<p>I guess I'll preface this by saying my son in this process is a Jr.
I read some pro's and con's on an earlier thread about the SAT prep classes (Kaplan, Sylvan, etc.). How many of you are paying for prep/tutoring for upcoming SATs? How many are buying materials for self-paced testing? How many are combining those approaches? What made you decide it was necessary? To assist with reading/essay writing only-what results could be realistically expected?</p>
<p>I hate jumping on a bandwagon just because everyone else is doing it. At the same time, I don't want my own inaction to disadvantage my kid. He does need to improve on reading comp and writing with verve. He's good at short and succinct to answer pointed questions, but lacks the vocab breadth to do justice to create a standout essay.</p>
<p>I have purchased booklets in various subjects to help him prepare for various classes, but he hasn't cracked them because he feels like he is doing fine in them (Chem, calc. trig, etc.) So, I have wondered how he would do at these self-paced and admittedly lower cost methods. He'd have to commit to working on them.</p>
<p>What is the purpose of the Sat2s if I have that right-the specialized tests for individual subjects (or are they called AP tests?) Why and for what constituency are these being offered? Are they like NY state regent exams that I grew up taking? Does he need to sign up to take these various AP exams for all the colleges? I swear everything seems to have developed this layer of complexity these days. I only recall SAT testing for math and verbal ever being offered. I'm so out of the loop.</p>
<p>The current SAT IIs are more like the "Achievement Tests" we took way long ago. They are subject-specific and we found that most schools require/recommend you take 3: math (there are 2 levels, Ic and IIc, and IIc is expected for engineering or science programs), writing (the requirement for this may change now that the new SAT includes an essay section), and "another subject" (which can range from a language to physics or chemistry to history). You sign up for these in the year your student is ready to take them (usually junior or senior) just as you would for SATs. These are meant to assess the student's knowledge in specific subject areas and are scored similar to the SATs (max score = 800 on each exam).</p>
<p>AP exams cannot be "signed up for" the way the SATs can. They are year-end exams (usually given in May) that are the culmination of a year's or half-year's classwork in an Advanced Placement subject. They are usually the equivalent of a first-year college course, and a high score in these will provide college credit upon entrance at many universities and colleges. They are scored on a 1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the highest. Signing up for AP courses in high school is considered an academic challenge, and many schools will look for students taking available AP courses as a sign of their eagerness to challenge themselves academically.</p>
<p>My son is a junior also. He is at a boarding school, so my ability to interfere (er, help) in the process is limited. His school has the kids take SAT in January (even though it will be the "old" test). We don't even have PSAT scores back yet. What I decided to do was to get a Princeton Review private tutor for 9 hours over this Christmas break. I will let you know in January whether it was worth it. My son thinks it was worthwhile. The young man was personable (a senior at SMU) and my son liked him. They give a diagnostic test before you begin the tutoring. It is a "real" SAT. That gives the tutor an idea of where you need work. At the level of most of our kids, it is not a matter of teaching content, but more how to take the test and figure out the questions. My son is supposed to now take another practice test since he has completed the 9 hours of tutoring (all in 1 week). He was given some materials to review closer to the test. My son is very busy at school and the chance of him doing much preparation for the January SAT was slim. I didn't see any reason to waste the effort, which is why I hired the tutor. My son says that he doesn't want to do any tutoring for the May test but claims he will practice on his own. I don't want to push him, but I also don't want him to decide next fall that he has his heart set on some schools for which he doesn't have the stats. My iniitial impression is that while the private tutor wasn't cheap, it was more time efficient for us than the classes. My D took a prep course two years ago at her boarding school and it was not very good (even the school was disappointed with the people they hired). So-we'll see how the SAT goes. I, too, am wondering about SAT IIs. My son doesn't take a language (had 3 years of Latin and quit). From what I read on this board, some of the subject tests are really hard. Karen</p>
<p>I can only speak from my S's experience...he took SAT 1 in Dec. of junior year, SAT II's in Nov of Sr. year, and SAT 1 again in Dec. of Sr. year (2004) - the only prep he did was a 1/2 day class his high school offered (cost $80) which focused on test taking techniques. </p>
<p>I should add that S has always been a good "test taker" when it comes to standardized tests and has no test anxiety at all.</p>
<p>He did raise his score 100 points (main increase was 80 points on verbal). None of the schools he is applying to require SAT II's - admittedly not the selective schools, but still top 100.
