<p>My son would rather enroll in a class or work with a tutor than self-study, but I'm guessing most classes are targeted toward a more average student. His PSAT scores in reading and math were 98th %ile, writing was 95th. Does anyone know whether there a course, program or tutoring organization that might help him get from where he is to his goal, which in an ideal world would be over 750 in each area? A complication is that we live overseas so the course/tutor would have to be during the summer in NYC or internet based during the school year. We'd be most grateful for any suggestions.</p>
<p>Read, read, read, and read in fun books and magazines that he likes. ALEKS </p>
<p>[ALEKS</a> – Assessment and Learning, K-12, Higher Education, Automated Tutor, Math](<a href=“http://www.aleks.com%5DALEKS”>http://www.aleks.com) </p>
<p>for math if he likes that after the free trials he can take online. There is no need to spend any more of your hard-earned money than that for test prep. Yes, most test-prep clients start out with MUCH lower scores, and still have lower scores than your son has after the test prep course.</p>
<p>A little bit of test prep wouldn’t hurt.</p>
<p>My daughter, who had scores in the range similar to your son’s, took an inexpensive SAT prep course offered by our school system, mostly for the opportunities to practice and the test strategy tips. I think it helped. She did get 750 or higher on all three sections.</p>
<p>Theoretically, I suppose she could have done the work on her own, with the aid of books or online resources. But teenagers’ lives are busy, and they may not get around to self-prep. Taking a course reserves a block of time in their lives for their test prep work.</p>
<p>Small-group or individual tutoring can meet your son right where he is. Around here, small-group tutoring is fairly common. It seems to take some of the sting out of studying/prepping, because the kids are with their friends.</p>
<p>I have a good contact for you, consistent with your geographic needs. I tried to send you a private message, but you have requested none. You could address this in several ways: </p>
<p>Can you send me a Private Message with your email contact information? Click on my screenname and follow directions to send a private message.</p>
<p>Or, revise your CC account terms so that you can receive private messages from fellow posters, and I will write to you that way!</p>
<p>We are using a private tutor. She has a great reputation (we used her for D1 when she wanted to raise score for a particular scholarship). Look for someone who has great credentials and references.</p>
<p>PM me if you would like specific information about a one day course available in the summer.</p>
<p>I don’t know where you are overseas, but I’ll bet that if you’re in a place where a meaningful number of kids apply to college in the U.S., you’re in a place where SAT tutoring and prep classes are available. I would also guess that every option the human imagination can conceive is available in NYC during the summer. Without travelling more than a mile from wherever you are.</p>
<p>Most of the high-scoring kids I know who have done anything other than self-study have just taken a standard Kaplan or Princeton Review course, and in general they have been pretty satisfied with them. Realistically, I don’t think the work is any different to get Kid A from 600 to 650 and to get Kid B from 700 to 750. A few kids did 3-5 hour-long sessions with a very talented, very expensive private tutor going over practice tests they had done, and that worked great, too.</p>
<p>I think TokenAdult has the word - READ. The math package sounds good, too. But the main thing is to inundate your house with good stuff to read and read in front of her and talk about what you’re reading. This summer is a great time to push the reading. I think my D’s early unusually high ACT score in 9th was largely attributable to reading Origin of the Species over the summer prior.</p>
<p>My D’s situation is similar in some ways to your son’s. Her 10th grade PSAT is 98th %ile in reading and writing, but only 80th in math. She doesn’t want to do any test prep, so I’m just going to encourage her to read a lot over the summer and try to find a tutor to help her do better on the math. I’m not going to have her take the SAT prep class at her HS because from what I’ve heard, most of the kids in it don’t take it seriously, and they spend 1/3 of the time on each area. Since she’s so resistant to doing test prep, I’ll try to encourage her to focus on her weak area, but I’m not sure about that approach. Maybe she should focus on improving the reading and writing, too, in order to compensate for the math score.</p>
<p>califa - you might look at the type of psat math questions she had trouble with. Maybe there’s a pattern that can be addressed fairly painlessly. I’ve been told that math is actually the most easily coached of all the sections, so be glad that’s her weakest area. She has lots of time to bring it up.</p>