scooter11

My son was tutored after taking the ACT. He retook two more times, and raised his score by 4 points. He found out that he was not taught geometry that well in 10th grade, and that was dragging his score down.

ZombieDante

Congrats, you caught a typo! With skills like that you will definitely learn the "human anatomy" when your 30! Good job!

Anyway, okay why do I care about your opinion. Last time I checked you don't represent the whole international student body. My point still stands, everyone learns differently. So to you maybe SAT prep classes may be pointless because you learned better by yourself., but you can't say that their entire existence is pointless. Some people like human interaction to learn SAT things.

sallyrs95

I took a CR SAT course for $250. It helped teach me how the SAT works and how to scope out the answer. No class is going to magically raise your score though. My opinion is also to not focus so much on memorizing 500 vocabulary words, but rather how to interpret the short passages and what the question is asking for.

IceQube

I didn't say the existence of SAT prep courses was pointless.


You can apologize to me at any time.

Opaline

If you have the motivation and time, self-study methods are definitely much cheaper and arguably more effective than any SAT/ACT class.

This coming from someone whose parents don't have all the means, but who care enough about my education that they were willing to pay $1000+ on an SAT prep class. I refused because I knew they didn't have the money. They were unhappy, but it's not like they could force me to go to a class if I didn't want to.

They were considerably more pleased when I got a 2270 after several months of serious prep. I bought my prep books online, and the total cost was less than $60.

If I can do it, anyone can.

jiggoha

If you are shooting for 2000+, don't take any Kaplan or Princeton Review kind of classes.

rmldad

I have two kids who did no preparation for the ACT and each scored 34. None of the survey responses apply to them. It seems pointless to take the tests again since they are already in the accepted range for any college in the country.

FawkesGoldman

I'm not sure if that "your" is trolling. It's just subtle enough compared to the sarcasm...

You mean humans to supervise while these people take practice tests, right? I guess it just wouldn't be right without a paid proctor...

awkwardpenguin13

If I could actually afford one, I would... But I can't ^.^ lmao. Prep books for me though (:

FawkesGoldman

^This. The registration fees are expensive enough.

awkwardpenguin13

True story^

I think the bench prep ACT course is $25 now.. But I'm not sure if it's worth getting?

xthrillakillax

I improved by over 300 points to a 2290 in a 2 month span by self-studying. To be honest, all you need is enough willpower and motivation to prep. All classes do is regurgitate the same info and strategies in prep books and give you practice tests, both of which are readily available to buy online. There are also a myriad of resources online (CC is probably the biggest one). Tutors and classes don't really bring anything new to the table; all they offer is discipline.

So yeah, if you can't bring yourself to cracking open a SAT book everyday and following a strict, predetermined schedule, then a tutor or class may be what you need.

needsmorsleep

Well aren't you a delight

tniemann

I didn't do any formal prep either. Mostly just the blue book.
What might really help some people that are struggling with the math section of the SAT is Khan Academy. It really just works through the blue book but if self-studying math isn't improving your score it's worth a try because it's free. I think there is something similar on iTunes, too.

dq15ww

"If you are shooting for 2000+, don't take any Kaplan or Princeton Review kind of classes."
@jiggoha
I beg to differ. I raised my score from an 1870 to 2030 with Kaplan, then raised it again to 2170 with Princeton Review.