<p>I just asked my S and he said that he didn't think that "10 Real SAT's" was the way to go if you want a strategy guide. There is a Princeton Review guide that has three tests and a lot of strategy tips. The Math section is really kinda weird in a way (I'm talking about the old one, but I suspect the new one is similar). They will ask a question such as what is the ratio between the surface area of a cube and a cone having the same height as one of the sides of the cube. I'll jump in using formulas and find the answer. Then you look at the tips in the strategy guide and it will say to plug numbers into each of the multiple choice answers until you find the choice that works. The tip says that this approach is faster and you are less likely to make an error. That is correct, but it really isn't the point of the question to me. At any rate, I said all of this to indicate that the tips help.</p>
<p>You may want to look into private tutors. Some are excellent. If you find the right one, sometimes only a few sessions can make a substantial difference, especially with a bright student who has had some poor teachers.</p>
<p>Hi Luliztee- I responded to you on another thread and I suggested you look at SUNY Purchase too. I too am a Long Island mom too with 2 girls with different academic abilities. My d just took the Math B regent, but as we haven't heard anything from her HS school, I assume she passed. We'll get her report card by next week. I read in the paper that they were going to rescore that exam as they had a higher than expected failure rate. Anyway- you have to realize that on this site, most of the kids are high achievers and that an SAT of 1400 is barely ok. Most parents and cc kids fail to comprehend that the average SAT score has been and will always be around 510. Therefore a 490 is a bit below average, but not one to assume your kid has learning disabilities. I do think she can probably bring the score up a bit. You may want to get her a math tutor only to help her review the concepts she learned in math A and B and prepare for the SAT. She may also fare better on the ACT. My d scored about the same on the SAT and ACT math, but did much better on the ACT English/reading. Good luck.</p>
<p>The 490 by itself didn't lead into the discussion about LD, but rather the difference between the Math and Verbal scores. At any rate, the SAT isn't a good indicator and often someone that age will just suddenly "get" math. Explaining how to think mathematically (not arithmetically) is a bit alien at first since it is so abstract. Unfortunately, some kids develop a math phobia and stop trying.</p>
<p>If I got that kind of a spread, I'd march myself to the head of the math department and get to the bottom of why.</p>
<p>You might think of a school, such as Bennington or Sarah Lawrence, that is academically liberal and pushes the Arts.</p>
<p>well, for goodness sakes, I'm ashamed to admit I got a 460 M all those many years ago! And this when taking the SAT only once(junior yr), back in the good ol' days when that's what most high school students did. However I did graduate college and go onto a productive life despite my uneven SAT scores. ;)</p>
<p>I never felt I was Learning Disabled - I simply thought I wasn't that good at math (& didn't enjoy it); and I do sort of agree with dufus that you can develop an anxiety about math. I think it's a jump to assume that one lopsided test score (on a one day test) can indicate an LD.</p>
<p>Overall, I did very well in most of my classes, just not as well - or accelerated - in Math. On the other hand, my spouse with a very even & high SAT score, could not be taught a foreign lang. to save his life (or to analyze a passage of Shakespeare either). Do I think he has a hidden LD? not on your life.</p>
<p>I think people in the last 20 yrs have simply become very prone to trying to find out WHY? WHY?someone isn't equally stellar and high-performing across all subject material. I just wonder when did we all begin to think that you have to be good at EVERY subject to be considered a smart student?</p>
<p>P.S. to the OP: as said by others, emphasize your daughter's strengths, artistic capabilities, overall vg classroom performance and her part-time job. College adm counselors know that jobs can be just as important and varied an outside activity as school-related EC's.</p>
<p>Check out some of the smaller SUNY campuses that might interest your daughter depending on her major. You might also check out Ithaca or St. Lawrence or Siena for some NY privates to consider.</p>
<p>And she can always take the SAT again, after some math tutoring, since her Math teacher has been so bad. That exp. alone certainly contributed to the weaker Math score</p>
<p>irishbird: Yea, when I took the SAT, people took it once and nobody I know of would have even thought of studying for it. The test was originally designed for prep school students applying to the Ivies. Overtime, more and more people took it and the quality of secondary education fell off, so they recentered the average score in 1996. If you took it before that, you can add about 100 points to your score (50 for M and 50 for V).</p>
<p>I agree with what you said about LD's, but the term LD may be a more emotionally charged term for some people than others. Someone scoring 780V can certainly score better than 490M, and something needs to be done if that happens. Possibilities are tutoring, new teacher, private school, talking to the child, or something. If somebody calls it a LD, that might simply mean that the child has a harder time at math.</p>
<p>You said: "However I did graduate college and go onto a productive life despite ....". Conversations on CC are mainly about the tactics of getting into the "best" college possible with emphasis on the high end. The truth is that a perfect applicant with everything up to but not including the Olympic gold medal has about a 1 in 4 chance of getting into Harvard. The three attitudes that bother me most are: 1) My life is ruined if I don't get into an Ivy. 2) Once I get into an Ivy, I'm set for life and never have to do anything ever again. 3) I'm definitely getting into the Ivy of my choice, but there are a lot of students in my high school who aren't.</p>
<p>Well yes, I took my SAT a long time before 1996 & great I can give myself 100 extra points, but I'll still be lop-sided!
I still don't know why someone who could score high on V should also be expected to score high on M & that "something is wrong" if the math score is lower. I think what was wrong is that the girl had a crappy math teacher for a pivotal yr. just prior to taking the test. If she had a better teacher, then i would expect she MIGHT have a higher score than 490, but I would base that on the now improved experience she had during math class, and not on any of the experiences she had in learning English (or developing her verbal skills, for want of a better phrase).</p>