I agree…there is tons of free test prep out there now. Khan Academy for one. Also many schools offer it free.
Oh and anyone that can afford an Iphone can afford a test prep book.
Is the quality of Khan Academy test prep as good as a place like Kaplan?
@hebegebe Yes, and what if it was the structure and discipline that forced the kid to prepare? It would still be worth it. My D had the books from College Board, Princeton Review and access to Khan Academy and never looked at any of them. Nor did she review the answers to the tests she got back from the actual SAT’s to see where she needed to improve on the next one. I begged her to look at them, she did not. She indicated she wanted to improve her score, and I told her she needed to put in the time and effort, 20 mins a night, but she never did.
The only way she would’ve focused on that task was by doing the test prep class; she had no objection when I signed her up for it. i.*
Honestly, I wish I had realized years ago what a difference in the scores meant in terms of merit $$. Prior to that, I thought it was just an indicator of what schools you would be accepted into. I didn’t realize it was important for merit $$ until I became a member of this site and by then it was too late for us.
I think folks here can learn from @northwesty and others that these scores do matter and the investment is likely worth it - I would say the caveat to this is whether or not the student is in range in the first place.
I have tons of nieces and nephews, friends with younger children, and I’m already letting them know “The things I wish I knew.” I’m very surprised our HS did not teach these things either. We are in a well respected school system in the state but their college “seminars” did not provide a ton of useful information.
When we get D’s test scores back from the January SAT, I will have to make a decision about whether or not to invest in test prep. That decision will mostly be based on the improving the chance for a full tuition scholarship at less competitive schools.
Basically, we will have to try to decide if taking money out of our retirement for the professional test prep will pay off.
My big problem with this is I have never known anyone in real life who increased their scores significantly after paying a lot of money for professional test prep.
D is very diligent but has limited time due to homework and ECs. And we have four kids with lots of stuff going on so it’s easy for her efforts to get derailed through no fault of her own.
But she followed the schedule on Khan carefully for a month or so before the SAT.
I would love if someone in my area could tell me, my SAT score increase 150 points after using this tutor or this program! But so far I’ve never met even one person who had a increase like that.
And math is the only thing we have to worry about.
@MACmiracle I think it is good to hear how scores improved (from an actual test - not their version of a “pre” test) for a certain test prep place, ask around. We have a local guy, he’s an older chinese gentleman and the kids love him, increase scores after his program are 150-200 on the SAT. Personally, I think that’s pretty good.
@Fishnlines29 , Any chance the tutor you’re talking about is near Philly?
So we are not doing full pay but certainly had the “opportunity” to do so. When my twin Ds started their college search, we were very upfront with what we would pay. We had prepaid in our home state and were willing to pay room and board anywhere they chose to go but they would have to find the tuition money in merit. With the exception of the Ivies or Stanford. Where we were willing to full pay. They wanted NMF so we found a highly recommended tutor who did mostly give them the discipline to prep for the PSAT. Once they had NMF, they did manage to pull in a lot of merit. They also both got into 2 of the schools where we would have been full pay. And the night of April 30th was a long one. With my H sitting on one of their beds until midnight with his credit card in hand, offering to pay for the name school. In the end, neither of my kids chose to have us take on the full pay. That was their decision. Not ours. They did not want to be “college poor”. Financially, we could have paid to send one or both of them with full pay. (One school did give us $16,000 in aid or whatever the euphemism those schools have for it, because we were sending two at once.) But the reality is that there would be no spring break trips with their friends, no cars, limited budgets, etc. Everyone was going to sacrifice. Would we have done it? In a heartbeat. Did they ask us to in the end? Nope. Now we have the money waiting for them for graduate school, or for travel, or for a down payment on a house should they need it. We may have had second thoughts about their decisions, but they never have. (Of course they are only freshman!!!) Hope this helps it you chose not to go full pay.
We got two things with a paid test prep tutor vs. DIY.
