The other parents I know whose kids tested in middle school did it for pretty much the same reasons. Might be a few trying to push their kids somehow, but what is the point? The scores go away. And lucky kids in your district to have a cluster of PG kids in one place. Most PG kids aren’t so lucky, so for them it is very valuable as a way to meet other kids like themselves.
From what I remember, the SAT (reasoning) math only covered algebra and geometry, so high school juniors in late spring who were at normal grade level would have covered the needed math in school. I have not read of any more advanced math being added to that section.
The kid did not retry the SAT or ACT (whichever was initially better) in fall of senior year after realizing in the summer that s/he was just below the threshold? That is the idea of taking the tests earlier than senior year – to see where one stands and have a chance to retry if one is slightly short of the goal.
The kid took both in the junior year, and again in the fall of the senior year. I remember the mother being very bitter on getting the last ACT score and the comment that just one point would have gotten her child in the specific program he wanted.
Do why didn’t they retake?
DD (Harvard 2018) first took ACT and PSAT in sophomore year. It was all about practice and establishing a baseline. In the case of the PSAT, it was also to prepare for taking it again as a junior, since we always assumed she’d go to a NMF school (which she would have done if Harvard had not surprised us).
The ACT score was the eye-opener. When your sophomore earns a 30 composite, you start thinking about the future a little differently.
My older son’s CTY score was the one that did it to me. When I saw that his score was way on the right hand side of the bell curve of a group of 6h graders who’d been selected as high achievers to take the test, I had this duh moment of why he’d never really found more than a handful of peers at school.
This was my kid. She graduated in the top 5% of a very highly competitive public HS. Every final grade every year was an A or A-. She took eight APs and got mostly 5s, some 4s. Her highest SAT after four tries was 1350 CR-M; 2040 CRMW. She tried the ACT once and got a 29. She was expecting above 2100 and maybe closer to 2200. She couldn’t crack 700 on any one section. I still can’t understand how someone who achieved a 5 on the AP calc AB exam couldn’t crack 700 on the math SAT (close – 690, but still). I talked about it in this thread last year: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1647058-very-high-gpa-middling-sats-p1.html
I really didn’t know if she was “just” a grinder or if she really was very smart. Fast forward to this semester, her first in college. She is on track for a 3.8 to 4.0. In one weeder class that about a quarter of the students have dropped, she has an A thus far. So . . . still don’t know what happened with those SATs. Her score, although very good, was not commensurate with her GPA.
I personally don’t like this idea kids are necessarily grinders if they get good grades but can’t beat the dang SAT/ACT. You really have to have some sense of intelligence being more than this particular set of tests.
Oops! Wrong thread ^^^^^^^. I’ll move it, but too late to delete here. Mod: you can delete it here.
Well first of all college board has messed up this year with whatever kids normally do for Juniors and some Sophomores/Freshman.
For Sophomores/Freshman I believe there are some colleges that have stated that they aren’t going to accept the soon to be old SAT for them. And for the Juniors some kids are trying to get all the SAT testing done before the new SAT comes out while others are now holding off and waiting for the new one. UGH.
In our case our college Junior took the ACT & SAT fall of Junior year and took them both again fall of Senior year.
Our current high school Junior stepped it up because of the new SAT and the new ACT writing. He took the ACT/SAT in June after Sophomore year and took them both again this fall. He is done unless some magical scholarship opportunity that needs a higher score appears.
At my typical large public HS most people take the ACT in the school wide April administration. However in my group of friends, most of whom are looking at fairly selective colleges, most of us started doing testing in the Fall. I began in March of my sophomore year (mostly because I freaked out when I heard about the SAT format change), and was very glad to do so. I would really recommend that for a kid who takes Pre-Calc or even Algebra 2 as a sophomore, just because the math is fresh in their mind then. That allows you to identify weaknesses and have 2 summers, not just 1, to study intensively if needed.
My son took SAT first time in 8th grade (I think) for CTD Talent Search. Then he took it again in junior year, for National Merit purposes. Testing in senior year was mainly on SAT II’s and AP’s, but he also took the ACT once then. This all pretty much rolled off his back, since he had no test anxiety and didn’t do any special prep for the exams aside from looking at the general instruction booklet. His scores were always exceptional (total over 3900 for 5 tests of SAT I and II).
