<p>Ok parents of good students who cannot seem to score well on the standardized tests. This thread is for you! How do we help our kids who work hard, do reasonably well in school while balancing activities, etc, but just cannot seem to get the necessary scores on the SAT and ACT tests?</p>
<p>There are a fair number of kids who fit this description out there, and it seems like there’s a posting about every other month. Suggestions have been “test-optional” schools, but in my son’s case, he just kept re-taking the ACT. He also tried a Kaplan course, a private tutor, and self-study guides. In the end, he’d say that just retaking the tests help and the best study guide was THE REAL ACT.</p>
<p>We got a tutor for S, mainly for the practice aspect. He’ll do plenty of that for the tutor, whom he really likes, but would just roll his eyes at me if I asked. He did poorly on the SAT, and slightly better on the ACT (25), so he’ll retake the ACT in June. Hopefully he’ll improve, since he’ll be applying to some rolling admissions schools early in the fall. If necessary, he’ll try the ACT one more time in October.</p>
<p>That would be us. So far we have only the PSAT to go on, which translated to an 1100 SAT. D took the SAT yesterday. We shall see whether the prep class helped.</p>
<p>Obviously we’ll be looking at SAT optional schools hoping that optional really means optional. </p>
<p>Unfortunately we are at the stage where D is seeing where some of the seniors have been admitted and is already feeling that she can’t get into a ‘good’ school. I’m really less worried about finding her a school where she’ll be happy than I am about how to manage these self-esteem problems.</p>
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<p>Just learned how to quote!</p>
<p>My son didn’t get into his top choice because of his ACT score, but things still worked out fine. After his first year of college, he still has a great GPA, even better than high school and his self-esteem has sky-rocketed. Your kids may not be accepted at their top-rated schools, but if they can be flexible, you can bet that they will excel in college and come to realize that standardized tests are not always an accurate predictor of success.</p>
<p>My son is another one who fits this category–high gpa, high class rank, most challenging courses but ACT/SAT that does not match. The added complication is a husband who thinks that kid has a good chance at the elite schools (Dartmouth, Wesleyan). I agree with H that S should apply to some of the elites but I am realistic about the chances of improving scores from 28/1820 ranges to the higher levels that are needed to be considered for an elite LAC. When we get the results from yesterday’s SAT (2nd attempt), I will probably make arrangements for a tutor. I think S should try the ACT again but he thought that the science was impossible and that even with studying he can’t improve from the 24 he received.</p>
<p>We have the same problem. My D is a hard worker. She has a decent GPA. But she tests poorly. She did take the Princeton Review for the SAT. She brought her scores up from very low PSAT. She raised her math and writing each by just over 100 points. Her CR is still abysmal. (I know this site does not believe in SAT prep classes. But they provide alot of discipline.)</p>
<p>She took the ACT and scored a 27 without studying. She will retake in June hopefully with some studying. The ACT score has given me some hope. Every college and University in the country accepts the ACT. She says that compared to the SAT it is far more straightforward. I am sure you have heard this already.</p>
<p>However, I see where the seniors in her small girls school have been accepted this year and I am not impressed. The senior class is very small. The previous year with more students had better acceptance results.</p>
<p>At this point I am just trying to be realistic. Obviously, no ivies or ivy wannabes.</p>
<p>D took the SATs again today. She is not hopeful that she improved from the last time. Her grades are not stellar, but her course load is all honors and APs so her weighted grades look fairly good. Solid B+ without weighting though and an upward trend. We have a nice well rounded college list with reaches and safeties. Hopefully she will get in somewhere we can afford and she will enjoy.</p>
<p>Queen’s Mom</p>
<p>I think the last line of your entry is the most important. Our kids need to enjoy college and be somewhere that they fit in intellectually. We also have a list of safeties and one or two reaches.</p>
<p>Based on her PSAT and first SAT, I thought that she had to apply to lesser schools academically. Now with her ACT where it is with room for improvement, we may have a better chance in somewhat better schools. We will have to see.</p>
<p>I have a hs senior this year who did very well in college admissions with a high GPA and test scores that didn’t match. It’s a better position to be in than the opposite - high test scores and mediocre GPA. My son has a LD that affects reading speed and no accommodation for it, so we used some targeted tutoring on the English sections to help him develop strategies for answering the questions without having to do all the reading. He found that the ACT was better than the SAT for that, btw.</p>
<p>About the science on the ACT - this is a case where targeted tutoring might very well help the student raise the score considerably. You don’t have to know any science facts to do well on this section, although knowing some science might make the test go a little faster. The section tests data analysis and reasoning skills and is quite teachable.</p>
<p>My girls do not test well and neither did their brother. He though, got into many colleges and is doing well now, has been on the deans list since freshman year, and exceeded his professors expectations sometimes.
My daughter said to me yesterday, “Mom, my scores aren’t me, I’m not a genius but I am smarter than that number…I don’t want to be with students that aren’t intellectually curious or apathetic, I want to learn”. Her biggest fear is being with classes where the professors teach to the average and she is above it, or accept B/C work with A’s. When someone mentioned honors programs, she said, she would hope to get into one at a lower tier school, but again, you are isolated in some ways. I know what she means, some CTCL schools love to teach and see students rise from their original grades/scores, but others, like one my husband worked at (state school) seemed like a diploma mill and many students that were seniors didn’t seem any different than the freshman.
