Carpe Diem Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 How do these two programs compare to each other? I know KA is free and a student can link their previous test. Can that be done with Magoosh or does a student have to take a practice test to get a baseline before starting a lesson? Any other points to consider before choosing one or the other? Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 (edited) Magoosh? I had never heard of that one, until I read your post title. With regard to the PSAT/NMSQT and the SAT I recommend Khan Academy, for two reasons: First, they have an official tie-in with the College Board. Secondly, it is Free. My DD used Khan Academy. Now, for the ACT it might be worth your time to explore other things, in addition to Khan Academy. For a few weeks before she took the ACT, my DD had access to online test preparation from Kaplan They have a tie-in with ACT. It was $100 for 6 weeks, but if one enrolls for a longer period of time, it is less per week. My DD found that very helpful and somewhat better than the Free help on Khan Academy for the PSAT/NMSQT and SAT exams. I believe it was mostly recorded videos, but that there were also a few live sessions with an instructor, where the students could ask questions. There are I believe, some Free videos on the ACT web site to help students prepare. The SAT and the ACT examinations are very different animals. They cover some different subjects and the test taking strategy, from one to the other can be very different. Some students do much better on one than on the other. SAT has the PSAT/NMSQT which must be taken during October of the Junior year. ACT also has a preliminary examination but I don't remember the acronym as I type this. Possibly PreACT. Note: Before taking any of those examinations, your student should set up an email account solely for emails from schools, scholarships, etc. There will be a lot of emails going to that email address... Edited December 30, 2018 by Lanny changed one word Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carpe Diem Posted December 31, 2018 Author Share Posted December 31, 2018 Thank you, Lanny, for your reply. My dc has the exact same comparable score with the SAT & ACT. She thinks she likes the SAT better as it allows more time per question. When we look to sign up for the Khan Academy it asks for permission to share activity with the College Board and also school district and state department of education. Is this a concern? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 So are Khan Academy questions written by the same people as actual SAT questions? Because I keep hearing about this "tie-in" and I don't understand it's significance unless it's the same company writing items. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 First, I believe it is necessary to link the Khan Academy and CollegeBoard accounts, if one wants to get full benefit of what they both have to offer. My DD did that. The CollegeBoard also is involved with the CSS Profile and other things. One of the other things for my DD was that when she took the PSAT/NMSQT in her Junior year, she qualified as a "National Hispanic Scholars". Some universities will give the same Merit Aid for that, that they give to National Merit Finalists. I do not know if the people who write the course material for Khan Academy that is tied to the PSAT and SAT are the same people who write those exams. I doubt that. But they certainly do have access to the latest details about those exams, from the CollegeBoard. To the best of my knowledge and belief, nobody else has that... To me, that's a plus... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 17 minutes ago, Lanny said: But they certainly do have access to the latest details about those exams, from the CollegeBoard. To the best of my knowledge and belief, nobody else has that... To me, that's a plus... Do they? Do we know this or do we assume that? I know the eight exams that are released are also to be found on other sites, but my kids detest Khan Academy with passion. And I have never been impressed by anything Khan either. However, if the writers of Khan SAT prep have access to College Board knowledge and not just simply a marketing endorsement, I might have to reconsider using that site as opposed to questions written by other prep books. I would like to have more info on this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Roadrunner if you Google that, and if you read on the CollegeBoard and KhanAcademy web sites, I believe you will find that to be true. If you find something to the contrary, please post back here again. I know that Khan Academy isn't the most beautiful user interface in the world, but there is a lot of information and help available there. I do not believe that it is "simply a marketing endorsement". I suggested to my DD that she use Khan Academy for the reasons stated above here, when she studied for the PSAT/NMSQT and then for the SAT. DD did have access to something from Kaplan for the ACT. Apparently there is a tie-in between them. It costs $100 for 6 weeks, but less per week if you pay for more weeks. DD liked it somewhat more than Khan Academy, but I believe she found them comparable. The one thing that 6 week course for the ACT had, in addition to video lessons were several (?) live sessions with an Instructor, where the students could ask questions. That IMO is a huge plus for that. 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.