My daughter deferred taking SAT for first time til senior year and was disappointed, so repeated them with only small improvement of scores. She also took ACT once in senior year. Her SAT and ACT were good scores, especially considering that she did no prep at all and in any event she was aiming to attend art school. For her, prep of her portfolio was far more important than test scores, which had to be good (which they were) but not outstanding.
Our Public HS with a majority of highly educated wealthy parents but a significant minority of low income immigrant students ( about 20 percent). The school gives a free ACT junior year and requires all students to take it.
Our son also participated in the NUMATS ACT test in 7th grade (25). He attends a private school where only the PSAT is given. He then took it again early in 10th grade as a baseline (33) and studied a bit (a week or so). In the spring and summer of 10th-11th grade we took a few college trips to the Ivy’s and west coast schools and he decided that he really wanted to go to Stanford. We had sat through about 15 presentations at this point which all said “take the AP classes and get A’s” and the ra-ra about how awesome their school was full of anxious parents wondering how their kid could possibly be admitted. While his score was perfectly fine for our state flagship (Michigan) when we looked into the 25-75 ranges we discovered that the 33 = 99th percentile was just … average.
In early 11th grade he decided that he wanted to pursue engineering instead of the sciences which bumped up the ACT range even further. Now his 33 was average even for Michigan. He took in once more in February, studied for 3 weeks this time and got a 36. He also took the SAT for NMF qualification and 2 SAT II tests since some of the colleges require them. He didn’t take any prep classes, just used a few of the books.
So if there are any lessons learned they are:
- Start early. Don't listen to the guidance councilors who say to take the tests late in 11th/early 12th grade. Our son had zero anxiety because he was relaxed. If his score didn't improve he could always retake in late junior or early senior year.
- Studying makes a big difference. So does paying attention in classes for the ACT.
- Concentrate on improving weak areas. Better return than marginal improvement in strong areas.
He won’t hear back on his EA choices until next week and for some, next year. We won’t know if it makes any difference but at least (we think) it won’t hurt him. At least he was admitted to his safety already.
It really makes me long for the old days when we applied to 3 schools, got in to 2, and mostly were able to attend our favorite. For grad schools we both applied to 1 and that’s where we went. This process has been far more nerve racking than any college application my wife and I have ever experienced.
D16 took the ACT in December of junior year and again in June of junior year. She saw a 3 point gain, from 30 to 33, without much studying. She’s currently deciding whether or not to take it again on Saturday.
Here is an example of a student who waited until the last possible test date, but ran into an unexpected problem and could not take the test:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1839750-ut-austin-without-sat-act.html
Coaches want to see scores in fall of Junior year. Super scoring is a crucial tool. D3 coaches finalize their list in September of senior year for ED pre-read.
The focus on one test or another can be very regional also. Here in Michigan it has been all about the ACT and few students would even give the SAT a shot if they had a great score. However, this year the state testing is switching to the SAT (great year to switch, with the SAT completely changing also, no one knows what to expect and the kids are freaking out). My D is taking the ACT today so she’ll be able to compare.
A “high performing/low income” NJ high school:
At some point during their junior year, the students are given a booket and told they’ll be taking that test at the end of the week. They take the test. They’re told they can retake the test later if they wish. Expectations are that they’ll go to the local community college anyway if they go to college, so scores aren’t important, especially since most students are below grade level and almost all who would go to college would start in remedial classes. School average is about 1100 (CR+M+W) which for a NJ low income school is considered good apparently. Not many students retake the test senior year. Those who take the test senior year are those who hope to attend a 4-year college. Most don’t know you’re supposed to “prep” for it, most learn about the test the week it takes place, and taking the test “for real” junior year doesn’t occur to them nor is it advised.
The College Board publishes a “Total Group Report” for each year’s SAT. For 2015: https://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/sat/total-group-2015.pdf
You’ll see the results from each senior’s last SAT exam listed on page 1. The highest scoring group of students is…
Sophomores.
Now, there are only 5,579 of them, but as a group they post the highest averages. So there is a group of very high-scoring students who take the SAT as sophomores, then find they don’t need to take it again.