My daughter used Abelson Test Prep to take her SATs for the second time. She thought she knew what to do the first time around (teenagers know everything?), but her scores were dismal, especially the Critical Reading and Writing sections. We contracted 9 individual sessions for her. She was a bit distractible, and I figured boys in a classroom with her might mean she would never see better scores. I knew from the first session that this was different. My daughter raised her scores exactly as needed to get into her dream school. She is in her freshman year of college now, happy and ready to take on the world.
Because of these results, I contracted 23 private lessons for my son. He faces some significant learning challenges, and usually does not perform well on exams. We are using these lessons both for SAT prep as well as Regents review. I attend all of the sessions so I can provide support at home while my son is reviewing and testing himself. I can say, without a doubt, that this test prep program is working wonders! After being told by many that he is not smart, my son is discovering that with some specific strategies, he IS smart, and he CAN be successful on an exam.
I would also say to Pam C that the research is pretty clear on retaking the SATs too many times - two seems to be the best number, and there are usually no significant improvements when a child takes it three or more times. You are best off going into the first round well prepared, or seeing those first scores and making sure round two is better prepared. read more