Advice Needed

Parents Forum
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<p>My daughter is presently a junior in high school. She is in a precollege program which allowed her to take the SAT her sophomore year. She did not do well then; however, she took it December of junior year and raised her verbal and writing score by 100 points each. Her math score went down. Her gpa is a 3.9. </p>

<p>Presently, she's considering the following schools (nothing set in stone): </p>

<p>Temple
Oxford College
Fisk </p>

<p>UNC-Charlotte
UNC- Chapel Hill
NC State</p>

<p>Can anyone provide advice on how she can raise her scores? She has taken a test prep course; however, they did not focus on the math portion as they should. I am looking to have her tutor over the summer in math. She has taken 9 Honors classes and 2 AP so far. I would like to know what other schools have a holistic approach in the application process.</p>

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<p>D worked very hard on the test prep book with the practice tests on her own, and brought her grade up 150 points.</p>

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<p>Go visit the SAT/ACT forum of CC and learn all about the Xiggi method. Many kids and parents swear by it.</p>

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<p>Thank you both for your advice. My daughter has a bit of test anxiety. She has several SAT Prep books. I will seek out the official book to see if that helps.</p>

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<p>There is a list of colleges for which submission of admission test scores is optional at:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.fairtest.org/optinit.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.fairtest.org/optinit.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>When you say she didn't do well, does that mean 1200 or 1800 out of 2400? With her fine GPA and challenging course load she should get into most of her first-choice schools with only pretty-good SATs. If she's scoring 450-500 on each test, there is something wrong. If it is just test anxiety -- the answer seems obvious to me. Grind her through enough practice tests in a realistic environment so that she relaxes during the process. Good luck to your daughter.</p>

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<p>By low test scores, I do mean in the lower range that you mentioned. Knowing that she has the test anxiety, I try to encourage rather than push. It is a bit frustrating. </p>

<p>Thank you for the encouragement and advice.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
By low test scores, I do mean in the lower range that you mentioned. Knowing that she has the test anxiety, I try to encourage rather than push. It is a bit frustrating.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Sounds like if we could combine WashDadJr's test fearlessness with your daughter's study habits we'd have one great college candidate...</p>

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<p>Has she tried the ACT? Some kids do better on the ACT, and it has score choice (she can decide which score/test date she wants to send to colleges)</p>

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<p>Yes, she took it once last year. She admittedly didn't do well because she was trying to make it to see her friends graduate. She did very poorly so we can't really use that to determine. She is scheduled to take it on February 10th. She is preparing herself now by doing the practice tests.</p>

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<p>Perhaps some thought should be given to addressing test anxiety directly. Increased practice may not be a or the solution to test anxiety for her.</p>

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<p>Where do I look to address test anxiety? Her guidance counselor has not been much help.</p>

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<p>pbush9, I feel your pain. Your DD is a great student with a 3.9 GPA. </p>

<p>My D complained about test anxiety for the first time on her PSAT in last Oct. She said she would read a problem over and over but register nothing, like her brain was not in her head at that time. We talked about it and I think it was because I had talked about the "importance" of PSAT over and over two monthes prior to the test. She ended up getting a decent score of 222, below her own and my expection.</p>

<p>Looking back, DD performs her best when no expectation is placed on her test outcome. Like her first SAT I and ACT explorer (25/25) in 8th grade. It just seems the more I talked to her about the test, the worst she got. </p>

<p>She will be taking the new SAT I this March. I will stay as far back as possible this time. All the details are being handled by her DM. I just have my fingers crossed for 2300+.</p>

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<p>Laserbrother,
I really don't think you feel her pain. Your daughter got a 222! I think we all know this puts her in the top 1% of test takers. Pbush has implied that her daughter got about a 150 or less despite having stellar grades. Of course you must be proud of your daughter, but I don't think it's helping pbush to hear that your daughter got a 222 even though she supposedly has so much test anxiety. Now, if you know someone who got a 222 after getting a 150 because they conquered their test anxiety with very specific methods, that would be great info!</p>

<p>Pbush, I don't know much about test anxiety. However, if you go to Amazon.com and put test anxiety in the search, you'll see lots of books-maybe someplace to start? Have you tried an individual tutor for ACT/SAT?. Good luck to you and your daughter.</p>

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<p>Prefect.</p>

<p>This is how I understood pbush9's situation. DD is a great student but did not do well in standard tests. He/she wants to talk to her more but was afraid of putting too much pressure. Mine situation is exactly the same - in term of the test score vs expectation. </p>

