There seems to be a great debate over the pricey versus the cheap SAT prep courses. Could it be that cheap SAT prep courses found at the local bookstore are just as good as Kaplan, Sylvan and Princeton Review for preparing for the SAT? It just may be true.
Some have been questioning a recent editorial in the Cornell Daily Sun where it states that the SAT "favors candidates from higher incomes who can afford tutoring." The argument being that these courses only serve to give affluent parents and students the illusion of [control] over a scary process. And that in reality, free or low-cost preparation for the SAT is just as good. On the other hand, if you sign up for the Kaplan course, you will essentially be forced to study and this could actually help the unmotivated student.
This seems to be a debate that all students and their parents everywhere need to follow closely. It would be nice to have some statistics for expensive versus low-cost SAT prep courses. The results could be startling. One way very well could be just as good as the other. It might just come down to how motivated is your student to take the time to prepare. If they are not real motivated, the parent may be inclined to sign them up for a class where an instructor or tutor can coach them effectively. And then you have the motivated student who can pick up a SAT prep book at the local bookstore very inexpensively and prepare just as effectively.
I think in the end, this is exactly what the parent of a student preparing to take the SAT must do. And that is to decide how motivated the student is to make the time to study for the SAT. If the student cannot make the time on his or her own, signing up for SAT prep courses may be just the ticket.
