Why SAT and ACT Tutoring Makes Sense, Even for Smart Students
This post is a reprint from Danh Le of Underground Academy. Underground Academy specializes in individual online PSAT, SAT and ACT tutoring. I think this approach makes sense and I am going to try it for my middle daughter. As Danh mentions, high scores can increase the possibility of full-tuition / full-ride scholarships. Check out my Full Scholarship List to see many of these great opportunities and check out Underground Academy for more information on this great tutoring option.
Why You Need a SAT and ACT Tutor Even if Your Child is “Smart”
“I have a bright child. Why should I still get tutoring?”Up until a few years ago, I didn’t think tutoring was that valuable. Growing up, I never had a tutor, and I was fine self-studying. However, I finally realized I had something I rarely find in students I tutor: well-defined goals and lots of intrinsic (inner) motivation. Also I did not have too many extracurricular activities to distract me or take up my time. These things allowed me to get away with not having a tutor.
Well-Defined Goals and Motivation Within
2) I understood the math behind the loans and debt of college, so wanted increased scholarship chances.
3) Possibilities of getting full-tuition/ full-ride scholarships just due to 2 numbers: test scores and gpa. I hate essay writing, participated in only in a few clubs (none leadership positions), and knew the SAT and ACT tests gave me the most efficient way to get this free money
4) I’ve always been a straight A student, so it bugged my ego that I couldn’t score high my first couple times with this test.
These goals pushed me to succeed and find out as much as I could about the test and do all the things that a regular smart student wouldn’t do.
The Problem With Smart Students
How Tutoring Fixes the Problem
The thing I or anyone else in the world can’t do is get the student to open the book and do the work when I’m not around. Score increases are 20% the tutor, 80% the student. As you can see, the potential downside of tutoring is if the student thinks having a tutor automatically guarantees score increases and thus doesn’t work as hard as she should because she thinks the tutor will bail her out. Even in these situations the score with tutoring should be better than without tutoring. How much so, unfortunately, I couldn’t tell you since it has too many other factors.
A Prescription for a Better SAT and ACT Score
3rd best would be tutoring alone.
Whatever you do, it’s a smart decision to act earlier rather than later (that is, 2nd semester of junior year when AP time is around and end of year projects, finals, etc consume a ton of a student’s time)
Best of luck
You can find more information about SAT and ACT tutoring on the Underground Academy website.