<p>Hey guys, I am currently a sophomore in high school, and I was planning on taking some SAT classes this summer.
However, I have a friend who has never taken SAT classes in her life (she just studied at home) and she got a very good score. She is not a genius or anything, she just studied.
I was wondering if it is worth taking these classes? Or is it just better to study at home, with the proper materials - books, online, etc.
Thanks!</p>
<p>bump 10 char</p>
<p>From personal experience, I say do not waste time and money on a class. Self studying will get you just as far! I studied on my own and got a solid score. I do not know if I am unusual that this worked for me, but I do not think a class is necessary at all!</p>
<p>You can really be just fine studying on your own if you’re committed and motivated. Most classes are a waste of time, effort and money. If you need more help, you’re much better off getting a tutor for a few sessions. It’s a lot better value for the money.</p>
<p>Ok thanks guys! What would be a good method of studying though?</p>
<p>^Do the tests in the blue book, rigorously go over every problem you missed, learn the test as best you can, etc.</p>
<p>Here is an edited version of one of my articles on SAT math preparation which I think you will find useful (the article is edited to comply with the rules of this forum):</p>
<p>There are three key components to improving your score in SAT Math.</p>
<p>(1) Learning test taking strategies that are specific to the SAT.</p>
<p>(2) Practicing SAT math problems ten to twenty minutes per day for approximately three to four months.</p>
<p>(3) Taking at least four practice tests before test day, approximately one per month.</p>
<p>(details on part 1 and 2 edited out)</p>
<p>For practice tests use The Official SAT Study Guide by The College Board. Make sure to use the second edition, since only this edition has three actual SATs.</p>
<p>Let us now discuss each of the three components in more detail:</p>
<p>Strategy: If you have at least three months to prepare, you should learn two or three SAT specific math strategies per week. Whenever you come across a problem where a specific strategy can be used, you should always attempt the problem using that strategy. In fact, I recommend trying to solve every practice problem in up to four ways:</p>
<pre><code> (1) Using an SAT specific strategy
(2) The quickest way you can think of
(3) The way you would do it in school
(4) The easiest way for you
</code></pre>
<p>In many problems, some of these methods might be the same, and each of these methods might not be relevant to every problem. Nonetheless, this is the general guideline you should follow. Keep in mind that the actual answer to a given SAT problem is not important. You will never see that specific problem on the SAT. But it is important to learn as many techniques as possible. The more strategies, techniques, and methods you learn the greater the increase you will see in both your current SAT score, and your level of mathematical maturity. </p>
<p>Practice: If your SAT is less than four months away, set aside a twenty minute block of time right now that you will dedicate to SAT math practice every single day! You should begin each study session by learning one new SAT specific strategy or quickly reviewing a strategy you already know. Recall that you are only learning two or three new strategies each week, so on many days you will simply be quickly glancing over a strategy you already know. Keep this strategy in mind as you practice, and use it whenever possible.</p>
<p>Next you should choose one of the four topics: Number Theory, Algebra and Functions, Geometry, or Probability and Statistics. You should cycle through these topics, so that each day you are working on a different topic, and you are hitting each topic once or twice per week.</p>
<p>You should spend the first half of your study session attempting problems from this topic that you haven’t tried before. Make sure you are working on problems of the appropriate level. For example, if you are struggling with Level 4 Geometry problems, then do not attempt Level 5 Geometry problems. You can work on those in a few weeks after you become more proficient in Level 4 Geometry. </p>
<p>Make sure you clearly mark off any questions you get wrong. It doesn’t matter why you got it wrong - if you got it wrong, mark it off. I can’t emphasize this enough. Many students think that making a “careless error” is an excuse to never look at a specific problem again. But doing well on the SAT is all about eliminating “careless errors”! You will reattempt these “marked off” problems next time you come back to this topic. Remember to try to solve each problem in more than one way (see above).</p>
