Our review of "Prep Scholar"

[FriedClams]

Hopefully this may help with anyone deciding on a prep program. FWIW, it's just our experience and NOT a compensated review. Feel free to ask anything and we'll try to share our experiences. 

 

https://friedclamsandsweettea.wordpress.com/2017/07/01/prepscholar-our-review/

[Hilltopmom]

Nice.

 

My Ds is about 20 hours into the SAT prepscholar lessons. He likes them, so is willing to do them :)

[merylvdm]

Hopefully this may help with anyone deciding on a prep program. FWIW, it's just our experience and NOT a compensated review. Feel free to ask anything and we'll try to share our experiences. 

 

https://friedclamsandsweettea.wordpress.com/2017/07/01/prepscholar-our-review/

 

It's a well-written review - and both mom and student write it so you hear from both perspectives. And they point out what they don't like as well as what they like. So if you need test prep, you should take a few minutes to read it.

[FriedClams]

It's a well-written review - and both mom and student write it so you hear from both perspectives. And they point out what they don't like as well as what they like. So if you need test prep, you should take a few minutes to read it.

Thank you so much for the kind words! :-)

[OnMyOwn]

Thanks for sharing your review!

[catz]

Thanks, this is super helpful!  We're considering a prep program before the final push into DS's junior year ACT next spring and this seems like maybe a good way to do it without going big guns on getting an individual tutor we'd have to schedule time with.   Does the diagnostic at the beginning pin point areas to work on specifically for the student or is the program the same for everyone? 

 

I'd love to see some data on what the average improvement over a years time in ACT scores through the high school years.  My kid has now done it in 8th, 9th, and 10th grade and has been +4 each spring with subscores improving from +2 to +8.  We've done very little prep.  I do feel like he's at the point where it's going to be harder to add big points.    But I have seen consistent year to year improvement in test focus and skills without really prepping much at all.  We rolled in some math review into our day to day math and do a timed practice test the week before over a couple days and go through errors to this point but that's about it. 

[FriedClams]

Thanks, this is super helpful!  We're considering a prep program before the final push into DS's junior year ACT next spring and this seems like maybe a good way to do it without going big guns on getting an individual tutor we'd have to schedule time with.   Does the diagnostic at the beginning pin point areas to work on specifically for the student or is the program the same for everyone? 

 

I'd love to see some data on what the average improvement over a years time in ACT scores through the high school years.  My kid has now done it in 8th, 9th, and 10th grade and has been +4 each spring with subscores improving from +2 to +8.  We've done very little prep.  I do feel like he's at the point where it's going to be harder to add big points.    But I have seen consistent year to year improvement in test focus and skills without really prepping much at all.  We rolled in some math review into our day to day math and do a timed practice test the week before over a couple days and go through errors to this point but that's about it. 

 

As for the diagnostic - it was specific. There were three levels to each section - basic, advanced, and master - and the student gets assigned a level based on the diagnostic test. 

 

I have not idea what the grade level improvement is for the ACT. DD took it twice - at the end of freshman and sophomore year. She's done with the ACT and will more on to the SAT (only because one of her schools of HIGH interest will only accept the SAT from 2018 and on...yeah, that's not annoying!! LOL). 

[catz]

As for the diagnostic - it was specific. There were three levels to each section - basic, advanced, and master - and the student gets assigned a level based on the diagnostic test. 

 

I have not idea what the grade level improvement is for the ACT. DD took it twice - at the end of freshman and sophomore year. She's done with the ACT and will more on to the SAT (only because one of her schools of HIGH interest will only accept the SAT from 2018 and on...yeah, that's not annoying!! LOL). 

 

Thank you!  :)

 

I'd just love if these testing companies would release more data on this kind of thing.  The numbers geek in me finds this kind of thing interesting.  We have just tested yearly because we have to test yearly for state requirements and I figured might as well be practcing a test format that might have some payout.  Boy will be doing the PSAT this fall too.  He was close enough last year to try for NM, but we'll see.

[madteaparty]

Thanks, this is super helpful! We're considering a prep program before the final push into DS's junior year ACT next spring and this seems like maybe a good way to do it without going big guns on getting an individual tutor we'd have to schedule time with. Does the diagnostic at the beginning pin point areas to work on specifically for the student or is the program the same for everyone?

 

I'd love to see some data on what the average improvement over a years time in ACT scores through the high school years. My kid has now done it in 8th, 9th, and 10th grade and has been +4 each spring with subscores improving from +2 to +8. We've done very little prep. I do feel like he's at the point where it's going to be harder to add big points. But I have seen consistent year to year improvement in test focus and skills without really prepping much at all. We rolled in some math review into our day to day math and do a timed practice test the week before over a couple days and go through errors to this point but that's about it.

ACT has a research paper comparing 7th grade scores with eventual scores, i can't link but if you google "7th grade ACT" you should see it.

