Driving Lu- definitely
Iād beg to differ. Not every good student is going to score in the 95th percentile (which is what a 1400+ is) regardless of preparation. Besides that, what is the point of pouring hours into test prep? Is that really the best use of a studentās time? There is a reason that the number of kids scoring 1400+ has doubled (most likely due to the amount of test prep, taking the test multiple times etc) while the average score hasnāt changed in decades. Not only that, studies done on TO v test submitting students at schools where TO has been in place for decades (as opposed to 2 years) indicates no significant differences in student performance between those who submitted standardized tests and those who did not.
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Itās all relative. If you walk in defeatist you will fail.
If someone has an 1100 and is applying to a school with a 1050 1200 split, getting that 1100 to 1200 or 1250 can mean $$. If they are applying to Harvard, then no. Kids need a realistic list.
But imagine a baseball player, not a good hitter. They sit in the batting cage for hours every day. Learn how to hit the curve ball. So a kid needs to spend an hour a day etc. I did for 3 months for the gmat. I focused on one section each day. My SAT verbal was 410. Never prepped. Had no idea it existed. For my gmat I prepped. Crazily. Got the equivalent English section to the 83rd percentile.
If money is important to a student prepping could help. If itās not, then make your choice but donāt complain at the offer you get ir donāt get.
Itās ok to try in life and fail. If you donāt try, then if you donāt get what you want, then donāt complain.
I stand by what you quoted I said.
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In our situation it is a question of balance also. My kid spends 2 hours a day on music practice, a full day on the weekend. He has almost no free Saturdays. His near hook is music performance. So, will test prep for 4-6 hours a week for 3-4 months which will bring his SAT possibly up to 1500 change the game for him? Or do we just have him do everything test optional and let him spend those hours on homework, or horrors of horrors, sleep. Many seem to think it is worth it.
Itās a personal call. Iām not saying you need to test prep.
Iām saying if you do and you do better it can pay off.
If you donāt and donāt improve your score, then donāt complain (about the test, etc.).
Life is about prioritization in many ways. People have to choose what is right for them. Iām not saying otherwise.
Iām sayingā¦if you donāt achieve what you want (score wise) and you make no effort to do better, then you canāt complain about the end result. And certainly letās stop blaming the apparatus itself.
Whether the test is legit or not, at the far majority of schools it is a part of the process. So If one decides to let it slide and I have zero issueā¦but then donāt whine about the end result.
Itās all Iām saying.
Btw youāre not wrong. Everyone (Iām embellishing) is striving for a top school, insane pressure and the like.
Perhaps the kid that goes to a ālesserā school with more balance and sleeps longer, doesnāt kill their families financially and ends up in a 2k square foot house with two kids, a dog and Hyundai in the driveway is the winner over these other top 20, cut throat, mentally stressed, itās never good enough kid.
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Hereās a different perspective, since youāre full pay if I recall correctly. Rather than turning it into a question of doing āa littleā that is free (Khan Academy), I think youāre asking whether to make the investment in a regularly scheduled program for the summer so that this aspect of your kidās application has been taken care of to the best of your ability as a parent (since you can afford it). That was our dilemma as a family, and I did pay for test prep on the logic of having that time set aside so it didnāt have to compete mentally with other priorities (schoolwork, sleep, sports, etc.). Yes it was a chunk of time each week that couldnāt be spent on something else, but there was no anguish for kid to decide what was important that day or week (it was there in the schedule). That being said, kid went TO, and honestly the fairly expensive program did NOT improve score from baseline. I was too lazy to go through the āask for the $ backā business and felt there was certainly some gain from kid working with tutor, so no regrets on test prep even though kid is TO. Just my thoughts on this.
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Yes, that is part of it, since it is unclear if anything under a 1550 or so will help his application, it is unclear if the time and money is worth it. My older one worked with a test prep company and it wasnāt outrageously expensive and they got his score up about 150 points. His 1430 would do nothing for this one. There was a another thread about not submitting a 1510, I just couldnāt imagine spending the time and money to get that great a score and thinking it not good enough to submit!
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That might also be telling, just as my D22 will never ace Olympiad-style math tests, and indicate that SAT and ACT have valid uses (not suggesting that you are arguing otherwise).
SAT for merit money seems to be going away at most schools, certainly a lot less common than in the past. My daughter recently got $25k per year without submitting. She prepped though and we decided against sending scores. It was a calculated risk that worked out. In hindsight, she could have used her time in a much better way. We were willing to take a shot at prepping, but she cut her losses as soon as she saw her score may not exceed 1400.
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Yep - it definitely depends on the school - I keep pointing to Bama because I know it well - they are TO but their scholarship table isnāt, etc.
So one really has to know the list of their prospective schools and then research them to make the best choice for themselves.
I think standardized testing has its place and I think for kids who are shooting for top schools it is wise to at least try the test(s) and decide from there. Same goes for kids who are chasing merit. Itās a personal choice. For my older kid it wasnāt worth spending the time test prepping given the schools he was looking at so following a mediocre SAT result, it was TO for him. It made a stressful college application season much less stressful and for that Iām grateful.
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My daughter also does music. She prepped in the summer and the week of the test. So it wasnāt music or test prep. I do wish she had finished her applications in the summer though, because she had very little sleep this past autumn.
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So here is the thing about music or any other EC IMO. If your kid chooses to do 2 hours of music practice every day then thatās great. If he has to asked to do that by you (parent/s) then Iād much rather ask my kid to practice the SAT using many excellent online resources available.
Ha! You cant force a 15 year old to do 2 hours of music practice! That is an internal drive. It is all him. Kids like my son get upset that they have to do homework because it takes away from music practice.
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@compmom, @parentologist, and @Cloudybay23 may have something to add to this discussion given your sonās goals. 
In that case, a conservatory or a top school might be the way to go. You are full pay, so focusing on auditions might be worth more. But you have to be pretty neutral to assess how good he is. We all think the world of our children (well not all of us, read the next para and my myriad posts about my son on here :)). If your son is winning recognition as a soloist at the national level then you have every right to support his musical ambitions.
As a sidebar, I am tone deaf. I have been told by my spouse that my DS23 is a pretty good musician. He plays on a competitive jazz band (auditioned) and has been invited to compete regionally. The kid likes to play music but 2 hours of doing anything that does not involve a joystick is unimaginable to him. I contend that he does not have a shot in heck of ever becoming a professional musician. No matter how much talent he has.
I also see kids that are in bands below his level choosing to attend college as music performance majors. YMMV.
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Only for top schools. There getting in is the real challenge.
For every other school, merit money is staying. Particularly for schools that have aspirations of climbing the rankings table.
They have been invaluable!
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My dad is an outstanding amateur musician. He taught himself guitar and plays entirely by ear - he told me that as a high schooler and, after, in college he would practice his guitar 4 hours a day. He still plays an hour or two a day now at age 85. That kind of desire can only come from within.
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Of course merit money is staying, it is just not going to be based on test scores.
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