<p>I second ingerp’s suggestion of one-on-one tutoring. Work the parent lore in your community and identify a tutor who comes highly recommended. We did a one-time session for Math, and my DD’s score improved 100 points. Unless you are a natural math person, the SAT Math testing presentation is all about learning the tricks of the test, i.e., my DD walked out of the tutoring session with 3-5 solid, easy-to-master “if the question is {generic type}, then here’s the method for quick elimination of wrong responses and, if choice still remains, quick solving or at least smart guessing.” To get your money’s worth, you must provide the tutor with online access or paper access to the past PSAT and SATs actually taken so the tutor can quickly identify your child’s usual problem areas. Where we live, this session cost $150. I expect the cost is even higher in many areas. Exorbitant? Yes. But that $150 was worth every cent in balancing out her lopsided score situation (whether that enabled her to receive the merit money offers extended to her, I dunno, but I am sure an improved score wasn’t a negative!).</p>
<p>If the cost is not something your family can manage, then I would strongly encourage your DD to make the best effort she can to look at her online PSAT and SAT detailed score reports to see if she can identify a pattern and pinpoint the types of Math questions she usually misses. Then, she can focus her self-study on those areas–the various test prep books should be broken down by math topics that match the topical descriptions the College Board assigns.</p>