Phil413 Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Has anyone used this material? It sounded so good at our homeschool convention but wanted to see what others thought. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 My oldest just finished watching the DVD's and doing the workbook drills about 2 or 3 days ago. I forgotten to have her do the "homework" with it. oops. oh well.. always next week, right? Right now, we're using it for PSAT prep as a 10th grader. So we skipped over the essay prep section. Pro's: seems to be good for strategies how to approach the problems, and process of elimination. Strategies for key words to look for. How to think through vocab when you might not know all of the options. Some of the tips may seem common sense to me, but to my daughter who hasn't done standardized testing at all, it was good stuff to hear. If you've attended her workshops at convention the DVD's are an expanded version of those and goes slower than the workshop hour. Con's: we didn't like the separate "vocab" reading books by the same group. My daughter thought it was simple story and got tired to handing me the book after noticing errors. It was proof reading kind of errors, but that bothered my daughter. My daughter was distracted a little by the speaker on the DVD. But honestly I think that's my daughter's attitude and not a problem of the speaker. We are also using a Princeton Review book on PSAT and enjoying it as well. I like the style and approach of talking about the problems and format of the test. How to approach it. I won't know any results for a while. PSAT is October and this is my dd's first standardized test (gasp! never done one before now). The other book that we thought of using was Stobaugh's SAT Prep, but it just ended up on the shelf as a resource for book list. I don't think much of that book. I can get same info from the SAT website as I get from that book. Any specific questions on the College Prep Genius? that's our initial, just finished the dvd's reaction to the it. I was a little sticker shock at the price, but if I had someone local to share dvd's cost, I'd recommend it so far. I'm not going to say that I expect my child will ace the test from it, but I think it has given her realistic expectations and prep. oh, we did take a practice psat from the princeton review book. I should go look at the CPG homework online stuff too. forgot all about it. -crystal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil413 Posted August 15, 2011 Author Share Posted August 15, 2011 Thank you, Crystal for taking the time to answer. I just wanted to hear some opinions before diving in. I almost bought it at the convention but because of the price and lots of curriculum to buy yet, I decided to wait. I considered getting some people together and doing the co-op option but right now I didn't want to be out of the house another day. :driving: ;) Anybody else have any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 . I considered getting some people together and doing the co-op option but right now I didn't want to be out of the house another day. :driving: ;) Anybody else have any thoughts? My co-op is offering it this year and it costs each student 50 dollars to take it with 20 dollars for any additional siblings. It won't start until September, so I'll let you know how it goes. Christine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil413 Posted August 18, 2011 Author Share Posted August 18, 2011 Would love to hear about it! I considered doing it as a co-op as well but our schedule seemed kind of full. My daughter watched the informational dvd about it and wanted me to get it. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin in DFW Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 she said it provided a lot tricks for sifting through the confusion of certain types of questions and math problems, but she said the SAT practice type books also give you hints and tricks about how to approach the questions... She was able to take the class at a cheaper rate because a private school was hosting the sessions and they allowed her to join...the course was spread out over 3 or 4 weeks @ one session per week. She said there was no way she could have done the whole course in one day. She also said there was too much discussion by the author/presenter about her son's accomplishments...in fact so much so, that the class could have been considerably shorter. The materials are okay...not much for what you pay for, though. My dd found working her way SLOWLY through the College Board's SAT book to be more effective (she worked through the tests a little at a time over many months...no cramming)...and doing the SAT Question of the Day...and using a roots based vocabulary program...and doing grammar review every year... just our experience, hth... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 My dd found working her way SLOWLY through the College Board's SAT book to be more effective (she worked through the tests a little at a time over many months...no cramming)...and doing the SAT Question of the Day...and using a roots based vocabulary program...and doing grammar review every year... just our experience, hth... yep. agreeing with all of that. We like the SAT question of the day too, as well as the helps and hints on college board website. and doesn't look like I mentioned it earlier, but yes, students need to take practice exams and CPG doesn't provide that. weird thing on that? I remember one of Stobaugh's sons was telling me that even he got more from just practicing the exams one every few months for several years than doing much else. (didn't make me want to buy his dad's stuff, but I did appreciate the honesty of his opinion) and I think still CPG is a little pricey but it's mostly dvd price. -crystal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil413 Posted August 19, 2011 Author Share Posted August 19, 2011 I sure appreciate all your input. :hurray: I really think doing the class over the 12 week time frame in a co-op sounds like the best way if we go ahead with it. You get a discount on the program $50 vs $100 if you have 10 kids or more. Books for everyone and 1 set of DVD's. She expresses that it is important to do many practice SAT tests. It just seems like it might be a good motivator to start with the DVD's then study from there. Anyone else have more input? :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin in DFW Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 my dd had the actual author as her instructor...we live in the area where the author lives and regularly holds sessions... The course may actually be better if it will be held by someone else just using the videos and workbooks... The author had too much to say about her family's successes and interjected constantly to remind everyone...to the point that it rubbed my dd the wrong way...of course my dd just wants the facts/information without any fluff or conversation...:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil413 Posted August 24, 2011 Author Share Posted August 24, 2011 Thank you, ladies! This is all great info. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trina in TX Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 I bought this a couple of years ago, and I think a new edition has been released since then. In the version we have the instruction book is full of typos. This really distracted my son and undermined his confidence in the program. He has only watched the SAT Overview DVD so far, and it was okay. The DVD production quality leaves a lot to be desired. My son prefers to prepare using the PSAT practice books we have, so I'll probably ditch the program for now. I can say I'm not overly impressed considering the price I paid for the program. HTH, Trina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil413 Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share Posted August 25, 2011 I bought this a couple of years ago, and I think a new edition has been released since then. In the version we have the instruction book is full of typos. This really distracted my son and undermined his confidence in the program. He has only watched the SAT Overview DVD so far, and it was okay. The DVD production quality leaves a lot to be desired. My son prefers to prepare using the PSAT practice books we have, so I'll probably ditch the program for now. I can say I'm not overly impressed considering the price I paid for the program. HTH, Trina Thank you, Trina. Good to know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 I bought this a couple of years ago, and I think a new edition has been released since then. In the version we have the instruction book is full of typos. This really distracted my son and undermined his confidence in the program. He has only watched the SAT Overview DVD so far, and it was okay. The DVD production quality leaves a lot to be desired. My son prefers to prepare using the PSAT practice books we have, so I'll probably ditch the program for now. I can say I'm not overly impressed considering the price I paid for the program. HTH, Trina excellent points! I have the newer edition. We didn't run into full of typos. But yes, the production of the dvd does seem more amateur than polished. My daughter tolerated the head tilts and slower talk. and I mentioned this earlier, but saying it again... I would not bother with the "vocabcafe" books at all from CPG. Those drove my daughter crazy with typos and not that interesting of reading. She doesnt' want me to let her sister use the books later. ;) my biggest part of it is I wish I bought it used market or borrowed market. -crystal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.