I think it is very important for kids to be comfortable with the test and to have some knowledge of the techniques. S decided he wanted to take the SAT 1 again "just to see" if he could raise his score altho' his jr. score was quite good - and it paid off for him.
I asked him about the subject tests - he signed up for the US History test (had just completed AP US History and got a 4 on the AP History Exam) - but when he got to the test, he changed to English Lit - he says he did not find the subject tests particularly difficult...just be sure you are comfortable with the subject and if you get "cold feet" about your subject at the test, you can switch...</p>
<p>The best time to take the SAT2 tests is in the spring after a class was finished, or an AP class is finished. If a kid is taking AP U.S. History, for example, s/he should also consider the SAT2 U.S. History test. </p>
<p>For this year's Juniors (class of '06), most colleges have dropped the SAT2 requirement to two tests (from 3), if they require the new SAT (which has incorporated the former SAT2 Writing test.)</p>
<p>3-to-go: kids sign up for the AP test thru their school, since that is where they are tested during two weeks in May.</p>
<p>With regards to test prep, yes, it's a great idea, since the math is not hard, but tricky, and it sometimes just takes some logic to mentally rearrange the question. But, classes are not necessary if your child is an independent worker. A neighbor got a 1600 last year by self practicing a few of the publicily-available prep books (Kaplan, or PR) over the summer.</p>
<p>I have posted -often and loudly- about my views on the effectiveness of organized preparation classes. While I do think that the classes are ineffective for the vast majority of the students, the classes could work in special situations. it is a decision that you have to make for yourself. </p>
<p>Regarding the tests to use, there is, however, no great debate. ALL the tests that you will find in the books published by private companies are awful and misleading. The tests written by PR, Kaplan, et al, are usually labeled synthetic on CC. At best, those test represent an educated guess. The worst part is that they contain many errors becasue the companies do not have the breadth and depth of the integrity analysis of ETS. If you consider, that after decades of seeing released tests, the companies still produce bad examples of tests, you can only imagine how awful their versions for the new SAT are. well, you do not have to imagine it, the books that came out during the summer are mediocre and unrealistic. </p>
<p>The good news is that the solution to this part of the puzzle is extremely simple: the 10 Real SAt is unbeatable and an absolute bargain. The new version has been out for a couple of months. Buy the book and suscribe the new online program sold by The College Board. </p>
<p>Despite the negative opinion on the tests published by PR and Kaplan, I still recommend to buy the books to build a library of strategies. The best way is to read the books, try the strategies to determine which ones work better for your particular case. Soon enough, you will see what makes sense. </p>
<p>It is particularly important to try the various strategies for Critical Reading. There is not method that beats all of the others.</p>
<p>Having experienced this, I think that my comments will be helpful. As a junior, I attended an SAT preparation program (unwillingly) and it DID NOT help at all. My score stayed exactly the same after the class. So, I believe that it really depends what the student prefers. I, for instance, later studied independentally and made a 1600. I'm more motivated if I do things myself, I guess.</p>
<p>It really does depend on the kid. We made a deal with my daughter that she could self-prep for the PSAT and if she made a schedule, kept to the schedule, and did well, then she would self-prep for the SAT I and the ACT too. That worked out fine. She also self-prepped for three SAT IIs. (By the way, of the 14 schools that she was originally interested in applyling to, not one required the math SAT II.) I coached her for the essay part, and the family learned a lot of the U.S. and World History together. For example, she announced one day that she was having a hard absorbing the Westward Expansion so I went out and rented "How the West Was Won." She actually got an answer right based on something she saw in that movie. :-)</p>
<p>My son has already aced the SAT I math section and done competitively on the verbal section at age eleven. No third-party test prep here. For a lot less money, you can buy the book 10 Real SATs (for the "old" SAT I) or the book The Official SAT Study Guide: For the New SAT (for the "new" SAT) and simply practice each of the practice tests under actual test-taking time limits. Score the tests yourself, then go over the tests with your child. That is both less expensive and more educational (for you and the child) than finding some third-party company's expensive lessons. </p>
<p>I get the strong impression that all the third-party companies are equipped to get their students to same middling-to-moderately-high score range, but NONE are equipped to help kids who "naturally" score in the higher range. Some of the tips and tricks taught in the third-party courses probably mislead kids into choosing WRONG answers on genuine SAT I tests. The path to an 800 is to get used to how the College Board frames questions and selects "distractors" (wrong answer choices) and to know math well and to read avidly. Knowing math well and reading avidly is also good preparation for actual college study, which taking test-prep courses manifestly is not.</p>
