SAT/ACT Prep classes worth the money?

[Maddle]

Both of my sons took the SAT prep math classes given in the evenings by the Adult Education course offerings. They both did well, and they each saw some improvement. Second son said that he felt he was able to apply the test strategies to the verbal test also.

Maddle

 

[KelNottAt]

I was wondering if I could get one on one SAT tutoring. I know someone who teaches one on one for the LSATs, but haven't found anyone for SAT one on ones.

Punkin, when it's time, my kids will go to this lady: http://www.marthagagnon.com/index.php. I've met her once, listened to her philosophy at a "PSAT for Parents 101" meeting and was satisfied enough to know we'll try her.

Looks like she mostly tutors in Frederick and Carroll Counties. But, there is one course at Good Counsel.

Good luck.

 

[debbi801]

Punkin, etc., the JCC by me offers these classes: http://www.collegecenterjcc.org/

I wonder if any of the other JCCs or YWCAs offer something like it. Worth a shot.

 

[Aliceacc]

Do you live in suffolk county? Preferably town of brookhaven, lol??

Nope, Nassau.

How does Jones Beach sound? Or Tobay?

 

[madge]

My son took a KAPLAN prep class as an elective last semester. In all honesty, I'm not sure that it helped him much. My son is a gifted test-taker and did well on the ACT the first time he took it. The one thing my son did say was when he took the ACT after taking the class, he felt like he managed his time better throughout.

His score improved about 4 points. Not sure if it was the class or if another semester of school helped.

 

[Mickey's Neighbor]

I was wondering if I could get one on one SAT tutoring. I know someone who teaches one on one for the LSATs, but haven't found anyone for SAT one on ones.

Huntington Learning Centers will do one on one SAT or ACT tutoring but I think the rate is $70 an hour.

 

[wen774]

I took one back in the day and I think my score improved by 100 points or so.

What is killing me now is that I need to take the LSAT prep course and that sucker runs about 1200$...and i cant skip it because I really need the class(been away from school/standardized testing for years)

 

[punkin]

Punkin, etc., the JCC by me offers these classes: http://www.collegecenterjcc.org/

I wonder if any of the other JCCs or YWCAs offer something like it. Worth a shot.

The JCC we belong to has subcontracted with Princeton. I have heard mixed things about them.

 

[WETWHISTLE]

I took the Kaplan course YEARS ago...and it didn't help me one bit.

 

[firemist]

The classes are very very useful. I took a county school version and kaplan version. The cost was intense, my parents scraped for a year to get me the tution but they were definately worth it. The practices with the setting made my test taking faster and overall the classes forces you to study. If you or your child can read the book every day for 3 hours and learn the material then you can forgo the courses, otherwise they are very very important to getting a high score.

 

[Aliceacc]

GPA counts a lot too in college acceptance.

But GPA is too subjective. How many schools and teachers have classes where just about everyone gets an A or B? Or schools where the classes are incredibly watered down? Compare a kid who got an easy A in (forgive the expression) a Mickey Mouse course with a kid who sweated out a B in Physics or Precalculus. The first kid has the better GPA; the second kid is better suited for college.

Rank in class works the same way too. Because of ties in rank, lots of schools find a way to have an incredible number of kids with high ranks.

I think colleges like the SAT because things like rank in class or GPA are too easy to fudge. Even with the prep classes, most kids don't do as well on the SAT as they would like. There's a huge spread of scores, so the colleges have a better idea of who they want to accept.

 

[KelNottAt]

But GPA is too subjective. How many schools and teachers have classes where just about everyone gets an A or B? Or schools where the classes are incredibly watered down? Compare a kid who got an easy A in (forgive the expression) a Mickey Mouse course with a kid who sweated out a B in Physics or Precalculus. The first kid has the better GPA; the second kid is better suited for college.

Rank in class works the same way too. Because of ties in rank, lots of schools find a way to have an incredible number of kids with high ranks.

I think colleges like the SAT because things like rank in class or GPA are too easy to fudge. Even with the prep classes, most kids don't do as well on the SAT as they would like. There's a huge spread of scores, so the colleges have a better idea of who they want to accept.

This is exactly why many schools have adopted a weighted grading system. For example, "Beginners Chorus" is graded on a regular 4 point scale. But, AP Physics is graded on a 5 point scale. Therefore, the kid who gets an A in both classes has a 4.5 GPA.

Colleges know that and usually ask for an applicants "weighted GPA" and "non-weighted GPA." Likewise, class rank is always based on a student's weighted GPA in order to allow kids with the most difficult course load to be ranked above the ones who take 3 periods of gym. (At least around here it is.)

 

[Aliceacc]

But that still doesn't account for classes where everyone gets an A or a B. I know of teachers (not in my school) who have been pressured by the administration to change grades, or have had the grades changed for them. I've heard of classes where the median grade is in the 90's. So everyone does incredibly well, and colleges have no way of determining who the better student is.

I think that the SATs &/or SAT II's are going to be the method of choice of determining college acceptance for the forseeable future. So I think that kids find a lot of value in doing well on them.

Ideally, that would be accomplished by paying attention in class, by reading everything they could get their hands on (and not just in the months preceding the exam) and so on. But a lot of kids do that, and still struggle on the test. For those kids-- kids who are good students but find the SATs difficult-- I think the prep classes are just what the doctor ordered.

