Humm, Oldfort, I am not sure why you bracketed the term determining as I believe it does mean something along the lines of “ascertain or establish exactly, typically as a result of research or calculation.” Look it up! Is that different from gathering actual tests to “come up” with their curriculum. But little has to be gained from a discussion on the correct terminology or semantics.
My main point was simply one that disputes the claim that “a company will spend millions” at this stage. To be clear, I do NOT believe that any well-known west college company is currently making such an investment in “gathering” information about the new SAT or revamping their products in anticipation of the 2016 version. Tens of thousands of dollars perhaps … millions is pure non-sense! And especially not one outside the few remaining giants a la Kaplan or PR.
For the record, there is reasonably large and entrepreneurial company that has unveiled a new SAT textbook and was “first to market” with its 1000 page book. I can guarantee you that they did not invest “millions” in creating the opus. Nor will they have to invest gigantic sums of money in retraining their tutors … as they will not encounter many problems in hiring or keeping tutors who happen to master the “new” material.
SAT tutoring is a huge money maker for this company, even though they make most of their money in college counseling. They may not be as big as Kaplan, but their clienteles are different and they expect more. They are not gathering “potential questions” for the test now, they are waiting for the actual tests to come out before they revamp their curriculum. The owner anticipates it will be in the 7 figures for the curriculum and he is making sure he has the funding to do it. I was a bit surprised by the number, but who am I to doubt him?
Again, Oldfort, at the risk of repeating myself, I objected to the claim that companies ARE spending millions. You are now saying that the owner of the company you (apparently) retained will have to make an investment to revamp its curriculum and will do so after reviewing a number of tests. I assume we are talking about 2016 or 2017 then.
Companies will spend vastly variable sums of money to develop a compatible curriculum. Some might retain competent experts and others will simply acquire a small company that invested talent and efforts in designing the new contents by emulating what is currently known. I believe that the investment need for THAT purpose to be small, considering the history of the development costs of basic SAT exams. Just think this way: how much would you compile from the collective work of 20 high scoring students paid $5,000 abroad and $10,000 in the United States for a full-time trimester of work? That amounts to 150,000 dollars! One could come up with a reasonable emulation of the new test for anywhere between 10 and 25 percent of that amount.
The industry has never been known to make massive investments in the design and the integrity of “compatible” tests. Hence the mediocre quality of what is sold in your typical bookstore, and … the value of the tests acquired via not always legitimate sources. This is a very different proposal from retaining and hiring competent tutors who understand the current tests released by the College Board.
It would be silly for the company to do any work before they know what the actual tests are like. At the risk of repeating myself, I did say this company is advising their students not to take the SAT first year because they wouldn’t have the curriculum ready for them.
We are also concentrating on old SAT. Older brothers took it and did well, we have plenty of old practice tests, and I know how to help prep him because I’ve done it twice before. My kids are smart but not natural test takers. But with practice, scores went up to 2300 for one and 2260 for the other. My sophomore son took November SAT and has 800 math, 660 writing and 590 critical reading. The schools he is looking at do superscore, so we were focusing on math only. He did no prep for CR or writing. He will take it in June after doing 10-12 practice test… at a leisurely pace… this spring for CR.
My question is this… are we SURE this is not a waste of time. are schools for this class going to take the old sat? When I contact schools they say they have not addressed this issue yet and I am the first to ask this question? Seems crazy since this is the last year of the old test… and the new test does not start til March of their junior year. Most ambitious students do not wait until March of junior year for first sitting, but I hate wasting time and money now if old tests do not count. Do you know anything for sure?
@gasenioryear
While I have not spoken to College Board myself, we have a very aggressive college guidance office at my kids’ private school. According to our GC, who has been in frequent contact with College Board, there is no doubt that the old SAT will be accepted for the class of 2017.
@pokeyjoe Thank you for responding. we do not have an aggressive guidance counselor… we have a good one that deals with issues as they become known. Not dealing with tenth graders yet or the issue of a test change. Rural area and most kids at our school wait until spring of junior year to take first exam. So that is who I was looking for to get advice from… someone whose school is looking at the issue now. So I assume if a child feels comfortable with this SAT, your GC is suggesting prepping and taking early, instead of throwing all your eggs in an unknown basket which at best will still be a trial and error year for a totally revamped test.
@gasenioryear
Our last meeting discussed multiple scenarios depending on the student’s 10th grade PSAT scores. We are told to have all official testing complete by the end of junior year. (SAT, ACT, and subject tests)I originally posted to help sort out Kid4’s options. After weighing all the advice from GC and here, we decided Kid4 will only take the old SAT with his first attempt in June at the end of 10th grade. He starts private prep in two weeks and additional book prep now. His older siblings had much more prep time but, it seems to be his best option.
@pokeyjoe - My son got a letter from his school today. His high school is going to be one of the pilot schools to take a electronic version of the new PSAT tests in April. Because of his high PSAT score he can take it. He will not get any results back and neither will his school. But it does give him a chance to preview the new version of the test. I think the college board is going to match his old PSAT score to the new one to see if the scores are similar or if the new one is significantly different. Anyway this will give him a chance to see how different the new test is. But we are still going to go ahead with the old SAT testing plan.
@MichiganGeorgia What a great opportunity! Hopefully he can use that experience to his advantage somehow. If you learn anything worth sharing, please do.
Here’s what we’re doing. DD17 will prep casually for the new PSAT/SAT herself over the summer using the book from the College Board, due to be released in June. Goal: Have her be familiar enough with the test format, strategies, and general content that the PSAT in October is a good benchmark for her strengths/weaknesses on this test format. Also this summer, do some looking at the books and other materials myself to get a feel for how similar/different the new SAT is to the ACT (we have no experience with the ACT at all). After the PSAT in October, shift gears and start prepping for the ACT; in theory, if the SAT is more similar to the ACT than it used to be, then prepping for the ACT will help for the SAT as well, and vice versa. Plan to take the ACT and SAT both in the early spring (e.g., before the crunch for the AP’s in May). See how she does and evaluate from there what to do next (whether to prep more over the summer and retake in the fall; choose one or the other to focus on, etc…).
While she could be in contention for NMF, in our very competitive state, the score cutoff for NMF is usually ridiculously high; you can be a great student and stress and prep alot and do really well and still miss it. So, in our estimation, NMF is not a goal worth stressing over; we are looking at the PSAT only as a benchmark of what to focus on in preparation for “the real thing.” DS only took the SAT … prepped casually himself using a book, did great the first time, knew he’d done well enough to get into the schools he wanted, and didn’t bother taking it again. We are advising DD that because the test is changing and therefore all admissions data based on the SAT scores will be essentially useless, she should take the ACT as well.
Planning to use whatever prep Khan Academy puts out take the New PSAT in Fall and new SAT in Spring. Since they are working directly with the College Board the materials should be good. I can see taking the old if you have already invested time or money in prepping for the old but we haven’t. DD tested 98th percentile with minimal prep. So hopefully more prep on the new should push her up to NMF level.
Also planning to prep for the ACT. Has anyone gotten their Plan scores back yet?
Our school switched out the PLAN this year in favor of a “residual ACT”. So, they took a previously used ACT instead.
We received those scores along with the PSAT scores together, by individual student in December but, then discussed as a group in January.
