<p>Anyone taken or know someone who has taken the Sylvan SAT/ACT prep? They seem, for the same or less $, to have smaller class's and more individual attention. They don't cancel either if they don't get over 5 kids. It might not be everywhere, but I thought I'd see if anyone had experience with it.
Thanks!</p>
<p>My sister and my friend took Sylvan. Basically, from what I gleaned, Sylvan is okay if you are aiming for an around average score. Also, I don't believe they have a score increase guarantee so maybe you are better off taking a class by Kaplan or Princeton Review- friends who took those seemed to be more satisfied.</p>
<p>I used to go to Sylvan. Since I finished my work quickly, I took a peek into their SAT prep. Their math section is just like any other book. It tells you what kind of things you need to know for the SAT and they have problems. I can't remember if they are real problem sor Sylvan problems and I couldn't tell you if they seem like the ones on the SAT because at the time, I didn't really know.</p>
<p>Their Verbal section is alright. It did teach me a few things that I didn't know and were helpful. I wrote them down, but I must have thrown that paper away. Darn.</p>
<p>And no, they don't have a score increase garuntee.</p>
<p>The ACT uh I couldn't tell you if its good or not because I know nothing of it. I peeked at the ACT book, but it was old since noone takes the ACT in north texas.</p>
<p>Thanks, I'll have to look into it more. The only kid I knew who took it was a girl, 2 years ago (SAT's seemed so far away then) who told me she at first loathed going, then she was the only one there and got one on one tutoring for the price of a class. The next class had more, but she lucked out. It raised her score enough(over 100 pts) so that she could go to a cath.college in Philly she liked. That's just one person though. From what I've read on this site, the score guarantee isn't really much....you could take the test course again free or do online work, you don't get your money back. I learned anytime there is an *, beware. :)</p>
<p>I took Silvan and got 1750 on the first SAT. After spending so much money on it I didn't want to take another course. So I studied with a personal tutor 3 times and got a reg SAT book. Then got 2000 on the next try. So you better of just getting a personal tutor. The Sylvan books (Critical Reading especially) had lots of mistakes. Small clases don't mean much, because if you get stuck with people below your level you will end up going at a slower pace.</p>
<p>i heard 1on1 in sylvan is super expensive..</p>
<p>Mardonna, just to clarify, she didn't pay for one on one, she just was the only one in the class, so she got it for the "group rate". This was the old SAT if it makes a difference. She (somewhat like me) had trouble focusing on the long test and her loathing of the test lessened when she realized the one on one lessons, helped her get through the test and learn to do it faster. I would have to find out about the books, etc. though. Their "regular" books aren't going to be like the real SAT books.</p>
<p>A 100-point improvement on the old SAT does not sound very impressive. A competent SAT tutor should be able to raise your score by at least 140 points or more (on the old SAT) and 220 points or more (on the new SAT). I would suggest looking elsewhere.</p>