<p>Why do some people seem to think that taking an SAT/ACT prep course or self-studying is equivalent to cheating?</p>
<p>I’ve met several people (during school) who think that you either have or you don’t. I don’t know what to make of that sort of thinking.</p>
<p>Cheating amounts to breaking the rules. CollegeBoard never gives a rule condemning preparation.</p>
<p>It’s cheating yourself. It’s being dishonest. It’s buying in to the hype. Spending money on it is literally buying in to the concept that it’s as important as people want to believe.</p>
<p>Well unfortunately, many colleges buy into that hype too :(</p>
<p>Taking SAT/ACT prep courses allows students to score higher than the level which they’re really at, and this lets them mis-represent themselves to colleges by claiming that they’re more ready for college than they really are.</p>
<p>Lol of course not, taking a prep course/self-studying isn’t considered cheating. That’s like saying, studying for next week’s exam is cheating.</p>
<p>Failure to practice SATs before you take the real one “allows students to score [lower] than where they are really at, and that let’s them misrepresent themselves to colleges by claiming they are [less] ready for college than they really are.”</p>
<p>No. That’s like asking if paying a tutoring company to help prepare you for a final exam is cheating. No it’s not. It’s not cheating yourself either or any of that nonsense. It’s perfectly fine and there’s a reason it exists.</p>
<p>I would have to disagree. I learned a significant amount of fresh material when I studied for the PSAT and SAT, and this knowledge carried over into my other studies (and has proved very helpful). I would say that my scores on both tests are accurate representations of my knowledge in those subjects.</p>