<p>I'm currently a junior. I scored an 1860 on the SAT (600 M, 640 CR, 620 W) back in December. I'm taking the SAT my second time on June 5th, and I expect to take it one final time in October.</p>
<p>Is it worth my time signing up for a prep class? I have a Blue Book. Would the prep classes give me anything the Blue Book wouldn't?</p>
<p>Nope BB is enough, I can attest to it. I started off with an 1840 (600M 640CR and 600W) and I just got my scores back for the May Sat and got an 2080 (710M 670CR and 700W). Now my scores are obviously not up to CC standards but I’m pretty happy with my increase and it was all done through self prep using the BB.</p>
<p>Thanks for the quick answer. How exactly did you conduct your self-study?</p>
<p>Well basically I just took an entire test of certain section (Like I would take all 3 sections of math in one day) and went over all the answers I got wrong. Practice really is the key to improvement on the SAT. Others will say to take a single section a day (one 25 min math section for example) and go over the answers. Really its up to you and what you feel you would get the most out of. I would suggest attempting to complete the entire Blue Book if you have time.</p>
<p>alot of people think prep classes are a waste of time, and im sure some of the chain ones are. but the ones taught by teachers are very good. they show you how the different questions can be presented and they show you how to go about doing them. the classes give alot of strategy that just practice tests cannot.</p>
<p>prep classes, in my opinion, are a waste of time and money.
my friend took two sets of really intense classes… and she did indeed boost her score by a reasonable amount, but i only self-studied and ended up improving my score by a bigger margin than she did even after she stayed up until 2 in the morning every day during the summer to finish the homework that was assigned to her in the SAT intensive camp…</p>
<p>the thing i would suggest is that if you know ur not a very self-disciplined person and can’t force yourself to work at it continuously, then it’s probably better to go to a class just to have a teacher there to enforce the work on you. otherwise, the information they give isn’t anything that you can’t get out of a few good guides and references (i recommend sparknotes–it’s free and online too). and it may seem like practices don’t help much, but they really do. most of the stuff on the SATs aren’t hard… it’s just tricky. and the way you overcome the trickiness is through experience and practice. unless you really don’t understand some of the basic math or grammar concepts that it tests, i don’t think it’s necessary to be ‘taught’ how to solve the problems. if you go and get the BB, do the practice tests, read the answers and explanations for the problems you got wrong, and try again later, you’ll eventually see patterns in the way the questions are phrased and will pick up on ways to solve the problems.</p>
<p>so, in conclusion, it’s not necessary to take a class if your score is above something like a 1700.</p>
<p>Taking a class and studying out of the Blue Book all require self-discipline. Taking a class or self-studying without discipline won’t get you anywhere. Self-studying with discipline will get you much farther than a class will, at a much lower price.</p>
<p>it depends on what test prep company you are planning to take it from. some test preps really are helpful and help increase the scores of its students by a lot.</p>
<p>Test prep is a waste of money for most people. Most of my friends took classes (all from different test prep companies: Kaplan, PR, and some local ones) and most of them saw VERY minimal improvement (only one girl I know improved by more than 50 points total, and this fluctuation is to be expected with SAT). Get a book, follow self-studying advice from other posts on CC, and spend the money you saved on something fun!</p>
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If you don’t have enough passion to prep for SAT by yourself then you won’t get very far on test prep.</p>
<p>S’what I thought. My dad says I’ll deeply regret not taking SAT prep classes because all his friends’ kids did so before taking the SAT. Going off the anecdotes I’ve read on CC, I contradicted him, and he refuses to believe me.</p>
<p>REBELLION.</p>
<p>I just need to figure out how to study. Are the review sections necessary at all? I understand all the math concepts fine; it’s just the problem solving that screws me over.</p>
<p>Varies with the individual. Goals, study habits, monetary/non-monetary resources available, test prep centers available. It’s all situational but i think most prep centers aren’t worth the money, not to say however, that paying for prep courses is a complete waste of money.</p>
<p>Look while I understand that the price points can be frustrating for some of these companies I personally would greatly advocate for some form of a program. I am currently a rising junior in college but I still vividly remember my time working my ass off to try and get a good score on the sats. I took 2 practice and 1 real exam all with the mentality that I did not need a program because I could do it myself. While I performed well I wanted more improvement. I was fortunate to be offered an opportunity to work with a company so I took it. I have never regretted it. my score went up by about 130 points. Suffice to say that classes turned me into a believer.</p>
<p>When it comes to selecting which program I would like to share my experience and that of some of my closest friends. I would strongly advise avoiding Kaplan. I did not like my experience there and ended up switching it up to a new company. One of the things I think that kills this company (and what led me to avoid princeton review post kaplan) is they do not manage individuals well in such a large setting. Corporate gets in the way and making money becomes a priority. You have people who stop caring as much about actually helping the students and more about their checks. I would strongly advise you to check out Revolution Prep. At the very least give them a phone call and speak to them. They do a tremendous job. They make ya feel like an actual person. Plus the tutor/instructor you get (even if its a group class) is matched up somewhat to your personality. You have an easy opportunity to actually develop a relationship. Thus by default they actually become invested in your personal success. Actually if you call ask about their grade protection plan. It didn’t exist when I went through the ropes but now my sister is starting to prep for college apps and she is going to use the feature. Its a brand new thing they are doing that thus far they have only spread via word of mouth. </p>
<p>For what its worth I have a few friends who also worked with them (one who scored a 2070 first time without class) and all of them saw huge improvement especially the friend that scored high (went above a 2200 but i dont remember the exact number).</p>
<p>Classes enable you to work on areas in which you need more practice and not waste time in areas which you clearly have mastered. Class or private REvolution prep’s system works. The hybrid plan gives you a taste of both but I would recommend online classes. It’s something like 6 people max per class and you are all in a big video chat. You get personal attention, its cheap, and you get interaction from classmates who can sometimes point things out that you didn’t think about.</p>
<p>I realize the thread died a few years ago however I googled sat prep class suggestions for my sister and this popped up so I figured my opinion could still be relevant for anyone else who stumbles onto this link from a google/bing search.</p>
<p>Best.</p>