<p>So DD took SAT freshman year 2011 just to try it out. She received a 2060 with a 700 in CM, and I think a 670 in CW with an 8 essay and a 690 in CR. ( Can't recall exactly). She took it again this Oct. sitting as a junior and improved in CR to a 760, in CW to 730 ( 8 essay) but dropped to a 680 in math. So her overall is a 2170 but she is interested in physics and engineering. She took the SAT Math2 in June after taking pre-calc and got a 750. She did not study for any of these exams with the exception of the SAT math 2 she did look over her pre-calc finals study guide. I tried to get her to take practice exams over the summer but had no interest and I did not push it. She has a very intense Junior year schedule and is on varsity swim team so not much time for SAT prep.
Suggestions?????</p>
<p>Don’t see the point in a third sitting if she is not going to study, and given that her two previous scores are not that far off from each other. The 750 SAT2 is good, and will compensate somewhat for the lower SAT math score. But engineering folks should weigh in…</p>
<p>There are PLENTY of engineering schools,where your daughter can get her degree. maybe not MIT or Caltech, but MANY other ABET accredited schools are out there.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what is to be gained if your daughter is not willing to do any prep for third try. She might want to reconsider this stance.</p>
<p>Probably not worth another try if she does not want to do any additional preparation to try to raise it.</p>
<p>Trying the ACT might be worth it, though – some students do better on one test compared to the other.</p>
<p>If she is taking it again, rather than prepping for the whole thing some tutoring session in the Math section might be in order. Can she just take some math sample test, check them and then work with a tutor on where the weak spots are?</p>
<p>We did something like what the cpt suggests. My son spent about 10-15 minutes M-F for a couple of months leading up to the exam doing math problems that had to do with areas that needed extra attention. I would choose problems from the practice books and have him work them while I cooked dinner. I then scored them and he was done if he got them all right. If not, he did a quick review of that pertinent section in the practice book. I books recent editions of the practice books off ebay, craigslist, etc cheaply so I had access to lots of problems. He was willing to do this because I only asked for 15 to 25 minutes a day.</p>
<p>Funny thing is that she really isn’t "weak " in math but I think having Geometry in 8th grade and Alg 2 in 9th might have hurt her a bit and she needs to “dust off the cobwebs” for those areas. She actually has expressed interest in Cal Tech and MIT but maybe this will help motivate her. She does know a kid who scored a perfect 36 on the ACT with no prep but that girl was clearly a genius! Maybe asking for 20 minutes per day might help and not seem so daunting.</p>
<p>Well yes, having had the bulk of the SAT math long ago hurts her score. Can you get her to prep a bit based on the “well, they are testing way below what you are doing now…if you want to have more choices for college, you need to do some review. Yes, it’s silly but you will have more choices if you do it.”
For CalTech or MIT, head above 750.</p>
<p>There is little correlation between the Math Level 2 and the regular SAT. The former rewards the mastery of a graphical calculator and corresponds more to HS Math. It is one of the easiest tests to earn an 800 given its huge curve. On the other hand, 4-5 errors on the SAT sink the score to around 700. </p>
<p>To earn 740 and above, one needs to “hit” 52 of the 54, and that requires some effort and concentration. </p>
<p>The best approach is a slow and proactive one.</p>
<p>And there is a whole study method from years back that helped many kids score better… Search these threads for “Xiggi method”.</p>
<p>If she’s going for math/engineering and is going for top schools and/or merit money I think it would behoove her to try to improve the math score. She can do the question of the day, or short practices of just one section of the math part of the exam at a time. Figure out where she’s making mistakes. She doesn’t have to be perfect, my older son, made careless mistakes every time even though he was certainly capable of getting an 800 in math, but it’s worth it IMO to get the score closer to 750 if she can.</p>
<p>Totally depends on what she wants. An improvement of her superscore of 110 points from test one to two is great. Maybe she’ll improve in another section. Though her score is already very good, if she’s up for it, why not? With the math section, just the difference of missing a few questions can be a large change in score. One time my son took the SAT, got a 680 in math, another time, a 790. No studying. He figured, why take a bunch of practice tests, when he could just take the real thing, and potentially improve his score. He took it five times, improving his score 50-100 points each time.</p>
<p>I figured, hey, if he’s up for it, then I’m fine with it. Same with your daughter, as long as you aren’t pressing her to do it, and she doesn’t hate it, she might do better just by repetition. May as well go for the great math score. Unless it is sucking the fun out of her life…then forget it!</p>
<p>Dragonmom, thank you! It just happens to be an easy way to make a small difference. A lot of the kids have little support except for this site.</p>
<p>Yes, a very sincere “Thank you” to Xiggi as well. You have given excellent advice in the past. Wish my DD had taken it to heart. I suppose the fact that a classmate took practice tests all summer and ended up with a 2300+ might have made her think twice, though. She might be a bit more motivated this time.</p>