- You can get our services for free.
Many consumers may not be aware that school districts often buy their services and make them available to students for free or at a discount. Many coaching companies offer their classes at a discount, or even free to lower-income individuals. Kaplan is offering its SAT or ACT test prep courses for $45, instead of the full $499, to high school juniors in Texas registered for the May or June 2011 exams, says Jeff Olson, vice president of research for Kaplan Test Prep. Both Princeton Review and Kaplan say their services are often subsidized by schools.
Before they fork over all that cash, students may want to check their local school districts and non-profit organizations: The savings can be substantial. Companies typically charge $1,100 for a class and $100 to $200 an hour for individual tutoring, according to the NACAC. It’s estimated some 1.5 million students spend about $530 million a year on test preparation and tutoring for the SAT alone, according to Eduventures, a Boston research and consulting firm.
- Or you can prep yourself.
Counselors and college admissions coaches say students who take advantage of free practice tests, booklets and online services provided through their schools or the test administrators can perform just as well as those who pay full price for a course. “Most of the improvement comes from just having some practice,” says Steve Schneider, a counselor at Sheboygan South High School in Sheboygan, Wis., and the secondary level vice president of the American School Counselor Association. Students using the free test-prep site Number2.com posted score gains in line with those of students who used more services that cost as much as $400, according to Consumer Reports.
For do-it-yourselfers, Schneider recommends taking the actual test, or a timed practice exam under test-like conditions, to get a baseline score and to learn what areas you need improvement on. The College Board, which administers the SAT, offers one free practice exam online each year, along with a free question-of-the-day feature on CollegeBoard.com. ACT also posts free practice questions for various sections of the exam at Actstudent.org. And many high schools purchases test preparation workbooks to loan out to students.
- What guaranteed refund?
Vinh Chuon, a mother of two in Union City, Calif., says she paid $1,000 for her oldest son to take an SAT prep course in the summer of 2007 from Princeton Review, which guaranteed a score increase on the test or a full cash refund. But after taking the class, her son’s test score dropped by about 40 points, she says. Her calls about getting her money back were ignored, she claims, until the Better Business Bureau contacted Princeton on her behalf. In the end, she got a 50% refund; the rest of the money came as a voucher to take the SAT course again. A spokeswoman for Princeton Review also said there is no situation in which a customer would receive a 50% refund under their current policy, but she declined to comment specifically on Chuon’s case. According to the Better Business Bureau, the case was resolved, meaning Princeton Review responded to Chuon in a “manner that the consumer, at the time, found acceptable.”
Kaplan, Princeton Review, Boston Test Prep and PrepMe all guarantee a refund if students don’t increase their scores. But the fine print reveals it may not be so simple. “If you don’t get the score gain they just let you take the coaching again, and there’s a lot of red tape involved,” says Derek Briggs, a professor at University of Colorado in Boulder and the author of the NACAC report on exam preparation programs. For instance, Princeton Review’s 150 Point Money Back Guarantee for the SAT Ultimate Classroom Course says students must retake a course and then retake the official SAT, which costs $47. If their score still doesn’t improve, they may be eligible for a full cash refund. But that guarantee offer only applies to students who score between 801 and 2100 on their preliminary practice test (out of 2400). The company’s other guarantees allow students to retake a course if they aren’t satisfied – but charge a $200 administrative fee.