Is SAT tutoring worth it?

[Anonymous]

Have her go through the 1600.io orange book and their Desmos crash course: https://1600.io/p/mastering-desmos-for-the-digital-sat

Desmos is tremendously powerful if you know how to use it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the types of schools she's considering?

Competitive state schools - UVA, William & Mary, UMD, with some public safeties thrown in. Her test scores are the weakest link. The rest of her application is strong - good GPA and rigor (4.7 W), ECs, community service, recs, essays.

We were in a similar boat and opted to not to continue tutoring. My thought process was that we were going to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on it, stress her out even more.. and we didn't think that her SAT score was ever going to match her GPA.

Your daughter's 4.7 GPA is incredibly high! Even a 1400 is not equivalent to her GPA (congrats to her!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the types of schools she's considering?

Competitive state schools - UVA, William & Mary, UMD, with some public safeties thrown in. Her test scores are the weakest link. The rest of her application is strong - good GPA and rigor (4.7 W), ECs, community service, recs, essays.

We were in a similar boat and opted to not to continue tutoring. My thought process was that we were going to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on it, stress her out even more.. and we didn't think that her SAT score was ever going to match her GPA.

Your daughter's 4.7 GPA is incredibly high! Even a 1400 is not equivalent to her GPA (congrats to her!)

It's called crazy grade inflation!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is a hard working student but not a great test taker. She’s registered for the SAT in August and has some time this summer to prep but we want to be as efficient as possible. She has accommodations for anxiety and so far her prepping has consisted of an 8-hour online boot camp and self study with Khan, but she’s been more focused on her schoolwork and AP exams this year so hasn’t been as disciplined as she could be with the SAT prep. She’s taken both the SAT and the ACT and prefers the SAT so we won’t bother with the ACT again.

Fall 2023 PSAT 1120
March 2024 SAT 1280
April ACT 27
June 2024 SAT 1270

Would tutoring help a kid like this? She’ll need at least a 1400 to submit her scores to her preferred schools. Her performance is just below the midpoint for her high performing public school. Would you pay for tutoring in this situation or give up and TO?

I’m leaning toward tutoring because I think DD might regret not doing her best - DH thinks it’s not worth it and she’s probably maxed out.

Yes. I'm a former Kaplan SAT/GRE/GMAT teacher and tutor, and I regularly increased scores by about 200 points. That is would give her completely different options.

Use tutoring. A good tutor and work with her to figure out exactly why she is getting questions wrong, and give her step by step strategies to get them right next time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is a hard working student but not a great test taker. She’s registered for the SAT in August and has some time this summer to prep but we want to be as efficient as possible. She has accommodations for anxiety and so far her prepping has consisted of an 8-hour online boot camp and self study with Khan, but she’s been more focused on her schoolwork and AP exams this year so hasn’t been as disciplined as she could be with the SAT prep. She’s taken both the SAT and the ACT and prefers the SAT so we won’t bother with the ACT again.

Fall 2023 PSAT 1120
March 2024 SAT 1280
April ACT 27
June 2024 SAT 1270

Would tutoring help a kid like this? She’ll need at least a 1400 to submit her scores to her preferred schools. Her performance is just below the midpoint for her high performing public school. Would you pay for tutoring in this situation or give up and TO?

I’m leaning toward tutoring because I think DD might regret not doing her best - DH thinks it’s not worth it and she’s probably maxed out.

Yes. I'm a former Kaplan SAT/GRE/GMAT teacher and tutor, and I regularly increased scores by about 200 points. That is would give her completely different options.

Use tutoring. A good tutor and work with her to figure out exactly why she is getting questions wrong, and give her step by step strategies to get them right next time.

(The way to do this is by taking practice tests and then going over every wrong answer very methodically. If it's a content issue, the tutor will know what to teach. If it's a test strategy issue, the title can help with that, too.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is a hard working student but not a great test taker. She’s registered for the SAT in August and has some time this summer to prep but we want to be as efficient as possible. She has accommodations for anxiety and so far her prepping has consisted of an 8-hour online boot camp and self study with Khan, but she’s been more focused on her schoolwork and AP exams this year so hasn’t been as disciplined as she could be with the SAT prep. She’s taken both the SAT and the ACT and prefers the SAT so we won’t bother with the ACT again.

