<p>Can anyone recommend a good summer SAT prep camp? I am looking at Education Unlimited camps. They maake some pretty impressive claims. I would like to hear reviews from those who have sent their kids to first-hand experience with sending their kids to these camps. What are the best? The worst?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Best wishes to your kid in having an educational summer. But, really, is this the best use you can think of for a summer program? I see the dates and prices imply a very high cost per week for a summer program, and I would think the same amount of time (not to mention money) might yield better returns by focusing reading a lot of interesting books and using an inexpensive distance learning program to review junior high math. </p>
<p>The score gains claimed are ONLY impressive if the course gives you money-back guarantee, no questions asked. Otherwise, basically the program is promising based only on the known fact that kids generally do better on the SAT the second time around, especially if they've had some time to age in between tries at taking the test. I wouldn't pay the money unless the company offered to refund the whole program price for someone who didn't get the promised score gain--that shows what the company REALLY believes about the effectiveness of its program.</p>
<p>I think my own kid would find an SAT summer prep camp like that preferable only to Chinese water torture.</p>
<p>That aside, the costs for such a venture often do not yield the desired results. People have been known to spend between $2-10K on SAT prep, and for some kids, the results have been poor at best. We have one SAT tutor in our area who charges $350 an hour, and has no guarentee at all. When kids haven;t improved greatly, he blames all kinds of things, but never his work, or his course. Of course, some kids do well, but they could have improved their scores at a fraction of the cost.</p>
<p>So, buyer beware, is all I would say about that. Usually, a bright kid can improve his scores significantly by buying the $30 10 SAT book by the College Board and taking all ten tests.</p>
<p>Testmasters has a 300 point guarantee. To qualify, you have to attend all classes (missed classes can be made up at a later date) and do the homework (3 untimed practice tests). My score didn't go up 300 points, but I didn't attend all classes or do all the homework. I did go up 220 points, and I was very content with that! </p>
<p>The classes were really long (3 hrs, with a 15 min break), but the teachers really try to make the class somewhat interesting (games, prizes, candy, pizza).</p>
<p>I know a few kids who have done these types of camps - they fell into two categories - there were the ones who didn't necessarily "need" to go but went because they were so nervous about SAT - and there were the ones who really "needed" to go to have a crash course in whatever they missed in school. </p>
<p>The ones that were in the 'nervous' category have said that they don't regret going but it really didn't do anything except get them used to the format and raise their self confidence. The 2 kids I know who really benefited from the course (raised score 300+) points both came from a very small rural school district and simply did not have the exposure to certain material. They were very happy with the program they went to - somewhere in California and they both had some type of scholarship to go.</p>