My mom wants me to start taking SAT classes from this prep school called ELITE. I did not do so well on the PSAT however I did not study. My score was a 1030 out of 1800 or something like that.
I believe I could self study with the blue book and learn some things on google. The classes also cost 3k for 6 weeks. Money isnt the biggest issue but I would like to know whether you guys think I really need to take a class or not to prep for the SAT. I want to aim high for good colleges hopefully. I am starting late for studying for SAT currently a rising Junior in HS.
You are starting right on time to prepare. Since you have many weeks before school starts, get a few prep books and start studying the strategies and taking practice tests for both PSAT and SAT. Get your mom to time the tests. The math you start this fall should bring your math score up as you go through the year. Plan to take your SAT in spring of your Junior year. If you start to show a lot of improvement in your practice test scores over the summer, you will prove that you can self study successfully.
Do you think that the prep class is worth it?
Do you think that the prep class is worth it?
I don’t know. I have no experience with prep classes, so I don’t know if they benefit kids enough to justify the high cost, or not. I never considered a prep class for my sons because they always got great test scores by studying the strategies in prep books (Kaplan, Barron’s, Princeton Review, and the official College Board and ACT study books) and taking practice tests at home. Maybe there is someone who took a prep class who will reply and tell us whether they thought it was worthwhile and how going to a class was different from using a prep book at home.
Sometimes kids aren’t disciplined or motivated enough to do home study on their own, and, if so, parents need to step in and set up special study times and offer rewards. I think this is especially important even for kids who typically score high without special prep.
Whether you home study or take the class, I think it is important to take a few practice tests in the weeks just before the exam and carefully go over the correct answers of problems you miss.
The test prep industry preys on the insecurities of parents/students:
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/03/the-sat-prep-industry-isnt-going-anywhere/284430/
We didn’t bother w test prep courses. Both my kids performed very strongly.
The “trick” to doing well is speed. You need to become familiar w the types of questions asked, so you waste less time trying to figure out how to approach the problem and therefore have adequate time to finish the test (many students complain about running out of time). This familiarity can be achieved with repetition: taking the free practice tests from the College Board’s website. Read the explanations for the answers you miss.
For the New SAT, S2 took the free College Board practice tests (timed) over the course of 2 months. He took each test twice. The price was the cost of printing hard copies of the pdf test-- big whoop.
I also bought both my kids a $20 prep book. I even question whether the $20 spent on the book was worth it.
I think people who spend 2-3 grand on test prep need their heads examined.
Just saw this related thread:
Thanks