I can’t really afford a tutor, but Yale which isn’t too far, sometimes has students that volunteer to help public school students. I hope that can be an option to raise their scores a bit.</p>
<p>Debruns. I completely understand. D is intellectual. She just doesn’t have the scores to match.</p>
<p>MarinMom: Thanks for the info on the science ACT. Son, who has taken honors Bio, chem, and currently in physics with As in all, was convinced that he needed Bio2, chem2, and physics2 in order to answer the science test. Although he is very conscientious (I learned on another thread that that gives a bad connation), he does not want to work to prepare for the tests, so it appears that the tutor will be necessary if the second SAT doesn’t improve considerably.</p>
<p>After D3 got her first SATs back, we’re now seriously looking at SAT-optional schools and signing up for a prep course - although she’s happy with her CR and WR scores, the Math was, well, a disaster. She’s going to try ACT, too, but probably won’t prep much for it.</p>
<p>The irony is that she’s getting straight A+'s in an honors math class and doing poorly in English this year. Go figure.</p>
<p>Delighted to see this thread - this was my D to a T! 4.3 GPA, NHS, National Italian Honor Society, 4 years straight on Honor Roll, good ECs, recommendations that were love letters. 1710 SAT, 24 ACT. Didn’t matter how many times she took them - this is what she got. She’s always been this way with standardized tests - unless there was a writing component involved, she’d always score low. As for SAT optional schools, I can tell you from personal experience that Bard is truly SAT optional. They don’t like them AT ALL. D submitted no standardized test scores at all and was accepted EA. Warning about Providence - they claim to be SAT optional, but friends have told me that applicants who don’t submit SAT scores will be accepted but won’t be considered for the Honors program.</p>
<p>I had terrible test scores and developed test anxiety. Years ago, I worked with a therapist on it and it really helped. I don’t love taking tests, but I used to keep myself from doing things because I could not face the test. </p>
<p>I find it heartening that schools are relying less on these tests. Some of us are just not strong in that area.</p>
<p>I actually don’t get it. I can score decently on a standardized test even if I know nothing about the subject matter. Why couldn’t D have inherited that ability? ;)</p>
<p>Anyway, she took the SATs for the 3rd time this weekend and is sure she bombed math (math is her strongest subject). I am just hoping her CR went up and we can use this test for super-scoring. On her last SAT she went up 10 points in each section, so there is no reason to even admit the first test happened.</p>
<p>My daughter fits that profile and did far better than I ever expected on college admissions. I think the best advice I could give in hindsight would be to encourage a kid like that to pursue and develop her passions, and then tailor the college search toward colleges where those passions might be a tip factor. The student does not need to win a bunch of awards or recognition-- its just that some sort of “passion” (or interest) that has been pursued extensively gives character to the application and will make the student stand out in ways that will be attractive to many schools, especially those with a more holistic admission process. </p>
<p>What I found out with my daughter was that this is true even if there are weaknesses on the academic record as well as the test scores. When my d. wanted to do a high school foreign exchange – I felt it would hurt her college chances later on. This was even before we had test scores in hand for planning – I just saw that she wouldn’t be able to take the “most challenging curriculum” in her high school if she were somehow trying to schedule around a semester abroad in her junior year. I also knew that she would undercut the number of AP’s & honors courses she could take, which would bring down the potential for her GPA because she simply wouldn’t have as many weighted classes to add in. </p>
<p>But she wrote in short answers on her college apps (wherever it would fit) that she had made the choice to go abroad to seek more challenge, and that she definitely felt that the experience of living and attending school in a country where she had only rudimentary language skills was a greater challenge than anything available in her high school – and apparently the college ad coms bought it. </p>
<p>The other advantage to that route is that she was simply happier. She kind of maximized her life during high school years. Another thing I would do, in hindsight - is place less importance on the tests. I should have just kept my mouth shut about the scores and not been such a naysayer during the college admissions process. Didn’t make much of a difference in the long run – but my daughter would have appreciated less fretting and more cheerleading from me.</p>
<p>Tranquil218, I’m sorry to hear that about Providence, they didn’t say that at our admissions session but he did stress it was hard to get into the honors program. (VERY high stats) If you did have a solid GPA with rigourous courses and AP scores, etc. he didn’t think the missing SAT would take away from that. I can’t say I know anyone personally though who got into it without them. Drew, though, I have heard about. Actually a youjng man received more than my son without them and similar stats. Smith also said they give merit without scores, they felt in an email they sent, that saying they would admit you but just judge merit on SAT scores didn’t quite make sense.</p>
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<p>At a Harvard info session with the Director of Admissions, he said that bad SAT/ACT scores can be overcome (on the 1/3 academic portion of the admission weighting) with great teacher recommendations. Other indications of achievement is also helpful - Clubs and competitions.</p>