The start of your junior year at high school, is probably one of the most stressful years of a teens adolescence. It is full of late night study sessions, caffeine infused blood, and nonstop anxiety of whether or not a students performance/ course load will entice your dream college into accepting them into their school. Along with taking an exhausting workload, students are introduced to a new enemy in itself, The SAT! When it comes to applying to colleges and universities, scoring well on your SAT’s is a vital link to help attain the goal of attending students’ dream college. So how would you go about doing this?
Many individuals have a variety of different views about the SAT, but the most commonly asked question is to what extent do private tutors play a role in helping students achieve an exceptional score. The Princeton Review states that “there is no denying that the SAT does not test how smart you are but only tests your ability to mastering the SAT!”. Does this claim provoke the idea that hiring a private tutor who is a “master” at the SAT will help students achieve a greater score? In March of 2020, a survey was conducted in order to better establish whether or not having a private tutor was beneficial to students’ scores. The survey was conducted by an independent researcher surveying pupils in Miami-Dade County, one of three question: “Did you have a private SAT tutor? what score did you receive? and what score did you start with?”. The results of the survey indicated that the students who did not have access to private SAT tutors had, on average, a lower increase in their score from their starting point. Are you saying that hiring a private SAT tutor will help students achieve their maximum potential?
Although it may seem that research supports the claim that SAT tutors help students reach their greatest potential score, many of these studies do not take into account how much effort each student had put into studying in order to achieve the score that they achieved. Many studies show that regardless of how much money you spend on SAT tutors, it does not guarantee that a student will achieve their wanted score, it really comes down to the determination, fortitude, and drive a student has to succeed. Yes, SAT tutors give you helpful tips and tricks to help you on the SAT, but it really comes down to the amount of work the student puts in.
According to an article written by Daniel Engber, Does SAT Prep Actually work, he states that “research suggests that formal coaching can further boost a student’s score, but only by a little bit”. Another study conducted by Derek Broggs of the University of Colorado and Ben Domingue of Stanford university concluded that students who studied the same amount as students with private Sat tutors tended to perform at around the same performance level. The results of the study concluded that hiring private tutors only increased students’ scores 10 to 20 points in the math section compared to the students who studied around the same amount of time, but did not have a private tutor. This would mean that a student’s motivation and aptitude is what really matters when it comes to taking this test. If a student does not have access to a private SAT tutor what other prep coarse could they use and how does it compete?
If a student is unable to hire a private SAT tutor, there are many other ways in which a student can drastically increase their score for free. According to a report conducted by college board in 2016, it is stated that “coached students are only slightly more likely to have large score gains than un-coached students”, this would support the assumption that succeeding on the SAT has more to do with the student rather than the advantages they have access to. One way in which a student can receive free tutoring is through Khan Academy which has been reportedly proven to increase students’ scores significantly with only about 20 hours of practice on it. Khan Academy is an online program that is offered to any and every student that is willing to put in some effort to try and study for this test. College Board released a statement regarding the success rate of Khan Academy, it was stated that “studying for the SAT for 20 hours on free Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy is associated with an average score gain of 115 points, nearly double the average score gain compared to students who do not use Khan Academy” (College Board). To further validate this claim that College Board had made they released statistics recorded below:
All in all, the debate on whether or not private SAT tutors actually help to improve a student’s academic performance on the SAT is considered by many to be a controversial topic. According to the statistics provided, it really comes down to the effort a student is willing to put in to succeed rather than how much money he or she may spend on tutors. In some cases, a student’s success is solely driven from the fact that their tutors are pushing them to study and for others, who do not have SAT tutors, they must have self-motivation. Deciding whether or not to get an SAT tutor is merely up to each individual but it may not be necessary to succeed.
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