<p>Or, how about flipping it around, to give the D an upside? Make a deal with her. Look up the score she would need for a good shot at a couple of schools in which she is interested. Tell her to take a practice test and that if she gets a score above what those schools require, you’ll leave her alone about the prep; but if she doesn’t score high enough, she will either prep or scale down her ambitions.</p>
<p>I will say that we found tutoring to be more beneficial than a test prep class. My older D didn’t have a lot of time and targetted tutoring was most helpful.</p>
<p>That’s a great idea, missypie. With ds1, he set a target score that if he hit the first time we’d walk away and never look back. He missed it by 10 points. But that ended up being wonderful as when he retested he gained more than 100 points.</p>
<p>Neither of mine did SAT prep. S1, an avid reader who was at the top of his class took it twice. He did well the first time and forty points higher the second time.</p>
<p>S2,a very avg. student who didn’t read unless forced, took the SAT once. His score was pretty low but he refused to take it again. I decided it was his boat to row and I was not going to force him to re-take. I warned him that it would prob. limit his choices to five of our state u’s. He said that was OK with him. So I let it go.</p>
<p>Both of mine knew they were headed for state schools and that their scores would get them in their respective choices so I decided not to stress over it.<br>
S1 got a fullride. S2 is full pay. Both ended up at schools that were right for them.</p>
Our child won’t qualify for need based aid, but that doesn’t mean we can pay $55K per year for her college. If she wants to go someplace that expensive, she will have to get some merit aid.</p>
<p>I have (frequently) told my kids, “Wanting to go OOS/to a private school does not make there be any more money in your 529 account.” My D’s first choice school was expensive and I told her that she would need to get the highest level merit award to be able to go there. She really just needed one more ACT point. Even though she was a senior (and was *so done *with testing) she took the ACT one more time, got the point, got the highest level merit award and is now at that school.</p>
<p>But, if she had said, “No, I’ll just go to my second choice”, which was an academic and financial safety, that would have been fine with me, too.</p>
<p>I like Missypie’s approach. The point of merit is to reward merit, right? if a student isn’t at, or doesn’t choose to be at, that level, then why isnt it fine for them to go to the school where they fit? We did not urge “study” for standardized tests, because to us, the tests measured where our kids were, not where they could be inflated to. As was said above:</p>
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<p>I get that there are scholarships involved, but if the student doesn’t get the scholarship, then it’s their choice to go to directional U instead; maybe that’s where they ought to be (and I say that having just started teaching at the NJ version of Directional U and seeing that there are lots of smart, nice kids here getting a solid education.) I really think this arms race to place higher is ultimately self-defeating: why not let the tests reflect where the student is?</p>
<p>garland, the issue is that those test scores do not always “reflect where the students is” or what their capabiliites are. If there is a threshold to meet, there is nothing wrong with them striving to meet that threshold. If it is achievable. I am not talking about a 10 point difference on the ACT. I am talking one point on ACT, 20 points on SAT for a student with a 4.6 GPA. And since son has only taken each test once, doing some prep for those small points is very much appropriate for the large financial benefit it will bring. At 17, my son still needs the help of an adult to help him understand cause and effect in relation to his future. Has to do with the incomplete frontal brain development I believe.</p>
<p>My son has always loved to read, is bright and did well on his first SAT without preparation to speak of. I see nothing wrong with some disciplined preparation, which son did second time around. I think most high achievers are studying these days and not to do so puts one at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>In general, reading and classwork are what prep you for SAT and ACT. But it really does help to take some practice exams to understand test format and get used to the pacing. (My kids tell me you CAN finish the sections…ha, not sure I ever did). This is especially true for kids that are not great test-takers.</p>
<p>A good night’s sleep and a decent (but not bloating) breakfast and a de-stressed attitude also help.</p>
<p>If she is just a junior, and she has a heavy load of schoolwork and activities, I would put off the test prep until the summer. Or possibly set aside one hour every Sunday. It isn’t good to get overloaded.</p>
