Interested in using an online prep company and looking at Prepscholar.com
Does prepscholar simply follow a read a page and then answer a couple of questions? Is there any videos or speaking points, like an audio book?
I don’t see how simply reading a page and taking a quiz is going to be any different then buying a book and doing the same thing.
Hi @fflmaster-
I’m a cofounder of PrepScholar, so take what I say with potential bias in mind.
We’ve started introducing videos to a number of our lessons, especially those that are better suited for video explanations. Our lessons that do not have videos are interactive and feature sample questions that give you feedback on how you’re answering.
Surprisingly, in our analysis of our students, we found that videos have not substantially improved the performance of our students compared to interactive text lessons. My thesis for why this is the case is that videos tend to be passively absorbed. Just like watching Youtube, it’s very easy to watch a video and have the content go in one ear and out the other. You might have had experiences where you’re watching TV and get distracted in a daydream, and then 10 minutes later you don’t know what’s going on in the show.
On the other hand, understanding text requires active engagement with the material, which leads to more effective retention. This is counterbalanced by the difficulty of reading text, which might lower study time and make some students skip over it.
Overall I think it’s a wash, but some students definitely learn far better with text, and others definitely learn far better with video. And it’s important to find what works best for you.
To answer your other question, what sets PrepScholar apart is our customization and full-featured product. A lot of students have issues knowing what to study to most improve their score. We take care of that for you, by diagnosing your strengths and weaknesses and customizing your prep program to your skill level. We also built in progress trackers and motivational features to keep you studying and give you feedback on how you’re doing. All of this rests on top of our thousands of realistic practice questions. You can read more here: http://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/how-it-works2
Since you have limited study time and want maximum score results, you need to organize your studying for the highest impact possible per hour. I wrote a guide talking about these principles that you might find helpful: How to Get a Perfect 1600 SAT Score, by a 2400 Expert Full Scorer
At the end of the day, you need to find what works best for you. If this is books and self-guided studying like many students here on CC, that’s great. If a program helps keep you on track and organizes your studying, then that’s great too. If you want to try PrepScholar, we have a 5-day free trial. You can cancel right away if you’re not happy with how we educate.
Happy to answer more questions!