MY S just took the Oct. SAT. Got a 2110, with 700 minimum across the board. We are pleased, and he did some tutoring in lead up. He wants to keep going and try to get another 150 points. I was wondering if anyone hear has tried prep scholar online program, and if so, how much time does it take to improve performance. Can it work in time for december or January test? If anyone knows about this, I would appreciate if you an review it.
It seems that so many experts out there recommend 2017 students to take the old SAT. DD originally was going to take the PSAT then the old SAT (3 test dates available if needed) then the ACT then the New SAT if needed. However, as we review the test dates, we are concerned that this strategy might not give her enough time to study for and maximize the opportunity to achieve a high ACT score.
I am interested in other 2017 studentsā plan in standardized tests.
I must have missed the expert recommendations. My D17 is taking the new format SAT (Jan?), after taking the new format PSAT. She just sat for her first try at the ACT. Sorry OP I can only say I have only heard positive anecdotes of Prepscholar on CC. D has only studied using available practice tests.
@2muchquan ā The new SAT will be administered in March; the current version will run through the Jan administration.
The āproblemā with the March administration is that CB is already saying that scores will not be released on the typical 19 day schedule but instead may not appear for six to seven weeks? This was something I read last year and timing may have been updated since. The reason I say this is a problem is that the March scores will not be out in time to register & prep for May exam. There is always the June test date, but some students prefer to keep that one free for subject tests.
@BigPapiofthree ā I do not know anything about Prep Scholar. While score improvement is almost always possible, incremental gains become more difficult when starting at 700. But, itās a great place to start! Superscoring will help as your son may see an increase on one section and decline on another. Writing is the easiest section to impact quickly, but writing is the section many colleges disregard. The Math curve is harsh. My older son sat with Gruberās book and worked through the math sections for his final sitting Oct of Sr year. That worked for him, but there are many learning styles.
No advice on timing. Son not thrilled with score distribution but happy with overall score. Not interested in discussing next test date at the moment, other than his comment that maybe I should try the new SAT. AGH! Noā¦that is what I had hoped to avoid by having him sit for exam in October. He thought the format of the new PSAT was easier. Who knows!
CT1417, Thanks. I think you are correct. perhaps some movement and superscoring will get him up. I am assuming that he can improve language and math. not sure about reading. If he doesnāt go up, we will look at ACT in spring. I too heard the new sat will not score March right away. I heard they want to score may test with the March. Use the two for a curveā¦ We are avoiding it if possibleā¦or until he learns that the psat was off the chartsā¦
@CT1417. Hmmm, that timing IS interesting. Are we talking March of 2016? For juniors, they have dates going into 2017 to do retakes and subject tests, right? Or, do I have this screwed up? What am I missing?
@BigPapiofthree My son used ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā ā for about a month. Less than 8 hours total I would guess. He already had a score in the 98% on the ACT and was able to get higher scores. His lowest score was the multiple choice writing section and grammar rules are really the easiest part of the test to be able to study and get a significantly higher score on which he did. His reading score went up as well but I think that was just luck that he was more interested in the topics on this test than the other time he took it.
Ok it took out my link the site is called eprep.
@2muchquan ā Current HS Jrs can take new test March, May & June of Jr year and Oct of Sr year, if applying ED or EA/SCEA. The ACT organization has students in a bind b/c the Sept essay scores have still not been released and ACT will not send official score report w/o the essay score. (New essay format administered with Sept ACT this year.) I am guessing that many colleges will be flexible about this, but Michigan is very clear that an applicant will be rolled to RD round if everything is not in hand by Nov 1st.
I am mentioning this as a cautionary tale. Hopeful that College Board will have gotten the kinks out by Oct after the March, May & June administrations.
Also, students can take up to three subject tests on one day but cannot take SAT and subject test on same day, so either the May or June date should be reserved for subject tests. Students should take subject tests when they finish the corresponding coursework, so fall dates are not ideal for subject tests. Possible, but may not be the best plan.
Lucky HS Jrs in CT and Michigan will be taking the new SAT in lieu of state standardized testing. But I have already ranted enough about that topic!
@4beardolls That was the plan I had for my D, but after taking a prep class for the 2015 PSAT at her school she decided she liked the new format better. Her plan is a big prep effort for the PSAT (she takes it tomorrow) and use her results to build a study plan for Christmas break. She then plans to take the new SAT in March (just to get a feel) and then go for best possible score in June (she will be out of school in late May).
If the June test does not give her the results she wants she can use summer for more prep for the October test or decide to prep for the ACT.
Seems like she may be cutting herself a little short, but that is the plan she thinks will give her the best results without burning her out with test prep.
CaucAsianDad, has she finished her SAT subject tests? I assume that she already has, but thought Iād ask.
She is only looking at in-state schools and none of them consider SAT II in the admission process. She will have 4 AP exams in May, that is why she is waiting for the June test date.
