Are you deciding whether to take a test prep course? I took a course after I took the SAT. I wanted to increase my score but I wasn’t motivated to read the book and take practice tests by myself.
I took a Kaplan course. It is expensive, but I think it’s worth it. If you don’t raise your score, you get your money back! On the math and critical reading sections, I raised my score by 160 points! (At that time the writing section wasn’t available.) I was only halfway serious about taking the course, so imagine what my score would have been if I had put in 100% of my effort.
Kaplan was great because I was taught by someone with experience. It was a little tiring to have an extra class after a full day of school, but it wasn’t dreadful at all. It’s not like a regular classroom – you’re with people who care and you aren’t graded on anything. It’s kind of like a mini college experience. There wasn’t a lot of pressure like my other high school classes.
The key to doing well on standardized tests is knowing how to take them, and that’s what Kaplan teaches you. You study along with the book (which was included in my package). You also take practice tests along with doing exercises in the classroom. If you don’t know basic things like fractions or multiplication, you won’t leave the course knowing them. Kaplan teaches you how to beat the test, not a what you need to learn for the test. You need to be doing that in your high school classes.
They don’t teach you math, they teach you tricks for doing well on the math section.
The critical reading section is essentially like a map. If you don’t know how to navigate it, you’ll waste time getting lost. Kaplan showed me how to navigate this section. They give you a comprehensive word list, tricks for learning vocabulary, and show you how to search for answers. While I was taking the class, I thought some of the tricks were kind of silly, but they turned out to be useful once I took the test.
I took the course with 7 other students. It was nice to be in a smaller classroom, but none of us got one-on-one time with the teacher. If you want individual tutoring, they do have that available.
The bottom line is if you’re looking for someone to direct you by experience, I would definitely recommend Kaplan. I knew I was smart, but I just wasn’t motivated to study on my own. I was very satisfied with my new score and it was nice knowing I would get my money back if I didn’t increase it.
