If you had private SAT tutoring for your kid - how long did he/she do the prep?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are you? If in Northern VA, no one is better than Albert Silverman who teaches out of a commercial townhouse on Kilworth Lane in Springfield near TJ HS. Many TJ students go to him and his stated goal is for each of his students to be a National Merit Scholar and get 800s on each section. He was recommended by a friend whose child took the class and got a perfect score and is now at Stanford. My daughter actually enjoyed his twice a week classes and found them very worthwhile. She didn't get 800s but came very close.

National Merit is based on SAT scores? I didn't know that.

How long was his twice weekly class (one hour?) and how long did she take the class before the SAT? Thanks.

He teaches PSAT and SAT prep. National Merit is based on PSAT scores (confirmed by SAT scores). The classes were 2 hrs each (one weekday and one weekend session). He recommends taking the SAT as soon after the class as possible so we timed it so that she took the SAT 1-2 weeks after his course finished.

[Anonymous]

My DS studied with Silverman as well - scored 1520 - he's amazing and aside from the 2x per week classes he tells the kids not to prep at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS studied with Silverman as well - scored 1520 - he's amazing and aside from the 2x per week classes he tells the kids not to prep at all.

How much does Silverman charge?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are you? If in Northern VA, no one is better than Albert Silverman who teaches out of a commercial townhouse on Kilworth Lane in Springfield near TJ HS. Many TJ students go to him and his stated goal is for each of his students to be a National Merit Scholar and get 800s on each section. He was recommended by a friend whose child took the class and got a perfect score and is now at Stanford. My daughter actually enjoyed his twice a week classes and found them very worthwhile. She didn't get 800s but came very close.

National Merit is based on SAT scores? I didn't know that.

How long was his twice weekly class (one hour?) and how long did she take the class before the SAT? Thanks.

He teaches PSAT and SAT prep. National Merit is based on PSAT scores (confirmed by SAT scores). The classes were 2 hrs each (one weekday and one weekend session). He recommends taking the SAT as soon after the class as possible so we timed it so that she took the SAT 1-2 weeks after his course finished.

Two tow hour classes for how many weeks? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We followed the US News guidelines with a semiprivate tutor and they said that in total, students should plan to spend 12-15 hours a week on prep starting six to eight weeks before they plan to take the final test. The study course should offer practice at least once a week for four weeks.

DS did it with his girlfriend and DS got a 1540. Girlfriend got a 1500.

15 hours per week for 8 weeks? Crazy.

+1 Those 120 hours could have been spent doing something meaningful. It explains a lot about why so many high SAT scorers get rejected by good schools. The opportunity cost for those extra couple points is tremendous. I can understand a student wanting a little test prep, but I can't imagine more than an hour a week, if they have a substantive high school course load.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We followed the US News guidelines with a semiprivate tutor and they said that in total, students should plan to spend 12-15 hours a week on prep starting six to eight weeks before they plan to take the final test. The study course should offer practice at least once a week for four weeks.

DS did it with his girlfriend and DS got a 1540. Girlfriend got a 1500.

15 hours per week for 8 weeks? Crazy.

+1 Those 120 hours could have been spent doing something meaningful. It explains a lot about why so many high SAT scorers get rejected by good schools. The opportunity cost for those extra couple points is tremendous. I can understand a student wanting a little test prep, but I can't imagine more than an hour a week, if they have a substantive high school course load.

It effectively cheapens the value of a really high score. Colleges can just assume (perhaps unfairly) that the kid who got the perfect score is a drone who devoted their life to test prep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We followed the US News guidelines with a semiprivate tutor and they said that in total, students should plan to spend 12-15 hours a week on prep starting six to eight weeks before they plan to take the final test. The study course should offer practice at least once a week for four weeks.

DS did it with his girlfriend and DS got a 1540. Girlfriend got a 1500.

15 hours per week for 8 weeks? Crazy.

+1 Those 120 hours could have been spent doing something meaningful. It explains a lot about why so many high SAT scorers get rejected by good schools. The opportunity cost for those extra couple points is tremendous. I can understand a student wanting a little test prep, but I can't imagine more than an hour a week, if they have a substantive high school course load.

It effectively cheapens the value of a really high score. Colleges can just assume (perhaps unfairly) that the kid who got the perfect score is a drone who devoted their life to test prep.

