by Annie Zhang, executive editor
As Regina Brett says, summer is one grand permission slip to be lazy. But for some students, the threat of the PSAT and SAT looming just around the corner replaces that permission slip with a ticket to summer SAT prep courses.
“My parents thought it would be helpful, and I guess I didn’t hate the idea of doing an SAT prep class too much,” junior Ellen Li said.
The $800 course she enrolled in, The Princeton Review, lasted one month and consisted of daily three-hour classes and weekly SAT practice tests.
“[After] a practice test, our instructor reviewed it individually with us,” Li said. “[I] definitely learned some different tips and tricks that I didn’t think of before.”
Despite the extra work in the summer, Li found the courses satisfactory.
“You think, ‘Homework in the summer? Gross!’ But it’s fun to interact with other people and talk about [our] strategies,” Li said.
Senior Jasmine Rodriguez, who attended BCS Test Prep last year to attempt to qualify for National Merit, agreed that meeting new people and seeing things from new perspectives was worth her time.
“Most of the challenge to the SAT isn’t actually in the material you cover, but deciphering the questions and time management, and [the course’s] tricks work,” Rodriguez said.
However, it is exactly this facet of the SAT that discourages junior Max Russo from enrolling in a session.
“[Some sections] are impossible to study for, especially the reading, and so most of what these classes teach is not actual information or spreading knowledge,” junior Max Russo said. “The class really does no more than force [students] to focus on the SAT preparation.”
The courses are no more effective than self-training, Russo said, because the courses eventually dissolve into an independent study.
The homepage of The Princeton Review guarantees a 150-point increase or a full refund, but in 2009, the National Association of College Admission Counseling concluded that SAT prep courses raised critical reading scores by about ten points and math scores by about twenty points, the equivalent of roughly two questions.
“I did improve [with the course], but not as much as I had hoped,” Rodriguez said.
Li added that ultimately, the final result depends on the individual.
“At the end of the day, it’s all up to you to study and review,” Li said. “[The courses] help to a certain extent, but they won’t be any use if you lack motivation.”
