<p>How important are the scores from the 7th grade SAT?</p>
<p>Not important</p>
<p>In my area, most students are getting from 1000 to 1250 and my child is just not there.</p>
<p>I've never heard of them......tell more!</p>
<p>I assumed you meant taking the SAT as a 7th grader, such as for the Duke TIP program that my S participated in years ago. I apologize if there is some new test called the "7th grade SAT."</p>
<p>According to what I've read, only about 2% of students in the 7th grade who take the SAT (usually for talent identification programs) score above 1000. Remember, the average for high school SENIORS is just above 1000.</p>
<p>Do NOT worry about 7th grade SAT scores. They have absolutely no bearing on college admissions and in fact will not even be sent to colleges. By the time your daughter is a junior, I can guarantee she will have very different scores.</p>
<p>7th grade is wayyyyy too early to start worrying about SAT scores. My son did take the SAT for Johns Hopkins CTY but we treated it as a sort of game - no pressure, no real fear or worry about the results.</p>
<p>coggirl: not only are they not important in the big scheme of things, but SAT scores taken in elementary school are not reported to colleges. However, the Hopkins CTY program does require them.</p>
<p>thanks for the responses. I guess I'll just start obsessing about another aspect of college admission for my child. Do you have any suggestions for SAT prep at this time?</p>
<p>I'm writing this as a parent of a son who took the SAT I last year (sixth-grade age) for the Midwest Academic Talent Search. I hang out on email lists with quite a few parents whose children have been through early college entrance testing through one of the regional talent searches. This year my son takes the ACT. I expect next year he will take the "new" SAT I. </p>
<p>SAT prep as such is unseemly, in my opinion, except for being familiar with actual tests. Most of the highest-scoring kids on the SAT I take a few actual previous tests under testing conditions--that is, in one session per test with the same time limits as on the real test. I wouldn't want to use any third-party materials (Princeton Review, Kaplan, Barron's, whatever other brand names are out there) that focus only on the test itself. The only authoritative source of information about the test is actual old tests and related publications from the College Board. The definitive source for old tests is the book 10 Real SATs published by the College Board, which is available in many public libraries. The definitive book for the "new" SAT I, first offered officially in March 2005, is The Official SAT Study Guide: For the New SAT, also published by the College Board and also widely available in libraries. Accept no substitutes. </p>
<p>Once you've had your child take one or two actual previous tests, you can identify areas in which the child can develop over the next few years. My son can still gain ground in reading, and in writing for the "new" SAT. Fortunately, he reads continually, and writes more and more for emailing friends and doing learning projects, so he is doing the right thing to improve over time. There are various courses about vocabulary development that are worthwhile for general vocabulary development--just be sure not to pay your hard-earned money for a course built only around "SAT words," because such a course is a lie. Any word in the vocabulary of English is, in principle, fair game on the SAT. One brand name of vocabulary prep materials that I and several local and online friends like is The Word Within the Word series published by Royal Fireworks Press (Google it). </p>
<p>A happy result from my son's SAT I testing last year is that he got a full scholarship to a three-week summer program in Dublin, Ireland run by the Irish equivalent of the talent search organizations in the United States. That was a very good experience for him. Information about qualifying scores for CTY summer programs in the United States has just been posted on the Web. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.jhu.edu/gifted/summer/oselig.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.jhu.edu/gifted/summer/oselig.html</a> </p>
<p>Hope this helps! It's not a big deal, and all of the talent search testing has nothing to do with subsequent SAT testing for college admission. </p>
<p>See my "Planning WAY ahead?" thread for what I obsess about in regard to a child of about the same age as yours. </p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=924%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=924</a> </p>
<p>Welcome aboard.</p>
<p>I would say the BEST SAT prep for a SEVENTH grader would be to NOT worry about SAT prep at this age. </p>
<p>Instead, focus on insuring that your child is on track to take challenging courses in high school (many high schools require certain pre-req's to be completed in middle school so now is the time to think about this). I'd also start looking carefully at high school options - both private and public - to find a high school where your child can be encouraged, challenged, and receive the best education. A good challenging curriculum is the best way to insure future SAT success.</p>
<p>Sophomore year is plenty of time to take a practice PSAT --- but really, it is silly to start worrying or prepping for the SATs in middle school. Just focus on finding a high school where your child can have opportunities to reach their full academic potential and relax --- college is still years away and much can and will change in those years.</p>
<p>my older daughter did take the SAT as a 7th grader. She didn't prep at all. We looked at it as an opportunity to be exposed to the test AND because she happened to enjoy testing even though she wouldn't study for it. ( she saw it as a puzzle- or a game)
She did participate in a program through CTY but only in 8th grade.
