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The following article has been excerpted from Fiske Nailing the New SAT By: Edward B. Fiske and Bruce Hammond Anyone who managed to remain semiconscious in AP English may have a vague recollection of Odysseus and his encounter with Scylla and Charybdis. Don’t remember that one? It was when Odysseus had to steer his ship between Scylla, a six-headed monster, and Charybdis, who swallowed boats in a whirlpool and then spit them back out. Still doesn’t ring a bell?

When it comes to taking the SAT, the seas are ruled by two giants that are just as powerful, if slightly less menacing.

One of them is a two-headed monster, the College Board and ETS, which uses the SAT to create a mixture of fear, confusion, and exhaustion in its prey. After the reasoning test has neutralized the reasoning powers of each hapless student, College Board and ETS proceed to one of their most important tasks: extracting fees. Under the cover of an acorn logo and nonprofit status, they devise ever-more creative ways to bring in the loot: fees to take the tests, late fees, fees to report scores to the colleges, fees to rush scores even faster to the colleges, and fees to learn scores by phone. For the College Board and ETS, the SAT is a cash cow. They roar with rage when anyone suggests that the test can be beaten with coaching.

The other giant of standardized testing seduces its victims with a soothing melody about acing the SAT. It whispers things like, “The SAT is a scam” and “We guarantee your SAT score will improve by at least 200 points.” Ah, the siren song of Princeton Review—the biggest name among the legions of tutors and test-prep gurus nationwide that offer a magic bullet to slay the standardized test monster. While College Board and ETS create fear and loathing, the test-prep giants play on it. Though not a whirlpool exactly, the test-prep industry can suck you under and spit you out—minus $1,000 and a few dozen hours of your time.

Are the College Board and ETS correct in their claims that coaching for the SAT won’t help (much)? Can the right coaching guarantee that your score will rise? It occurred to us that one way of answering this question might be to ask people with firsthand experience. We went to the ultimate source for straight talk about the SAT—the students who had just finished taking it. By reporting the collective wisdom of hundreds of students from dozens of schools, we hope to give families the information they need to make smart choices.

Can a coaching course or tutoring improve your score more than preparing on your own with books and software?

Eye-Opening Results

From the total of 815 students, 390, or 48 percent, had received coaching while 425, or 52 percent, had prepared on their own. Our most important question was whether those who had face-to-face instruction earned higher scores than those who had not. Based on the highest verbal and highest math score of each student, we found that students who did not take a prep course scored higher than those who did.

Average score for coached students:
636 Verbal, 621 Math
Average score for uncoached students:
645 Verbal, 646 Math

The distribution of combined scores for coached and uncoached students, based on highest verbal and highest math, is below. Included are the total number of students, coached and uncoached, who earned a combined score in each range. Percentage figures represent the proportion of the total within that range:

Score  Coached Uncoached
 Below 1000 31 (53%) 28 (47%)
 1000–1090 32 (50%) 32 (50%)
 1100–1190 64 (56%) 50 (44%)
 1200–1290 87 (48%) 93 (52%)
 1300–1390 87 (49%) 90 (51%)
 1400–1490 74 (48%) 79 (52%)
 1500–1600 15 (22%) 53 (78%)

Two surprising findings emerge from these data. First, students who got face-to-face coaching for the SAT actually scored lower, on average, than those who did not. Those who took a prep course received an average combined score of 1257, while those who did not averaged 1291. In each score interval below 1500, there are approximately equal numbers of those who received coaching and those who did not.

Second, among students who scored above 1500, a much smaller fraction received coaching than among students who scored lower. High scorers typically prepared for the test on their own. And as we will see below, students in this group who did take a coaching course or tutoring generally found it to be a waste of time. The difference of 34 points between the combined scores of the two groups is due primarily to the fact that those who scored above 1500 were less likely to have taken a prep course.