Hi all,
Tonight we went to a college night sponsored by our local community college. They had several of the UCs (Irvine and UCLA didnāt show up), many of the CSUs, and a whole bunch of smaller private colleges. DS talked with Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Cal Poly. I guess we forgot to stop at the Davis table. We didnāt see Cal Poly Pomona and USC, but they were supposedly there.
S talked with them about their physics programs, how easy it is to take classes in computer science if majoring in physics and/or double major or minor. He also asked about housing. For some reason, he liked the description of the houses at Santa Cruz but not the colleges with their separate breadth requirements at San Diego. He talked with Santa Barbara about admissions to the College of Creative Studies. The person from Berkeley was really helpful about what they are looking for as far as admissions. She mentioned that even though they want to see all scores, they donāt really care how many times you take the tests.
We are planning to visit Caltech and Harvey Mudd early in the week of Thanksgiving. My husband is still resistant to doing a lot of college tours, and wants some sort of cap on the number of colleges we will visit, because it will cut into whatever vacations he wants us to take. Since DH has a PhD in physics, it would be nice if he would be on board with helping S look at places and maybe make appointments to visit someone in the physics departments. DH already has his opinions about places based on people he has known, so Iām not sure how helpful he will be at some of them.
DS took the Oct. 28 PSAT and thought it went OK. He knows that he overthinks the reading/writing questions and sometimes misreads math questions, so he didnāt want to make any predictions about number wrong. He did have me sign him up for both the Dec. 5 SAT and the Dec. 12 ACT. Iām not sure he will actually take both, but at least he is signed up. I think there may be a way to postpone if we want to. Now he needs to take at least one a practice ACT at home to understand the timing and question format. Oddly, he didnāt feel that there was that much difference between the old SAT format and the new PSAT, other than the omission of the vocab section. He did like the longer sections for each subject, rather than 9 short timed sections.
After seeing the problems of the Class of '16 continue with the College Board being late sending scores for the early admission deadline and ACT being late and odd with grading of the revised essay, Iām still thinking it would be nice to have all he testing done early.
Hi @Ynotgo ! I was just going to post to see if there were any other kids taking both the SAT and ACT in December. Heās done some prep for the SAT and none for the ACT. I think he just hopes that he can be done with it after December but I think heāll need another round with both tests. It would be fantastic but my guess is no matter what he gets heāll feel like he can do better. First marking period is over and they got their updated class rank. S was lucky enough to be in that auto-admit percentage for our state flagships. The problem is that he doesnāt want to stay in state.
@Ynotgo ā yes, there is a way to reschedule both SAT and ACT, and IIRC, you lose approximately half the testing fee. I wrote myself a note about the procedures a long while back, but cannot locate it at this hour. You may not even need to call in advance but instead, simply not show up and still retain the balance in your account, but the rules may have changed.
I registered my son for Feb ACT even though he is not planning to take it. ACT is not offered in NY state and since we are minutes from the NY border, NY residents, even NYC residents, come up here to take the test, closing CT residents out of the CT testing sites. So, well worth the money to book the seat, and who knows, maybe he will give it a try.
I agree 100% about avoiding fall testing given the recent ACT & SAT score reporting issues.
Good luck waging battle with physics spouse!
Just happened across this resource on the Common App website. It is a grid containing various interesting application-related information on each school that is part of the CA, and its associated deadlines. Itās for the current application year, but most of the dates will probably remain the same. A new one will be out in August. I was tracking this kind of info in a separate spreadsheet, but this is way more convenient. Hereās the link: http://blog.commonapp.org/2015/08/01/common-application-requirements-grid/
@jedwards70 ā¦thatās great his class rank was high enough for our two big ones! Just knowing she was an automatic in to those two has helped a lot but she does still want to go out of state. She took the SAT in October and made a solid score but not high enough to get significant merit aid. I signed her up for the December ACT so she can see how she likes that test. If she makes a great score then great she can be done, if not she can intensity her prep and take whichever tests she chooses one more time.
S does not want to retake the old SAT and is taking the ACT at his school in March. Depending on the PSAT and the ACT score, he may retake one or the other. I think his SAT score is solid, but on the bubble for really good merit aid. We will see how it shakes out. He/we will be attending a large college fair Sunday at out local U. Probably about 50 colleges and universities are on the attendee list. He has a subset of about 15 that he is interested in talking to. I am encouraging him to write down some questions for the schools, but he is kind of a go with the flow type of kid. He wants to major in CS, but now is also considering doubling with applied math.
We reviewed the upcoming test dates with DD. It looks like she is spreading too thin trying to study for both the old SAT and ACT. So she decided to give up on testing the old SAT and just focus on ACT at this time. If her PSAT score turns out well, then she will think about studying for the new SAT. Is anyone out there having the same thoughts?
@4beardolls - My S is following same strategy. He actually took ACT in Sept and got his target composite and writing scores. He took PSAT and if he qualifies for NMSF, he will take new SAT. However lot of his friends are taking OLD SAT based as advised by their college consultants.