Anonymous wrote:My DS is in 11th grade and needs some test prep for the SAT. He has tried online test prep and it did not work well and also self-teaching using online free materials. At this point, we are looking to get him some in person test prep tutoring. We are in Bethesda/DC area. We are looking at Capital Educators and Prep Matters, any suggestions or reviews would be helpful. TIA!!

I test prepped my own kid. He went from 490s on the practice tests to 650+ on the actual test (he's only taken it once). I made him take multiple practice tests, one a weekend, with me timing him. Then (and this was the really hard part) I made him sit down with me and we went over every single wrong answer to figure out why he got them wrong. We came up with a test strategy that worked. He's not a super student, but he's smart, and he did well enough on the actual test, I'm sure that's because I did that prep for him. No drilling of vocabulary, etc. I flipped through some of the test books, and they seemed like a ridiculous waste of time. Help your kid come up with a test taking strategy and hope he uses it.

Strong vote for Prep Matters

Yes, he has. ACT was not a good test for him at all.

Has he done sample tests for both SAT and ACT? A good test prep place should evaluate him on both because the tests are different enough that some kids click better with the ACT than the SAT, and vice versa. Colleges now take either test, so your son should find out which is the better test for him. Our test prep wasn't in the DC area so I can't speak to specific firms here but I would tell any prep place to give sample tests for both.

We've also tried both and Prep Matters was much better than Capital Educators. My DC used the (free) personalized Khan Academy tutoring after the 1st time taking the SAT and got a score in the high 1500's.

We had a good experience with Capital Educators. Their approach is good for kids who benefit from structure. They will pre-assess where you kid is starting (like do they need remediation of what they should have learned or can they jump right to testing tips). They are put in a class with kids at their level. They take lots of practice tests, and are tutored according to the group's weaknesses. Even just all of that practice helps them feel at ease, and handle time management on the day of the actual test. We found the company to be professional, responsive and flexible (though pricey).

If finances are an issue re the private test prep places, including those mentioned here, look at Montgomery College. They offer a test prep course that is much cheaper and you'll get the same results.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks PP, Which tutor did you have and did you see a significant score jump? How long did you use their service?

Yes, DC went from a 29 to a 34 on the ACT. We used the service for about three months. DC had had some pretty crappy and inconsistent math instruction over the years that led to a lot of knowledge gaps. The tutor was useful for figuring out where the gaps were and providing problem sets targeted specifically to those areas. We did not use a tutor for reading/writing sections as DC was already performing OK on those sections.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks PP, Which tutor did you have and did you see a significant score jump? How long did you use their service?

I question if your kid is putting in the time?

If not, there's nothing magic at any test prep center.

Another vote for PrepMatters

It may cost a little more, it really depends on what your DS needs, but we chose Breakthrough Test Prep.

At most of the others, you don't know who will actually be the tutor and if your DC is going to be able to deal with them.

At Breakthrough, you can pick up the phone talk with Harriet and hand the phone to DC and get an answer.

Thanks PP, Which tutor did you have and did you see a significant score jump? How long did you use their service?

Anonymous wrote:My DS is in 11th grade and needs some test prep for the SAT. He has tried online test prep and it did not work well and also self-teaching using online free materials. At this point, we are looking to get him some in person test prep tutoring. We are in Bethesda/DC area. We are looking at Capital Educators and Prep Matters, any suggestions or reviews would be helpful. TIA!!

We did both (long story) and preferred Prep Matters.

My DS is in 11th grade and needs some test prep for the SAT. He has tried online test prep and it did not work well and also self-teaching using online free materials. At this point, we are looking to get him some in person test prep tutoring. We are in Bethesda/DC area. We are looking at Capital Educators and Prep Matters, any suggestions or reviews would be helpful. TIA!!