My daughter is interested in doing some ACT test prep over the summer.
In terms of the paid services…does anyone have experience (online only) with Prep Scholar, Princeton Review, or Kaplan? Or another service that I am unaware of?
I would love to hear especially from people who have experience with more than one of these.
Yes–I do know that free test prep is available through a few sources. We are on that. Please…no need to convince me to stick to free sources only.
I’m going to try and convince to put that money towards a private tutor. You’ll get far more bang for your buck. None of those programs can target your child’s needs. They are also very expensive.
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Thank you. We are in the process of lining up a private tutor.
The online-only courses that I am looking at range from $124 to $397.
Both of our kids took the Kaplan course after their first SAT try. One improved by a LOT of points. The other didn’t improve even by one point. So…YMMV.
Thank you. The fundamental maxim of life. You get out of it what you put into it.
I don’t agree in terms of my example. The kid who didn’t improve at all was highly motivated to do so, and really worked hard during that course. Actually both kids did. One improved and one didn’t. And it wasn’t because of what they put into it.
ETA…the kid who improved by over 300 points…is a musician so the SAT score was very secondary to the application.
The kid who didn’t improve one point still got accepted to their top choices of colleges.
I apologize. That is not what I meant and I can see how you took it that way.
If she has a prjvate tutor, IMHO, then a course is 100% unecessary. Also, she will get burnt out and get a lot of useless and genrelized info that wont help improve her score. I’ve been a test prep tutor for years and way abck when, I started with one of those companies. They will be helpful for the general population who knows nothign about tests, but if the goal is the highest score, they are not useful. My opinion, of course.
In retrospect, it would have been better to get a private SAT tutor for both of my kids who could focus on their areas of relative weakness.
Our anecdotal experience.
Oldest who attended technical magnet (preCovod) was taking some summer SAT prep. (8 weeks twice a week or something…) Did ok on first trial, but far from stellar. Did not take anything else after that. Did self review (basic) and end up with something around 1570.
Second (Covid trapped), never attended any prep. Got increase with every attempt too.
I agree with private tutoring. Online or group studies are a huge waste of time that do not adress your kid’s needs.
You do not need expensive agency or only SAT tutor. You need someone who can pinpoint your kid problems and guide your student properly.
Both our kids had private.
I honestly think much of it has to do with the test given.
How else does one go on one section of the ACT from 31 to 24…or vice versa.
A lot of times the test that day matters.
Both kids improved their scores over time - but also by taking the test more times. One took it four and one took it seven. With super scoring, it helped. And I do think the private tutor (I think it was 6 sessions at like $95 a session) which were 90 minutes if I recall - through one of the test help franchises.
When I did my GMAT, a long time ago, I studied for 3 months - just one section a day for like 30 minutes and I just pounded on that - just one section a day and sometimes I repeated the same area three or four days in a row. It worked for me - immensely.
Each student is different and each test is different.
I’m sure if they do so prep in the summer it will be helpful. All can teach you the strategies needed to help improve scores - it’s just a question of how the student is able to process an online training. Every student reacts differently to different methods of training.
Best of luck.