SAT Prep Suggestions

AllAloha

Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2018
Messages
11
My DS and I have been looking at SAT/ACT prep courses online. He has been using Khan Academy on his own but has had a hard time keeping motivated on a daily basis. We both agree that a class of some sort that has a scheduled time with personal feedback would help him. There are so many programs to choose from, I wonder if anyone has some advice and personal experience with any of these online programs. Actually, any SAT prep advice would be helpful.
 
My DS tried the online with little success. We found a local SAT/ACT coach/tutor that he would meet with weekly. He had a dramatic improvement after working with this coach for a few months. The tutor taught him how to take the test as opposed to just focusing on the problem solving side. Not sure if you have local tutors, but it worked in our case.
 
DS just started on-line review course with Princeton Review. The course meets every Sunday 2-5 p.m. on-line. The course goes through September, but DS has a slot to take the SAT for the first time on August 29th. He will likely take the SAT more than once. Sunday afternoons are perfect for us because it is the only time where DS never has conflicting school or ECA's. (Our high school normally starts again in early August.) I can't tell you how good the class is because I am not watching with him. However, I think anyone who puts in the time will benefit from any review course.
 
After struggling with Khan, we switched to Prep Scholar for our DS and saw a significant improvement (4 points on the ACT over six months). One caveat is the price. It's expensive. We took the advice of a fellow SAF parent and set up an agreement with our son. We paid for it but if he didn't stick to the set schedule, he would reimburse us for the cost of the program. I believe they even guarantee a certain point increase for ACT or SAT. Just bear in mind that the student must complete the program, which may be extensive.

I also think that taking the tests (actual or practice) repeatedly helped DS learn how to manage his time. It gave him insight as to how the test was structured and where to spend extra moments that would pay off. Good luck.
 
I will vote for PrepScholar too, especially for the math portion. The program is expensive and requires a lot of manual work on the part of the student, but DS raised his math score significantly and got a 780 on his last attempt.

FWIW, I was not as impressed by the reading portion of the program.
 
Questions. And then more questions.
This is how my DW improved her MCAT and both my DD and DS improved there ACTs.
 
We found a local company that had an in-person 30 hour boot camp. It was well worth the money in my opinion. We've heard from friends who used online services and they also had good results. I recommend taking both the SAT and the ACT. My DS originally wasn't planning to take the ACT but followed the advice of a HS counselor and the result was an ACT score that overall was better than his SAT. He ultimately only submitted his ACT to USAFA and other colleges.
1594068220358.png
 
Questions. And then more questions.
This is how my DW improved her MCAT and both my DD and DS improved there ACTs.

+1

Especially for the ACTs which tests both knowledge as well as the ability to answer in a compressed time frame. For every sportscenter highlight, there are thousands and thousands of unseen reps that allow the player to build his/her skills and confidence
 
EEBTTF is SOooo dead-on right. The value of prep courses is primarily in learning the test, not re-learning the areas the test covers. My SA daughter didn't need much help with ACT prep, but my other daughter moved her score 9 pts on the ACT by taking mock exams and then reviewing her answers with a tutor (in person). Be aware that there is huge variability in the quality of tutors out there.

If you live in an area with HSs that are putting athletes into Division 1 football or basketball programs, have your DS contact a head coach or two. DS can tell them about his SA goal and ask them for POCs for reputable scholarship counseling services in your area. Do Not scout for one yourself on the internet (gets real sleazy, real fast). Reputable athletic scholarship counseling services match HS Athletes to schools, which often involves improving given athlete's SAT/ACT scores. A good athletic scholarship counseling service will know EXACTLY who the best test tutors are in your area, We found a counseling service in our area that ran a mock ACT and SAT twice every weekend. The testing itself wasn't expensive; optional one-on-one post-test exam review and tutoring was a little pricey, but it sure worked DD#2! When she took a real scored ACT, she'd dissected 100s of ACT questions, and had 12-14 mock ACT exams under her belt. It was just "another day at the office" for her. She hit her mark and got into the State school she wanted to attend; probably saved me around $100K over sending her to a "Joke School" for a "College Experience."

Whatever his results are, Kudos to your son for taking a shot at getting into an SA. Its "A Road Less Traveled By" and any kid who chooses it and makes the effort to apply is special IMO.

BTW: The are ACT and SAT "Timers" that ARE LEGAL to use during the test. They graphicly display time remaining in a given test period, (one less thing for the DS to worry about). About $35-$50 new amazon; about $25 used (once?) on Ebay

Congrats on the Kid; good luck.

Note: I should add that our USNA DD was a recruited athlete (no LOA). We hired a scholarship counseling service for her because she wasn't exclusively focused on USNA and the service helped us get a handle on the broad/tangled college recruiting process. DD#2 (the one who took advantage of the help with testing) was not a recruited athlete, but she found that coaches were happy to share info to help her, and counseling services were happy to let her test and tutor along with their client athletes
 
Last edited:
Some feedback on DS's recent test prep.