She didn't mention it on college apps, I don't know if something in middle school makes any difference.
She didn't even practice her SATs in high school, but as she is a voracious reader, and that is good prep for verbal at least, she did pretty well.
Test taking is a skill, but there is plenty of time to learn strategies.</p>
<p>the talent search programs are very worthwhile. My son did the Duke one and got to attend a very nice awards ceremony and got a free 3 week summer program. But I agree with the posters who say that it is probably not appropriate to prep for the talent search 7th grade SAT (other than just looking at the format). Just let the child take it and see how it goes. If the child doesn't do well, they won't get the talent search benefits, but there is absolutely no harm done. The scores will not be reported to colleges, and kids are going to increase their scores a lot btwn 7th grade and high school.</p>
<p>From what I can tell, the purpose of the talent identification programs (taking the SAT in 7th grade) is to give the student the opportunity (based on their scores) to attend a summer program (which can cost $$$$). While my son received the information from his school, they have absolutely no interest in the results - the scores are not even in his cumulative file. </p>
<p>One unexpected bonus, though: son scored 20 points higher than his overbearing older sister. She's still considering a recount.</p>
<p>7th Grade SAT doesn't matter to colleges because they never see them.</p>
<p>On the collegeboard site it says that SAT's taken in 7th and 8th grade disappear after a year and are not seen by colleges.</p>
<p>7th grade SAT scores do not matter to colleges. Yes, they disappear.</p>
<p>The talent search summer programs are excellent and no more expensive than any other high quality residential summer program. Many people who have attended have found them to be well worth the money. There are also both need based and merit scholarships. My son's score was high enough that he got to go to one for free.</p>
<p>They really do dissappear... I got a 1060 in 7th grade when I took them and now on my profile on collegeboard.com it doesn't even say I took them way back when. Haha I can only imagine how angry I would have been if I scored lower than that taking them as a junior and they were not saved! Fortunately that's not the case at all :)</p>
<p>All my kids took them in 7th grade for Duke TIP. My youngest will take it this month. We have never prepped them, even for the "real" SAT that counts towards your college admission, although we did have them read the booklet that explains how the questions will appear etc... the booklet they send with the admission ticket.</p>
<p>I used the 7th grade scores as a barometer since our school system is lacking. I also found that the programs they qualified to attend through Duke TIP were too pricey for us.</p>
<p>Just when I thought I knew it all... I never heard of all this 7th grade, early ID stuff. Wow.</p>
<p>I did the Johns Hopkins Talent Search SAT in 7th and 8th grades, and, while it doesn't actually count, I did find it to be very helpful. I never took any prep course or anything (in middle or high school), but being familiar with the test from 7th and 8th grades was very useful. Between those two years, my english score went up 150 points, and my math 50 points. Then, when I re-took them in high school, my verbal was up another 70, and my math score rose by 210 points :). Again, I think the reason I did well was that I knew what to expect.</p>
<p>The best prep for SAT's for a 7th grader is a rigorous curriculum work + a whole lot of reading beyond school. When she gets into high school, certain extracurriculars that require a lot of reading also "pay off." Debate, Quiz Bowl, and the like, have this effect.</p>
<p>My son also took SAT in 7th grade and 8th grade for Midwest Talent Search (Northwestern). He didn't prep for it. There was no reason to do that. By the time he took PSAT and SAT in 11th grade, however, he knew how the SAT worked and didn't need to prep for it then, either.</p>