The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) requires some training in order to do well for many. Therefore, many students who seek higher SAT scores, go to so called “SAT boot camps.”
Every year, students attend the Winter Boot Camp at the Academic California Institute (ACI) to improve their overall SAT scores. This year, the intensive course was held over Christmas break, Dec. 26, 2012-Jan. 5, 2013.
During the course, students were given the practice sample exams of SAT tests everyday, starting from morning to noon. After the students received the results of the tests, ACI instructors explained problems that students did poorly on.
For Daniel Kim, a junior from Northwood High School in Irvine, this is his third year preparing for the SAT. He is not satisfied with the test results and hopes to improve his test score.
“I took my SAT test last year but the score was not satisfying,” Kim said. “I think that although I learned a lot, the class itself is not effective because of too much homework and information which made me sleep less and that really affected my score negatively.”
Overwhelming information and large amounts of homework may be challenging for some students. However, ACI instructors believe that although the intensive course can be harsh, short and ineffective, students can gain benefits.
Chris Bonneau, English instructor at ACI Academy, knew well that eight days were insufficient to improve drastically. However, he believes that in the long-run attending SAT boot camps will help because students learn various question types that appear on the actual SAT.
“Though eight days is certainly not the ideal amount of time to prepare for the SAT, previous students have been able to raise their scores by several hundred points during the Winter Boot Camp,” Bonneau said. “Ultimately, a student’s commitment to improve his or her score will determine just how much the score increases.”
Participants who went to the classes, certainly felt that scores were not always consistent. The average test score for the class changed everyday according to the ACI score analysis of the SAT test. The results of the practice SAT tests were not always satisfying for some students like FC student David Ryu, ’14, who also prepared for the exam on his own, to improve.
“My score was embarassingly low when I first took the practice exam because English is not my first language,” Ryu said. “But I studied during the winter break, which helped me to boost up my score. I believe that learning new types of questions will improve my score.”
Chloe Duerr, ’14, is also struggling to receive better SAT scores as she is preparing to attend universities. However, she remains optimistic by staying committed to study.
“My score was lower than I expected, so I want to raise my score so that I can get in to better colleges,” Duerr said. “Although I doubt that scores will improve right away, I plan to buy some SAT prep books for better test results.”
Another FC student Adam Loughney, ’14, has taken the actual SAT as a junior in October of last year. However, the score was unsatisfying and it motivated Loughney to prepare again this year.
“I really hate the SAT exam because it really takes hard effort to improve, and the score does not improve all at once in a short amount of time,” Loughney said. “I have been practicing with SAT prep books so I hope that I do really well on the upcoming SAT this month.”
Through perseverance and patience, SAT scores can be improved. However, there is no guarantee that advancement comes right away.
ACI Academy offers other SAT Boot Camps for the spring season. A 12 week course starting on Feb. 2-Apr. 27 or 16 week course Feb. 2-May 25.
For more information about ACI Academy, visit the ACI Academy website and for the SAT visit the Collegeboard website.
For more features, read the Jan. 10 article, New locked doors policy enforced, enhance student protection.