<p>My daughter and I visited an SAT tutor that was recommended to us. She was VERY expensive --- but she did a good job of convincing my daughter that her "method" would boost her verbal and writing scores. When we got home, we looked at her materials and they were riddled with grammatical errors. BAD grammatical errors. We figured if she couldn't proofread her own writing, then she probably wasn't going to help my daughter much on the verbal and writing sections.</p>
<p>My daughter is now working with a math tutor who helps her with her math class and prep for the math portion of the SATs. She is also working on her own (with some input from Xiggi) on the reading comprehension and writing section using the College Boards "new" SAT book. The College Board has a service that will score sample essays over the internet. I think for my daughter this is the way to go - her reading and writing scores on the PSAT were well within range for the schools she is interested in but her math score was low. She's going to concentrate on bringing that score up and either maintain or improve her PSAT range scores through self-study.</p>
<p>However, she had a friend who scored off the charts on the PSATs - she took a princeton review class over the summer. So daughter looked up some of the princeton review classes --- the ones near us require two nights a week from 5 until 9. There is simply no way she could do that schedule and keep up with her school work. So, unless she does absolutely terrible on the March SAT (Xiggi - she absolutely does not want to take the Jan. SAT as it is right after her school's mid-terms), we won't be going that route. </p>
<p>Her school will have a one day free SAT prep session - they take a real SAT test before hand. Strategies, etc., are discussed during the day long session.</p>
<p>All of the schools on her current list do not require or even recommend the SAT II's so she has decided not to take them this spring but take the SAT I a second time instead. If her list changes over the summer, she can do the SAT II's in the fall if necessary but she says she'd rather just concentrate on the SAT I.</p>
<p>Regarding AP classes - you can sign up to take them without taking an "official" AP class. There are books to help you self-study for them. Daughter took AP European history last year (10th grade) and did well on the test but the class almost killed her -- the AP classes at her school are taught at a very rigorous level. This year she opted to take Honors US History instead of AP US History and has been very happy with that choice - the honors class gets to do more writing, researching and discussion than the AP class. She may still take the AP exam in the spring - she's trying to decide if she wants to put in the extra effort of studying for it or not. Next year, she will probably take 2 AP classes.</p>
<p>Kaplan would be good for a kid with great test anxiety and not enough discipline to do self-study prep at home and also no available parent/sibling who could explain why something was right or wrong or give tips. If these factors do not apply, you could probably save your money.</p>
<p>Three<em>to</em>go: I swear everything seems to have developed this layer of complexity these days. . . I'm so out of the loop.</p>
<p>I know exactly how you feel. All these acronyms seem so intimidating when you start. AP and SAT are two different organizations, two different tests. AP tests are taken in conjunction with specific AP classes. Your kids high school would most likely either administer or at least organize the taking of these tests.</p>
<p>Most colleges require the SATI. There are a few that dont which is good to know in case your childs scores are low. The ACT is an alternative as well, but dont worry about that right now. </p>
<p>SATIIs are divided by subject. If a college requires them (and again not all do) they often ask for three of the applicants choice. Writing used to be designated as one of the three, but now that the SATI includes writing that may have changed. Its best to take the subject test when the material is fresh. You may take three tests in one sitting but you don't have to; you can split them up however you like as long as the test is being given on the day you sign up for.</p>
<p>You will find mountains of advice on whether or not (and how) to prep for the SATs. Familiarity with test taking and the specific format is a big plus. Prep courses can provide this plus tips and advice. They can also identify weaknesses so those can be concentrated on. Weakness in vocabulary is one of the easiest areas to remedy with drills. Reading IS the best preparation, but if you dont have a reader, you may need to compensate.</p>
<p>Many, many kids take the SATI more than once. Colleges are used to this and generally look at the best combination of verbal and math scores; however taking the test more than three times is considered obsessive.</p>
<p>Many high schools offer SAT prep courses, after school or in the summer. My son did this and I believe it helped him. Maybe it was just the added self confidence. I bought a lot of self prep books which three years later are still sitting on the shelves unloved.</p>