A resource that my students have been using lately is Beestar High School which gives my students access when they have family vacations while keeping them with a structured coursework to help prepare them for their academic success. Depending on how each student responds (cram classes vs online/self-study) students may receive different score varations. Overall my students have all seen increase in their scores through Beestar High School and the program does a great job in keeping students consistent in their studying. I think that some students just need consistent practice and learning the actual concept which is what Beestar High School prepares for the students. What they learn on the website can be applied to current and new SAT tests.

Anyone have a good experience with any SAT/ACT online prep programs? I was just looking at one by Anthony James - Green. He claims his program can raise your score by 400+ points.

Anonymous wrote:There is no need to prep for the test. Kids will do just fine as long as they get a good night of sleep before the test and have breakfast or snack in the morning. Only prep any kid needs is reading books. Just make sure the kid reads.

Remember, prepping distorts the test result an therefore the score will be an inaccurate assessment of your child's ability/aptitude. Don't you want to have an accurate assessment of how your kid is doing? Of course you do.

Remember, any prepping by your kid for any aptitude/ability test will instantly turn you into an Asian tiger mom.

+1

Would highly recommend Capital Educators.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you advise your child to go into their math final without having studied beforehand? Of course not!

Therefore you should advise your child to study (either at home, through a class, or with a tutor) for their standardized college admissions exams.

Why is it ok to prep for standardized college admission exam but not for standardized high school admission exam?

At the high school admissions level the stakes are simply not as high. The truth is that your child should attend the high school for which they are best suited academically, and going into a high school admissions exam without prep is the best way to gauge their natural capabilities.

Your child should attend the college for which he/she is best suited academically, and going into a college admissions exam without prep is the best way to gauge his/her natural capabilities.

That is true except there is not a high school student today who does not prepare in some way, if only at a practice sitting in school, for the rigors of the standardized college admissions exams. The stress and strain of three plus hours of intense testing is not something that most students can anticipate, and therefore they should take the time to practice, practice, practice at home, in the library, at school, alone or with the help of a group or private lesson. The College Board provides plenty of free, online SAT practice tests, as does the ACT site.

When it comes to taking the college admissions exams, the best way to gauge your ability vis-a-vis your American peers is to practice and prepare like most of them do, by taking at least one sample exam under strict, testing conditions, and then reviewing your mistakes so that you understand them. This is good advice, but you need not have your child prepare if you do not want to.

Almost all high school students (in SAT States) take PSAT. I believe all FCPS students take PSAT in Sophomore year. PSAT is very similar to SAT except it is somewhat shorter so that should be enough practice. The point is why is prepping for other aptitute/entrance type exam not ok while prepping for SAT is fine?

The PSAT is not enough preparation as the actual SAT or ACT exams are considerably longer, and somewhat different formats (for ACT in particular). You should prep for either the SAT or ACT by taking at least one, but preferably more, practice exams (there are ones available at no charge on the College Board and ACT websites) under as-close to timed test conditions as possible. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you advise your child to go into their math final without having studied beforehand? Of course not!

Therefore you should advise your child to study (either at home, through a class, or with a tutor) for their standardized college admissions exams.

Why is it ok to prep for standardized college admission exam but not for standardized high school admission exam?

At the high school admissions level the stakes are simply not as high. The truth is that your child should attend the high school for which they are best suited academically, and going into a high school admissions exam without prep is the best way to gauge their natural capabilities.

Your child should attend the college for which he/she is best suited academically, and going into a college admissions exam without prep is the best way to gauge his/her natural capabilities.

That is true except there is not a high school student today who does not prepare in some way, if only at a practice sitting in school, for the rigors of the standardized college admissions exams. The stress and strain of three plus hours of intense testing is not something that most students can anticipate, and therefore they should take the time to practice, practice, practice at home, in the library, at school, alone or with the help of a group or private lesson. The College Board provides plenty of free, online SAT practice tests, as does the ACT site.

When it comes to taking the college admissions exams, the best way to gauge your ability vis-a-vis your American peers is to practice and prepare like most of them do, by taking at least one sample exam under strict, testing conditions, and then reviewing your mistakes so that you understand them. This is good advice, but you need not have your child prepare if you do not want to.

Almost all high school students (in SAT States) take PSAT. I believe all FCPS students take PSAT in Sophomore year. PSAT is very similar to SAT except it is somewhat shorter so that should be enough practice. The point is why is prepping for other aptitute/entrance type exam not ok while prepping for SAT is fine?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you advise your child to go into their math final without having studied beforehand? Of course not!

Therefore you should advise your child to study (either at home, through a class, or with a tutor) for their standardized college admissions exams.