<p>For the second half of your study session you should reattempt problems from this topic that you have previously gotten wrong. If you get a problem right this time you can discard it and never look at it again. If you still get it wrong, keep it marked off, and reattempt it again in another week or so. It is important that you wait at least a few days before reattempting a problem you got wrong - you want to give yourself a chance to forget the nature of that specific problem. This will ensure that you are actually solving the problem, and not just “recalling the solution.”</p>
<p>Redoing problems you get wrong is extremely important - more important than attempting new problems. This is what separates students that show dramatic improvement from students that show only average improvement. Remember, you learn from your mistakes, not your successes!</p>
<p>Tests: You want to take about four practice tests before test day to make sure that you are implementing strategies correctly and using your time wisely under pressure. For this task you should use the second edition of The Official SAT Study Guide by the College Board. Take one test every few weeks to make sure that you are implementing all the strategies you have learned correctly under timed conditions. Note that only the second edition has three actual SATs.</p>
<p>I recommend that you take your practice SATs on a Saturday or Sunday morning and make sure you time yourself correctly. Also mark off the questions you get wrong and throw them into the group of questions you will be reattempting at your short study sessions. This will make your time spent much more effective. Also, make sure you score these practice tests, and keep track of your scores to make sure you are showing improvement.</p>
<p>At first you can just do the three math sections, but for at least your last two practice tests you should do the whole SAT in one sitting. I even like to add in an extra math section to simulate the experimental section of the SAT. This will ensure that you are practicing taking the test for the full length of the actual SAT.</p>
<p>Thank you SO much.</p>
<p>I think it depends on the course you are taking. I took a princeton review course and I felt like it was mostly for low scorers. They tried to over simplify techniques for problems that a person with decent problem solving skills could solve with common sense. They kept referring to Joe Blogs who is the name they associate to the standard poor SAT taker who falls for silly tricks. The only thing I found beneficial was the practice SAT’s in which I was timed accurately and scored (though I could have done that myself). I would not recommend it for anyone that is planning on breaking 1800. It really is for a person with a 1200 looking to hit 1400. It is like sitting in a basic algebra class when you are at a calculus level. Sorry to go on a rant, but if it is a PR course, save your money.</p>
<p>As far as prep, I like Barron’s 2400 and the Blue Book for practice tests and I try to take as many tests as possible. Even if you do not take all of the tests in full, if you go through a few sections a day you will be much better off than you were before. Overall though, practice tests helped my score the most. On four tests that I took in four consecutive weeks I scored 1840, 1950, 2030, 2090 and I think I got ~2150 on the march SAT. Good luck.</p>
<p>What are these specific SAT strategies?</p>
<p>@a2roxas28 </p>
<p>I will give you two examples of SAT specific strategies - one very basic, and one more advanced:</p>
<p>Basic Strategy: Start with choice (C)</p>
<p>Example: When each side of a given square is lengthened by 3 inches, the area is increased by 45 square inches. What is the length, in inches, of a side of the original square?</p>
<p>(A) 3
(B) 4
(C) 5
(D) 6
(E) 7</p>
<p>Solution using the strategy: Let’s begin with choice (C) as our first guess. If the original length of a side of the square is 5, then the length becomes 8 when we increase it by 3. The area of the original square is 5<em>5 = 25 and the new square has area 8</em>8 = 64. So the area is increased by 64 – 25 = 39 square inches. So we can eliminate choice (C), and most likely (A) and (B) as well. We next try choice (D). 6<em>6 = 36, 9</em>9 = 81 and 81 – 36 = 45. Thus, the answer is choice (D).</p>
<p>Advanced Strategy: Try a Simple Operation</p>
<p>Example: If xy=5, yz=8, xz=10, and x>0, then xyz=</p>
<p>Solution using the strategy: The operation to use here is multiplication.</p>
<pre><code> xy = 5
yz = 8
xz = 10
</code></pre>
<p>(xy)(yz)(xz) = 5<em>8</em>10</p>
<p>x^2 y^2 z^2 = 400</p>
<p>Notice that we multiply all three left hand sides together, and all three right hand sides together. Now just take the square root of both sides of the equation to get xyz = 20. </p>
<p>Remark: Whenever we are trying to find an expression that involves multiplication, division, or both, multiplying or dividing the given equations usually does the trick.</p>
<ul>
<li>Quick computation: With a little practice, we can get the solution to this type of problem very quickly. Here, we multiply the three numbers together to get 5<em>8</em>10 = 400. We then take the square root of 400 to get 20.</li>
</ul>