Hi everyone - I’m new to CC. My daughter (Class of 2020, A+ student, 5 APs to date, etc.) scored 1460 on the PSAT and took her first SAT on 3/9. Scores came out this morning and she scored 1370. She’s devastated, although she now freely admits she was over-confident after the PSAT and didn’t prepare as much as she should have.
I’m looking for advice on how to talk with her about this. I’ve been trying to diminish the importance of standardized tests (you, as a person, are not defined by a test score) but with her looking at T20s she and I both know they’re still important. She’s an incredibly well-rounded kid (academics, ECs, and a summer internship in her intended field)…I just don’t want her to be in her head about this for too long.
I think you are handling this right. Maybe she just had an off day. It sounds like she could have prepared more as well. Lastly, the curve on this one may have been rough. We’ve been seeing that lately with the SAT.
Has she tried the ACT? Some kids do better on that test, while others prefer the SAT.
I suspect that a higher percentage of students taking the SAT prepare well for this exam, while many take the PSAT without any preparation. Since your daughter prepped for the PSAT, she may have done better than with little or no prep on the SAT.
@overandup I think it’s way too early for her to be devastated!! It’s a great wake up call-- I bet if she puts more time and effort into preparing she will improve. I wouldn’t bother trying to diminish the importance… she won’t buy that. Good luck!
Thanks suzy100 - she does intend to take the ACT. I should have mentioned that Math is not an issue for her. What I call “Verbal” (not sure what they call it now) was off this time. I’ve spoken to her about how the tests are written to be tricky and sometimes it’s not about how much you know the material but how closely and carefully you read the question.
I appreciate the obvious statement, Publisher. Yep, and coupled with the PSAT generally being “easier” than the SAT can lead to some disappointment.
It’s fairly rare for a student who doesn’t prepare well to achieve their best score. She should do that and take the test again. She’s obviously smart and able to do better. She shouldn’t panic. Just take a planful approach. (I remember waay back when I first took the SAT. I had never SEEN the test before. My parents weren’t knowledgeable about it either. I got a sucky score. So I took it again the next round, not with a lot of preparation but with experience on pacing myeself, and I improved my score by more than 100 points.)
I’ve found tutors to be very helpful, my math brained d19 got her English score up higher than math. She took the SAT’s 3 times (plus the ACT) and found some harder than others. She ended up doing better on the ACT overall like her brother (34 vs. 1470).
She has time to bring the score up. She can review the questions she got wrong or the sections she didn’t do as well on. Was it mostly sloppy errors or are their areas of the test where she didn’t know the material? Were the section scores similar or did she do much worse on one part than the other?
As you know, getting into a top 20 even with good SAT scores and the rest of the package is not easy. She needs to also come up with some realistic options a bit lower down on the rankings. She can get a great education many other places.
First, just give her a big hug. We don’t always get what we want, when we want it. It’s a hard lesson to learn as a kid.
In my family, we teach not being concerned w/ outcome. You can’t control whatever happens. You can only control your attitude and effort.
So going forward… she has plenty of time to bring her scores up. Get a tutor if you can afford one, or just get a workbook at your local Barnes and Noble. Summer is nearly here and even my stupid busy kid had time to study over summer break. She may just need some better test taking strategies, and a workbook or tutor will cover that. For this reason, I’m not a huge fan of kids taking SAT/ACT for the first time as Juniors. Just knowing what to expect is half the battle IMO. But I digress.
I don’t have test dates in front of me at the moment, but I want to say she has 2 more rounds of tests she can take before application deadlines.
May I also suggest she take the ACT? Most kids like one over the other & most schools will take either. Just check her list of schools to find out what they require.
A 1460 is an excellent PSAT score. No reason she can’t match or exceed that on the SAT with a little prep. The good news is there are a bunch of test dates left. The August date is a good one because kids sometimes are less stressed then. So maybe take again in May or June and then in August if you need it
My kid who is better at math than English/Reading found the ACT much easier - he got a 33/34 on those sections of the ACT without prep and his math score was about the same on both tests (780/35).
I don’t blame her for being overconfident after that PSAT score. She’s clearly a strong test taker - maybe she just had a test with a brutal curve or a bad day. She’ll get over this disappointment and get the score she needs.
Definitely not the time for panic. Think of it as a good lesson on the importance of preparation/not getting over-confident that she can carry with her as she moves forward in life.
I’d talk to her and plan out how/when she can best prepare for the SAT before she takes it again. There are many ways to prepare for the SAT including online resources (Khan Academy has free SAT prep), take a class, get a tutor, getting a book and preparing on her own etc. Given your D’s PSAT scores I expect that with adequate preparation she will also do well on the SAT.
If she is not satisfied after her next SAT then I’d suggest she look at trying the ACT.
Speaking as a crazy parent - I’d say 1370 is perfectly acceptable given no prep, first time and the fact all of the material has not yet been learned. One of my kids too the SAT at the same stage of the school year, and also scored similarly; with a lot of work, prep and practice tests that summer, was able to raise the score to mid 1500s. It can be done. Tell your D to not lose hope, put in some effort and she will easily tip into the 1400s if not 1500s
I agree with a little prep and now some comfort with the format, she is likely to do better next time. Working with a tutor is good if she needs that structure, but honestly, the stuff the tutor we had did with my kid could easily be done with just some prep books and some scheduled time too. Trying the ACT isn’t a bad idea either.
That said, I’d also encourage her to think outside T20 as well. There are tons of great educational choices out there many not in the top 20. You can have a very high score and great profile and still not get into these schools.
Prep was irrelevant to my #1. Fast mind, and an attitude: “Too busy to prep”. Got superior scores.
Prep was essential to my #2. Tried to emulate #1 but got mediocre scores. Didn’t matter: she was headed to art school and her heaviest effort went to her portfolio. BUT then, a few years after her BFA, a change of focus. She was heading to business school. Did she prep for the GMAT? You bet. Took a refresher math course at a local college, took a Princeton Review online prep course (no meetings). A few months of prep. Took the GMAT and got 720 the first time. Good enough. Got into a top business school.
Practice, pacing, and confidence to proceed without panicking or wasting too much time on a difficult question.
It does happen frequently enough that this is not unusual at all. Fortunately she can retake the SAT after some prep. IMO, the PSAT is a sprint, the SAT more the distance event, though now that it’s back to just the two test format, some of that is mitigated.
Good luck to her. It’s possible for her to match those PSAT scores. And if not, her SAT1s are not bad at all. She should give the ACTs a whirl because some kids just do better on those.