how do you explain this...

Parent Cafe
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<p>hi, im a junior stressing about SATs, APs, and SAT2s. ok heres the situation, everyday after school i go to this sat prep place and basically stay there doing hw and studying until 830 pm then i go home and do extra studying for SATs usually. my cousin goes there to but heres the thing. he doesnt study SAT usually and doesnt even do his hw until he gets home (same time as me). he just sits there playing ipod games. and often we have english hw for SAT and he does it at the last minute and copies off of me. basically he doesnt study for SATs at home.....he just goes along with the classes we have and says thats the only time he "studies" and just recently we took the march SAT and got our scores back.....he jumped his SAT math and writing by 100 points each. while i only went up 100 on one section. He NEVER studies and im studying everyday and night yet he still did better than me. how is this right? he just played games and copied off me yet he did better on the SAT? HOW?......</p>

<p>this has really gotten me frustrated and im just confused right now. im lost. and the thing is all he wants to be is a pastor while im trying to pursue an engineering career. hes getting the scores i need while im just stressing growing more white hair (sarcasm) and getting minimum results. please help</p>

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<p>dhs, some people just do well on tests others dont…try the ACT… my son did much better on the ACT than the SAT… most schools will take the ACT (do the writing part also)</p>

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<p>He may be getting better scores because he’s relaxed and considers the SAT an intriguing game to play, while you are emotionally stressed because you view the SAT as a life-threatening barrier to your future goals. Talk with your SAT instructor about ways to lower your anxiety, and if they don’t have any good ideas try discussing this with some of your classroom teachers or your counselor. Once you get your anxiety under control, it is likely that your exam scores will improve.</p>

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<p>i agree with happymom–u need to chill!</p>

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<p>i mean before the march SAT i was relaxed, had a good breakfast, was positive that id do well, and even had support from all my family and friends right before the test. it was the best feeling i could have to know that everyone was supporting me but i still dont know what went wrong. yes i agree that i do need to chill a bit but idk, i really want to go to a good college but i just cant stand the fact that if i dont do well on my SAT then that might prevent me from getting accepted into the majority of my school choices : / yes im aware that SAT isnt the main deciding factor in the decisions however it is an important factor.</p>

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<p>I believe there is such a thing as a bubble-test gene.</p>

<p>My older one never saw a bubble test she didn’t like. She had an 800 verbal SAT score at age 12 (one of six in the country), and math wasn’t far behind. She never took them again. For graduate school (in music), same story, except that after going six years without a single math course, got a higher GRE quant score than the average entering engineering grad student at Caltech. She could make a living at it. I asked her if she could help my younger one (below) with it at one point, but she said she doesn’t know how she does, she just always knows the right answer.</p>

<p>My younger one (not genetically related to the older one) lacks the gene. She studied, and practiced, studied and practiced, used Xiggi’s method, paid for online course, did SAT and ACT each several times, and every time did worse than she did the first. Fortunately, besides just being an interesting kid, if she can get an interview - for ANYTHING - she’ll get the job, acceptance, whatever. Doesn’t matter how many apply - she knows that if she can get to an interview, whatever it is, it’s hers.</p>

<p>Fast forward. She would be in the bottom 15% of scores in the college she is now attending. Is graduating in three years, with an almost 4.0 GPA, named top student (and given a large cash award) in her discipline. Applies to grad school, after taking the standardized tests. Does even worse than she did as an undergraduate. Not mediocre. Bad. Sends her application in. The very next day she receives a call from the Dean of Graduate Admissions at her target program, asking if she was sick on the day of the exams. No, she says, that’s just the way I test. Doesn’t affect my ability to do the work in the least. Okay, says, the Dean. Would you let us waive the test scores? Why, be my guest, she says. Two days later, receives her acceptance (one of only 11 or 12 in her program.)</p>

<p>It’s just a test. You may suck at it. Don’t let it rule you. If you don’t go to grad school, this is the last one you’ll ever see in your life.</p>

