<p>Today (Dec.26) is the last day to register for the January 27th SAT, and my d and I are trying to figure out whether she should. Her PSAT scores finally came and now we're perplexed. They were good, but very lopsided, and I would be grateful for any thoughts. My two older daughters took the January SAT and had plenty of time for either retaking or multiple SATIIs, but this d may need more self-study than she can probably do in the next 4 weeks.</p>
<p>Im also puzzled because the test seems to have been taken by some other kid. She earned a 200 overall/96th percentile. (I have her permission to post the scores and you know Im not bragging, not on this board :) ) The breakdown was 80 math/61 CR/59 Writing. She has probably only received a perfect math score twice before in her entire high school life, though she is in the honors track and so learned the PSAT material a few years ago. She only missed 2 questions on last years PSAT, so perhaps she should expect a strong SAT math score? It probably wont be an 800, of course.</p>
<p>The CR really surprised me and is the source of most of my concern. Her score went down from last years PSAT, when she had a 64. She is an avid reader for pleasure with a rich vocabulary, and receives high marks from her English teachers for insight. Her writing has always been weaker, but that has finally begun to improve under the guidance of an excellent teacher this year. Will 4 weeks of practice make much difference here? Aside from this week, which is a school and EC break, shell probably only squeeze out 2 hours/week for self-study.</p>
<p>I realize that the PSAT score does not an SAT score make, so I shouldnt read too much into this. There are 12 schools of interest on her current list, and even a 610 CR score would be in the 25th/75th percentile for 11 of them, though pretty close to the bottom of that range for several. As for the reach school, not even. An 800 math would look nice anywhere! She is thinking of a history major with the science electives shed need to take the MCATs.</p>
<p>She tells me she didnt omit any CR/Writing questions because she was able to eliminate all but two choices for every answer, and then guessed (incorrectly every time this kid needs to stay out of Vegas). I thought this was the recommended strategy, but it didnt help much here. Thanks if anyone is still reading this I truly appreciate any suggestions.</p>
<p>has she considered taking the ACT Plus Writing? this link will take you to the ACT site where you can find out what colleges have decided about requiring or recommending that the applicant submit the scores from the ACT writing test :</p>
<p>I've heard that taking the January SAT is a good idea if the student is ready, because there are still testing dates in March, May and June if a retake is necessary; and if not, the student can take several SATIIs in May or June. But maybe waiting until March would be better for my d.</p>
<p>Thanks for the ACT link, condor! My d probably will take the ACT at some point this spring - perhaps she should take a practice test this week before getting too caught up in SAT prep. I think we have a few blank tests left over in the books her sister used - it would be nice not to have to fight the crowds at Barnes & Noble again too soon.</p>
<p>My son took is first SAT in January of his junior year primarily so that we would have SAT scores back before deciding on schools to visit during Spring Break. It was helpful to know whether the schools he was thinking of visiting were totally out of reach or not.</p>
<p>Other than that, I can't think of any advantage in taking the SAT that early. You can always take the SAT in March or April, and the SAT Subject Tests in May and June. This will still leave time to take another SAT and perhaps the ACT in the fall of senior year, if needed.</p>
<p>But is there a test date in April? The collegeboard website shows SATs/Subject Tests on 1/27, 5/5, and 6/2; SATs only on 3/10. Which actually does look like a lot of test opportunities, now that I've typed it out. I guess the superstitious side of me would like her to do the January test because her sisters did and wound up with happy results (blushing to admit it).</p>
<p>Her CR score is interesting given that she likes to read. I don't really have any advice about that. I never did SAT prep books or anything because I didn't like how they focused so much on teaching "tricks" and getting around the question. Your daughter, though, may benefit from reading a little about the CR section and how to go about answering the questions. Could she be over thinking the questions? I know some people who have had problems with that. All answers to CR questions will be clear within the text, and your daughter should be able to point out a specific area in the reading that supports her answer. You can't depend on your "feelings" about the writing. The writing section is almost entirely grammar, so she just needs to find a book or website with basic grammar rules and study them. From what I remember about the SAT, they love commas, avoiding the passive voice, and tricking students. She would probably benefit from doing practice problems in CR and writing. She would likely benefit fromdoing practice problems on each section. Whether she should take this SAT or not really depends on how she feels. Six hours plus this week is significant time, but if she doesn't feel comfortable then she should wait until the Spring.</p>
<p>I did way better on SATs than on PSATs, so don't fret too much...a few months, especially in junior year, make a ton of difference.
