<p>Don’t you expect, though, to naturally improve just by getting older? I mean, I got about your score on the SAT as an 8th grader (who didn’t study at all. I studied like crazy for it in 6th grade and wasn’t doing it again) and by 11th grade, I was in the 2300 region, quite naturally. It seems to make a lot more economic sense to me and it’d seem to be a lot better use of time to do ECs (or just relax) in the time that one is currently prepping and to start prepping in late sophomore or early junior year, when one’s SAT or PSAT or practice test scores have shown that one cannot count on natural increase.</p>
<p>I visited the Elite website and they specifically state that their courses are useful for those who do not have the discipline to study on their own. </p>
<p>The boot camp looks sadistic though. 8 weeks, five days a week, five hours a week…</p>
<p>I didn’t do the boot camp, but I took classes at Elite.</p>
<p>No study (not even by self)
Soph. PSAT: 193
----Elite classes----
Oct. Junior year SAT: 2160
Junior PSAT: 226
no elite, but study by self
March SAT (still junior): 2220</p>
<p>The Elite classes helped for me, but only on giving information that I could have gotten by myself or things that I needed review for…perhaps the only thing that helped me was b/c Elite gives you a lot of Elite practice tests (so you get a LOT of practice) and give good hints for the math section.</p>
<p>Summary: could have done the studying by myself and saved a lot of money</p>
<p>Hmm. Maybe it varies with each person. I heard that they give out 15 hard practice tests which make the SAT seem “easier”. </p>
<p>Are prep companies not allowed to give their students real CollegeBoard exams? Because there are over 40 real SAT tests and I don’t see why companies give out “fake” exams. Seems like it’s not worth the trouble to me.</p>
<p>In all honesty, SAT Prep classes are a waste of both time and money. Only resort to them if you have absolutely no drive to prepare on your own, which I doubt applies to anyone here considering you are all on CC.</p>
<p><em>sputters water while choking on laughter</em> SAT Prep? Don’t be serious. Wasting your (parents’) money like that on what you feel is a prison torture camp “just for the atmosphere” is a pretty dumb idea, with all due respect. It’s like the desperate overweight 40-50-year-old moms and dads with widening girths who sign up at the gym just to feel like they’re one day going to miraculously just “get” that motivated feeling, start working out, and suddenly drop 40-50-something pounds. That sounds kind of cruel, actually lol, but I meant it as a comparison most people can relate to.</p>
<p>If you’re paying attention in class, care enough to join CC, and know about all this SAT info, then I’m pretty sure you can make it without the courses. Every day you’re preparing for the SAT in some way…it’s not even really a knowledge/memorization-needy test. It really is a reasoning test. That’s why so many people don’t have to study lol. It 's not that they’re smart…it’s just that the SAT is so overrated in difficulty. You don’t even need any math knowledge over basic pre-high-school algebra and geometry, for example, and W and CR don’t test anything you didn’t do outside of reading tests and writing “to the SAT system”.</p>
<p>And this may sound creepy, but try thinking of the SAT as fun lol…people are generally better at what they love. :)</p>
<p>nah i think i’m just gonna take the easy way out & have someone guide me (intensively). i just wanna get the SAT out of the way ASAP so i can focus on junior year & ISEF</p>
<p>elite’s tests are actually harder than the real thing to ensure a good grade, just as the Barron’s Physics C prep book is harder than the real AP exam, but it helps</p>
<p>on a bigger note, i feel the SAT shouldn’t be required for college…because rich people can always just have their children do prep classes and poor people who can’t afford it will generally score lower which isn’t accurate because of socioeconomic factors out of their control :(</p>
<p>^It isn’t required for college.
And if you feel that your ability to get prep is unfair, you could forgo it. (However, I totally understand taking part in actions which will boost one’s college chances despite thinking, overall, that such actions are unfair.)</p>
That sounds kind of cruel, actually lol, but I meant it as a comparison most people can relate to.</p>