Prepping For The SAT

The College Board has continually denied that prepping for the SAT can help students boost scores. But they just unintentionally revealed the truth!

Debating about whether or not to prep for the SAT? The College Board has long argued that prepping for the SAT with expensive programs is a waste, that it’s a democratic test that all students — regardless of their economic advantages or disadvantages — can succeed on. While we agree that some high profile, big SAT prep courses can be a waste, private tutoring for the SAT is far from a waste. Year after year, we see the results and scores of our students go up by the hundreds because of our SAT tutors. We see how even just a little bit of private tutoring can have a huge impact on SAT testing results. Other options for SAT prep include taking the Preliminary SAT (PSAT). So, for as long as we’ve been in this business, we’ve known that the PR coming out of The College Board purporting that the SAT is equitable is absolutely untrue. And now, we believe The College Board has finally conceded as much.

Is SAT Prep Worth It?

When The College Board offered students participating in an expensive summer program at Amherst College the chance to take a summer SAT exam (that would erroneously be listed for colleges as a June exam), The College Board essentially admitted that expensive tutoring does indeed help students succeed on their most important exam. The Amherst College summer program, after all, is a three-week program (named University Prep) that very much focuses on SAT prep. Read that again if it didn’t sink in. The three-week program that The College Board was aligning itself with wasn’t just an expensive summer program (which inherently precludes economically disadvantaged students), but it’s a program that helps students prep for the SAT to ultimately increase their scores. If The College Board didn’t think prepping for the SAT could be successful, why on earth would they align themselves with such a program.

The Truth To SAT Scores

Even though The College Board ultimately gave in to the enormous outcry that called for the cancellation of this summer SAT, don’t overlook for a second that The College Board showed their true colors. By aligning themselves with this Amherst College program, they, in no uncertain terms, admitted something they’ve been denying to little avail for years and years. And we firmly believe The College Board should be held accountable for their deceit and false PR. It’s just like when you hear on college information sessions that SAT and ACT scores are secondary. Don’t believe that false PR either. SAT and ACT scores are a major factor in the “US News and World Report” rankings and these colleges are not willing to sacrifice their mean scores by accepting students with scores lower than the college’s mean.

Shame on The College Board for their continued deceit!