“I would have never guessed that the national SAT average is 1028 given what I hear and see people talk about at M-A,” junior Molly Rosen said.
Trending hashtags on TikTok like #satprep, #satmath, and #sattips have over 50,000 posts and are filled with creators advertising online courses to achieve high SAT scores. Social media can drastically alter students’ perceptions of the SAT by normalizing uncommonly high scores. Because of this, panicked high school students and their parents often fall victim to unnecessary and overpriced SAT prep classes.
The disproportionate posting of scores in the 1500s—the 99th percentile—leads many students to lose sight of the fact that the average SAT score is 1115 in California and 1028 nationally. Social media has created unrealistic expectations in students, so many see scores as high as 1350 as unimpressive, despite being in the 91st percentile. Reddit’s SAT subreddit has over 550 thousand members who share high scores and disappointment about perceived “low scores” that are often in the 13 and 1400s.
“The videos I see of content creators talking about the SAT leave out a lot of preparation they did to secure their high score,” senior Aarna Singla said. “Social media is an echo chamber. It makes the minorities the majority, so it never shows the people getting 1300s but rather only the highest scorers.”
When comparing themselves to content creators, anxious students assume attending costly SAT prep courses is the only solution to improving their scores. Studying with a prep class has minimal results, averaging only a 20-point score increase. Many participants have criticized these courses online, even going as far as to say they have lowered scores. In comparison, the College Board’s free SAT studying material made in partnership with Khan Academy increased students’ initial scores by 90 points per 6 hours of studying.
“Some people don’t need [SAT prep classes] because they are naturally adaptive and perceptive to test patterns after limited practice. I suggest getting prep classes only if you can afford it,” senior Isabella Kha, who paid $100 an hour for a month of prep classes, said.
“I started test-prep the summer of my sophomore year to get ready for my SAT test in August. Overall, I think that having guidance from a parent or teacher would suffice over prep courses because of how costly mine was. Despite me and my friends earning scores in the 1500s and high percentiles, we are still planning on retaking it,” Rosen said.
Parents eager to send their kids to elite colleges are in on the SAT hype, but not so eager to be paying private SAT tutoring prices. Parents often discuss online, questioning whether their money would be better spent on something more score-maximizing than private tutoring.
In response to a mother’s dilemma on whether or not to purchase a private tutor for her daughter, one parent said, “I doubt she will improve dramatically, but if that would haunt you, you can pony up the money.”
“I think the current price of SAT prep classes is super excessive. I know I want to get some sort of tutoring just because I hear my classmates doing so, but I’m pretty uncomfortable asking my parents to pay $100-200 an hour even though I know they would want the best for me,” junior Marye Green said.
With the surge of content creators boasting about their scores, it’s important to remind students that paying high prices for SAT tutoring and test prep may not always be the answer, especially because there are plenty of free or inexpensive resources available to help.
