SAT Prep Course Description

SAT prep at APLUS is renowned for its highly qualified teachers. Students are grouped based on their pre-test score to ensure effective teaching and learning. Average class size is 8 students and the maximum is 12. All SAT prep courses include twelve 3.5-hour sessions, and each session consists of an 1.5-hour section for mathematics and a 2-hour section for verbal & writing section. Of those twelve sessions, nine are instruction sessions and three are test practice sessions. Student will also have an opportunity to practice their writing which will be graded by a writing teacher based on College Board guidelines.

APLUS SAT prep course is structured to effectively raise the student’s SAT score. To achieve the highest potential, students are expected to work on their class work and homework as advised by our instructors. On the average, student can expect to increase their SAT score by 265 points after completing our SAT prep course. In spring 2010, our SAT prep class made an unthinkable achievement of 360 points increase.

Our Students

Since 1998, our program has helped many students achieve their best SAT score and resulted in many acceptances from colleges such as Stanford, Yale, Swarthmore, University of Pennsylvania, Duke, Georgetown, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, University of California at Berkeley, University of Maryland, Northwestern, and many others.

Fee & Refund Policy

The total tuition fee is $1025 for 10 week prep and $750 for 5 week prep, including materials. If you decide to withdraw after the first instruction session, a deduction of $100 will be applied. There is no refund after second instruction session.

Our Teachers

A team of highly experienced SAT teachers has distinguished our SAT prep course from others. Our SAT teachers are professional teachers with extensive SAT teaching experiences.

Mr. Davis          Ph.D. candidate in English Literature. 5 year experience teaching SAT verbal
Mr. Sandefur   MCPS AP English teacher, with years of experience in teaching SAT verbal
Ms. Lloyd         MCPS AP English teacher. 10 year experience teaching SAT verbal
Ms. Twomey    Ph.D. in Communication, professor in American University. 10+ year experience teaching SAT verbal
Mr. Kim           Ph.D., MCPS teacher and has years of experience in teaching SAT math, and preCalc
Mrs. Wang       Ph.D. in Chemistry and an AP teacher at MCPS. 10+ year experience teaching SAT math
Mr. Yeh           M.A. in Statistics. 10+ year experience teaching SAT math

Schedule

SAT test Date    Class Start Date                                Class Start Date 
                           10-wk prep                                    5-wk prep

10/01/11    08/11/11     Saturday   01:30-5:00      08/13/11   Saturday   01:30 - 5:30
11/05/11    08/20/11     Saturday   01:30-5:00      09/24/11   Saturday   01:30 - 5:30
12/03/11    09/24/11     Saturday   01:30-5:00      10/22/11   Saturday   01:30 - 5:30
01/28/12    11/20/11     Saturday   01:30-5:00      12/10/11   Saturday   01:30 - 5:30
03/10/12    01/05/11     Saturday   01:30-5:00      01/28/12   Saturday   01:30 - 5:30
05/05/12                                                        03/17/12   Saturday   01:30 - 5:00
06/02/12    03/17/12     Saturday   01:30-5:00      04/21/12   Saturday   01:30 - 5:30

*See SAT calendar for detailed SAT class schedule

Comparison between SAT and ACT

	SAT	ACT
1. Description
	SAT is more of an aptitude test, testing verbal abilities,  critical thinking and problem solving	An achievement test, measuring what a student has learned in school. ACT is content-based.
2. Content Comparison
How many components?	3 components, including Math, Critical Reading, and Writing	5 components, including Math, English, Reading, Science, and optional Writing
Math	Including Algebra 2	Including trigonometry
Vocabulary	More	Less
Including science section?	No	Yes
Grammar?	Grammar usage and word choice in writing section	Include English grammar
Multiple choice questions?	All multiple choice questions, except that math includes 10 grid-in questions.	All multiple choice questions. English, reading, and science section each includes several reading passages with 5-15 questions per passage, and math section includes 60 questions with 5 possible answer choices.
Penalty for incorrect answers	Yes	No
3. Time for testing
	Math: 70 minutes Critical reading: 75 minutes Writing: 60 minutes Total: 3 hour and 30 minutes	English: 45 minutes Reading: 35 minutes Science: 35 minutes Math: 60 minutes Writing (optional): 30 minutes Total: 3 hour and 25 minutes
4. Test dates
	October, November, December, January, March, May, and June	September, October, December, February, April, and June
5. Score Scale
	200-800 for each section. A perfect score is 2400	Composite score range: 1-36
6. Acceptance by most schools?
	YES	YES

7. Which should I take? SAT or ACT?
	SAT	ACT
1. You did great on PSAT	V
2. You are good in vocabulary	V
3. You can ace grammar	V
4. You find it easier to write essays that use illustrative examples rather than argument.	V
5. You consider yourself quick-thinking	V
6. You had a PSAT or SAT score inconsistent with your academic performance in school.		V
7. Your vocabulary is not as strong as your reading		V
8. You are great at writing papers but haven't had formal grammar instruction.		V
9. You prefer to write essays that are argumentative, persuading with ideas even if you lack perfect recall of facts and figures		V
10. You are more academic than "test savvy."		V
8. Your decision?
The SAT is designed more for documenting a student's ability and knowledge in how to take a test while the ACT is more of an observation of what you have learned while in high school.   Based on that, it seems if you have the book smarts and do a great job in class, then shoot for the ACT. If you're the type who picks up fast and can take a test without too much studying, then the SAT has your name on it. Think about which skill set you want to show to colleges and make your decision; the bottom line is what kind of intelligence you think you have.
9. Still have questions
Call 301-838-9668 for more information APLUS Learning Center    www.apluslearningINC.com 215 West Montgomery Ave., Rockville, Maryland 20850 11425 Isaac Newton SQ., Suite 200, Reston, Virginia 20190