"Students who complete an SAT prep course usually see an improvement of 100 points or more," said Shelley Grund, administrative support for Academic Affairs at Lander. "We look at how the SAT is written to develop a targeted approach for each question type."
Because enrollment is limited to 15 students for this once-a-year course, course instructors Gina Dunn and James Anderson encourage early registration.
"This is my third year teaching the course, and it's one of my favorite contributions to service for the university and community," said Anderson, assistant professor of English and English Education at Lander. "It's both rigorous and relaxed, and students get the opportunity to practice with proven materials and to ask individual questions."
Dunn, Lander's 2017 Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computing, added that her favorite part of teaching the course is "hearing the success stories."
Former student Narae Lee, who entered Georgetown University in 2016, said Dunn's instruction "really helped me both inside and outside the college application process."
And Dr. Lorrie Kibler, a Learning Strategies Teacher with Mid-Carolina High School in Prosperity, S.C., said SAT Pro opened an avenue of college possibilities in her own family.
"My daughter scored 1480 on her first attempt and was accepted at Elon, Clemson, Sewanee, and wait-listed at Wake Forest," Dr. Kibler said. "So the SAT course was a big influence in her getting higher scores to get admitted to these universities."
Initiated in 2008 by Dr. Lillian Craton, director of Lander's Honors College & Associate Professor of English, the objective of SAT Pro was to help local students get their best SAT possible scores, meet their goals for college admissions and scholarships, and, and "to get ambitious, hardworking high school students to become familiar with Lander," Craton said.
Grund added that whether it's Lander, Clemson, Duke, Ohio State, or any other university, the 2018 SAT Pro course gives prospective students a much better chance of scoring the best marks to get accepted by the college of their choice.
"It's the best SAT prep course in our area - bar none," she said. "But it won't be offered again until next year - so if you're a rising high-school senior looking to take the SAT this year, I encourage you to sign up for the course now."