Preparing for the SAT at 11 years old

One can qualify for CTY high honors with SCAT (especially for younger kids). They recently changed requirements and students can take SCAT in 7th and 8th. They can still take SAT/ACT.

If he’s in 7th grade and applying for Jack Kent Cook (merit & need) or Caroline D Bradley (merit) the he needs SAT. Just give him a practice book. Break it into sections and give each section timed (it doesn’t need to be the full 3+ hours in one sitting).

Other than the two HS scholarships listed above I’m not familiar with many outside of schools directly. A few states have income based scholarships that can be used for private school education.

Thank you all for your comments and PM. I can’t respond because I don’t have enough posts.

I have a normal kid with friends, outside interests, exercise, and a lot of self-directed writing. He unloads the dishwasher and makes really boring comments about Endgame. And plays. And scripts. And alternate versions. And more boring comments. I’m neither flogging him to work or unaware of his merits. I’m just aware of my income and health.

I just needed some direction and I thought a few parents here would have experience. He can usually express himself via testing if he has familiarity and experience with the test design and time length. But I wasn’t sure if some timed tests were going to be enough. I’m not desperate for private school and he’ll succeed in public school. Most of the private schools here are just places to spend some pleasant time. I’d really think he’d benefit from an environment that allowed his abundant natural gifts and interests to expand.

You can respond to PM…you just can’t start them.

@JudiAU If you are in Southern California, you might check out the Institute for Educational Advancement in Pasadena. It’s a gifted advocacy group that provides classes, camps, seminars, and on-line resources for gifted children and their families.

Honestly, why prepare at all? My kids did CTY (SAT) and they never looked at a single book to “prepare” Why? If they did well, then great, if not then there was plenty of time. They needed to take the SAT for CTY and it was very straightforward. For the SSAT, no prep either (only one has taken it) . Scores were great and there was zero stress. Kids did say they got some weird looks when taking the SAT. We didn’t tell people as they think it’s odd. But many kids we know are in CTY or TIP.
BTW, the highest score possible isn’t going to get you into any school or get a big scholarship. It’s a single component. One of my kids who took the SSAT had a perfect math score and overall 99% and got into 2/4 schools. There are many kids with high scores. I’d work on the essays and interviewing skills. That is where they really get to know your kid and if they want him/her they’ll want them based on who they are rather than the pure stats.