OK, in case anyone is interested, here is our plan. I can’t say for sure that it is the one-and-only correct plan, but at some point you have to make a decision and go with it.
If you are the kind of strong student who in a normal year would have hoped to take the SAT in say October, January and then March if needed, that is not going to work this time. To be done with the SAT early, you have to jump on it. So my DD and many of my clients are starting their prep this spring. They are going to take the SAT in May, send for the QAS and follow up next October. If they are not happy at that point, they will take January as well. Please know that this is the only time I have ever encouraged this kind of early prep.
But alas, these students will also do some prep over the summer with the new blue book. These students are also hoping to be in the running for national merit honors. So they will take a couple of practice tests, see if they are in the hunt and if so, ramp it up to prep for that test as well. But if they are not close enough to the line (and in NJ, it’s a high line) then they will just take the PSAT as a low-key, no-cost test.
Is this ideal? Well, there is NO ideal plan. If anyone tells me that they are just going to prep new style and start their SAT calendar next March, I say “OK, that’s perfectly reasonable too.” But since I have participated in so many threads about this, I thought I’d share what we have landed on.
One more thing to ponder – kind of silly but still:
Many of my students have told me that the new-style items on recent experimental sections have stood out like a sore thumb. I am not a fan of trying to ID the experimental section during a test. Lots of risk for minimal reward. But I am wondering if the same thing will happen on the first few offerings of the new test. If a 600 on the new math is to be equivalent to a 600 on the old one, don’t they need some old-style questions to use as a norm? Just wondering…
I think the SAT plan sounds good. I assume you also advise students to take a practice ACT test to assess which test would showcase their talents most favorably.
The College Board might decide that a new color is order. Green for hope? A rainbow one to inspire diversity? I’d go with a white cover for the ones who plan to give up!
On a serious note, unless I missed something in the strategy, it seems to espouse my own thoughts. Of course, it does NOT differ much from what I have always preferred. In my book, the biggest mistake is to start too late. I have always thought that the “old” suggestion (that is still so common at most HS) is really a very poor one. Yes, that suggestion is to take the PSAT “cold” and use the released score at Xmas to evaluate the need to prepare for the SAT later on. Simply stated, I think that such suggestion is moronic and exemplifies how the GC offices around the country have gotten out of touch.
So, here it is: Students should prepare for BOTH the PSAT and SAT with a target of October in the Junior year and start this after taking the baseline 10th grade PSAT. The preparation should be slow during the school year and culminate during the summer months (between soph and junior year) This target should free time for Subject Tests and AP later on.
This year might be complicated with the unveiling of the new SAT, but this also offers the same kind of opportunity presented in 2005 with the new SAT. You can safely assume that ALL scores will be accepted for several years.
Almost everything about the college process can be made less stressful by starting earlier. And usually, it’s efficient to study for the PSAT and SAT simultaneously. It’s only for the class of 2017 where that is a problem. The October SAT is old-style and the PSAT is new style. That’s the only reason I am encouraging these students to start taking the SAT so early. For class of 2018 and on, it’s back to the normal schedule.
I am bit confused, if it is efficient to study for the PSAT at the same time, why would the business as usual not include the exact timeline you have chosen? Again, my thought on this is that, while this year has the particularity of having two distinct tests formats, the entire exercise remains very similar.
Simply stated, the Class of 2018 and the Class of 2017 should follow the same timeline, and avoid reverting to the later schedule that … has caused many students to start late and never reach the score they could have with a reasonable preparation.
Either way, your plan seems to be one I’d follow. To be clear, I am talking about finishing the SAT as a junior. Perhaps I got my Classes of 20XX mixed up!
I don’t think we are disagreeing. It’s just that under normal, “business as usual” conditions, I would not push students to take their first SAT by spring of sophomore year. That double-prep for the fall PSAT and SAT would be fine. And yes, absolutely aim to be done with the SAT as a junior.
The reason I am pushing for the even earlier start for strong members of 2017 is that from what we have seen so far, I am leaving room for the possibility that the new SAT will be a substantially different test to prep for with changes that cut much deeper than what we saw in 2005. (On the math side, 2005 was a lot of noise for very little actual change.) It just might not be so easy to prep for new style and old style simultaneously.
Also, there are many strong students who will do quite well – but not well enough to have to worry about National Merit. For those kids, the new style SAT will no longer be an issue. But you have to do enough prep and a practice test or two to be sure you are not giving up to early on that goal!
My S17 is following a similar plan to @pckeller’s. However, since his 2 AP tests happen to fall the Monday and Tuesday after the May SAT (Calc BC and Chem), he’ll take the June SAT, even though I don’t think it is a QAS date. Then, over the summer he’ll prep for the new PSAT with whatever materials are available then and the old SAT for some fall dates (probably not Oct) depending on his June score. His sophomore PSAT, taken cold, was high enough to qualify him for NM in any state.
The school will have sophomores all take the new ACT Aspire this spring, so that should give him an estimate of how he’d do on the ACT.
This is my oldest kid, so I don’t know what we’d do in a “normal” year. Probably still take things early, as being done with testing early appeals to him. He took his 2 SAT II tests last spring and was one-and-done with them as a freshman.
You are correct. I did, however, overlook that you’re planning an earlier test this year. That is a slight difference as I consider that one optional as long as someone can get his hands of the recent QAS. A really minute difference, for sure.
I was showing a group of students the wonders of Google, and how to find many discussions of blue book problems. (“The pyramid shown above…”) when I realized that it will take quite some time for that level of internet saturation to be reached when it comes to the next blue book! So that’s another advantage to preparing for the known, familiar format: you still benefit from those who have gone before you, leaving their trails of bread crumbs strewn across the internet.
I’m confused…I’m a current sophomore. Are you saying I should start preparing and take the test in fall 2015? And should I buy the blue book or will College Board change the book? I was originally planning on beginning my SAT prep this summer (also to get ready for the PSAT).
You just need to be aware that you are prepping for two different tests! The fall SAT is old style and the PSAT is new style. I do recommend pepping for and taking the old style test as early as this spring and certainly by October if you are hoping to avoid having to take the new format test. But yes, if you care about the PSAT (because let’s say you have a shot at national merit) you may have to buy the new blue book as well when it comes out.
