A Bridge for Kids Helps Boost Low-Income SAT Scores

With the academic year finally coming to a close, many juniors are beginning the processes of looking for scholarships, applying to colleges, and perfecting standardized test scores. These are just a few of the many “to-do’s” on the soon-to-be seniors’ checklists.For many students, this is an extremely stressful time because of the SAT and/or ACT. The scores from these standardized tests are often important factors in college applications, and many students feel the pressure of preparing for these tests. Individualized tutors and classroom-style prep courses are often available, but can be incredibly expensive and therefore, not an option for most low-income students looking to boost their scores. Prep books are a more affordable option, but lack the personal help and advice that comes from an actual tutor. Because of such disadvantages, low-income students are left to their own devices when it comes to test prep.However, A Bridge for Kids is changing that. The organization has joined forces with Revolution Prep, a nation-wide SAT/ACT prep company to provide a 6 week, 18-hour online prep class to low-income students involved with A Bridge for Kids. A Bridge For Kids pays a discounted fee and provides the class free of charge to its teens. The class is held with a tutor via webcam once a week and goes through a workbook along with providing 5 complete practice tests.As one of the students given the incredible opportunity to take the SAT course, I would absolutely advise other students to take it if they have the chance. I expected the class to be more like a lecture course, just listening to a teacher talk about the SAT and how to prepare for it. Instead, it was much more engaging and informative. The tutor actually called on students taking the class, asking us to explain how we solved the math in an example or reading passages to answer comprehension questions. The level of interaction between the tutor and the students allowed me to ask questions on problems I didn’t understand and receive explanations that made more sense than those that would come from reading a prep book.Another aspect of Revolution Prep that helped me a lot was the SAT essay tutoring. This was a really unique aspect of the class because I hadn’t known how to write for the SAT, and reading about it online or in a book couldn’t tell me if I was doing it right or not. With the Revolution Prep class, the tutor had us practice writing the essays and gave us feedback on how we could improve. The practice tests also had an essay section that was scored by an SAT grader, so I was able to see what I was scoring on my essays.A Bridge for Kids giving me the opportunity to take an SAT class, that I would not be able to afford on my own, has changed how I took the SAT. The class broke down the different types of questions and explained what to do if I got stuck. By the end of the class, I was really familiar with all the types of questions, which made taking the SAT a lot less stressful. I was able to score a 2080 because of the help I received, and feel prepared to retake the test on June 7th with the goal of obtaining an even higher score.