Why is it ok to prep for standardized college admission exam but not for standardized high school admission exam?

At the high school admissions level the stakes are simply not as high. The truth is that your child should attend the high school for which they are best suited academically, and going into a high school admissions exam without prep is the best way to gauge their natural capabilities.

Your child should attend the college for which he/she is best suited academically, and going into a college admissions exam without prep is the best way to gauge his/her natural capabilities.

That is true except there is not a high school student today who does not prepare in some way, if only at a practice sitting in school, for the rigors of the standardized college admissions exams. The stress and strain of three plus hours of intense testing is not something that most students can anticipate, and therefore they should take the time to practice, practice, practice at home, in the library, at school, alone or with the help of a group or private lesson. The College Board provides plenty of free, online SAT practice tests, as does the ACT site.

When it comes to taking the college admissions exams, the best way to gauge your ability vis-a-vis your American peers is to practice and prepare like most of them do, by taking at least one sample exam under strict, testing conditions, and then reviewing your mistakes so that you understand them. This is good advice, but you need not have your child prepare if you do not want to.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you advise your child to go into their math final without having studied beforehand? Of course not!

Therefore you should advise your child to study (either at home, through a class, or with a tutor) for their standardized college admissions exams.

Why is it ok to prep for standardized college admission exam but not for standardized high school admission exam?

At the high school admissions level the stakes are simply not as high. The truth is that your child should attend the high school for which they are best suited academically, and going into a high school admissions exam without prep is the best way to gauge their natural capabilities.

Your child should attend the college for which he/she is best suited academically, and going into a college admissions exam without prep is the best way to gauge his/her natural capabilities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you advise your child to go into their math final without having studied beforehand? Of course not!

Therefore you should advise your child to study (either at home, through a class, or with a tutor) for their standardized college admissions exams.

Why is it ok to prep for standardized college admission exam but not for standardized high school admission exam?

At the high school admissions level the stakes are simply not as high. The truth is that your child should attend the high school for which they are best suited academically, and going into a high school admissions exam without prep is the best way to gauge their natural capabilities.

There is no need to prep for the test. Kids will do just fine as long as they get a good night of sleep before the test and have breakfast or snack in the morning. Only prep any kid needs is reading books. Just make sure the kid reads.

Remember, prepping distorts the test result an therefore the score will be an inaccurate assessment of your child's ability/aptitude. Don't you want to have an accurate assessment of how your kid is doing? Of course you do.

Remember, any prepping by your kid for any aptitude/ability test will instantly turn you into an Asian tiger mom.

Anonymous wrote:Would you advise your child to go into their math final without having studied beforehand? Of course not!

Therefore you should advise your child to study (either at home, through a class, or with a tutor) for their standardized college admissions exams.

Why is it ok to prep for standardized college admission exam but not for standardized high school admission exam?

Would you advise your child to go into their math final without having studied beforehand? Of course not!

Therefore you should advise your child to study (either at home, through a class, or with a tutor) for their standardized college admissions exams.

Anonymous wrote:There is no need to prep. There is no need to prep for AAP, no need to prep for TJ and there is no need to prep for SAT. According to almost every posts on prepping, prepping is done only by Asian tiger mom's kids.

Having a bad day, Asian tiger mom?

There is no need to prep. There is no need to prep for AAP, no need to prep for TJ and there is no need to prep for SAT. According to almost every posts on prepping, prepping is done only by Asian tiger mom's kids.

Hi, dealing with the same thing. I think there are some things to think about here. First of all, did your child do any prep or practice before? Even just practice (with no supervision) will probably raise the score.

is your kid going to benefit most from a class or individual tutoring? It is really expensive to do individual tutoring (I was pretty shocked) but my thinking on it is that it is an investment at this point as she really needs the higher score in the October (her Senior year). My DD needs to bring up her math score to get into her target school.

My DD definitely benefited from a group class in raising 2 of 3 areas (verbal, writing) to a good level. But she needs help in math because she had poor math training in another school district (plus an attitude about avoiding learning math in general) and is actually missing some knowledge (it's not just tactics here). So she needs to actually learn some math and fast -- she said the group class covered things but there was no chance to ask for the further explanation she needed to really understand (there probably was a chance but I would imagine she didn't want to keep asking in a group session).

I am probably going to suck it up and pay for Prep Matters. I just don't have time to experiment with tutors any more and I experience some pretty poor ones in trying to find them on my own/through the internet. I am amused that they advertise for tutors and pay $30-60 an hour and charge $185 an hour but hey's that capitalism!

So if it's general, I would suggest a class and self-prep. If the practice tests turn up an area in which the student really needs to acquire knowledge, then I think some one-on-one would be worth it.