</p>
<p>Our very top flight school offers a very low key course (I think it’s six one hour sessions), which a few kids take, but as far as I can tell (based on kids I know and/or parents I chat with) most don’t bother. Our median SATs are very high. Of the kids I know at other schools who have scored very high - most have not done much prep, although many have done a little bit. (Taking the PSAT, looking over a prep book,doing SAT word of the day, but not taking a course)
I think that taking the PSAT is good prep, combined with a bit of work on any areas of weakness and a quick read of any prep material including that supplied by the CB.</p>
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<p>You raise a good point.</p>
<p>There is a difference between correlation and causation.</p>
<p>Even if most high SAT scorers took prep courses, it doesn’t mean that the courses caused the high courses. People who are serious about school might also take an SAT Prep course with the attitude that it can’t hurt and may help a little.</p>