<p>I'm a sophomore in high school and took the PSAT for the first time without studying. I got 1850, but I'm shooting to get 2100 next year. The problem is, my parents don't want to pay for summer SAT classes or a tutor because they think I'm "smart enough".</p>
<p>How important is the SAT to colleges and how can I prepare without taking classes?</p>
<p>They are right. Most of kids that took SAT prep(Elite I think) didn’t do as well as my daughter. Get some books and prep over the summer. My daughter didn’t have a lot of time to prep even. Don’t waste your money or your parent’s money.</p>
<p>I got around the same PSAT score without studying in my sophomore year. In junior year, I simply did practice tests, and learned where I made mistakes, and my score improved to 2300+. Prep courses are unnecessary if you have the determination to work hard.</p>
<p>^What the above posters said.</p>
<p>I took the PSAT in freshman and sophomore year. Believe it or not, I scored LOWER in sophomore year than in freshman year. I think it’s because in sophomore year I didn’t take it as seriously since I was testing with the rest of my grade, whereas in freshman year, I had to pay for the test and sat with upperclassmen. In junior year, I took it again and scored well enough. I took the actual SAT test roughly a month later and my score was significantly higher than what my PSAT would indicate.</p>
<p>I didn’t take any test prep courses, though many of my classmates did. All the people I know who’ve scored above 2200 or so had no test prep. However, I don’t want to discount its usefulness. Test prep will help you if you find that you don’t have enough willpower to force yourself to stick to a testing and studying schedule. I think you shouldn’t take them. I scored nearly the same on my PSAT, and with a bit of book review and a practice test or two, my SAT score is 2280.</p>
<p>Hey…
1st I would like to point out that I took both the PSAT in sophomore and junior year, both without studying too much (although I did that a course in high school that did a good amount of SAT prep in between). </p>
<p>I got a 182 in sophomore year and a 216 junior year. 34 point increase. That is lower than your sophomore score, and higher than your goal for next year. </p>
<p>I don’t wanna brag (after all, there are a lot of scores higher than mine on this site), but I feel that SAT courses are a waste of money. There is no magical hint that a course is gonna teach you that you cannot discover by yourself. If you feel like you need t study, take practice test and look at silverturtle’s guide in order to improve the way you take the test.</p>
<p>i was on the opposite boat…my parents (although they are low income) offered to pay SAT tutoring but I kept on telling them I was smart enough and I don’t need tutoring…guess I won the battle when I got a 2170</p>
<p>Yes, I will say that you don’t need to shell out a grand on SAT prep classes. I was about to take SAT prep class (testmasters) during my sophomore summer too because many of my mom’s friends’ kids are taking them. But my dad said that I shouldn’t take them since he believes that I need self study and practice, not classes. So I decided to get a Princeton Review 2012 SAT and 12 Test Kaplan 2012. I got a 201 on my psat because I honestly did not study that much for it (and I greatly regret it, because I could’ve got a 220 if I had put my time into it). I just took the march SAT after doing all 12 practice tests in the Kaplan, and I think I did fairly well. (aiming for a 2300+, but idk if i got it though)</p>
<p>I studied for about 3 months straight everyday for the sat</p>
<p>Chelli, do you think you are smart enough?</p>
<p>You can do it yourself easily. The only problem that youll run into is time management and its sometimes hard for people to focus on studying by themselves. If you can manage those two things and the time management during the test you should be fine without a prep class although they do help.</p>
<p>I lead a pretty busy lifestyle as a junior and had almost no time to prepare for the SAT. This is when a few hours of prep school a week came in handy. Because of their help I was able to increase my score from an 1800 to a 2310. Pretty amazing if you ask me. If you feel like you have the time to commit, then by all means self study. But if you don’t feel like you will be motivated to study then maybe try reconvincing your parents. Good luck! </p>
<p>Sent from my ADR6400L using CC</p>
<p>i took sat prep classes and although they didnt help as much as they claimed they would, it helped me to get a head start on self-studying.</p>
<p>if i hadn’t taken the classes i wouldn’t have been as motivated to improve. i wouldn’t know where to get started on studying. i would have no starting point.</p>
<p>however, if you are motivated unlike me, then by all means just grab any prep book and work your way from there 
good luck!</p>
<p>You can absolutely prep yourself just like most everyone else has been saying. You can revisit getting a tutor (classes are almost always a waste of time and money) if you get stuck at a score level and can’t seem to get beyond it. But at this point, extra help really isn’t necessary.</p>