Are students just wasting their time and money with SAT prep courses and tutoring?
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Whenever I get a new client, I almost always hear the same thing:
“We tried [one of 100,000 different SAT prep options] before calling you, but it didn’t really make any difference in [our son or daughter’s] score.”
Numerous studies have come out lately indicating that SAT prep doesn’t work. Many say that you can expect, at most, a 10-20 point boost in your scores by taking an SAT classroom course or hiring a tutor. You’d think that, as a career SAT tutor, I’d find these studies offensive or off putting. But here’s the funny thing:
I’m surprised that most SAT prep options on the market deliver any score improvement whatsoever!
The SAT prep industry is broken. Parents and students, desperate to improve their scores and craft more competitive applications, are bombarded by countless advertisements and options for SAT prep, most of which are useless at best, and toxic at worst.
This quick guide will show you the three reasons why SAT prep almost never works, and what you can do to get the help you need.
1. There’s no barrier to entry.
In almost every other field, you need real credentials to start your own practice. Doctors need to go to med school, lawyers need to go to law school, and carpenters need a license. But in the SAT prep industry, there’s not a single required credential! Anyone can start a program, a classroom course, a company, or his or her own tutoring practice.
To make things worse, it costs very little money to start an SAT tutoring class, practice, etc., so anyone who wants to get into the business can do so in a day.
Eight years ago, when I started my own SAT tutoring practice, I was barely qualified to teach this test. Now, after 10,000+ hours of experience tutoring the exam and crafting the curriculum, it’s a different story. But it cost me $100 and a few hours posting flyers around New York City to get started.
So how do you know who to trust in this industry, and who to avoid? That brings us to the second reason why the industry is broken:
2. Most firms, courses, and tutors have horrible track records.
Here’s what you need to know: just because someone got good scores themselves DOES NOT mean that they’ll be able to pass their expertise to YOU.
Going to Harvard and getting perfect SAT scores are both impressive feats — but they don’t make a great teacher. Before you choose your SAT prep option, look at just one metric: what are the RESULTS achieved by that particular class, course, or teacher? If they’re not impressive, or if they’re not published at all, head for the hills.
While there might not be an SAT tutoring “degree” or “license,” there’s something more important: the average score improvements achieved by a class, tutor, or program. At the end of the day, you’re only engaging in SAT prep because you want higher scores. What else really matters?
Before you work with any tutor, classroom course, or program, demand to see average student score improvements, backed up by real data. Speak with past clients. View testimonials. Don’t just make sure that the software looks good, or that the teacher is smart — make sure that they get real results.
Speaking of results, there’s on main offender in particular that you need to be aware of:
3. Classroom courses are infamously ineffective, but ludicrously profitable.
When most parents think of SAT prep, they immediately think of SAT classroom courses. They were the first form of SAT prep, made famous by Kaplan decades ago, and as a result, they have a serious foothold in the industry. The only problem? They don’t work. At all.
Classroom learning is the least effective way to learn anything. This doesn’t just apply to SAT prep — it applies to all areas of academics. Check out this recent study if you want to see just how bad things have gotten: “Lectures aren’t Just Boring, Theyre Ineffective Too, Study Finds“
So if SAT classroom courses don’t work, why do so many people still sign up? Because they are insanely profitable. Pay a tutor $40/hour to teach a class for 10 hours, rent a room, print some materials, and your total expenses come out to about $1,000. If you pack 20 students into this class, each paying $1,200, you’re netting $23,000. Take half that money and throw it back into advertising, and you can easily drown out any potential competition.
Classroom courses survive because of their profit margins. They make tens of thousands of dollars per class, which they pour right back into online, TV, radio, print, and networked advertising. The people and courses who get real results are smaller, newer organizations, and they can’t come close to competing with these sorts of advertising budgets. And hence the cycle continues.
There are strong arguments to be made for one-on-one tutoring, online programs, and self-study programs. But for your own sake, never sign up for a classroom course.
So What’s Next?
Now that you understand what to avoid, the question becomes, what should you do? The best answer to that question: do your research, try things out, and do whatever works for you.
Shop around — check out different tutors, online courses, and other programs. Check average student score improvements. Look at testimonials. Speak to references. Only sign up for tutors and courses that guarantee their work. And don’t be afraid to jump ship if something isn’t immediately producing results.
Every student is different, and every student learns in a unique way. But if you follow the guidelines in this article, and keep experimenting until you find something cost effective that’s making a real, noticeable difference in your scores, you’ll be good to go!
Thanks for reading, and good luck with your test prep and your college journey!
Check out Anthony-James Green at TestPrepAuthority.com. CNN recently named Anthony: “The SAT tutor to the 1%”
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