<p>(P.S. In case you’d like to know, she is NOT a grinder, and doesn’t work at her classes any harder than anyone else.)</p>

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<p>mini, that’s hilarious. :)</p>

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<p>In her first year, she called me up to warn us she thought she was in trouble. Why? She received an e-mail from the Dean’s Office telling her she was placed on something called “the Dean’s List”. (she really didn’t know). This term she told us she’d gotten an e-mail from something called Beta Gamma Sigma, but she didn’t want to join a sorority, and they wanted $65 so she could apply for scholarships. So she wanted to know if it was a scam?</p>

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<p>Some people are just more intelligent than others.</p>

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<p>^^^ mini’s 1st is one of them but I can’t figure out what’s going on with the 2nd (she might play games with tests). </p>

<p>CC convenced me that most true high test scorers don’t do prep that much if any at all (take it cold as they say).</p>

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<p>I think that unprepared test-takers typically score somewhat below their true level of mastery. What preparation can do is to allow you to test all the way up to your maximum level - but not beyond. There’s a certain amount of time that is the fastest in which I could possibly run 100 meters. I can’t run it that fast now. If I worked out and trained, I may be able to get my best time down to that level, but I won’t get it any lower.</p>

<p>IMO, the OP’s cousin probably should have been testing 100 points higher on Math and Writing all along, so it didn’t take as much preparation for him to get there.</p>

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<p>The tests evaluate native intelligence, not just knowledge base. Some students are more intellectually endowed than others, just as some have physical good looks or athletic ability. Practicing running will make you a faster runner but won’t necessarily make you as fast as the lazier gifted runner. One reason colleges use multiple ways of evaluating students.</p>

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<p>There is such a thing as studying too hard. Perhaps you need to take a step back and digest. Sometimes anxiety can make a person choke. </p>

<p>I’m sort of struggling with the idea that an aspiring pastor is fine with copying from you, but OK.</p>

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<p>“I’m sort of struggling with the idea that an aspiring pastor is fine with copying from you” </p>

<p>exactly</p>

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<p>“The tests evaluate native intelligence, not just knowledge base.”</p>

<p>Well, I don’t know what it tests exactly, (and neither do the SAT people - they got rid of the name “Scholastic Aptitude Test” when they discovered it didn’t test scholastic aptitude.) My older one is not more intelligent than my younger, just different.</p>

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<p>Two men entered the room. One was taller than the other, as is often the case in Ireland. (to quote Spike Milligan).</p>

<p>Generally, with two daughters, one is more intelligent than the other …</p>

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<p>Well, my d. with SAT scores some 1,000 points lower than my other one, had a higher GPA, more honors, higher rank. Both got into great graduate programs, one with fantastic GREs, the other where the scores were so bad the school asked to waive them (I guess so they wouldn’t be counted in the school’s admissions stats). </p>

<p>Which one is more intelligent?</p>

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<p>My best student is this year’s college applicant with test scores 800 points lower than his brother, but with higher GPA. The one worked at the SATs, took test prep, was tutored, self studied and took them 3 times with no improvements. His brother nearly maxed them at his first try in March of Junior year. That’s just the way it goes.</p>

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<p>My kids both self-studied the same way and for similar amounts of time. They both scored at or above 2200 – pretty close to each other. The younger one scored higher in CR and Writing, but she’s just very much a lit kid/natural writer, much more so than her brother. Still, I think their methodical self-study to prep for the test was very helpful. They scored lower on their first few practice tests and just got better and better as they went along.</p>

<p>So maybe some high-scorers are naturals and don’t study, I don’t think that always (or even usually) the case. I agree with gadad, that studying can help prepare a student to do the best they have the natural ability to do.</p>

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<p>This is interesting though. Nobody is going to decline to waive their poor scores if the school is basically saying ‘let us pretend your scores don’t exist and you are in’. But why don’t all schools just waive scores of all low-score admits, and boost their magic numbers even more?</p>