Choosing the best option for you
SAT preparation material can be expensive. Options range from classes that cost several thousands of dollars to very affordable books and online material.
Below is an analysis comparing books, classes, private tutors, and online courses.
Seeing the advantages, disadvantages, and approximate costs of these options should help you become better informed to choose the option right for you.
One-on-One SAT Tutoring
For between $30 and $200 per hour (total $1,500 to $10,000 for 50 hours), students can elect to receive on-on-one tutoring.
Positive Aspects: The main advantage of one-on-one tutoring is 100% attention on you and your needs. You can go as slow or as fast as you need and spend as much or as little time as you want on a topic.
Good tutors will be able to adapt to your needs, inspire you on a personal level, work closely with you to manage your motivation.
The tutor should have a very good grasp of your needs and progress, and be able to give parental feedback while adjusting lessons to be most effective for you.
Negative Aspects: The drawback to one-on-one tutoring is the high variance.
The quality of the tutor is varies and even trying tutors to find the right one can be expensive.
Additionally, you are limited to the one tutor's knowledge to help you, so finding a good tutor is a must, considering the price you are paying.
You can elect for cheaper one-on-one tutoring, but the teaching style, level of knowledge, and lack of teaching experience can result in far less benefit than a more expensive, experienced tutor.
To ensure quality, you can go with more experienced, but more expensive tutors.
If the tutor has an emergency or scheduling issues, there is not much you can do except reschedule.
Help from the tutor also becomes unavailable once the session ends.
Conclusions: One-on-one tutoring can be ideal if you can find a tutor who is knowledgeable, affordable, available, and compatible with you. This is not always an easy task.
The quality of the tutor is very important.
Additionally, you will most likely be using a book or online resource as study material, which is a cost that should not be ignored.
If that is the case, it may be worth asking how much additional benefit beyond what you are getting from the book are you receiving from the tutoring for the price, and adjust the number of tutoring hours accordingly.
SAT Prep Classroom Course
For between $600 and $3,000, a student can attend a classroom course taught by teachers with teaching credentials and years of experience teaching and tutoring.
Positive Aspects: An SAT prep classroom course will provide students with an environment that is similar to actual test taking situations, as well as classroom settings when not taking practice tests.
The course will keep the student at a steady pace of progression, although motivation is still required from the student.
Students have access to a knowledgeable and experienced instructor that they can clarify and explain things in a way that the student will understand.
Social interaction with tutors and students is helpful to some students as well.
Students can also take advantage of the perspectives and questions other students ask that they may not have thought of.
Negative Aspects: SAT prep courses are still expensive.
Classroom preparation courses are expensive.
They are not always available in most locations.
Granted, this can also potentially be a waste of time for those who already know the answer. Most institutions have a system of parental feedback.
Since classes are also set in time and location, students do miss out on sessions due to illness or unexpected conflicts in schedule. Although certain institutions may have experience and certifications, many institutions hire college students with little teaching experience to cut costs.
For the same reason, classes may be overcrowded, nearly nullifying the advantage of being a class.
Students who really need to ask questions may not, due to fear of holding up others. Time is also charged for taking in-class tests, which is hardly cost-effective.
Conclusions: Classroom courses are good for students who have trouble sticking to a schedule through self-discipline.
The controlled pace, educational atmosphere and being around peers can be a benefit to some.
Classes are good for students who can commit to fixed schedule, and has financial resources.
Students who study well on their own tend not to see much benefit from classes.
SAT Self-Study Books
For between $15 and $30 a student can purchase an SAT self-study book. SAT self-study books provide practice tests and answer keys, explanations for answers, and lessons.
Positive Aspects: Self-study books are relatively affordable.
Negative Aspects: Self-study books can take a lot of will power to work through. They provide no consultation if you don't quite understand a certain point.
Essays are only sometimes graded for you, depending on the institution, and the material to help you improve your essay can be limited.
There may be several approaches to solving problems that may not all be covered in the book. The quality and coverage of topics vary as well.
Feedback is limited to practice test scores which may not reflect actual performance capability if motivation and persistence is an issue.
Conclusions: Self-study books are best suited for students who are independent, academically astute, and have their own motivation if the book is the sole means of studying.
However, all students can benefit from the practice tests, as well as having a single resource that covers a lot for a low price. Because more than a couple of practice tests are required to prepare well, you may end up having to buy multiple books which raises the cost.
Online SAT Preparation Products and Courses:
For between $20 and $1,000, students can purchase online preparation products and courses.
These courses are essentially books in online format but with the added benefit of various supplemental features depending on the provider.
Positive Aspects: Online products and courses offer features and services that vary greatly.
But aspects that are common to all of them are flexibility in schedule, flexibility in location, and a good amount of explanations of problem solutions. Features offered vary highly by company.
Some features are common to most, while other features are offered only by specific companies. Common features include step-by-step video explanations, full practice tests, supplemental quizzes, and concise strategies and tips. Features that only few companies are offering include gamified courses, high-quality Q&A boards that students and teachers across the world can participate in, mobile adapted sites so you can study on your phone, diagnostics and performance tracking, automatic difficulty adjustment based on your performance, and more.
Negative Aspects: Choosing the features and products right for you can be overwhelming to navigate as well as decide. Currently many of the well-known services that already make books offer online courses that are little more than what is essentially an online version of the book for more than double the price of a book.
Quality and added benefits vary.
Sites with little-thought into the user experience can be frustrating and cumbersome to use.
Full-length practice tests are best taken in realistic conditions so doing them online is not ideal.
Additionally, some sites lack personal interaction, although others offer chat, forums, and video tutoring as additional services.
Some companies also take personal information and sell them to third party marketers, which may be a deal breaker to some.
Conclusions: Online services vary greatly in quality and features offered, so it can take some time to figure out which options are right for you, including the price point. Overall, online resources can be a great supplement to existing methods of study due to the "anywhere, anytime" aspect not possible through other test prep products.
Recently, there are some companies that are improving the value and experience of online courses greatly, incorporating many of the specialized features mentioned previously.
Be mindful of the advantages and disadvantages, and try all the services with free trials to see what is right for you.
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