DS is a rising junior. He has not taken the SAT yet. I put him in a Princeton Review class that meets 2-5 p.m. on Sundays, June through September. He just took a practice SAT test through the course. We learned that DS is behind in math, even to the point of not having been taught some of the Algebra 2 yet in school (our local public schools are not very good IMHO.) So, I immediately hired a private math tutor and have him working every day on his math.

I had signed him up to take the SAT for the first time August 29th, but he is clearly not ready. The practice test was a wake-up call for us. He has a lot of work ahead. He is now scheduled to take the SAT in December.

The moral of the story. It is never too early to start preparing for the SAT/ACT. And we better have a Plan B, C and D.
 
Questions. And then more questions.
This is how my DW improved her MCAT and both my DD and DS improved there ACTs.
I've posted that several times since becoming a member of this forum. Take practice tests. Timed practice tests. Learning how to take the test just as important as knowing the material.
 
My experience is old as my kids are done with college and both have MSs. My first one needed both math and vocab prep. She read a lot but didn't seem to test well. She wasn't young for her grade... I found a number of those prep books in thrift stores untouched (!)and offered her 1/2 the money it costs for each prep program. I told her we had the $ and we wanted to support her education prep but we preferred the money to stay in the family.!.She was thrilled to have some $ coming as we only gave them money when they did some sort of work.. She went through 2 or 3 of the books. Plus extra math problems..every day. Plus extra word study... For the vocabulary part I tested her on word meanings of maybe 5000 to 10000 words. There are really good vocab work books. She worked on them while riding the bus to her volunteer job. Maybe 6 months or so later ... She had raised her score more than 100 points ....What it did for her self esteem!. All of a sudden she felt she was one of the smart ones and she carried her head high and had more self confidence.. She glowed! we were so proud of her! Best $ I ever spent. Her score went from slightly above average to quite good. She was discouragingly reconciled to her first score but I knew the prep could only help her..and really it was maybe $300 ? I contributed. 15 years ago... She applied to a few schools and chose AFA and loved it. She continued to study vocabulary even as a new officer. She told me you have 15 minutes to impress others about your promotability and it is based on your exact word usage .. Her vocabulary now is brilliant and she speaks eloquently. She has been nominated for many AF awards . I think how close she would have come to missing out on her fabulous career if she had kept her first score. Don't settle! Parents should step in at times and somehow wave a carrot ... .. I tell people your vocabulary needs to soak in for years. Math you need to learn, then brush up with the prep books . Vocabulary is more long term. You can't really cram it.. Its a tool for life.

The second one did an online etymolygy course as a homeschooled middle schooler plus several years of Latin and Logic plus years of about 4 other foreign languages.. . This one had finished all of our Grishams by about 3rd grade.much to my horror! but the sad endings kept her from studying law... so that worked out..
She was a closet reader.,She didn't really need the prep books but she got the same offer as her sister.. She did logic because she loved it..and had classes or tutoring in math and a lot of logic.. She just missed one or 2 questions on the math part..
The state U didn't much care and it wasn't a big deal to her either.. Her friends were brilliant and talked about other things.. However now in her work as a software developer they have to take a four hour test even to interview !for a new company.. She said you need to study for more than a month for each one. (in addition to working) I keep asking, what kind of a test? She just said its like a GRE but harder and you have to study hard as it's on a variety of topics. She said you can't take any test without studying a lot .. I'm a little baffled. its so different in her field.. So she will be studying much harder than she ever did for the sat.. She said she can't apply for any new jobs unless she has done the test prep.. So two different siblings and how testing and test prep impacted them. I would also add this is one of the last things educationally you can do for your child as they leave your nest..
.
 
One last comment in response to the comment re quality of math in schools. My younger got one of her degrees in general math (BA). One course taken was a senior level course designed or required for math ed majors. At the end they had to do a 30 minute biography presentation on a mathematician including the actual math concepts. . Anyway I asked her how it went and she said she was shocked. "What happened?" She explained the answers to the math problems were solution sets. She said the other students had no idea that an answer to a math problem could possibly be a set. They had never heard of that. She said this was middle school math and !these kids had no idea.! I mentioned.. "well a lot of that was at the end of the books and they don't seem to finish math books.in school.."..And then she added these were math ed majors ..college seniors soon headed.out to a classroom.. She said in her presentation of Piano she kept trying to explain set theory without showing her amazement... She kept saying , "Mom, these are going to be the math teachers for our kids. Whats going to happen? "
.
 
For ACT, look up Huntingdon ACT prep. Well worth the money, and everyone that we referred and our referral source did really well. My DDs jumped 4 and 5 points on their scores. It also had spillover to the SAT, where they had corresponding scores on the concordance table. I love that word, concordance. SO SAT-y! Why not just matching table? Corresponding table?

It is not only which test you do better, but which sections. This will help your strategy. Double check, last cycle all SAs superscore, and ONE super DUPER scores (HINT!). Ok, it was USNA! Within superscoring, figure out whether it's the entire test superscored, or particular SECTIONS. Most State U or U or State schools do not superscore. Most private schools do. Also figure out if the scores appear on your high school transcript. To say "test optional" really isn't if it's smack dab there on your transcript. And while you're reviewing your transcript, try to get a hardcopy of your school profile.
 
Back
Top