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My son is a very bright kid, however, he is not a self starter. I am thinking of signing him up for one of those summer courses for SAT prep, such as Princeton Review. Any advice? He is now finishing 10th grade, so I am being told that to increase his bets he should plan to take the SAT twice - first on Oct 1st, and then the one in June next summer. Any advice would be appreciated.
From what I've seen the paid test prep courses are overpriced and only give marginal results. Since the SAT is a standardized test its very well documented and the self-study books are probably the best route to go.
Preparing for the SAT mainly consists of reading the prep book and spending lots of time preparing for it. Those who understand the exam, prepare wisely and work hard studying get the best results.
There is no easy way to prepare or shortcuts. The test prep companies like to sell the idea that going to their (overpriced) course somehow gives the test taker an edge over other students - it doesn't.
From what I've seen the paid test prep courses are overpriced and only give marginal results. Since the SAT is a standardized test its very well documented and the self-study books are probably the best route to go.
Preparing for the SAT mainly consists of reading the prep book and spending lots of time preparing for it. Those who understand the exam, prepare wisely and work hard studying get the best results.
There is no easy way to prepare or shortcuts. The test prep companies like to sell the idea that going to their (overpriced) course somehow gives the test taker an edge over other students - it doesn't.
The best preparation for standardized testing is reading--lots of high-level, interesting reading. Get him a recommended reading list and have him read this summer. Read along with him and have him read out loud to you and discuss what he is reading. He will learn vocabulary and critical thinking for very little money, but lots of time and effort. He would probably rather spend more money and put in less effort.
My son is a very bright kid, however, he is not a self starter. I am thinking of signing him up for one of those summer courses for SAT prep, such as Princeton Review. Any advice? He is now finishing 10th grade, so I am being told that to increase his bets he should plan to take the SAT twice - first on Oct 1st, and then the one in June next summer. Any advice would be appreciated.
Tnx!
I disagree with the other posters - I teach prep courses for standardized tests (although not SAT at the moment), and they most definitely can increase test scores. Although I don't know if the princeton course is any good, of course. However, test prep courses in general can make a real difference.
I have a friend who had 3 of her kids go through private tutors for SAT's. My daughter is finishing 9th grade. Over the summer, I am setting her up with a private tutor to prepare her for the SAT's. The private tutor will help her learn how to take the test. I think you will be paying too much with the Princeton Review from what I have heard other parents say about it, you don't get a lot from it. The school offered free SAT prep classes that were a waste of time.
AAVC - I don't know where you are located, but it seems these days from what we've read, most schools will take either the SAT or the ACT.
You might want to have your child take both and see how they do and then focus on the one that they do best on. Of course, it also depends on whether or not the college they are interested in will take either.
They both are very different as far as HOW you take the test, so they do really need to learn the how (for example, guessing on the SAT, if you guess wrong, counts against you, while it does not on the ACT).
My son has taken the ACT and did fairly well, but he trying to get guaranteed admission into a particular engineering program, so he going to test again to bring his scores up just a bit more. He took the SAT a few weeks ago and we are still waiting on the results. He is already signed up to take the ACT again in June. Depending on how he does at that point, I'm just going to have him do the online Prep course which includes some tests, etc.
There is a free practice test online at the SAT website - maybe have him take that and see how he does before spending a ton on a course he might not need.
If you read the link you'll also see that one of the keys to doing well on the SAT (and most other standardized tests for that matter) is test taking strategies, which is all that a lot of the SAT prep classes really teach.
If you read the link you'll also see that one of the keys to doing well on the SAT (and most other standardized tests for that matter) is test taking strategies, which is all that a lot of the SAT prep classes really teach.
I'm confused - how is what I said not correct? According to your link there is a wrong penalty. In other words - be careful about just randomly guessing because if you get it wrong, it will count against you. With the ACT it does not.
Well any wrong answer counts against so you weren't incorrect there, but, until recently the CollegeBoard imposed a "guessing penalty" on correct answers, they automatically deducted fractional points to account for guessing. That was why no one until the 1980's ever got a perfect score. That changed due to a lawsuit for kids that got all the answers right, although scores that were less than perfect still were penalized.
That changed a few years ago when the CollegeBoard stopped that practice and sent out the word that no longer should students skip questions they had no clue about but to answer them. This had the effect of raising the scores along with the recentering of the scores that was done in mid 1990's which effectively raised scores by about 100 points across the board.
Part of the test taking strategies taught is to recognize which two answers on the multiple choice are totally wrong with one of the remaining answers almost right and the last one totally correct. Now you're guessing from two instead of four.
The difference, generally, between the SAT and the ACT is that the SAT tests on new material that the student should be able to solve while the ACT tests on what they should have learned. Test prep for them is different, with the SAT prep concentrating on solving similar problems while ACT prep is more of a review.
In any case the SAT, especially, is invalid, which the CollegeBoard admits. The stated result of the SAT is to predict first year success in college. Not to compare school systems, schools or states. The predictive part fails because, while boys score higher on the SAT than girls (even though the test was changed and a writing part added to try to increase girls scores), boys still have lower GPAs in both high school and college.
First and foremost one has to remember the CollegeBoard is a profit making enterprise and it's in its best interest to have more and more kids taking the SAT and AP tests. Which is why, all of a sudden, there's a big push for AP classes which the CollegeBoard spearheaded in concert with the Gates and Broad Foundations.
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