<p>I'm planning on taking the SAT in October and currently I am a junior. I'm interested in signing up for a SAT class - any input? Princeton, Excel, Kaplan, etc. If any of you have taken these classes, can you give me some advice on the pros/cons of your experiences?</p>
<p>princeton review: </p>
<p>Pros - my grade went up, they garuntee 200pts or will let you take again for free.</p>
<p>Cons - noone has time to take it a 2nd time, cater to people with low scores, not great for people >2000 coming in.</p>
<p>what did you get on the sat before you took princeton?</p>
<p>Has anyone taken ThinkTank, Excel, or BestSAT??</p>
<p>If you are a high-scorer - anyting above 1900 - you might want to consider private tutoring...</p>
<p>I've taken ThinkTank and while the classes were actually pretty fun (or as fun as an SAT class can be, haha), it doesn't help if you're aiming for 2000+</p>
<p>I thought PR divides the classes based on previous SAT scores (or the diagnostic they give you), so that if you're a high scorer you're not in the same class with people who are low scorers. So if you take the class in a big enough area and they have a few classes going on at once, then that shouldn't be a problem, right? </p>
<p>I've been using their books and would do their course over Kaplan, definitely, but I haven't heard of the others.</p>
<p>no PR doesn't do crap. They don't separate the kids b/c that would mean more tutors and more cost.... blah blah blah. They treat everyone the same (like idiot teenagers, and I HATE their boosk how they try to assume a laid back- SAT is a piece of cake that any dumbass can ace tone) Sorry to rant on it so much, but i took their class (wasted my parents' $) with a 1940 and ALL the techniques were time consuming. What's more, for the hard math problems the PLUG IN's and stupid PITA methods took more time than if I just solved it directly.</p>
<p>It helped with grammar some. But for math, essay, and the reading section, it sucked. Reading I improved a little bit in that Princeton class, but then I plateaued for the rest of the course. I did not raise my reading score more until I began practicing on my own this summer. Princeton course tutors tell you to skim and get the GIST of the passages, but I found that reading the whole thing is soooo much more efficient and actually improved my accuracy.
As for math.... I could not have been disappointed more. I learned more from Xiggi than from my always late princeton tutor. </p>
<p>PR is generally for the "average" SAT scorer--- and the average national SAT scores are in the 500 range. I am not trying to belittle the average scorer- but just pointing out who would benefit most from it. So if you are 1600 or below princeton will do wonders for you.</p>
<p>To tolfulover -- Agreed -- PR was a waste of money. We purchased the private tutor for my daughter. Her scores did not improve. The tutor was not a college graduate, was often late and always smelled like cigarettes......she was a nice young woman but not a great tutor.</p>
<p>Luckily her scores were OK before the tutoring as they didn't change much....the 200 point guarantee was simply for a review course -- not extended tutoring...........PR was an overall waste of a bunch of money.</p>