What did you( or your son or daughter) do to get the 1450 SAT score? Any advice for a junior who is aiming for a 1450?
My advice is to take the ACT too. Both DS13 & DS17 took the SAT & ACT and they both did better on the ACT.
I agree with the above comment. My ACT score was significantly higher than my sat.
Take as many practice test as possible ! And find a solid tutor .
Take an ACT practice test at home–no need to wait for a date and the results. Do it this weekend under timed conditions. I would take a real print one like what is in the Real ACT red book.
Use a concordance table to see which score is better.
To improve–take a practice section test every day. Study the questions you got wrong. Write down any formulas or rules you need to memorize on a review sheet.
If there are concepts you just cannot figure out then use Khan academy to learn the concept OR hire a tutor a few times until you feel confident. You don’t necessarily have to purchase a thousand dollar prep course if you need help with just a few concepts.
Agree with @carachel2 - you do NOT need to pay for a test in order to determine whether ACT or SAT is a better fit. Do the practice tests yourself.
And, to prep for the test, don’t worry about doing entire timed tests at home - get hold of as many actual, previously administered tests as possible, print them out, break them into sections, and do one subject at a time until you’re comfortable with that subject. Then move on to the next subject. Don’t worry about timing - just focus on understanding the questions and getting the answers right. Once you’re getting 100% on the answers (or very close to it), then work on getting your speed up.
For the ACT, actual, previously administered tests are available online, and in the various editions of the ACT’s own prep books. For the new SAT, it’s trickier, since the test is brand new. Start with the SAT’s own prep materials. Use 3rd party prep materials (such as Kaplan or whatever) as a last resort - but if you need more practice tests, and that’s all you can find, then use those.
This is not an overnight process, but if you’re willing to spend even 1/2 hour a day, and do it consistently from now 'til December, it will make a difference.
There’s an entire section of forums on CC devoted to test prep - USE THEM!!!
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/
My son did zero prep (much to my horror) for the SAT and he was fine. There’s time to retake the test (after doing some serious prep) if your student needs to, but I wouldn’t spend a lot of time or money on prep unless you determine it’s necessary.
Did your child take the PSAT? It’s a pretty good predictor.
Our son fought against doing the practice tests the first time around. I guess he thought they would be like a test at school. He did well but not as well as he wanted. The second time around we bought a prep book and he did over 10 practice tests. Some timed.
One thing we did notice with the math section is that most of the questions are recycled. Some are identical, some have the same question with different numbers. Doing the practice tests and more specifically working through the questions he got wrong made a huge difference. His next test he was a lot more confident when he finished because he said he actually recognized a lot of the questions and knew how to answer them. He added 4 points to his score in one sitting which we worked out was worth over $130k in scholarships. Not bad for 4 hrs work on a Saturday morning!
^^^
This! When you consider how raising a score can mean tens of thousands more in merit…(sometimes over $100k in merit!)…it’s worth the time and effort.
For those with kids who are resistant to “test practice”…offer a carrot. When my older son was resistant, I offered 2 matinee movie tix with popcorn/soda for him and a friend if he did a practice exam. For my older son, that was enough. For another kid, their motivation might be something else.
One DD had to get ‘pushed’ while the other was motivated for the scholarship - as she knew any money left in her college account would be hers. Test prep, a test tutor did help both. Both did better with ACT and were able to move the needle. Agree the work is worth it! It paid off in scholarship $$ for both DDs.
agree with @Britchick1
Think of it this way—let’s say you put in 1.5 hrs for three days every week for six weeks to get that 32 or that 1450.
With OOS merit worth roughly $107,000.00 that is a pay rate of $3,962.96 an HOUR.
Who would need more motivation that that???
Please keep in mind that preparation and motivation are going to make a difference only if your student is reasonably close to that target score to begin with . . . or has sufficient time to prepare. Setting an unrealistic target in too short a time frame will only serve to make everyone miserable.
Also, remember that kids who earn the big scholarships are going to required to maintain a 3.0 to keep them. If your student has to prep furiously to earn a 1450, be careful not to have false expectations about how they’ll handle college level material–especially in the more competitive or rigorous majors. Every year we hear about kids whose scholarships are in jeopardy and not just because they didn’t devote enough time to studying. We all have natural abilities so it’s good to be aware of your student’s strengths and aptitudes.
my wife bought the study books at Barnes and Noble or got them from the library. son finally went thru the books and most importantly did lots of timed practice tests. got the 1450 / 2090 on the third try (old SAT), practiced more and got 1550 (new SAT out of 1600) on 4th try.
so self-study and practice practice practice yielded steady and dramatic improvement
My son did test prep the summer before his junior year as he had taken the PSAT when he was a sophomore and was close to the score needed for National Merit. He did become a National Merit Finalist and is now at Bama on the wonderful NMF scholarship. He also did well on the SAT (I don’t remember the exact score) and scored a 34 on the ACT (his highest score before was a 32) We homeschooled, and we focused on grammar, so the English sections have never been a problem (he never missed more than 2 on that section). But he did have problems with timing on the other sections. So he took a ton of practice tests a section at a time. He would start by not timing himself at all on a section. He would check his work and go over ALL of the answers, NOT just the ones he missed (because sometimes you get lucky and get one right just by chance). Then he would start timing himself, but he gave himself 10 extra minutes on a section. He would continue to go over ALL questions missed. He would gradually drop the time until he felt he could finish all the questions well within the time limit. Motivation has never been a problem for ds (he entered Bama with 55 hours of AP credit). I never had to tell him to study as he knew great test scores meant great scholarships (at least at the schools he was looking at). Good luck!
Its worth remembering that standardized tests are a lot different to the usual HS subject tests. The way they write the questions and the time constraints can all be quite intimidating if you haven’t had prior experience. Doing a few tests in timed conditions can add a point or two even without any more knowledge on the actual subjects.
The timing of the test also helped our son. He did his first ACT just before Christmas. However, he scheduled his second test in late May, just after he finished his year end finals and AP tests. He always insisted that having studied intensely for the previous few weeks and having recent test experience was a significant help when he got to the ACT