My daughter took the SAT practice test at school yesterday but did not do well (1210 -600M & 610RW). I feel guilty as a parent that I have not done much to help her for the SAT. She now plans to take it in March. We are thinking about hiring a private tutor at the moment but can she realistically improve to score 1400-1500 points in about 6 weeks? What would be most effective ways, if you know, to improve in the SAT? It will be great if anyone can share any of your insights. Thanks for your help in advance.
I think improving by 300-400 points in that time is unrealistic, but she can improve. My DS20 found the Khan Academy practice to be super helpful, and he was able to improve his score by 100 pts in about 6 weeks.
If your daughter took the PSAT and has a college board account, she will be able to link her college board and khan academy accounts so that the practice she does is tailored to the areas she had a harder time with. You can choose how many days per week and for how much time per day you want to practice, and it sets the whole schedule up for you.
Also, it’s not unusual for kids to take these tests more than once, so if she’s not happy with her score in March, she can take it again. My son took it at school last March for the first time, spent some time practicing, then took it again in June for the last time.
I would push off the SAT until later in the spring. 6 weeks isn’t enough time to get enough practice questions and tests done.
Has she tried a practice ACT? Some students prefer that format over SAT.
What year in high school is she? What math is she taking, is she in Honors or AP English?
First of all, a 1200 is not a bad score.
It is well above average.
If you want her to have a 1400 score, that might be possible, or it might not.
There are practice tests on the Collegeboard website she can download and print, they are free.
Have her take one under timed conditions like a real test, and see which questions she got wrong.
She might have had a time issue and didn’t finish parts of the test.
She can then do a few more practice tests and see how it goes.
I agree March might be too soon to take an official SAT.
She could take it in May or June, and then in August maybe if she is a junior.
We found a fantastic SAT/ACT tutor. My son did 4-5 sessions with her and raised his ACT from a 27 to a 32. She is fabulous and very engaging. Sessions are online in a Skype type service. PM if you want her information.
Is she a junior?
If affordable, a private tutor is probably best…but do get recommendations for good, experienced ones in your area, whether in-person or via Skype/Zoom. Next choice would be to do the (free) prep and studying on Khan Academy, as noted above…but your D has to be sufficiently self-motivated to make that a real option.
Your D will not only have the tutor/Khan session(s) each week but also homework, so on top of school work and any ECs, efficient time management is necessary.
I would also have her sit for a real, timed test…typically many tutor companies offer these, sometimes at the same site as the real test, a weekend or two before each test for clients and non-clients alike.
Despite the test prep company headlines, the average improvement from first to second SAT is 40 points. 35 percent score lower and 4 percent increase by 100 points in one of the sections.
So low single digit percentage of test takers increase 2-300 points. And it’s unlikely that happened in six weeks.
it’s possible, has happened before, but be realistic in your expectations.
Typo - he went from a 26 to a 32.
Thank you all for your kind responses. Appreciated. My D is a junior in high school. She never took the ACT before. No idea why, though. My wife knows better but I would ask if she can take the ACT as well. Based on what I hear from all, the 6-weeks preparation sounds a stretch. She took her PSAT (1280) before but not getting better. She plans to take the SAT twice and use the best one out of the two for the college application.
My daughter already paid for her March SAT test. So, she may not able to reschedule it. Not sure what math she is in now but yes she is in Honors but not in AP English. It sounds unrealistic to jump to 1400-1500 in 6 wks.
Thanks but sorry i do not know how to PM.
@james2020 In my experience, the best way to improve scores is to take timed practice tests at home - use official tests that have been retired by the College Board. She can download them on line or get 8 of them in a single volume on line for about twenty bucks. If she doesn’t have big blocks of time, she could do a half test each on Sat/Sun. although I think that doing the whole thing at once is best because that best duplicates the real test when fatigue will set in. After completing the test, it is important to diagnose the errors to come up with strategies for improvement. A motivated kid can do this independently; many kids need more structure from a tutor or a course.
Alternately, practicing on Khan Academy will help to pinpoint areas to improve.
Finally, she might want to try a practice ACT under timed conditions. Some kids do markedly better on one or the other. If the scores are roughly equivalent (you can find the conversion on line), then she should focus on the format she prefers.
BTW, that’s a perfectly good baseline score. Some kids improve a lot with prep, some don’t. If you see leveling off with practice tests, that’s probably a good indicator of what her official score is likely to be.
Thanks much. These specific comments are excellent. I will be happy to share these with my D. Hope she can take a serious step and improve her scores at the end.