SAT and ACT preparation
I am looking for an effective SAT and ACT preparation class. The student is a very bright 16 year old boy at Albany High School. I don't think an on line class would work because I think he requires more hands-on structure right now in order to keep him focused. (His mother suffered a very serious illness last year and is very disabled as a result. The student is more "on track" , i.e., focused, this year than last year, He had always been a very strong student.) I am only familiar with the more well known services, such as Princeton and Kaplan.
Nov 17, 2016
Parent Replies
Our sons are strong students and Study Smarter in Montclair was excellent for both of them. In one case a tutor came to our home, in the other they worked together via Skype, but you can also go to their office in Montclair. Worth every penny. Best of luck!
Yes. My son participated on CM SAT PREP and both he and I highly recommend it.
i can't say enough about Bay Area Tutoring Center on Rose/Shattuck, across the street from CVS. Homayoon is a genius preparing kids for the math portion of the SAT and ACT. He helped both of my kids and their scores increased significantly. He has staff who cover the english/writing portions of the tests. Good luck!
Ames in Lafayette, provides free testing for ACT and SAT. If this child is willing to take these practice tests, the testing centers will be able to see where he needs help. Then a session or two of private tutoring and test strategy can be very helpful. If he is a strong student, the classes may not help him much. The tutoring may be a better investment.
We really liked Ames in Lafayette. My daughter took the free pre test and we went to the score analysis meeting- both very useful.
We chose a one on one tutor with Ames over the class because we wanted the session to be completely focused on her needs. This turned out to be very successful for her as she could ask all the questions she wanted and focus on her weak areas. Th tutor ere very good. It also turned out to be less expensive because we did not need as many sessions as the classes packages offer. Her ACT score was raised an extra 4 points.
I would also recommend your child take as many free practice tests as possible. She went to Princeton Review, Ames, Peoples testing by Peoples Park and took all the free testing offered at her high school/community. We did not bother to check her scores (except through Ames) because we were only interested in gaining familiarity with the layout of the tests and the timings.