<p>Also, if her brother excelled in the SAT, maybe she would prefer the ACT? Have her pick which test to prep for. Then visit lots of great colleges, so she sees what she is shooting for.</p>
Ha, brother took both and did well on both. We will probably encourage D to take both as well, just to see which is better. Don’t people think waiting until the summer is kind of late? She will be taking the test and then doing apps without results and not knowing which schools to bother applying to? I thought most students take the exam in the spring of junior year?</p>
<p>The things that worked best for us were taking BOTH the Kaplan and Princeton classes (Kaplan, hands down) and buying and running the Kaplan SAT/ACT software (good luck finding it :-)). DD did really well when she took the test for the first time then did very minor improvements (10-20 pt here and there) when she took it again (total 4 times :-O).</p>
<p>Without decent SAT’s she would not have been accepted to her 2nd favorite ‘reach’…</p>
<p>Mine is not resisting but she has too much homework for her AP classes and there will be multiple quizzes and tests coming up this week. I knew the workload in junior year would be bad so I urged her to prep in the summer. She had about 2 weeks free in the summer to go over 10 old SATs. Not enough prepping in my opinion. But I think GPA is more important and willing to wait until she has a bit of a break. She is reviewing grammar and nearly 80% done, I’ve been telling her to review 5 pages of grammar a day but school work is now in her way. Originally she was going to take the test in Oct/Nov but now it will be Jan. Hopefully, she will have more time during Xmas break to do more practice tests.</p>
<p>Sylvan - Our goal is just as you stated. Prep the first half of jr year and test the latter half. S has been doing some generic across the board studying and will take the ACT in October to have one “dry-run” under his belt and to see where he may need to focus his energy from that point on. Then we plan for him to take it again in March and June. I fully expect his scores will be in top form (whatever that may be for him) by then. This way over Spring Break and over the summer we can visit schools within his range, work on appications, get them in as soon as they are up on the school website, and relax his sr year before the the real college stress begins the following fall.</p>
<p>“I thought most students take the exam in the spring of junior year?”</p>
<p>That is what my S did. He took SAT in March and June as well as ACT in June. May is AP testing. He studied in April and May for June tests. This leaves fall for college apps and essays.</p>
<p>“All this is very stressful for me, and sometimes I feel like throwing up my hands and telling her it’s her problem.”</p>
<p>Good approach, if you really mean it, instead of just telling her. Then she’ll decide. And if she doesn’t like her first score, she can decide to retake (and study if she chooses).</p>
<p>And don’t assume that studying more or multiple retakes always results in a higher score. My younger d. studied HARD, hundreds of hours, Xiggi’s method, testing skills practice, on-line course, etc., etc. Never did any better than she did the first time around. Didn’t do any better on her GMATs either. Got into her first-choice college, and her only choice graduate school (with money).</p>
<p>“I thought most students take the exam in the spring of junior year?” - April makes sense. And then perhaps SAT Subject tess in June.</p>
<p>Ideally there could be some studying before April. If not, if scores are lower than hoped then there might be good incentive to do summer SAT/ACT study.</p>
<p>We bought a practice test book for our son, with the idea that he’d take some tests in the weeks leading up to the SAT. He may have done one CR section to check it out, but that would be the max. </p>
<p>He was pretty confident, and said that he didn’t want to waste his time studying for the SAT. I warned him that if he had to take it again, he’d need to study, and it would be even more of a waste - so why not just be sure? But he stuck to his position, and he turned out to be right, one and done. So who knows?</p>
<p>I have the same problem. I have let it go for the most part- I can only repeat myself so much and at some point they have to realize it is their life and future. If she is limiting herself at this point (we are in the same position with needing merit) she will have to deal with the consequences.</p>
<p>I hate to sound like that but trust me, I have pushed the studying and she won’t do any. She had a math tutor over the summer and met with him because he came to the house but other than that has done nothing. The only upside is that I don’t think studying has an enormous impact. Maybe some. That is what I tell myself anyway…</p>
But that ended up being wonderful as when he retested he gained more than 100 points.</p>