<p>I found this interesting and thought I'd throw it out for general consumption.</p>
<p>Son completed a 10 day inpatient residential course (my adjectives) for SAT prep/College app prep/college counseling. </p>
<p>"SAT Diagnostic" tests given pre, during, and end of the course with scores of:</p>
<p>Pre 1960<br>
During 2090<br>
End 2320 </p>
<p>1) He has never taken the SAT before but has taken the PSAT (score low 200's) </p>
<p>2) Yes, I know it's not the real SAT. Hence the '*' in the title. However, it is also true that it is not in the company's interest to inflate expectations for the real thing on our part. Therefore, I would think that they would try to be reasonably accurate, and invite further referrals to their program. On the other hand, the first test may have been a bit 'rigged' for lower score? Tired kids after traveling and being up late, etc. The first two results were in line with his PSAT scores though and more or less what I expected. I was surprised at how high the last one was.</p>
<p>3) He said he had to learn to read the questions carefully and learn the tricks to get the right answer.</p>
<p>4) Yes, he probably could have studied on his own. But that would have entailed significant amount of heartburn on my part while he played video games. This way, it's done, except maybe a little review in October. We also were keen on the college app/counseling part as we have none to worthless counseling available locally.</p>
<p>5) He agreed to attend this course ("and just why would I want to spend my summer studying?") after he fell hard for a top University where excellent scores are the starting point.</p>
<p>Has he taken a single official released exam? Third-party materials frequently produce inaccurate results. While certainly not impossible, I find it very hard to believe that someone would make that much improvement over the course of ten days.</p>
<p>I don’t know what exams they used. I have to believe they have to strive for reasonable accuracy to protect their reputation. I think most of their students come via word of mouth (like us) and so they do have to have satisfied clientele willing to make referrals. If he bombs in October, I am not likely to recommend them to other people. I would add that his last scores are not incompatible with his ACT and SAT IIs. Proof will be in the October pudding.</p>
<p>Take Blue Book tests for the most accurate score results. Not that i’m doubting his score, but 3rd party sources aren’t that accurate score-wise. More for practice.</p>
<p>Yes, we plan to follow through. He already has a good ACT under his belt so we’re in pretty good shape. I just posted this because I thought the whole thing was interesting, not because I thought he’ll really get 2320 (altho I won’t complain if he does). Maybe if he goes back to under 2000 in Oct, we can ask for our money back? :)</p>