<p>Great thread! I always wondered if I could have improved my score by taking a test prep course. A mother of a teen had told me soon after I took the SAT for the first time that her son obtained only a 20-50 point increase on the test after taking an SAT test prep course. After hearing what she said, I decided to study for the SAT by myself during the summer prior to my senior year in high school. I was able to obtain a total of 140-150 point increase from what my PSAT scores had been in both the SAT Math section & SAT CR section. I had studied for the SAT on & off during my junior year in high school & during the summer prior to my senior year in high school. I continued to study for the SAT as much as I could during my senior year prior to when I took the SAT again. I’m glad I saved my parents’ money by not having them purchase an expensive SAT test prep course for me. </p>
<p>However, I think it would have better if I had looked for a free or very, very expensive class (less than $100) which familiarizes test takers with the format of the tests. When I was in college, I took a GRE prep course which was offered to students by the university & included in the price of the college’s tuition. The course met once a week for 5 weeks for a time period of 1 to 1 ½ hours each week. I’m fairly sure that the course helped to improve my CR score by at least 50-100 points from what it would have been had I not taken the course. Taking the practice tests in the course helped improve my concentration while taking the test. The test taking tips provided in the course also helped improve my reading score.</p>