<p>@Ynotgo – while the info contained in that PDF is useful, that is not the practice book….and the catch-22 is that you cannot obtain a copy of the practice book from CB, but only from your school….or so I was told when I called CB, trying to obtain an old copy. Students in our HS register during the lunch hour and bring the practice test booklet home—to ignore or practice. But, as my 10th grader said, what is the point in practicing for a test that is going to change and doesn’t count for anything this year? I should spend my time taking a practice SAT as that will count!</p>
<p>So….yes, your son should receive a practice test printed on extremely thing telephone book-like paper.</p>
<p>Our private school east coast does administer the PSAT to sophomores. Last year they also gave the preACT? to sophomores in the spring (?). I don’t know if they will repeat that experiment. The sad fact is that I will use the sophomore scores to start to make the college list. My DS does extremely well in math and not so well in English. We’ve been struggling with this his whole academic life. The prelim scores will help both of us. I try not to make a big deal of standardized tests but that is the admission reality. I don’t think those ad cons will have any idea how hard won those B’s in English are.</p>
<p>@Evergreen1929 – The ACT may be the way to go for your son, given the fact that the verbal sections are often considered ‘easier’, as long as he doesn’t run up against the ACT’s very real time constraint. Since the SAT exam format will change with the March 2016 test, if you think your son could benefit from the additional prep time for spring & fall 2016 exam dates, you may not want to start him prepping for the old SAT only to have to switch gears midstream. Having said all of that, I have read that there are changes afoot at ACT.</p>
<p>Evergreen-you may want to look at “test optional” colleges or those that don’t place as much weight on the scores. You can find information about this at the website www,fairtest.org. There are nearly 1,000 colleges (almost 25%) on their list, with more joining every day. </p>
<p>Also, I’m curious-has your son asked you to make his college list for him, or is he helping you with that? You can both go to the link here on CC to “find a college” where you can input all the priorities he may have for his choice of colleges. Thar’s how my D came up with her list.</p>
<p>Also, if your school uses Naviance, they have a pretty comprehensive college match guide. My D15 used it to identify colleges to look into. S will do the same later this year so we can start exploring next summer.</p>
<p>@Evergreen1929 In the spring, they will likely give the ACT Aspire if they have been giving the ACT Plan in the past. However, that is a computer administered test, so they will need to have enough computers to administer it to everyone. Being a private school, that’s likely no problem, I’d suppose. </p>
<p>Our HS says they plan to give the ACT Aspire to sophomores in the spring, though they will need to give the Smarter Balanced common core test to 11th graders also computer-based in the spring, so if the dates end up conflicting, the 11th graders have to take theirs and the 10th grade is optional. Also, the ACT Aspire sounds a lot like the Smarter Balanced test, so I don’t know how much it helps predict scores on the current ACT test, though it will probably be good prep for the 11th grade state testing.</p>
<p>S17 went to one of those college visit sessions at his school for Harvey Mudd yesterday. (He’d heard they sometimes have cookies, but this one didn’t.) It was during PE, so he didn’t have to worry about missing much. He found the session interesting. I suppose it’s good to know what sorts of things they talk about and what questions to ask. It also gave him a chance to ask me about money for college. He may attend another session coming up, but that one is during math, so he’ll need to see when tests are scheduled.</p>
<p>S17 got his ACT scores back. He did some prep and is happy with his score. He said that he thinks he can improve it a bit, so he will probably take it again in December. Then he will focus on the SAT. He’ll take that and decide which test to focus on. He really wants to try the SAT before it changes because he has the time to prep for that one now. It will be more difficult to find the time during junior year. He is not happy about being the guinea pig for the new PSAT during their junior year!</p>