First, the prep got done because it was scheduled and someone was in charge of it. Just like how you can exercise on your own just fine, but many people find signing up for a class or a personal trainer makes it happen. Second, the tutor got the prep focused on just a couple of weak areas.
Whether you pay for it or DIY, the prep really pays off. Everyone does better with higher scores – a 30 is better than 28; a 36 is better than 34.
And the scores are surprisingly malleable. While that makes it seem like the whole testing mil/industrial complex is a pretty questionable racket, we don’t get to make the rules – we just follow them.
I do think it is legit for schools (as a few have started to do) to start asking that all test scores be submitted to level the playing field a bit for kids who don’t have CC-type parents.
Agree with @northwesty’s post #428.
“Whether you pay for it or DIY, the prep really pays off.”
I hired a tutor for older son as he needed help figuring out the lay of the land. A class could have worked also, but semi-private tutoring gave us control of the schedule and pacing, and did not cost more than local classes. But after a while, one has learned all the ‘tricks’ and test format pointers and it is time to just grind through practice tests.
Younger son never had a tutor or wanted one, but even he drilled through practice exams.
“…we don’t get to make the rules – we just follow them.”
Agree with above quote also. Younger son found SAT annoying and a waste of his time. He much preferred Subject Tests or AP exams, and had taken both in 9th & 10th grade. But he still had to sit down and grind through practice tests in order to master the timing and format of the exams. He applied to several schools that required submission of all testing history, so he had to be sure he was ready before sitting for the exam.
@MACmiracle – if you have not done so already, you may want to order QAS from CB. The January test date is one that offers the opportunity to purchase a copy of the test booklet and answer key. This will allow your D to see which questions she got wrong, and determine if she did not know the material or simply made a calculation error.
Thanks @CT1417 .
D ordered the QAS for the January SAT. It was free with the waiver we got, and I think it will come in handy. She could even take it to a tutor to work on her specific problems.
@hebegebe wrote “But was it the money, or the time that made the difference? In other words, did the test prep actually teach something new, or did they provide enough structure and discipline to coax the kids into preparing properly? My guess is the latter.”
A qualified and experienced tutor can add a few things: help to identify the points of weakness, provide additional practice tests that cannot be ordered, teach established test taking rules and techniques (e.g. how to assess timing, when it’s a good idea to guess vs to skip questions vs to spend more time thinking about the answer, grouping questions into typical categories and providing typical answers, teach methodologies for answering certain questions etc). Just like in most life matters, trained professionals are more efficient, but also more costly compared to the DIY option, but both choices are available. The choice really depends on commitment level, the financials, and the willingness to compromise and to take risks. I am a big believer in using professionals (unless I enjoy DIY), since I am much more skilled, and therefore can make much more money, through my own trade, and I also believe that using professionals supports local economy.
“I don’t understand the posts about test prep. I thought most people on CC believed standardized test scores reflect “natural” ability. If study can improve them, why are so many families against sending their kids to less expensive colleges with kids whose scores may not be as high? It seems like they could save a ton of money that way.”
IMO, there has to be standardized tests like SAT/ACT. That is because all high schools are not apples-to-apples. It is much easier to get A’s in some HS, where they are given like candy just for “mastering standards” wheras very difficult in other HS where there is a belief that only a few students earned A’s in a class.
Also, some fields (sciences, etc) do require brains. Who do you want building the bridge - the guy that has a super high math/engineering aptitude with the 780 SAT or the one that got 500 SAT math score and likes music?
Today at 9:51 am
Is the quality of Khan Academy test prep as good as a place like Kaplan?
@citymama9 Yes, absolutely! The difference is that kids signed up for Kaplan have dedicated time in a center with no distractions. Khan Academy requires self motivation but frankly I think the lessons are superior.
Hiring a tutor was very beneficial for my D. She got a 33 on a practice test given at her school and was able to raise her score to a 36 with 5 two hour tutoring sessions. Her tutor also provided all the materials, a homework plan, and monthly practice tests under testing conditions with fabulous feedback. D17 had already done two sessions with the tutor for the math level 2 subject test. Not knowing that kids tutored/took prep classes for subject tests was my biggest rookie mistake.
