My personal experiences with SAT prep academies were… not great.

If you — whether you're a student or a parent — are enrolled in a program that resembles what I describe below, I genuinely think you should consider quitting ASAP.

I attended two SAT prep academies:

• 2 days in 10th grade
• 2 weeks in 11th grade

Neither taught me:

• what the SAT really is,
• what each section requires,
• or what skills you actually need to develop.

When I took my first full practice test, I didn’t even know what sections the SAT had.

Classes were basically:

• memorize the vocab they hand you
• take a vocab quiz
• do a couple practice questions
• listen to one teacher’s subjective interpretation
• go home

If your cram school resembles this even a little, self-study will almost certainly be better for you.

Let me break down the core problems.

1️⃣ They Make You Memorize Useless Vocabulary