What is the best online SAT prep course to drastically improve my score?

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

Hi,
I got a 1260 on my SAT the first time I took it. I didn’t study for it and didn’t bring the correct calculator, either, both of which were my fault. However, that score isn’t gonna fly with some of the schools I’m applying to and I want to know if anyone has any opinions on what the most effective online program is and why you think that. Hopefully this will make things easier for me (and others) to pick one we can use.
Thanks.

2

Try Magoosh. I have a friend that did it and I think they give a guaranteed minimum score of 1450 or something.

3

Magoosh has a 100 point increase guarantee or you get your money refunded. It’s all online and reasonably priced. You do not need to do a certain amount of sessions, quizzes, prep, etc in order to get the refund. Though obviously, the more parts of their prep you use, the more likely you are to improve your score. My D20 used it to prep for the June SAT but those scores aren’t out yet so I cannot say if it helped her with a score increase or not.

My S18 improved his SAT from 1410 to 1460 by using Khan Academy and by reading the book Up Your Score SAT. The gain was purely on the reading score (he had 790 math the first time and 780 the second time). My D20 also used Khan Academy to prep for her first round of SAT and she got a 1350.

4

You can try Khan Academy, it’s free…some people like it, some don’t–seemingly depends on whether the way Sal Khan teaches math clicks for you.

A private tutor or a review class offered by your high school or local tutoring company are other options as well.

5

  1. Guarantees for programs are kind of meaningless, unless there is a real, live person you are working with (and I don’t know know too many tutors who offer guarantees). This is not to suggest you won’t be refunded, but rather to suggest that guarantees give no indication of how much you will improve. If you sign up for an online program with a guarantee, and you eventually ask for a refund and get it, what have they lost? Not very much. No one’s time was wasted. They just gave you access to online materials which already existed.

  2. Khan Academy can be good. You probably won’t learn too much new material in-depth from them, but a lot of SAT prep is about refreshing on old material you learned before. Khan Academy can be good for that. They could also perhaps teach you a thing or two you haven’t learned before, but in my experience students who learn new things from Khan don’t learn them particularly well.

  3. Most online programs will only help people so much. Most people who improve a lot either self-study (these people generally already have very good skills–they just don’t know how to apply them to the SAT) or get a tutor. Some people also improve a lot for trivial reasons (generally the case when someone improves a lot in a very short period). Bias note: I am a tutor.

Hope this helps.