<p>I'm a rising senior planning on applying to some very selective schools. I've taken the SAT only once before (January) with a little self-study and made a 2260 (760 m/ 760 cr/ 740w). </p>
<p>I think I'll take it again and my parents really want me to score higher. We have a family friend who took a Princeton Review online prep course with great success. So, I'm looking into taking either a Princeton or Kaplan course... even though I'd have to wait until November to take the SAT I again since I've got to take sat IIs in Oct. But the prices are pretty expensive ($500 for a mid-length course) and I'm not sure if I'd be better studying on my own. </p>
<p>Has anyone taken an online course? How was it? And most importantly: Would it be better to take an online course if one (<em>cough</em> me <em>cough</em>) is not very disciplined/organized to do some rigorous self studying?</p>
<p>Totally not worth it, especially since you've scored really high already. Looking at your scores, I would say you've missed at most four(-ish) questions in each section. I think the PR courses are for people who have scored much lower than you and need a dramatic change in testing strategies. Obviously, you're fine where you are and just need to be more careful the next time you take it...</p>
<p>Me and my brother both took the PR course. My bro took the course in 2004 and got a 1140 (520 CR 620 M) from a 930 (dont really remember the individual scores). I took the course before the 2008 June test and went from 1930 (640 CR 720 M 570 W) to 2120 (680 CR 750 M 690 W). When i took the course they had a 100pt increase total score or money back offer. If theres some kind of guarantee offered, i would take it, if not, you'll probably be better off studying on your own and keeping the $500. You just need to practice.</p>
<p>Oh wow. I didn't know they had guarantees. </p>
<p>Yeah, I know a lot of people have great success with self-study/practicing and I think I'll just try and carve out some time to do that after hearing your feedback. My parents are willing to pay, and the friend I mentioned probably had a 1400 (old SAT) that went up to a 1600 (she said it was a good idea), but especially since I can only go up 140pts tops, I think it's probably not worth it.</p>