I’ve been taking many practice tests provided by the College Board recently, and I couldn’t help but detect a drastic decline in difficulty in the practice tests versus the official SATs I’ve taken in the past. While the easy-rated questions on the practice tests felt just as easy as the easier questions on the SAT, it seemed like the questions on the official SAT got harder at a faster rate than those of the practice SATs. Is this deliberate on the College Board’s part, or is it just me? I realize that the College Board can’t exactly give out would-be SATs for students to practice on for the same reason for why they don’t release previously administered SATs, but I feel like I’m wasting my time if the practice SATs are indeed watered down.
My D told me that the sections vary in difficulty by a lot. For example the math in one test she said it was easy and on par with some of the practice tests. But the math in a previous test she took was much harder. Same for the English. The March test was very difficult. However, the curves also change by a lot. Tests 7 and 8 should be representative as they are indeed released tests.
I have no evidence of this, but I’ve wondered for a few years if the practice tests provided by exam prep companies are actually very difficult at first, with incremental easing to ensure positive messaging from those taking their class.
If you think about the CB’s interests, they would want kids to feel good about their chances to score well when signing up for testing so that they select the SAT vs. the ACT. Your suggestions wouldn’t surprise me.
@DialecticalFruit Are you saying that the eight released practice tests seem easier than the ones you’ve officially taken?
Our S19 is sitting for his first official test on the 26th, so doesn’t have anything to compare the practice tests to. He would agree with @am9799 that some of the practice tests have more difficult sections than other tests. If that’s the case with the real test, we’re certainly hoping for an “easier” reading section. He’s been getting 4-5 wrong on most reading sections but just took practice test 5 and got 10 wrong! He said there was one passage that he just could not understand. I think we need to take the test at least twice and see if we can get a test with an “easier” reading section.
Of course, there is a curve determined by the CB, but at the top of the scoring, it’s not much help. He took one test where 4 wrong in the entire math section was a 760 and another where he got six wrong and it was still a 760. I guess that helps a little but I think the curves are even more generous when you get to the 600s.
S19 does think that the Kahn reading practice is harder than the released practice tests. Maybe that why kids who have done well on the reading portion use Kahn to prepare.
@homerdog, Your son think Kahn reading is harder than Metlzer? I have not looked at Kahn yet at all.
I will keep that in mind when prep time comes.
@BingeWatcher For S19, Meltzer was really easy. I sort of regret having him spending so much time with her books. He didn’t start improving on reading until he started on Kahn.
I could be wrong about this but I believe that the last few practice tests in the Official Study Guide 2018 edition (after practice test 4) are “real” retired tests from previous official administrations.
@homerdog my kid is taking it on the 26th as well. First time. Good luck! My son is using Khan too and I think its fantastic.
@Center good luck to your son as well!!
Anyone know if practice tests 5-8 are all official tests that are retired?
@homerdog I know for sure test 8 was administered because my daughter took it and I was told test 7 was also administered. I do not know about the others.
I found that it all depended on the SAT that was given. Some seemed easier than what I had studied for, while others actually seemed much harder. I’m sure CB has multiple versions of the test and which one is administered that day is all up to them. I will agree that a common theme is sometimes one section is easy while another is diffcult. However as for the overall test it all just depends. I personally have felt some SATs to be easier than others but there’s not exact science behind it. I would just encourage you to keep studying. Whether you feel the test is easy or hard one thing you won’t regret is studying and getting a good score
@homerdog Yes, I am saying that. However, now that I’m reading everyone else’s experiences and thoughts, the the CB-provided practice tests are probably just highly variant in difficulty. I took the 5th practice test in the 2018 study guide and got a 1470 while in the 7th practice test I got a 1550. In the in-between tests, I got ~1500. If the last four in the study guide are in fact tests previously administered, I’m positively confident in my performance on the 26th. We just need to keep in mind that SATs vary in difficulty, but the raw score conversions adjust accordingly (e.g. you can get more wrong on a tougher math/EBRW section versus an easier math/EBRW section such that your composite score is relatively the same across all possible combinations of section difficulty).
They wouldn’t re-administer one of the official practice tests, right? Not when everyone studying for the SAT has the same book.
I think they may re-use questions but not whole tests.