Fall 2023 PSAT 1120
March 2024 SAT 1280
April ACT 27
June 2024 SAT 1270

Would tutoring help a kid like this? She’ll need at least a 1400 to submit her scores to her preferred schools. Her performance is just below the midpoint for her high performing public school. Would you pay for tutoring in this situation or give up and TO?

I’m leaning toward tutoring because I think DD might regret not doing her best - DH thinks it’s not worth it and she’s probably maxed out.

Yes. I'm a former Kaplan SAT/GRE/GMAT teacher and tutor, and I regularly increased scores by about 200 points. That is would give her completely different options.

Use tutoring. A good tutor and work with her to figure out exactly why she is getting questions wrong, and give her step by step strategies to get them right next time.

NP—any suggestions on how to identify a good tutor? Beyond personal recommendations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the types of schools she's considering?

Competitive state schools - UVA, William & Mary, UMD, with some public safeties thrown in. Her test scores are the weakest link. The rest of her application is strong - good GPA and rigor (4.7 W), ECs, community service, recs, essays.

We were in a similar boat and opted to not to continue tutoring. My thought process was that we were going to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on it, stress her out even more.. and we didn't think that her SAT score was ever going to match her GPA.

Your daughter's 4.7 GPA is incredibly high! Even a 1400 is not equivalent to her GPA (congrats to her!)

It's called crazy grade inflation!

Maybe, but DD’s counselor said she’s in the 85th percentile of her huge class (per grades and rigor), yet her scores are in the lower 45th percentile, so something is off.

[Anonymous]

OP here. We’ve decided to sign her up for six weekly tutoring sessions through PrepMatters, which includes homework materials and proctored practice tests. DD is excited and I guess it’s worth it to know she’s left nothing on the table.

[Anonymous]

Heard stories with private tutors improving 200 points. But usually the score improves as the school progresses. Wait until 11-th grade to take the test.

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't hurt to get some help, but I would not pay much, the expensive tutors don't have any magic tricks other than better sales promotions.

Take the SAT a couple more times, with super scoring the chances are that your kid will get at least some score improvement.

[Anonymous]

The most surprising thing we learned when hiring an SAT tutor for math (after DC self-studied and took the test 2x on his own): Tutor said to DC, “Wait, you’ve been doing all the math problems during the test? That’s not how we do it here.” And proceeded to teach him a process of evaluating/eliminating the math answers to arrive at the correct answer much more quickly that how he was previously doing it. His math score increased 60 points using this method.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Heard stories with private tutors improving 200 points. But usually the score improves as the school progresses. Wait until 11-th grade to take the test.

She’s a rising Senior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The most surprising thing we learned when hiring an SAT tutor for math (after DC self-studied and took the test 2x on his own): Tutor said to DC, “Wait, you’ve been doing all the math problems during the test? That’s not how we do it here.” And proceeded to teach him a process of evaluating/eliminating the math answers to arrive at the correct answer much more quickly that how he was previously doing it. His math score increased 60 points using this method.

Can you recommend the tutor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We’ve decided to sign her up for six weekly tutoring sessions through PrepMatters, which includes homework materials and proctored practice tests. DD is excited and I guess it’s worth it to know she’s left nothing on the table.

How did you choose prep matters?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We’ve decided to sign her up for six weekly tutoring sessions through PrepMatters, which includes homework materials and proctored practice tests. DD is excited and I guess it’s worth it to know she’s left nothing on the table.

How did you choose prep matters?

I’d heard good things from other parents, read good reviews on DCUM, and checked out Yelp. I liked that there was no package contract and it’s personalized. She won’t need more diagnostics because she already has practice tests through BlueBook. The tutor will use those to build her program. After the initial consultation, we were matched with one of the more affordable tutors and we will end up spending $1250-$1500 for 5-6 sessions. She’ll get 30-60 minutes of homework per week to do before sessions, and will probably do 2 more practice tests. That’s all I’m willing to do.