<p>I am going to have S17 take the SAT this winter. I am with you Felicita about uncertainty with the changing format. He’ll take the PSAT test month as a sophomore, and then have to deal with the changes as a junior. I am kind of hoping that he can get the SAT done with scores that we’re happy with before the changeover. I did learn with D15 that we waited too long for her to take the SAT; not until May of her junior year because of sports conflicts with test dates. Her score were good, but she has a couple of target schools with scholarships that she’d like higher scores to send, and as a senior she is very (very) busy. I want S to have a lot of time to get the testing under his belt. He is not as self driven as his sister.</p>
<p>Hmm, that’s an interesting idea. I guess I’ll decide about advising S17 to take the SAT or ACT this winter or spring based on his PSAT score. It would be nice to have testing done early and time to focus on other things. How long do PSAT scores take to come back? He would have to learn the tricks for writing the SAT essay.</p>
<p>PSAT scores are distributed via the high schools early to mid-December. I am not sure if different schools receive on different dates or some schools delay in distributing the reports. SAT scores are available on-line 19 days after the exam date.</p>
<p>I think I will defer SAT until fall of Jr year and leave spring of this year for SAT II and finals, etc. Agree about needing to learn SAT essay tricks.</p>
<p>Thanks for the test info. I, too, get the feeling that ACT may be the way to go with S17. As for the college list, he has been dragged around the NE as his sister looked for colleges over the last two years. He has a list of “don’t wants” (NYC, too far from home, not too expensive, not in the country) etc. My job is to broaden the possibilities or he will be commuting from my basement . So we will get out there this summer on day trips to get a feel for “how close to NYC or home” or what is country. (my DD thought Bryn Mawr was rural)</p>
<p>“The new SAT March scores would not be available until after the May administration. Using the 2014-2015 SAT schedule as a guide, with the March 14th and May 2nd SATs separated by 7 weeks, it’s reasonable to anticipate a March 13, 2016 “New SAT” debut followed by a May 1, 2016 SAT. If March scores are not available until mid-May, this will throw a wrench into the typical path for score improvement: take the test, receive feedback, adjust before the subsequent test.”</p>
<p>Just one more reason to try and get current 10th graders to take the old SAT test…</p>
<p>@WELCOMETOCHINA Welcome! We are happy to have you here. My family went to China in 2009 to try to see the solar eclipse that went by Shanghai. It rained, but we still had a very nice trip in China.</p>
<p>Regarding the essay on old and new SATs: S17 is pretty good at writing in general, but I expect that open-ended prompts about what he finds fulfilling in life, emotions, group identity and the like will frustrate him. He’d probably prefer the “write about the provided historical document” prompts planned for the new SAT, but we probably don’t want to wait that long. </p>
<p>Thank you and welcome to China again! Perhaps new Sat is more difficult than old Sat for international students. But, we only need hard work! Wish see you in the USA!</p>
<p>I haven’t come to read this thread for long time. I’m surprised to see that many of your kids are ready to take SAT or ACT already.</p>
<p>After sending my S’13 into the Ivy’s school last year, I haven’t thought of my D’ 17 is approaching to the time to make SAT. She just did a sample SAT test last week and got the score of 1480 excluding essay. I believe this is not the level of a Gr. 10 student. My S’13 got 1800 when he was Gr. 9. I know I shouldn’t compare my two kids, but why it’s so different between son and daughter?</p>
<p>@pigmom, just the differences in kids? My S17 will be taking the PSAT in a couple of weeks (his school offers it to sophomores), so that will be a first look-see at what he needs to do study-wise. My D15 is a very different kids than S17, and I have a feeling that he will need more “directed” study than his self-driven sister did. One reason I want my S to take the SAT before his junior year is 1) so he can see what it is like and know what to focus his study on, 2) because there are study guides for this current iteration of the SAT and I am not sure how aligned study guides will be when the new SAT format rolls out in March 2016, and 3) my D, with her crazy schedule, did have a free date for the SAT until May of her Jr. year and that was almost too late if she needed a retake. I don’t want S in that position because he will not weather the storm as well as she did. It is very hectic fall of senior year and I want S to only have to focus on classes and college apps, not test taking (retaking )</p>
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