For kids who are going because their parents are making them, the courses are much less useful. I have called parents to let them know that their kids were wasting their SAT course money.

Oops, gotta go

 

[KelNottAt]

But that still doesn't account for classes where everyone gets an A or a B. I know of teachers (not in my school) who have been pressured by the administration to change grades, or have had the grades changed for them. I've heard of classes where the median grade is in the 90's. So everyone does incredibly well, and colleges have no way of determining who the better student is.

I think that the SATs &/or SAT II's are going to be the method of choice of determining college acceptance for the forseeable future. So I think that kids find a lot of value in doing well on them.

Ideally, that would be accomplished by paying attention in class, by reading everything they could get their hands on (and not just in the months preceding the exam) and so on. But a lot of kids do that, and still struggle on the test. For those kids-- kids who are good students but find the SATs difficult-- I think the prep classes are just what the doctor ordered.

For kids who are going because their parents are making them, the courses are much less useful. I have called parents to let them know that their kids were wasting their SAT course money.

Oops, gotta go

Yes, I agree.

 

[crisi]

Are they worth it - depends on the kid and the college.

Some colleges will let mouth breathing morons in (trust me, I just graduated from one that did) - if your kid's goal is to go to UW-Stout and they are an good student to start with, great test scores aren't going to do much. If you are trying to get your kid into a school with a less than 50% acceptance rate, I'd be all over test prep.

 

[mominwestlake]

There is a lot to think about. My dd won't be applying to Ivy League schools but can she get some merit scholarships out of good SAT/ACT scores? She should end up with a high grade-point in mostly honors classes but there are tons of other students just like her. She plays trombone in the marching band but I don't know if colleges care about that. She's also in other clubs at her school.

Will her PSAT scores be a good indicator of how she'll do on the SAT?
I got her some test prep software that I'll have to take a look at.

 

[bdcp]

There is a lot to think about. My dd won't be applying to Ivy League schools but can she get some merit scholarships out of good SAT/ACT scores? She should end up with a high grade-point in mostly honors classes but there are tons of other students just like her. She plays trombone in the marching band but I don't know if colleges care about that. She's also in other clubs at her school.

Will her PSAT scores be a good indicator of how she'll do on the SAT?
I got her some test prep software that I'll have to take a look at.

There is not as much scholarship money out there for "good" SAT scores especially if you're trying to get into a top school and I dont' mean Ivy League. Private schools have more scholarship money to offer than public ones. My DS (24) had a 1400 SAT and a 3.8 (he went to Thomas Jefferson HS for Science and Technology -some of his classes were college credit classes) in Fairfax county, VA, which is the #1 HS in the US. He only really wanted to go to UVA (1/3 of his graducating class applied and were accepted there, the norm is more like 2-3 students per HS in VA). Most of his class got into the college of their choice and only 1 student didnt' go right to college, but what that means is they are competing against others with high SAT and high GPA and TJ doesn't rank students since they would have all be top 5 students at their home high schools had they not gone to TJ so colleges treat them as top ranked. Very few people he went to school with got much scholarship money and those that did had perfect SAT's. If they had opted to go to less competetive colleges, those with lower GPA and SAT averages, they could have all gotten some scholarship money and a few did. But most chose to go to top schools because they were academically prepared for them and needed the challenge and as a result there just isn't as much money available to the good student who isn't poor. What I'm trying to say is dont' count on scholarship money for SAT's unless you have a perfect score or near perfect score unless you want to go to a lesser known school who is looking for top students and wants to raise their profile and rankings with top students attending there. My younger DS (21) wasn't the same student as his brother and higher SAT scores wouldn't have served him well because he's just not the same. He has different talents and getting into a "better" school because he got a higher SAT wouldn't have served him well at all.

PSAT scores are a good indicator for how she'll do on the SAT. Both my boys PSAT's were. Also, having talked to many parents who's kids took SAT prep classes, most didnt' improve their scores by more than 100 points, which in most cases wont make that big of a difference.

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

My DS's never did the prep courses, but they did take the SAT and ACT multiple times. I think that makes a HUGE difference!

 

[punkin]

My child gets very anxious during tests. That's why I am considering test prep (maybe even one on one). However, she is a very good student in honors and AP classes. Her wighted average (MD here) is over 4, so a good SAT score can really help her.

When I took it many years ago, I didn't even crack a book and did extremely well. Then again I'm the queen of standardized tests. I just seem to viscerally know how to take them. Too bad, I can't teach it.

 

[allison443]

When I took it many years ago, I didn't even crack a book and did extremely well. Then again I'm the queen of standardized tests. I just seem to viscerally know how to take them. Too bad, I can't teach it.

I am the same way; I wish that skill translated into something valuable in real life!

Just wanted to add that in my girls' college search, they encountered a few schools that awarded merit money for certain combinations of GPA/SAT scores. Other schools required certain SAT scores for entry to their Honors programs. So it may be worth it to try to attain a certain score depending on the college you are interested in. Also, I have seen numerous articles that the current high school seniors and current juniors are the largest class in recent years. Coupled with the fact that many kids now apply to 8 or 10 schools or more, applications have really increased. What may have been a "safety school" a few years ago may no longer be one!