Score Increase Claims: A Closer Look

It should come as no surprise that our results are at odds with what the big test-prep companies say. In recent years, Princeton Review has advertised an average score increase of 140 points for students who take its classroom prep course. The company cites a study conducted at its behest in 2002 by a corporate communications firm. The sample included 693 students, out of which 138 provided usable responses. The average combined score increase for the latter group was 136 points. We have three observations about the study:

-Princeton Review selected the students who would be included in the survey pool
-An unknown number of the score increases were computed based on a Princeton Review diagnostic test rather than a real SAT
-Only 20 percent of the students in the initial sample were included in the results

Kaplan does not claim an average score increase for its students. According to a statement from Justin Serrano, the Executive Director of Kaplan Test Prep, “Score improvement statistics can be manipulated to create the appearance of a particular test score improvement, when, in fact, those results were based on small samples of students with nonrepresentative score distributions.”

There are no guarantees in college admission—unless you sign up for an SAT coaching course from the leading test-prep companies. “We guarantee you’ll raise your score at least 200 points, or we’ll work with you again until you do, for free,” says Princeton Review. In other words, there is good news and bad news: You don’t get your money back, but you can enjoy another free year of the same preparation that didn’t work the first time. Kaplan does offer a money-back guarantee. The hitch: Kaplan guarantees only a score increase. If you go up 10 points, no dice. Given that the College Board says that the typical student goes up nearly 30 points between tests anyway (from eleventh to twelfth grade), this guarantee is less than scintillating. In order for the guarantees to apply, students must attend all the sessions and do all the homework.

Why the Myth Won’t Go Away

If the case for an SAT prep course is so weak, why do families continue to spend millions on them every year? The reasons are complex. With the cost of a year at Prestige U now more than $40,000, some families don’t seem to mind ponying up another $1,000 with an “it-can’t-hurt” philosophy. Common sense says that preparing for the SAT—whether on your own or through a course—can indeed improve your score. The fallacy, skillfully perpetuated by the test-prep giants, is the notion that families face a choice between spending big dollars for a prep course or doing nothing. But that’s not the way it is.

Students Talk about Their Prep Courses

Many people assume that an adult standing in the front of the room, with students listening attentively, will automatically raise scores. But studies among college students have shown that those who listen to a lecture learn no more than those who get a transcript of what was said. That bodes ill for national test prep companies because many instructors are recent college graduates who rely heavily on company books. “What was taught in the classroom was the exact same thing printed in the Kaplan book I bought from the bookstore,” complains a 740 V, 690 M scorer. Another student who prepped at a local firm and scored 610 V, 690 M writes, “It seemed that the instructors became talking books. Everything they told us I had already read…. The instructors often didn’t know the answers to questions outside our homework.”

Despite the subjectivity involved, we wanted to know about students’ perceptions of whether coaching increased their scores. The survey gave students a choice of five responses to how much they thought their composite score increased: None; 50 points or less; 60–100 points; 110–150 points; or 160+ points. The most common response was 60–100 points, followed by 50 points or less. Together, these two responses formed a solid majority across all score intervals and all test prep companies. Lesser and approximately equal numbers of students believed that their score went up not at all, or 110–150 points, and a smaller fraction believed that its scores had gone up 160 points or more. There was only one systematic difference in the responses. Those who scored lower than 1100 were less likely to believe that their score had jumped more than 100 points.

Of the students who thought that their prep course was worthwhile, few cited test-taking strategies or the insight of the instructor as the reason why it was useful. The most commonly cited benefit was access to practice tests; a close second was having someone on the scene to make sure they got done. “The course itself did not provide many helpful hints but did force me to take practice tests,” says a 600 V, 600 M scorer. “My tutor made me do the work on the tests,” admits another student who scored 690 V, 710 M. “If he hadn’t forced me to do it, I probably wouldn’t have done it.”

Many students tended to be forgiving when coaching courses failed to deliver the promised score increases. “I learned a lot of great strategies but did not improve my score by the 100 points that were guaranteed,” said a 650 V, 550 M Princeton Review student of her prep course. “I would still recommend it to other students because I know that it can be very helpful for many students.”

