Sat

I bought my son the prep books which he is working on. He is going into his freshman year but wants to take them early so that he can take them a few times. I honestly think this time we are going to have him do the PSATs first then in his sophomore year take the first SAT.

Practice, practice, practice. At the high school I went to, we started taking practice exams starting freshman year. Math teachers would give a section of the math test probably once a week (not the entire test, of course, but maybe 20-30 questions at a time). Once you get a feel for the style of the test and the kinds of questions that will be asked, it takes a lot of the mystery out of it. Once you know what areas you have trouble with - you know what to study. The same goes for the language arts sections of the test. You can buy practice tests at any bookstore, or online. There's really no more to it than that. Take practice tests ALL the time, study the parts you get wrong, repeat.

(By the way, my high school was in the 90th percentile nationwide in terms of average SAT scores - so the practice, practice, practice method really does work! =)

I would ask the English and Math teachers at your high school what courses, books and websites offer the best preparation. It is their job to know that. I purchsed the materials that my daughter's teachers recommended for her to prepare for the Regents this year.

Sylvan is wonderful. Kind of expensive, but brought my daugher up 9 points.

I taught an SAT prep course at a tutoring center years ago. If you haven't already done so, take a practice test provided on the College Board website http://sat.collegeboard.com/practice

This will give you a good idea of your strengths and weaknesses. From there you can decide what areas to concentrate on before the test.

Good luck,
K.

I paid for a tutor for my son. He was very well versed in taking the SAT, and my son's scores went up by hundreds. It was a private tutor in our area, not a large corporation. I paid over $600, and he was tutored one-on-one. By the end he had taken many practice exams.

Good luck!

Updated

One more thought - there are 2 ways to increase your scores - by knowing more, and by knowing how to take the test. For example, you get full credit for correct answers, no credit for a blank answer, and 1/4 credit for an incorrect answer. Therefore, never answer a question you have no idea about, and be sure to guess if you can eliminate at least 2 answers - the odds are then with you. A good knowledgeable tutor will know how to maximize your score with the knowledge you have.

you can go to an SAT preparing course, almost all colleges have them or can direct you where to go, or an SAT preparing guide is good too, you can rent them online for a very low price.

Best of Luck!!!

Study hard and get some books for help. They are some places on the internet that might be of help for you too for the SAT's.....

Good Luck and take care.

Either see if the local high school has a class or some small local colleges have 1 or 2 day classes. There's alot of insight these classes give you that the study books don't, I highly recommend looking into this