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montrose9272 · 08-10-2006, 07:59 PM

Well, I always get QAS booklets, as well as PSAT booklets, from my students, or from well, myself. I've taken the SAT and SAT Subjects Tests (along with a lot of other admissions tests) far too many times to count. Until a couple of years ago, you could order packs of PSAT's and all of the released QAS books back to 11/97, so I bought all of those. And I have all the editions of 10 REAL SAT's. Classroom courses almost never have the QAS booklets. The problem with the retail test prep courses run by the big name companies is that the person in front of you, even if they are well-trained, personable, smart, and got perfect scores themselves, has not actually studied the test, or taken it recently, in most cases. So they are repeating something that their trainer said, who is at best a Xerox of the person who wrote the materials (assuming the company has a good training program). They may be a few steps removed from the person who wrote the materials, but even then, few of the materials designers know the test very well, which is obvious from the materials they give their students (I get a lot of students who took those courses, got their money back or got to take a free repeater course, wasted a year and/or lots of money, with no result). For most smaller classroom courses/coaching companies, there is simply not the effort or number of people to put into thorough R&D, and hence no real understanding of what's going on, so you'd still be better off taking a bigger name classroom course. Even then, some of the strategies propounded don't work that well. It's as if someone said "hmm, let's try this tactic...it seems like it might work", and that became the (unproven) method. There are a few good really small companies, but they are hard to find.
In my experience, the better tutors have a very thorough collection of QAS booklets. Certainly I've traded a couple of test booklets with colleagues who took the SAT in a month when I was taking the Writing, Math I, and Math 2 exams. So that's a good thing. Except that I've noticed that the tests given in the unreleased (non-QAS) months have a distinctive flavor which is quite different from the QAS booklets. This is because ETS is cannibalizing all the old SAT's and SAT-II Writing tests to put together the most scrutinized tests first, before they bother to write new tests from scratch. This is how they constructed the blue book and 5 of the 6 online course tests, as well as the May 05 test which was repeated and then released in January 2006.
So, the better tutors have all of the QAS booklets. That is good, but not great.

The very best tutors take the test every time, and study and formulate their results, so that they can focus on what each student needs to know. If you want to know if a well-respected tutor really knows how important each topic is, simply ask them "How many questions on the SAT test functions?". If they can't give you the exact number, they have not studied the test. This is really important for the 2005-2007 era, since CB won't come out with another 10 REAL SAT's for a couple of years. So anyone who claims to really know the SAT has either taken it recently, or is referring to the "old SAT", since there is a large body of released "old SAT's". So, for students/parents, the best way to get a QAS or PSAT booklet is to ask friends who took the tests in the past couple of years if they have it. Also, the registration bulletin contains the March 2005 test. The registration bulletin from the year before last (guidance counselors may have an old one lying around) contains the field test, which is one of the tests in the CB online course. However, you can buy the PSAT's at collegeboard.com, including the Hurricane Katrina Alternate Version from 2005. Remember that PSAT questions are all old SAT and SAT-II Writing questions, though they don't hit some of the harder SAT math topics.

08-10-2006, 07:59 PM	#460
montrose9272 Junior Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 196	QAS booklets and who really knows the SAT Well, I always get QAS booklets, as well as PSAT booklets, from my students, or from well, myself. I've taken the SAT and SAT Subjects Tests (along with a lot of other admissions tests) far too many times to count. Until a couple of years ago, you could order packs of PSAT's and all of the released QAS books back to 11/97, so I bought all of those. And I have all the editions of 10 REAL SAT's. Classroom courses almost never have the QAS booklets. The problem with the retail test prep courses run by the big name companies is that the person in front of you, even if they are well-trained, personable, smart, and got perfect scores themselves, has not actually studied the test, or taken it recently, in most cases. So they are repeating something that their trainer said, who is at best a Xerox of the person who wrote the materials (assuming the company has a good training program). They may be a few steps removed from the person who wrote the materials, but even then, few of the materials designers know the test very well, which is obvious from the materials they give their students (I get a lot of students who took those courses, got their money back or got to take a free repeater course, wasted a year and/or lots of money, with no result). For most smaller classroom courses/coaching companies, there is simply not the effort or number of people to put into thorough R&D, and hence no real understanding of what's going on, so you'd still be better off taking a bigger name classroom course. Even then, some of the strategies propounded don't work that well. It's as if someone said "hmm, let's try this tactic...it seems like it might work", and that became the (unproven) method. There are a few good really small companies, but they are hard to find. In my experience, the better tutors have a very thorough collection of QAS booklets. Certainly I've traded a couple of test booklets with colleagues who took the SAT in a month when I was taking the Writing, Math I, and Math 2 exams. So that's a good thing. Except that I've noticed that the tests given in the unreleased (non-QAS) months have a distinctive flavor which is quite different from the QAS booklets. This is because ETS is cannibalizing all the old SAT's and SAT-II Writing tests to put together the most scrutinized tests first, before they bother to write new tests from scratch. This is how they constructed the blue book and 5 of the 6 online course tests, as well as the May 05 test which was repeated and then released in January 2006. So, the better tutors have all of the QAS booklets. That is good, but not great. The very best tutors take the test every time, and study and formulate their results, so that they can focus on what each student needs to know. If you want to know if a well-respected tutor really knows how important each topic is, simply ask them "How many questions on the SAT test functions?". If they can't give you the exact number, they have not studied the test. This is really important for the 2005-2007 era, since CB won't come out with another 10 REAL SAT's for a couple of years. So anyone who claims to really know the SAT has either taken it recently, or is referring to the "old SAT", since there is a large body of released "old SAT's". So, for students/parents, the best way to get a QAS or PSAT booklet is to ask friends who took the tests in the past couple of years if they have it. Also, the registration bulletin contains the March 2005 test. The registration bulletin from the year before last (guidance counselors may have an old one lying around) contains the field test, which is one of the tests in the CB online course. However, you can buy the PSAT's at collegeboard.com, including the Hurricane Katrina Alternate Version from 2005. Remember that PSAT questions are all old SAT and SAT-II Writing questions, though they don't hit some of the harder SAT math topics.