<p>My son is in the 11th grade and plans to take the SAT in December, it will be his first time taking it as a high school student. He took the SAT in 8th grade (I forget why) and did well - 740 CR, 710 Writing, 700 Math - but plans to apply to some very selective schools and would like to do better.</p>
<p>His study time for the test is very limited - he has a full schedule already - and I'd like to find the best way for him to study efficiently. (The reason I'm looking instead of him is because he thinks he knows everything already and doesn't need any input). I'd prefer he take the test in January and use part of the winter break to study but he doesn't want to do that, and I'm not sure how much it's worth pushing the issue.</p>
<p>We still have all the material from a Kaplan course he took in 8th grade, I also bought the Barrett Black Book and the advanced version Direct Hits. I saw some other recommended books in other posts and can take a look at those.</p>
<p>He has a score report that shows what questions he missed and of course he'll go over that and do some practice tests, look at the strategies in the BB (will ignore the one that says not to read the whole question), and go over some vocabulary words, but in addition.....? </p>
<p>He hasn't begun to study yet which concerns me, he plans to begin over Thanksgiving break. He doesn't want to/can't spend a lot of time studying and I can't blame him - I'd rather have him do schoolwork or practice his sports interest - but we both want him to increase all his scores to 750 or higher. How much time would you advise to spend on this?</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your help. This is my first post, but I've been a lurker for a couple of years (thought DS might apply for early college, but he decided in the end not to).</p>
His 8th grade SAT does not show up on college board. the grade gets wiped out.
Our friend’s kid had a soph PSAT that was above NMSF (222). So he didn’t really study for PSAT. Then his official jr PSAT fell below NMSF (don’t know score; cutoff is around 219). Therefore, did not make NMSF.</p>
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<li>For gaps, my kid did: direct hits vol 1+2, read get a 12 in 10 days (on cc), got 2 hrs of essay tutoring, and read silverturtle’s grammer guide. Probably did 12 CR sections (weakest section) and 4-5 full length SATs. Scored 2380.</li>
<li>It’s harder to raise your score the higher that you are scoring</li>
<li>Do practice tests in blue book and/or CB SAT on-line practice tests (there is a fee for this); does not need any review books.</li>
<li>How much he has to study will be based on the difference between the scores on his practice test and his goal scores. Basically, if he can get around his goal score in 3 tests in a row, then he is done with studying.</li>
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<p>Have him take a full-length Blue Book practice test under timed conditions. Given his excellent 8th grade scores, I doubt he will have any trouble, but the geometry might cause him pause as he probably hasn’t looked at geometry since middle school. (I am guessing that he was already taking geometry in 8th grade in order to have scored 700 on math.)</p>
<p>I cannot think of anything else that should trip him up other than timing. I agree with YoHoHo above but would even say that he may be able to stop after two practice tests, if his scores align. More is always better, but agree that no additional books or flash cards are needed. If he had a 740CR three years ago, he does not need to study vocabulary.</p>
<p>Given his old score, I think he will be fine taking the Dec test. I like the timing of Dec one week after Thanksgiving break and hate the timing of Jan b/c of mid-term exams and winter sports. Winter sports start the day after Thanksgiving in our school so things are still fairly low-key after only one week.</p>
<p>Why doesn’t he wait and see how he did on the PSAT? This will give him a sense of what, if anything, he needs to review for the SAT. Taking a few practice tests to get familiar with the format and pacing is a good idea. But I’m siding with your S on this one; if he got those scores 3 years ago, he will be fine this year as a junior. He’s not a kid who will have to take this test multiple times (more likely a one-and-done) or probably even have to study much. Just taking practice tests should prepare him - it did for all mine (OK 3 out of 4 so far lol). The rest he has been preparing for all his life.</p>
<p>My God… Full schedule and he’s only in 8th grade? Yeah, I have a tip for you. Let the child play and explore things other than standardized questions. High school is the time for your child to make mistakes and be a goof ball, not some robot.</p>
<p>Definitely study vocab & grammar (I personally used “Official guide to SAT Grammar”), do BB practice tests (only BB, since other books like barron’s and kaplans are not as accurate)</p>
<p>Did this and went from a 2070 in 8th grade to a 2330 in 11th grade</p>
<p>DragonBoatGirl, I don’t think your son needs to do any studying at all, to score higher than 2350 on the SAT, given his 8th grade scores.</p>
<p>The SAT is not normed according to age–the scores are on a single scale for students of all ages (unlike an IQ test, say). Generally, I think one can count on about a 50 point increase per year, per test component.</p>
<p>The only suggestions I would make are similar to some given above: Buy a Blue Book containing real SAT tests. Encourage your son to try out a single sub-section at a time. That is, the writing component of the exam will probably be split up among 3 (or so) sub-sections of the real test (essay, and 2 multiple choice). In 10-15 minutes, he can do one of those sub-sections, and check the answers. I would particularly advise checking the writing part, because the people who write the SAT are sticklers for certain points of grammar (and, in my opinion, lax about one or two others). He doesn’t need to “study” the grammar issues, really, just recognize what the SAT writers care about. They are sticklers for parallelism in the extreme, dislike indefinite pronoun references, and hate comma splices. They are also dedicated to the proper use of the past perfect. But it’s all pretty simple. silverturtle has a definitive grammar guide on CC that contains much more grammatical information than anyone needs to know to score an 800 on the writing section.</p>
<p>It might also be worthwhile to stockpile a few “general purpose” illustrations for the essay, and become comfortable with writing fluently in a limited time frame. The prose does not need to be great, just serviceable. The essay can occasionally be a problem for students who are accustomed to polishing their writing to a high degree. </p>
<p>A total study time of two hours (not two hours per day–just two hours total, over all the time between now and the SAT) should easily cover it.</p>