Our sons took their SAT just this Summer not only as part of the application for a state-wide magnet schoo but also to prepare for their college application. Having scored at a 98th percentile as Freshmen, I thought they were on track to getting better scores with a little more preparatiom until I read posts im this forum—I was shocked with how low their scores are compared to other posters. Now, I’m trying to figure out now to increase their scores. They supposedly did the Kahn academy during the Summer, and one claimed he workd hard (1430 fr 1320 in PSAT 8/9 last Oct). They finished their Alg II course in their 8th grade, so I figure they are just about as ready as anyone who has just finished his Alg II course.
Does anyone in the forum have similar experiences with improving a freshman’s score? They were in honors Lit LA and Math, and so I was disappointed with their scores because I feel they can’t improve anymore since they’ve had rigorous subject training for their classes. We have not done any prep other than Kahn. As Kahn promised, they did improve by 110 points. Am I missing somethin? I do realize we at least have 4 more years to prep. TIA
Remember, they will be taking Math and English in school and covering concepts that will be on SAT. I would expect that they will naturally do better when they take it for real. If they do additional prep, it will help even more. I would not stress about it now.
At some point, you could also have them try ACT - some people find they do better with that test.
Way too early for testing! Please let your freshman enjoy their first years of high school without testing pressure or prep! They should focus on school and their extra curriculares!
I just followed the recommendation that it’s best to take the SAT after finishing Algebra II. They were not stressed at all. Their rigorous programs in middle school conditioned them to performing well under pressure so that was never a factor. Their current school does not really have a good history of high SAT scores. I don’t know how much more coverage of Math SAT they will get (they’re repeating Honors AlgII/Geometry for Sophs as Frosh just to get the 4 years of HS math for graduation, finishing with Calc 3 as Seniors).
Sorry - when I said “for real”, I meant during junior or senior year when they are ready to apply for college. I am sure they will continue to improve over time.
@Ski_Mom
What are the subscores (math-reading)?
They do not need more content to do better in SAT math. What they might need is perhaps a different approach in solving the problems. More maturity and practice will help. They just have to see the SAT as what it is and try to get themselves in to the “mind” of the test, the patterns and types of questions etc. One might perfectly know all content and still get tripped by SAT questions by making silly mistakes, misreading questions etc. I would suggest pay more attention to the format of the test and highlighting areas of weaknesses. For example when a problem is given at a school test always what you do is solving it and then presenting solutions. However SAT at times will ask for a variation of the solution and a student that had solved the problem 100% correctly might not pay attention and present to wrong part of the solution.
The Reading can also be improved by maturity and reading more complex text. Are they taking any AP English/history classes? Those can help because the students are regularly exposed to original sources and do lots and lots of reading.
SAT is not just a knowledge test. Maturity and targeted practice can help.
Also to put some perspective 1430 is still a good score.
i agree on the maturity point, my son never prepped and received 3 31 composites on early tries at the act. in june after junior year he got a 34 with no additional prep. it was just the right time.
Well, that was mistake #1. While the OP did not provide a breakdown of the scores, it is nor unusual for a 13/14 year-old to score well on math and less well on EBRW. IMO, the skills/knowledge needed for the EBRW section are ones that come with age, not innate intelligence. Yes, I am sure that somebody knows a 13 yo who scored a 790 or 800 on that part, but they are the 1% of the 1%; for the vast majority of kids, this is something that improves exponentially over time.
Sorry, I have to look at the detail of the scores because I don’t have quick access to their accounts, but yes, it was the EBRW part that pulled the scores down.
I’ll get back with the details later when I get a hold of them to open their accounts. The interface is very new to me. I don’t even know where to find the answer service which I paid for so that we can start honing in on the weakness.
Like I said, they had to take the SAT as part of the requirements for a prep school so it wasn’t like we can wait a year longer. I hope the colleges don’t take it against these kids since they are aiming for highly selective schools. They have no hook, pretty uncoordinated and we’re basically sent to the back of orchestra or dropped out of band. Academics is the only thing they have going for them. Yeah, pretty boring, unless planting mangroves count, which I was told looked like a vacation poorly masquerading as community service.
Someone in another thread put it this way: “they’re two separate tests.” It’s really not good to think of them as a single exam–EBRW and M are separate, and colleges look at those scores rather than “combined” score. Seen in this way, not all 1500s are equal–750/750 is significantly better than 700/800, for example.