SAT Study Guides

Go to library.garlandisd.net select Naaman Forest High School username nforesths p/w gisd --- there is ALL kinds of FREE tests and study guides.....we were told ANYONE can go to this site!! It's there! THey want it used!!! LMK if it works for you! There are all kinds of awesome things there -- career tests, college test prep, psat practice tests etc!
E.
message me if you need more info!

I work for a test prep company (RevolutionPrep).

Self-study from "The Big Blue Book" is better than nothing and can work for motivated, disciplined students but for most, it's a waste of time.

On-line self-study is either free or low cost and is better than the book or nothing at all, but doesn't really teach effective strategy. Self-study is a good way to reinforce bad habits ;-)

Next up the ladder is a group course. Most group courses run around $599 for either an in-person course at your child's school or an on-line small group course. With my company, on-line course are $599 and have a maximum of 6 students and are very popular. One of the nice things about our small group on-line classes is that we can group like students together and do classes that are skewed towards elite-level scorers, students who want to focus more on math or more on English, etc. Our group courses (on-campus and online) are 3 hours a week for 6 weeks plus 5 practice exams. Most other companies have similar schedules and instructional hours. From a good group course you should expect an average score increase of more than 200 points. The average for my students over the years has been 280 points., which is typical for my company. Every large company offers group courses and most offer the option of adding a couple of private tutoring sessions for an additional fee.

Finally, you have private tutoring, which offers the most customized teaching and the most schedule flexibility, but it's an investment. Typical costs for a "small" (eight-hour) package would run around $1200 and then over $2K for a "full" package of 20 hours and on and on from there. Private tutoring is a good fit for anyone who wants to feel like their child got "the best" instruction possible, for students who have crazy demands on their schedules and can't possibly meet at the same time every week, and for students who are really high scorers, really low scorers, English language learners, or have learning disabilities.

On to vocab - you won't see that because it's really minimal. There are only 19 questions on the SAT that are related to vocab at all, the sentence completions in the critical reading section. Of those 19 questions, 5 are hard and for students who aren't strong in vocab, those questions should be skipped. The easy and medium questions are better approached with effective strategy and not trying to cram vocab drills. Students for whom vocab is a natural strength will find these questions easier than students for whom this is not an area of strength will, but the difference is not enough to warrant spending a ridiculous amount of time trying to memorize "SAT words." It's a much different test than the one you and I took, and the biggest challenge in the Critical Reading section is paying attention to the long and boring reading passages, not vocab.

If you'd like more info, feel free to PM me. Hope that helps!

ETA: A word about SAT vs ACT. I advise all students to try a practice exam from both the SAT & the ACT and see what percentile their scores fall in. For 80% of students, the percentile is the same across both exams. That means that 20% of students will perform better on one than the other and for those students, the choice is clear - go where the higher score is to begin with. For the other 80%, which test to take is really a matter of style, preference, and the availability of test prep options. Up here in the Northeast, the SAT is much more popular so most students take that because it's what their friends are taking and what the school offers for a prep class. In other parts of the country, ACT is king.

What I would advise against is investing a lot of time and money prepping for both. What I often see happen is that a student will sign up for private tutoring with me and be certain that she or he is NOT taking the ACT. Then 16 or 18 hours into a 20-hour package, the student or parent will start asking about the ACT and want to prep for that as well. It's great business for me because it normally means that they extend the package and add more sessions, but it's better to figure that out right at the beginning and stick with one, especially because the ACT score usually ends up in the same percentile as the SAT did. Colleges accept both and value both and there is no advantage to taking one vs. the other or taking both vs. just one.

My two youngest both did the Revolution Test Prep class & benefitted from it a great deal. Both were in the honors math program at their school but found the review during their SAT prep helped. As they said, the concepts on the test included geometry & algebra I, both of which they hadn't seen in a couple of years. The reminders were really helpful. Additionally, the test-taking strategies they learned and the practice tests got them very comfortable with the format and the pacing of the exams.

For us, it was well worth the investment. Also, I know my kids would never have put the focus into self-study or review books. They needed a dedicated time with a teacher who had good strategies and skills to teach.

Both my kids went to Karen Dillard. They have different levels of classes but it's pretty pricy. The oldest one got a big scholarship from our school district to go.

The youngest one is like me. I need to actually go to a class for me to study and learn. They had about as many practice tests as they could take. They do an in class vocab and they have computers set up for kids to do on their own, before or after class. They study for SAT and ACT. His first to last practice test increased about 250 pts.

Revolution Prep does classes down here also. From what I remember, it didn't fit with my son's schedule very well. It was cheaper though.

The Texas colleges tend to have a number they are looking for on part of the tests. To get in the A&M College of Engineering, for example, you would need a certain score on the math, ect. Sometimes it's worth putting your money where your mouth is. I've seen many parents put up a heck of a lot more money doing special select sports. This was important enough to our sons future that I have no regrets. And I am one FRUGAL chick!

What's important to consider before plunging into any of the options that JB discusses, is how good of a student and self-starter is yours?

We bought the same book you did for my daughter to review on her own. AND in addition we had her take a course. What is very helpful about taking a group course is that they provide timed tests and create the environment your student will be testing under. And that experience cannot be duplicated at home, or with just a book.

Back then I also purchased a vocabulary CD set, or maybe it was from the library, and that helped her vocab tremendously. She just scored 99.9% on the vocab part of the GRE. Not bad.

We used Princeton Review when our daughter was studying for the SAT and ACT. They are located off Forest Lane and 75 in Dallas. We opted for private tutoring and had 24 sessions for roughly $2700. The instructor also helped with college applications and reviewed her essays before she submitted them to colleges and collegeboard.org.

Also, there is a prep place in Plano at Coit/Park (NW corner) same shopping center as Elliott's hardware. I believe it is Karen Dillards prep. My daughter went to Plano West and a lot of Plano West students went to Dillards.

Good luck.. it is a long process. Be patient and best wishes.

I know it is an investment but it is important to get good test scores to get in to any good school.

My daughter was in AP classes and had a GPA of 3.6 and the one on one was beneficial for her... Especially for focus, routine and learning concepts if how to take the test.

Never paid for any kind of prep for either. Checked study guides out from the public library.

I answered your other question with a long response, but specifically for vocabulary, reading challenging texts is the best way to build vocabulary. Students need to read, but then look up the words they don't know and make them their own. Since I know that most students don't do this . . .

A couple of good websites for vocabulary building are :
www.dynodictionary.com

and

http://www.visuwords.com

A.
AP English Language
College Reading (SAT Prep)

Use his PSAT score report as a guide.

I would check with the school guidance counselor, and college/career center advisor (if your school has one.) They are really the best resources for this information, and they usually have study guides you can check out rather than purchase.

Hmmmm. That is interesting. My son is a high school freshman and they have vocabulary words to study each week. They are studying the words specifically because they were finding that the kids were really losing points in that area on the SAT.

I will be interested in the answers you get, my hubby is talking about paying thousands of dollars for an SAT tutor for my son :(.

M

I just attended a workshop by a company called Ivy Experience ( google them and get on their mailing list. They have lots of good tips). They do SAT prep and help kids with their college essays. They told us it is a complete waste of time to study vocab words for the SAT.

You know what Sheryl, the more you put your ads on this page the more we will never do this. It makes us mad. We have reported you again. Go troll somewhere else.