Anyone have experience with both that could do a comparison? If you have only worked with one, I would still like opinions. Probably S19 will just take ACT and not SAT, but I’m guessing experiences with both companies are very similar regardless of which test you take, so please still weigh in even if your experience is just with SAT.
I think I need something along these lines. S19 is a recruited athlete with a competition schedule that won’t allow for a prep class that meets on a regular basis, and he isn’t really diciplined enough to just have a book to work through on his own. I am actually leaning a bit towards Prepscholar because at least looking at their website I think they may do a better job of holding the students accountable for completing their lessons. On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind saving $300 for Magoosh instead if they are just as good.
FYI he took one practice test cold a couple weeks ago, which is the extent of his studying for the April test. Math is already very solid, maybe 32? The other 3 tests were all low 20’s. He would like to get to a 30+ score to be recruited by Ivy/NESCAC and similar schools.
My D did all of the test prep on her own with released tests. We did look at at Magoosh’s suggestions about how to structure the essay for the ACT which had recently changed to three opinions on an issue rather than two, but that info was free.
I only have experience with prepscholar. It seems to be geared towards students who may not be familiar with lots of the content that the ACT tests, and I would guess that a person scoring in the 20s might have this issue. However, if your son has a problem with timing (or something else), I think the way to go is to buy the ACT book sold by the testing company and practice time management strategies with the tests in the book. Keep in mind that I’m no expert, nor do I have any idea of what Magoosh is like.
I am not a student. I am a librarian who hosts an ACT club. I used the free videos on Magoosh, and they really helped me quite a bit. They give you a good review of concepts that will be tested and more advice on strategies about pacing, taking educated guesses, etc… than the prep book put out by ACT. That book is still worth having due to the number of real ACT practice tests. I took a practice test in Math after watching all of the free math videos and raised my score by 6 points. I already could get high scores in the other subjects and felt confident about my ability to help the students with their Science, Reading, and English tests, but I needed some review of the math. I think you’ll get quite a bit of help for the amount of money it costs. Of course, it’s up to the student to make use of it.
I bought greentestprep, and I have a friend that bought a different SAT service (I believe PrepScholar). They don’t work. Period. If your child isn’t motivated enough to sit down with a book, then he won’t be motivated enough to sit through the class, read information, and then go practice. The rundown of the programs is as so: information about the curriculum, tips for the test, and then telling you to go practice. I counted through, and it told me that I needed to do 15 full SAT tests worth of practice by the time I finished the class. If your kid isn’t dedicated to that, he’ll never manage the class.
BTW I finished like 1/4th of the class then self studied (First SAT (results today) 1510 (800 Math, 710 Reading/Writing)).
I recommend just using free practice online, the courses don’t give you anything you can’t get yourself.
I used Prepscholar, and to be honest, I did not get much out of it. Stick to practicing in the red book.
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ gives you all the previous tests. Practice on your own every weekend.