“I only increased 10 points,” wrote a 540 V, 560 M Princeton Review prepper who elsewhere noted, “I would recommend this course. It was very helpful learning the tips on how to take the SATs.” Another Princeton Review student with a combined score of 550 V, 630 M had an interesting hypothesis about score increases: “Each time I took a practice test my score improved. I think the tests they gave got easier, because my real SAT score was a lot lower than my final practice score.” One 640 V, 590 M scorer was perturbed by what she perceived as Princeton Review’s lack of follow-through. “Princeton Review did not keep its word about private tutoring if I didn’t go up 100 points from my first practice test. I had to find a tutor on my own.” (Princeton Review’s guarantee for private tutoring is the same as for its classroom courses.)

The Test-Prep Syndrome

A final reason why families don’t balk at ineffective prep courses might be styled “The Test-Prep Syndrome.” This is the tendency to identify with one’s tutor after long hours in captivity cramming for the SAT. It is human nature, especially among adolescents, to bond with adults who give them time and attention. “I had an amazing and inspiring tutor who motivated me to do well on the SATs,” wrote one student who scored a combined 1090, “My tutor opened my mind to so many wonderful things. Her and I established a close relationship and I enjoyed working with her so much.” Unfortunately, this student’s scores went down 10 points after working with the tutor to the tune of $110 per hour. Were the benefits of this tutoring worth the cost? Perhaps. The tutor is probably a fine person who will get a solid endorsement when another family is seeking an SAT coach.

From a mixture of hype, anxiety, and the very real student/tutor relationship, SAT coaching has become a fixture on the landscape of the college admission process. Faced with the anxiety of a high-stakes test, families find comfort in the belief that buying a service will help cope with the problem. Just be forewarned that extra hand-holding might not mean a higher score.

Of the twelve students in this cohort who said they had worked with Princeton Review, six estimated that their scores had gone up 50 points or less. “If I had their books, I could have done it on my own,” says a 500 V, 520 M scorer. “The program forced me to study rather than sleep or waste time. I was able to survive the actual SAT without passing out at the end,” reports a 500 V, 500 M scorer. She estimates that the course increased her score 60–100 points but was not worth the cost because “I was grouped with people who didn’t share my same problems and concerns.” The most prominent Princeton Review backer in the cohort estimates that his scores went up 110–150 points, to a total of 500 V and 510 M, and says that a prep course is worthwhile “because you can talk to someone and get tips that no book can give you.”

There was at least one ray of hope amid the general gloom of the many students who scored low in the context of their schools. “Don’t worry! I got into every college I applied to even though my test scores were poor. There is so much more to a person than their testing abilities,” she writes. This student scored 520 V, 460 M and was accepted by Alfred University, Hartwick College, Earlham College, Lesley College, and Warren Wilson College. Congratulations to her!

Prep course conclusions

Readers may draw their own conclusions from the responses we’ve cited. Here are the most important:
-Practice tests are the single most crucial element of any prep program. Students, particularly high scorers, say so again and again.
-High scorers tend to be much more confident than low scorers. They are more likely to prepare for the SAT on their own.
-Paying for test prep is an uncertain proposition at best. Many students are adamant that their coaching course was not productive; most are uncertain as to the benefits.
-The most commonly cited benefit of a coaching course is that it helps students who lack the initiative, discipline, or confidence to prepare on their own.
-Initiative, discipline, and confidence are among the most important ingredients of scoring high on the SAT.

Next, we make the case as to why preparing on your own is the best way for most students to tackle the SAT.

Published in : , Test Preparation

Keywords : Preparation for Tests, Test Preparation, SAT prep courses, SAT, Prep Courses, Test Prep, Edward B. Fiske, Bruce G. Hammond, Fiske Guides, Fiske Nailing the New SAT

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