<p>I wanted to talk to my DD more about getting high test scores but I can't. The feeling of helplessness is very painful.</p>

<p>My suggestion and my action here will be back off. Let DD do her thing and that may take care of the anxiety.</p>

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<p>Pbush, situational anxiety is very common. This might be a good time to look for professional help. I am not a mental health professional, so please take this for what it's worth. A few sessions with a psychologist specializing in anxiety (probably the most common mental "health" problem), might give her the tools she needs to focus during an exam. Good luck to you and your daughter.</p>

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<p>If the school guidance counselor can't refer your daughter to a psychologist who works with people who want to overcome test anxiety, you might want to try your daughter's physician. Doctors often refer kids to various kinds of counselors. </p>

<p>If your daughter is going to be taking a test prep course, you might also want to talk to the people who run that course, to see if they know of any counselors who do a good job with test anxiety.</p>

<p>Either of these options is probably better than picking names at random out of the Yellow Pages.</p>

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<p>When I was in college, I was sent by my teachers to work with the college counseling (it wasn't called that, though, or I would never have gone) program to help with test anxiety. (I think it was called Learning Resource Center, or something like that.) My teachers noticed that my clinical performance was much better than my tests would indicate. The LRC got copies of my tests, and went through them with me, discussing various strategies. </p>

<p>One was to not second guess myself. Instinctive answers are more often correct. I had a tendency to change right answers into wrong ones, too afraid of being "tricked". We can "talk ourselves into" wrong answers. Another was to learn to eliminate the obvious wrong answers, to increase chances when guessing. Learn to read questions carefully, and mark the grid appropriately. (I failed one test for switching the true and false bubbles. Ended up with one "correct".) Close your eyes and take a deep breath, and let it out slowly through pursed lips to force relaxing. I can't remember everything I was taught, and I'm not sure how much it actually helped, but I remember feeling a huge boost of confidence that my teachers considered my poor test results "inaccurate" and wanted to help.</p>

<p>My kids are performers, so we've dealt with a lot of performance anxiety. A couple things we've learned to do: </p>

<p>Cut out distractions that change your focus. This includes avoiding well-meaning folk who pay too much attention to you, thinking they are helping. My kids have learned to hide in bathroom stalls to avoid this. For your D, this would mean not arguing over which car to drive to the test site, or which coat to wear... It might mean driving her, so she doesn't have to hunt around for a parking space.</p>

<p>Give yourself plenty of warm-up time. With a test, this means, wake up early enough to do something mental to get your brain going. When my D took the SAT, we played word games in the car on the way there. Did mental math. I did NOT let her sleep, which would have been her preference. She wakes up slow.</p>

<p>Eat a "good" breakfast (but don't overeat, or drink too much! Needing a bathroom half way through the first test doesn't help.) My kids always eat a banana before they perform or audition. Some musicians swear there's a natural chemical that relaxes them. It may be placebo, but it sure doesn't hurt. And the fact that it has become "routine" helps set the stage, too.</p>

<p>The most important thing I think you can do is listen to your kid. Is she calling this "test anxiety"? If she doesn't see this as a problem, she may resent your interference and make it worse. If she DOES see this as a problem, then make her part of the solution. Offer suggestions, but let her pick. If she wants to handle it alone, let her. If she is open to ideas, offer them. Pushing when she doesn't want it will call attention to the problem and make it worse.</p>

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<p>I guess I should have been more clear. WashDad kind of touched on what I thinking about. Does she need professional help with this anxiety? It turns out she has a mentor who is in residency as a psychologist. I am thinking about mentioning this to her just to see if she can offer any assistance. </p>

<p>My D has experienced this type of problem over the years. Especially with end-of-grade and standardized test. She always performed well during the school year. When she got to the test, it was totally different. </p>

<p>She had tutors in the past for other subjects and did very well in those classes. I am considering a personal tutor. She tends to favor individualized over classroom test prep. I think she becomes intimidated by the students who are in the class to get a perfect score. Of course, money becomes a factor. I make adjustments where needed to see that she gets what's needed. If you know of a good individualized program in the North Carolina area, please feel free to pass along.</p>

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<p>My daughter is not a good tester. We got her private tutors for all SAT testing. They did teach her a couple of tricks, which gave her a lot more confidence. They were expensive, but for my daughter it was worth it. My daughter has a very busy schedule, tutors paced her so she would be at her best for her tests.</p>