A Bridge for Kids Helps Boost Low-Income SAT Scores

For many high school seniors, this is an extremely stressful time given the pressures of finding the right colleges for them to apply to and providing all of the necessary information on each application to present themselves as a valuable candidate for each school. A very important element of the college application, which students spend a large portion of their junior and senior year on, is the SAT or ACT college entrance exam score. The scores from these standardized tests are often important factors in college applications, and many students feel the pressure of obtaining the highest scores possible. 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.One of A Bridge For Kids’ students who took the SAT prep course shares her experience. “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. After completing the course, I scored a 2080 on the SAT and a 32 on the ACT, and am now looking to apply to more selective schools such as USC and UC Berkeley. I am more confident in my test taking abilities because of the help I received through the A Bridge For Kids SAT/ACT Prep Program.On behalf of all of teens in this program, I want to thank those of you who have sponsored teens like me and those of you who are planning to sponsor teens in the near future. I know for sure I would not be on the path to a successful future that I am on today without the help of A Bridge for Kids.”