It really doesn't because I dont think that all of that prepping makes any difference.
He's teaching TJ kids? How much help do you think they need?

Your scores mostly come from your education and also taking the test again

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We followed the US News guidelines with a semiprivate tutor and they said that in total, students should plan to spend 12-15 hours a week on prep starting six to eight weeks before they plan to take the final test. The study course should offer practice at least once a week for four weeks.

DS did it with his girlfriend and DS got a 1540. Girlfriend got a 1500.

How on earth did these kids find 12-15 hours a week?

My kid is a fairly typical good student type. He has on main extracurricular activity, and some sport stuff. Not travel. He has 4 APs. No way was there an extra dozen hours. It was hard enough to fit in the three hours of weekly test prep we required.

He had 90 minutes of tutoring and then put in the same on his own. He did this for three months, and then again for six weeks when he retook.

I think working in pairs sounds wonderful and effective. I think what OP was being offered sounds tortuous.

[Anonymous]

These kids go to school for roughly 7 hours a day. They are learning new material in school, have homework and (usually) some extracurricular activities, too.

I can not imagine adding 12-15 hours a week of test prep to their already full load. That translates into 3 hours, 4 or 5 days a week. On top of school, on top of homework...

SAT prep is about learning tips for taking the test and filling in gaps that you might be a little shaky on - I can see doing one 90 minute evening class once a week followed by practice tests on the weekends but not much more than that. There is such a thing as over preparing for a test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These kids go to school for roughly 7 hours a day. They are learning new material in school, have homework and (usually) some extracurricular activities, too.

I can not imagine adding 12-15 hours a week of test prep to their already full load. That translates into 3 hours, 4 or 5 days a week. On top of school, on top of homework...

SAT prep is about learning tips for taking the test and filling in gaps that you might be a little shaky on - I can see doing one 90 minute evening class once a week followed by practice tests on the weekends but not much more than that. There is such a thing as over preparing for a test.

They're all doing the intense $4000 classes here at my DD's Bethesda private. We're the only ones not having our DD do that, it seems - the tutoring class company regularly sends out a listing of who else is taking the class now and in previous years going way back. You know, so you can see who the good parents are and who the inferior ones are. The school has them administer the girls one free practice test at school so thats how they get your information to send the letters out.
We don't have 4k, and if we did we wouldn't spend it on that but the pressure is strong to do that. I explained to one mom that DD wasn't test prepping recently and she stopped communicating with me. She strongly believes that you should do all you can for your kid.
I believe that DD can do some things for herself but this is not a popular belief in this environment.

DD did well on the test. She could have done slightly better on one part (perfect score on other part) but she can go over that herself and figure that out.
Is believing that your kid is capable really a bad thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kids go to school for roughly 7 hours a day. They are learning new material in school, have homework and (usually) some extracurricular activities, too.

I can not imagine adding 12-15 hours a week of test prep to their already full load. That translates into 3 hours, 4 or 5 days a week. On top of school, on top of homework...

SAT prep is about learning tips for taking the test and filling in gaps that you might be a little shaky on - I can see doing one 90 minute evening class once a week followed by practice tests on the weekends but not much more than that. There is such a thing as over preparing for a test.

They're all doing the intense $4000 classes here at my DD's Bethesda private. We're the only ones not having our DD do that, it seems - the tutoring class company regularly sends out a listing of who else is taking the class now and in previous years going way back. You know, so you can see who the good parents are and who the inferior ones are. The school has them administer the girls one free practice test at school so thats how they get your information to send the letters out.
We don't have 4k, and if we did we wouldn't spend it on that but the pressure is strong to do that. I explained to one mom that DD wasn't test prepping recently and she stopped communicating with me. She strongly believes that you should do all you can for your kid.
I believe that DD can do some things for herself but this is not a popular belief in this environment.

DD did well on the test. She could have done slightly better on one part (perfect score on other part) but she can go over that herself and figure that out.
Is believing that your kid is capable really a bad thing?