if she's good in English but had a low writing score, it's probably b/c of the grammar. try the collegeboard SAT book for practice.</p>
<p>Another vote for taking the ACT. There's a national administration in February, so your D would have a bit more time to prepare. And there is absolutely no down side to giving it a shot. Unlike SAT, with ACT students get to decide which (if any) test sitting to submit to colleges. If your D is unhappy with her ACT score and decides she wants to take the SAT, no college ever needs to know she took the ACT.</p>
<p>The ACT now might be a better bet. The colleges will see all of the SAT attempts and you might be better off waiting until the end of the junior year. It has been my experience that the results between the PSAT and the SAT will vary. Some kids are more nervous when they take the PSAT, particularly during the junior year. I've seen kids with perfect ACT and SAT scores not make National Merit because they were so anxiety-ridden for the PSAT. </p>
<p>Once you receive the ACT results, you'll have a better idea of where the scores may really fall. Some kids do better on the ACT. However, if you are looking at schools where they will take the ACT alone, then it really won't matter. Many schools will take the ACT, but they want the SAT IIs as well. When the reports are sent, you can't hide the SAT. I would look at the short list of schools and see what they require before you make final decisions.</p>
<p>I'm not ready to jump on the ACT bandwagon just yet -- there are plenty of readin' & writin' questions on the ACT too, and it is really important to find out why an avid reader is scoring ~60.</p>
<p>My suggestion would be to hustle down to the local bookstore and pickup a SAT prep book and have her take one section (any will do) of the CR and W and self-grade. Within ~60 minutes, you and she will easily be able to pinpoint her answer and the correct answer. This way, you can assess strengths and weaknesses. Of course, while you are there, you can also pickup the ACT guide and have her take a practice test from that. [Note: the ACT is much more of a speed test.]</p>
<p>The PSAT Score Report should have detailed info about which questions on the CR she missed. What were they? Is there a pattern? Or maybe just "careless" errors? Did she leave any out? (If you didn't get the Score Report from her school, ask for it.) After you get a handle on what happened, she can prep and then take the SAT in the spring. No need to do it in January. If she needs to retest, she can do that in fall of senior year like many kids. Best of luck!</p>
<p>Boy...it sure would be in her best interest to get that CR score up over 700--and it may be easier than you think. Don't worry so much about the writing scores. From my recent experience adcoms either aren't bothering with those scores --or they are taking the submitted essays into account when looking at so-so scores.</p>
<p>Perhaps she is reading heaps of similar fiction texts--and not enough non-fiction? I think my younger son raised his score by reading online technical manuals. Go figure.</p>
<p>My advice would be to buy or borrow the Princeton Review SAT word list. Your D should go through the list and cross off any words that she already knows. Make flashcards for the words she doesn't know--and memorize them --until she can use them in a sentence. Our sons practiced after dinner--going through the pile until they had the words completely memorized. One son needed three weeks of dinner practice. The other son did it twice--once for PSAT and once for SAT--and the second time he was able to memorize 150 words the week before the test. </p>
<p>'Wordly Wise' books are also terrific CR SAT builders--avail from library or Amazon.</p>
<p>Both of my sons raised their SAT CR scores by 60 to 100 points by memorizing those 150 to 180 tough SAT words. Boys like to do these chores at the last minute. Raises the adrenalin or something. Girls may feel differently.
Also, in this situation I might have her use jamimom's SAT method of practicing one or two CR sections every single day.</p>
<p>Also, I might have her sign-up for a retake in January--but skip it if her practice tests are still hovering around the 600 mark. As soon as they go up to 650--she is probably ready to hit the real test.</p>
<p>Frazzled, I would look closely at the questions she missed, and decide from there. If you haven't done so already, the new online PSAT college planning package can be a useful source of information on her particular scores. The link is <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/psatextra%5B/url%5D">www.collegeboard.com/psatextra</a> -- you'll need to get the code from her blue PSAT paper score report.</p>
<p>There is no test date in April, by the way. Only March, May and June. The Act is offered in Feb. and April.</p>
<p>By the way, I would be careful about reading that 800 in math on the PSAT as a potential 800 on the SAT. Keep in mind that the math on the SAT includes some trig. and advanced Algebra concepts, while the PSAT does not. Therefore, depending on your daughter's current math course, it might be too her advantage to wait. </p>
<p>If it helps any, my son has decided not to take the January SAT. It comes right after his midterm exams, so he thinks he probably won't have time to prep at all. His PSAT scores were good, but he feels like he needs more time to familiarize himself with the essay writing section. And, he'd like to bone up a bit on his geometry. His reading and writing scores shot up from his sophomore year PSATs, but his math score dropped a bit. Looking at the score report, the problem seems clearly related to "forgetting" some of the geometry basics from 9th grade.</p>
<p>FWIW, both of my sons took the SAT only once--and both based their studying on their PSAT scores. S2 was able to take the PSAT twice and that helped. Their SAT Math scores were very close to their PSAT Math scores. I didn't know that the problems were that different carolyn! </p>
<p>(I should have made S1 take it again but at the time I didn't know the CC rule of getting the SAT V and M scores over 700 and over 1450 combined. Whoops).</p>
<p>I'll join the chorus of those saying to dig deeper and see if you can detect the reason why. Are the PSAT questions available? Can you actually see what went wrong with each question? There may have been a disconnect in wht the test was looking for. I agree with those who suggest a study book for the SAT, just to get into the process of what the questions are REALLY asking.</p>
<p>Thanks, all, for your excellent suggestions and input! I think we've decided that she won't register today for the January SAT, but will put several hours in over the next week on CR/Writing practice tests, and take one full test before the January 4th late registration deadline. If she does well and is feeling confident, she'll register late; otherwise, she'll wait until March.</p>
<p>Carolyn, she's just logged on to the "psat extra" section of the collegeboard site and tells me she thinks it will be very helpful as a means of seeing where she went wrong. This looks like a great asset and I'm thankful to see a convenient resource like this online. I completely agree that the psat math score isn't likely to be repeated in the actual SAT, which is one reason I'd like to see her raise the CR score.</p>
<p>cheers, I love your advice and hope I can get d to do some after-dinner word study (though in her case it will probably be done in the car on the way back and forth to ballet - fortunately I don't mind driving with an overhead light on). Thanks, too, for bringing up jamimom's suggestion to do one CR/Writing exercise every day; I'm sure this would be effective, but I don't know how realistic it is time-wise. I do miss jamimom - she would make my short list for "Wisest CC Parent Ever."</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone else for their help on prepping for the SAT and taking a practice ACT. You're a great bunch and it's a little less intimidating to go through this process with such experienced folks.</p>
<p>My D took the PSAT in Oct--and I was surprised to see her math score higher than I would have thought it would be and her CR/W scores lower than I thought they would be. We haven't pursued the meaning yet (she's just a soph), but now I am wondering if her scores are a reflection of the test given.</p>