What's the best SAT and ACT prep..

[1cat2ferrets]

books out there right now. Ds is going to be taking these tests soon and I want him to use a really good one.

 

Thanks!

[happykids]

test-taking strategies and review, and we use the College Board SAT book and the Real ACT book for practice tests.

~Sabrina in NY

[Sharon in MD]

Both are great, but if I were to do it again, I'd have ds start sooner, much sooner with Chalkdust. He only got through a couple of the dvds instead of all of them. What he did, I'm sure, helped, but it would have been better if he'd started sooner.

 

We also like the book Up Your Score, the Underground Guide to the SAT. It is humorous and therefore gets read.

 

For practice for the SAT, nothing can beat using the real thing IMO...get the big blue book of real SATs and practice.

 

Here's hoping we are done....DS took the SAT for the 2nd time this am. We are hoping he did well enough to call it done.

[langfam]

Chalkdust for sure. It takes about 6 weeks to get through it. My dc went through it once then picked topics they felt they needed to re-watch. Then I'd say use the official books for SAT and ACT are the best, and I bought a lot of books. The only other one that we found useful was Barron's for Writing.

[Quiver0f10]

Sorry, wrong thread.

[1cat2ferrets]

Ladies for the recommendations. The Chalkdust thing looks like a good one for us.:001_smile:

[mrsdash]

Ladies for the recommendations. The Chalkdust thing looks like a good one for us.:001_smile:

 

I have nothing to add except to agree with you...GO RED SOX!!!!

[Cindy in Indy]

Both are great, but if I were to do it again, I'd have ds start sooner, much sooner with Chalkdust. He only got through a couple of the dvds instead of all of them. What he did, I'm sure, helped, but it would have been better if he'd started sooner.

 

We also like the book Up Your Score, the Underground Guide to the SAT. It is humorous and therefore gets read.

 

For practice for the SAT, nothing can beat using the real thing IMO...get the big blue book of real SATs and practice.

 

Here's hoping we are done....DS took the SAT for the 2nd time this am. We are hoping he did well enough to call it done.

 

Sharon,

When do you recommend the student begin? Any suggested schedule? Is it something they can do through summer? 1 hour/day? Or should (s)he begin Sophmore year (2nd semester?) I don't want to miss the boat on this test prep.

Thanks,

Cindy

[QueenCat]

My older son did well with "The Real ACT" book.

[AngieW in Texas]

We're using Kaplan SAT prep online through Homeschool Buyer's Co-op. It's only $50 for a one-year subscription through the co-op. It starts off with a diagnostic test and tells what your expected score would be. Then it sets up lessons based on what you need to work on. It schedules the areas that you scored lowest on first for the biggest improvement. It does two more diagnostic tests during the one-year subscription.

 

I doubt that my 10th grader will actually get all the way through it, because I don't have her spending a lot of time on it (about 2 hours/week), but she has lots of time.

[Sharon in MD]

Wow, what a tough question to answer.....I'm tempted to say start NOW....but maybe that's a bit glib.

 

The Chalkdust DVDs cover 14+ hours of material. But, that is just the recorded time....you have to stop the dvd to work the problems, so it is really much more than 14 hours of work. I think Dana Mosely reccommends about 4 months to really work through the whole thing.....but I'm not sure.

 

I think the whole test prep thing depends on your goals and your students strengths and weaknesses. Are they the kind of kid that really freaks over standardized tests or do they see them as kinds of fun. If they are not good at taking this type of test then maybe starting earlier is a good idea to develop a comfort level with it. But you have to watch that you don't make them more stressed too.

 

Are you trying to aim for a National Merit Scholarship, based on PSAT scores? If so, then you should probably start prepping by the end of 8th grade and start taking practice runs at the test in 9th and 10th. The one that counts is the 11th grade PSAT in October. Many states offer additional scholarship money to kids who score well even if they are at the National Merit level. We didn't even come close and I wish I'd pushed him to prep for it.

 

I think most of the prep books recommend starting 6 to 9 months ahead of whatever test you are prepping for. Also, most of the books have a recommended schedule in them to help you figure it out.

 

What we did with the reading comprehension material was read the actual samples together and discuss it....working through the questions. I have a son who only reads what he has too, so this was a tough area for him. He is very literal so when a question asks more touchy feely literatzy stuff, he glazes over. I wish I had MADE him read more when he was in Junior high and following. There is no substitute for being well read when it comes to the SAT. He did much better than I ever thought he would, but he really worked on the prep material starting about 4 months out. He improved his score from a 490 equivalency on the PSAT in Oct of 11th grade to a 630 June SAT....I was thrilled.

 

For the writing portion of the SAT, definitely read the material in Rocket Review....it was so helpful. This book tells you what kinds of errors will NOT be in the different sections. It really helps to know what they are and are not looking for. We realized after reading this that there were many many times that ds was looking for an error type that wouldn't even be there so he was making the test harder for himself. We will see if it helped or not in a couple of weeks, but it certainly helped with the practice tests that we ran.

 

And as for the essay....remember that this thing can be read by the admissions offices of the schools that you apply to. They don't just get the score...they get the essay too. So that raises the stakes in my opinion. Rocket Review and Up Your Score both have great essay tips. They really helped our son....or at least he thinks so. He received an 8 out of 12 on his first attempt...both ds and I thought his essay was lousy when we read it on line....so we will see if the prep helps him get a 9-12 this time...If he doesn't do better this time it will mean that he just got REALLY lucky the first time.

 

Gosh, I've gone on too long....and I don't even think I've been truly helpful....

[Kareni]

...

When do you recommend the student begin? Any suggested schedule?

 

I think Sharon in MD gave you a lot of good suggestions! (Don't ever apologize for long posts; they often are full of meaty thoughts.)

 

I would suggest having your child take a practice test now. If you have a good public library, you can often find some SAT/ACT books there. Try to take a practice test from one of the books put out by the testing agency itself.

 

Once you see how your child has done, I think you'll have a better idea of what you need or can do as far as test prep goes. (I had my daughter take practice tests at the beginning of 9th and 10th grades. As I recall, she did some test prep in 10th grade and started working through the Chalkdust SAT math review at the beginning of 11th. With hindsight, I'd have had her do the Chalkdust program in 10th and review at the beginning of 11th before the PSAT in October and perhaps again before taking the SAT itself.)

 

Do sign your child up for the the Official SAT Question of the Dayâ„¢; it's a good way of getting used to the format and seeing where his or her strengths and weaknesses are.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Cindy in Indy]

Thank you both!

Cindy in Indy