[MarkT]

great review!

 

I have a question on:

"Every so often they give you full length, official practice tests. These are taken from the ACT Official Prep guide*, which is included in the course. Then you transfer your answers onto the computer and they are automatically graded. I wasn’t a huge fan of this method, because there were no bubbles filled in"

 

Was this a PDF download or how was the practice ACT presented to the test taker?  

It seems like you could have printed a bubble sheet and filled that out in the allotted test time and then transferred your answers back off the clock.  

Would this have been possible?   

 

Feedback to PrepScholar.

I do enjoy their blog - very informative.

[Liza Q]

I realize that you used the ACT Prep, not the SAT Prep, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on this...

 

My son won't get his SAT Scores until July 12. We have a minimum score in mind, which seems very reasonable based on his practice tests - we used Khan. If he needs to take it again, would it be worth spending the money for only 6-7 weeks of prep since we would like him to take it in August? There is a test in October but we'd rather not wait for that.

[MarkT]

I realize that you used the ACT Prep, not the SAT Prep, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on this...

 

My son won't get his SAT Scores until July 12. We have a minimum score in mind, which seems very reasonable based on his practice tests - we used Khan. If he needs to take it again, would it be worth spending the money for only 6-7 weeks of prep since we would like him to take it in August? There is a test in October but we'd rather not wait for that.

I believe PrepScholar started with SAT prep so I would assume that is "just as good" as their ACT prep.

 

There is a free trial:

https://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/signup

[snowbeltmom]

As for the diagnostic - it was specific. There were three levels to each section - basic, advanced, and master - and the student gets assigned a level based on the diagnostic test. 

 

I have not idea what the grade level improvement is for the ACT. DD took it twice - at the end of freshman and sophomore year. She's done with the ACT and will more on to the SAT (only because one of her schools of HIGH interest will only accept the SAT from 2018 and on...yeah, that's not annoying!! LOL). 

 

Thanks for the review.  Regarding the bolded...is there a school out there that will only accept the SAT (and not the ACT) from kids graduating in 2018 and beyond?  Or is there a school out there that won't accept the old SAT and now requires the students to submit either the new SAT or the ACT?

 

[FriedClams]

I realize that you used the ACT Prep, not the SAT Prep, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on this...

 

My son won't get his SAT Scores until July 12. We have a minimum score in mind, which seems very reasonable based on his practice tests - we used Khan. If he needs to take it again, would it be worth spending the money for only 6-7 weeks of prep since we would like him to take it in August? There is a test in October but we'd rather not wait for that.

My daughter went through the program in about 6 weeks (intensely) so I'd say yes. HTH!

[plansrme]

My daughter also had a four-point increase on her ACT after using PrepScholar.  She did not get all of the way through the program, though.  She was scoring 6 points higher on practice tests, and if she's scored one point higher on any subtest, her composite would have rounded to a five-point increase.  I considered it well worth the time and money.  It took her from a "I'm not sure I can get in anywhere" score to an "I am in the middle of the attending students' scores" at nearly every school on her list.  It was a critical four points.

[crazyforlatin]

So maybe no need to go to the in-person classes that cost $3000? A friend's son had an increase from 1650 to 2050 on the old SAT. I didn't think it was worth spending $3000 but they have the money to spend it.

[FriedClams]

"Was this a PDF download or how was the practice ACT presented to the test taker?

 

It seems like you could have printed a bubble sheet and filled that out in the allotted test time and then transferred your answers back off the clock.

 

Would this have been possible?"

 

Yes, totally possible, but since the bubble sheet wasn't included in the course she didn't want to include that. For one test she did do that, and we'd recommend this method for practice if anyone chooses this course.

Edited July 2, 2017 by FriedClams

[MarkT]

"Was this a PDF download or how was the practice ACT presented to the test taker?

 

It seems like you could have printed a bubble sheet and filled that out in the allotted test time and then transferred your answers back off the clock.

 

Would this have been possible?"

 

Yes, totally possible, but since the bubble sheet wasn't included in the course she didn't want to include that. For one test she did do that, and we'd recommend this method for practice if anyone chooses this course.

seems to be free:

http://bubblescan.com/tutors/answer-sheets/

 

or you could always get one from the ACT folks.

[plansrme]

"Was this a PDF download or how was the practice ACT presented to the test taker?

 

It seems like you could have printed a bubble sheet and filled that out in the allotted test time and then transferred your answers back off the clock.

 

Would this have been possible?"

 

Yes, totally possible, but since the bubble sheet wasn't included in the course she didn't want to include that. For one test she did do that, and we'd recommend this method for practice if anyone chooses this course.

 

I admittedly wasn't paying that much attention, but I think my daughter used the bubble sheet in the ACT test book--you tear it out and use it like you would a bubble sheet on the actual exam.  The test book in the ACT red one (I think it's still red) and comes with the course unless you already have it.