Princeton Review:AKA, did we get shafted?

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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<p>So, a few months ago, my mother signed me up for the princeton review, after hearing that a kid from my school got a 2400 after taking it, as well as seeing the improvements in my sister’s scores after taking it. This was before I found CC. By the time I found CC and found endless lists of criticisms for the PR courses, it was too late to get a refund, and I had to go. I was mortified. Then, I took the first practice diagnostic test, and was mortified twice. I scored a full 100 points lower than I did on my psat. But that’s not it…on the second diagnostic test a few days ago, I scored…you guessed it, the same score as on my PSAT(well a few points higher).</p>

<p>The kicker? The percentage of questions I got right was the same or slightly higher on the 1st test than on the second test. Here are the stats:
1st test:
1950:670M/640R/630W
M:47/7(87%)
R:76/15(84%)
W:40/9(80%),7E
2nd test:
2050:680M/710R/660W
M:66/8(89%)
R:57/10(85%)
W:39/10(78%)8E</p>

<p>It seems a bit fishy that they made the curve higher on the first test than on the second test…it makes sense because if they intentionally make the first test harder, then there’s less they have to do to follow through on their promise of 200 points or more. I like the class, however. I find that SAT prep becomes fatiguing at home while it’s not quite so bad there. I don’t like the dishonesty in purposely making the 1st test harder, but there is nothing I can do now. Also, as much as I’d like to believe that the “gimmicks” they are teaching there are things I already know…it’s not the truth. Though much of what they teach is stuff that I do know, I am learning a fair bit of stuff I don’t know. Just a few questions…</p>

<li><p>I noticed that when I took the PR diagnostic test, in the math sections, there was 1 standout section that was tough as nails. On every other section, I’d finish with 10 minutes left; however, on this section, I’d have 1 question left. On my first diagnostic test, I missed 2 questions over the first 2 math sections. Then, on the tough-as-nails section, I missed 5 out of the 16 questions. Ouch. Will the real SAT be like this? When I did the 10 practice tests out of the old Red Book, I never saw any SECTION with this much difficulty…each section would have easy questions and hard questions. Not so with this one. This test had easy SECTIONS and a hard section.</p></li>
<li><p>Has anyone else taking this course? How much did it help you? Obviously, I’m going to have to take it now, so I’m going to make the best of it. Also, because I’m only a junior now, I’ll be able to take the sat again numerous times during the course of this year and fall of next year. So, it doesn’t really matter if the course will help me a lot or not…but regardless, I’d still like to know ahead of time just how much it’ll help.</p></li>
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<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>I've also heard that Princeton Review's first diagnostic is intentionally harder or the scoring curve intentionally deflates the scores. From what I have heard, the scores on the initial diagnostic are usually about 100-200 points lower than a student's PSAT or official SAT score. This makes no sense if the tests are truly beta-tested and compared against official tests.</p>

<p>There's no easy way to tell if you have improved in the course from the diagnostics. You might have improved significantly, or your score may still be the same as your PSAT score. I would recommend buying the Official SAT Study Guide (aka Blue Book) and taking a test by yourself out of that book. Once you're done, e-mail me for the score conversion table that I created for the exams to obtain an accurate score (don't trust the ranges in the book).</p>

<p>I would guess that students probably improve by about 100 points combined on average in the PR course, but this is just a surmise. Anyone else have any hard data or experiences to share?</p>

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<p>Thanks for the quick response! I've got the blue book, so I'll do a test from there and PM you the raw point totals.
BTW anyone got answers to my other questions?</p>

4

<p>well, i have been going through PR
the quality of tests are higly fluctuated
the test 7 seems much tougher
test 5 quiet easy, </p>

<p>but, i will go through it before i get onto the blue book</p>

5

<p>My math score was more than 100 points lower on their test.
Also my essay got a bad grade, however I've taken a few practice ones (and they've been graded by professionals) and I took two SAT Is already (official) and never got lower than an 8.
The decrease in math may have been because I did study before the SAT, but not for their test, 110 points seems like a lot though. :|
I went to the second class yesterday and found the lesson pretty useful, and learned how to do some problems that I didn't know how to do before.
I guess we'll see if it actually helps me once October comes. :P</p>

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<p>Same. Too early right now to tell if it is helpful, and it seems that few people here have taken it...it's odd, i'm beginning to think half the people that bash it haven't taken it and are just talking based on what they've heard.</p>

<p>But again, I really don't know.</p>