So fed up!

[Ridapher]

Okay so I Ned SAT prep course help. I got a 1700(roughly) on th SAT, and I want to improve. The thing is, my family cannot afford these prep courses. I've spoken to my counselor about this matter but she just told me to apply for the need based scholarships on any SAT prep courses website.

I cannot find any.

I have emailed her numerous times and she keeps givin me the same answer. I turn to you IB kids, do you know any courses that are cheap or offer scholarships for free lunch students?

And can your High School pay for you? For your coverage? Has any one experienced this before?

I find it unfair.

Thank you.

[yii yann]

SAT College prep classes may or may not be useful. I have seen some, and quite a number are simply money grabbing BS.

Instead, get the official SAT guide book, or any prep book, and practice by yourself. If you have problems with a particular question within the book, you can always come here. Khan academy also has a lot of videos where he goes through SAT questions.

If you're having problems with a particular section, why don't you approach the subject teacher? (Eg essay - approach english teacher).

[carpediem]

Also to add onto that, that are SAT Vocab sets on Quizlet you can use to help with the Reading section, and many of them are public for anyone to use.

[TheGreatPumpkin]

I agree with yii yann, most SAT classes are extremely unhelpful for the amount of money you are paying. You best bet is to but the SAT text book and have a friend that did really good in the section you need help with or that subject teacher to help you out. If you can't afford the book I am sure there are some online past SAT papers that you can use and print them out or write the questions out. Most people who take SAT classes don't really have their grade raised too much, if you really need help friends and teachers are the best options.

And to your question of can you high school pay for you- I highly doubt your school will pay for you because then they would haveto pay for anyone who asked.

[Matsu]

Just get an SAT prep book (I found the Barrons SAT book pretty helpful for Math) and do practice SAT tests, deconstructing your mistakes and understanding how to do the problems you do not get. That's mostly how I studied for my SATs. I had an SAT tutor for about a week as well, but he mostly made me do the above so it may or may not be worth it depending on how well you can learn stuff on your own. This means that if you study pretty well on your own, an SAT prep course won't do you much more good than self studying will. The books give some pretty good advice though on how specifically to take the SATs, not just regarding the subject matter which is why I'd say they are a pretty good investment, especially considering that you probably won't drop more than $40 on a book, depending on which you get. You can also find SAT tests papers online for free, so just do those to self study and get a good night's sleep + good nutrition before the test. Not much else you can do really.

edit: I still think that one week with the SAT tutor was very useful as he helped me get into the rhythm of writing solid SAT essays (and even let me do essays and send them to him for free afterwards) which made breaking 700 on the writing portion much easier. You could probably also find comparatively decent tips online or from friends you know who did well on the SATs.

Edited May 25, 2013 by Matsu