Test prep choices also depend on the kid. D1 is a natural test taker. Test prep for her was ACT in 8th grade (for CTY, which she ended up not doing), PSAT starting in 9th grade (standard at her school), and a bit of self-study with old tests prior to the 11th grade PSAT sitting since she was in range for National Merit. She had absolutely no need for a course or a tutor. Easy call, easy choice.
D2, otoh, freezes up on tests, and would never ever have prepped for the tests on her own. We got her a one-on-one tutor who worked with her on testing strategies in second semester of junior year; for her, the 11th grade PSAT was part of her test prep, not an effort to get NM. I have some memory that her ACT score post-tutoring increased by ~4 points.
Many many many kids find a natural rise in test scores between end of junior year and beginning of senior year, even without tutoring.
I want the experienced engineer who works for a well-regarded firm that’s not underbid the job. I don’t care what they got on their SAT math score, or if they like music or not.
(oh, and changed the gender as a reminder that it’s not just the XYs doing STEM 
)
Since we are talking about test prep, can someone please answer some questions:
D will be a junior next Sept. When should she take her first ACT and SAT? If it’s next fall, when should she start prepping? This summer? She has taken the PSAT at her HS, as it’s required each year and she did much, much better this year than last, but not what I would call great.
She is currently taking Geometry and will take Alg II/ Trig next year. Does that influence anything?
I think taking the test test multiple times will probably help. Also, thinking she will do ED so she’ll need to have scores in the fall of senior yr, right?
Finally, I would imagine the first tests she takes in Junior yr won’t be as great as they could be. Are you required to have them sent? Can’t we decide after seeing the scores?
Bless any of you take the time to answer they numerous questions:))))
Oh, and does anyone know an amazing tutor or test prep program in NYC?
D decided long ago that she was going to do Jun new SAT, as she said historically the June test has the best curve… She didn’t take old SAT or ACT. She used the practice tests online and asked me to print practice tests she found online for PSAT. Did the same thing for SAT. And then she was done…(4 subject tests also finished…she started taking SAT subject tests the summer of the freshman year.) She will be tutoring and essay reading to make money this summer!!
Back on the topic of full pay, I called the school which D is strongly leaning to, it seems the school is expecting us to pay 1/2 from our salaries. EFC number(which is higher than EFC on FAFSA) is roughly 1/2 of our salaries!! I hate to get technical, but NPC said 2k of loan and 3k of work study, and now it is $5500 loan in the latest evaluation. Well, well, nothing unexpected. I am just a little bitter, and still deal with sticker shock!!
@citymama9 It’s been a long time, but we encouraged the kids to take tests soon after completing the relevant AP courses in HS, while they still remembered the material. We also tried to give them a chance to re-take each test at least once later on if they needed to improve their scores. And never combined multiple tests on the same day. That said - you are right, they generally did better when they got older, so I would try to schedule the second test in the summer / fall of senior yr. Ours made a schedule that took into account all their school tests, standardized tests, college applications and assays etc. Planning all of those in advance was tricky, but really helped them to get organized and to avoid significant stress later on. It also helped to convince the kids why it was important to work on college applications in the summer before the senior year.
Tutors can cost and arm and a leg in NYC - arghhh! I had very good luck reaching out to graduate deans of Math and English departments of local top colleges, and asking them to recommend students experienced in teaching / leading seminars who would like to tutor. Deans were usually very happy to help, and I was able to find fantastic tutors, at very affordable prices. But you do need to use due diligence to check references, experience etc.
@SlitheyTove Not everyone can be an Engineer or Astrophysicist.
Agree some girls can do STEM. And some are now enticed into the field thru special programs. Like my niece who cried when her dad filled out the application for her for MIT summer program for girls. She just wants to “ride horses”.
I want the person to build the bridge or work for NASA that is truly interested and motivated, and smart.