I'm surprised a prep company would publish the names of its students......doesn't seem ethical. I think there is some value in learning test taking strategies but you can get most of that from a book. The real prep is repetitions taking practice tests and making sure you understand the correct answer to every question you get wrong. Practice tests also teach you time management which frankly is a big key o success on any standardized test. These prep companies take advantage of parental guilt and add little value beyond what you could do with your child directly.....assuming you have the time, inclination, and capability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We followed the US News guidelines with a semiprivate tutor and they said that in total, students should plan to spend 12-15 hours a week on prep starting six to eight weeks before they plan to take the final test. The study course should offer practice at least once a week for four weeks.

DS did it with his girlfriend and DS got a 1540. Girlfriend got a 1500.

15 hours per week for 8 weeks? Crazy.

+1 Those 120 hours could have been spent doing something meaningful. It explains a lot about why so many high SAT scorers get rejected by good schools. The opportunity cost for those extra couple points is tremendous. I can understand a student wanting a little test prep, but I can't imagine more than an hour a week, if they have a substantive high school course load.

It effectively cheapens the value of a really high score. Colleges can just assume (perhaps unfairly) that the kid who got the perfect score is a drone who devoted their life to test prep.

It really doesn't because I dont think that all of that prepping makes any difference.
He's teaching TJ kids? How much help do you think they need?

Your scores mostly come from your education and also taking the test again

I would tend to agree with you. My point is more about how these scores are perceived. A perfect score on the SATs is impressive. A perfect score from a kid who studied 15 hrs/week for 8 weeks prior to the test? Not so much. When colleges see a 1600, if they think they might be getting the latter rather than the former, it cheapens the value of the achievement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These kids go to school for roughly 7 hours a day. They are learning new material in school, have homework and (usually) some extracurricular activities, too.

I can not imagine adding 12-15 hours a week of test prep to their already full load. That translates into 3 hours, 4 or 5 days a week. On top of school, on top of homework...

SAT prep is about learning tips for taking the test and filling in gaps that you might be a little shaky on - I can see doing one 90 minute evening class once a week followed by practice tests on the weekends but not much more than that. There is such a thing as over preparing for a test.

They're all doing the intense $4000 classes here at my DD's Bethesda private. We're the only ones not having our DD do that, it seems - the tutoring class company regularly sends out a listing of who else is taking the class now and in previous years going way back. You know, so you can see who the good parents are and who the inferior ones are. The school has them administer the girls one free practice test at school so thats how they get your information to send the letters out.
We don't have 4k, and if we did we wouldn't spend it on that but the pressure is strong to do that. I explained to one mom that DD wasn't test prepping recently and she stopped communicating with me. She strongly believes that you should do all you can for your kid.
I believe that DD can do some things for herself but this is not a popular belief in this environment.

DD did well on the test. She could have done slightly better on one part (perfect score on other part) but she can go over that herself and figure that out.
Is believing that your kid is capable really a bad thing?

Thanks for sharing. I'm appalled at the public shaming. My DD did Kaplan for $700 and got a 1510. Did Khan Academy (free) and it brought her score to 1570. He found the adaptive learning in Khan Academy helped to target her weak areas in an efficient manner. She didn't have to spend her life (or major $$$) doing test prep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We followed the US News guidelines with a semiprivate tutor and they said that in total, students should plan to spend 12-15 hours a week on prep starting six to eight weeks before they plan to take the final test. The study course should offer practice at least once a week for four weeks.

DS did it with his girlfriend and DS got a 1540. Girlfriend got a 1500.

15 hours per week for 8 weeks? Crazy.

+1 Those 120 hours could have been spent doing something meaningful. It explains a lot about why so many high SAT scorers get rejected by good schools. The opportunity cost for those extra couple points is tremendous. I can understand a student wanting a little test prep, but I can't imagine more than an hour a week, if they have a substantive high school course load.

It effectively cheapens the value of a really high score. Colleges can just assume (perhaps unfairly) that the kid who got the perfect score is a drone who devoted their life to test prep.

It really doesn't because I dont think that all of that prepping makes any difference.
He's teaching TJ kids? How much help do you think they need?

Your scores mostly come from your education and also taking the test again

I would tend to agree with you. My point is more about how these scores are perceived. A perfect score on the SATs is impressive. A perfect score from a kid who studied 15 hrs/week for 8 weeks prior to the test? Not so much. When colleges see a 1600, if they think they might be getting the latter rather than the former, it cheapens the value of the achievement.

How would they know?

[Anonymous]

Do colleges really care if a person "only" gets a 1510 vs a 1600?