<p>I was just wondering if it would be worth the money for SAT prep for my high scoring( 2190) PSAT but 3.3 UW GPA S? I happen to have gone to a mock admissions case study program at my S's HS and one of the students they were deciding on had high board scores but lower GPA and everyone voted to deny him because he came across as lazy. My thought is that the SAT prep would boost his scores to be up for NMF and that would translate into maybe more merit aid at some of the schools. But now I'm worried that if he does get a higher score he will be looked at as lazy by admissions officers. He's not lazy...... just a regular boy who hates busywork, is organizationally challenged and loves to learn for learning sake but is just not grade obsessed. At his prep school it is VERY hard to get A's. Huge grade deflation. You can go from an A to a B+ so fast it will make your head turn.</p>
<p>Have you asked the GC for your son’s rank? If a school is known for grade deflation then it should come through in the ranking.</p>
<p>GPA is obviously a critical piece of the admissions process. Make sure his essays and recommendations are top notch. Congrats to your son on a great SAT score!</p>
<p>As for your actual question…I am only familiar with the ACT and most folks say that a prep class might gain you 1 or 2 points. Look up the SAT/ACT conversion table and see how that translates. (have you tried asking the kids over on the SAT forum? They are loaded with opinions and experience)</p>
<p>Some colleges will take the best scores from each section of the SAT (I think they call it score-choice) and use those numbers to create a “new” score.</p>
<p>NMSF is based on PSAT scores. You will find out if your son is a NMSF this fall. You can find last years qualifying scores for your state with a simple google search. If he is a NMSF he should be a NMF just by filling out the paperwork and getting a decent SAT (I’ve heard above 1900 though don’t know if it’s accurate. Once I saw my daughter’s PSAT, I discouraged her from SAT prep and she scored a 2370. I think the prep classes, in general, are best for those who need more help with those kind of tests. For example, my son took a prep class just for the math section in which he was weak. The verbal section would have been a waste of time. So really, if your son is a NMSF, he just needs a decent score on the SAT and I wouldn’t waste time and money on SAT prep and focus on getting better grades instead.</p>
<p>GTalum… My S is only a Sophmore and will be taking the Junior PSAT this fall. I was just wondering if the prep would push his score up to the 220 I believe he will need in CA. I too think that his time would be better spent working on his grades next year. I was just wondering if it would adversely effect him to have such high scores and lower grades when he applies to college or do they look more favorably on NMF. Money is in play here too.</p>
<p>5boys - My soon to be senior scored well enough on the PSAT to qualify for commended, but will miss the SF cut off. He recently told me that he wished he had known that it was something you could prepare for. (Dummy mom here, didn’t know either). Anyway - he is studying for the SAT subject tests and made a comment yesterday that the on line Sparknotes subject test website would have been a good tool for preparing for the PSAT - plus it is free.</p>
<p>Is there a cut off point for GPA’s as it relates to semi/finalist status? It might be on their website if you have the time to dig around.</p>
<p>Sorry 5boys, I was thinking he was a junior. You would have to find a prep class that teaches at his level as opposed to the majority of kids. It may be more useful for him to study on his own. My D’s junior scores were higher than the sophmore scores. NMF is always good and there are offers of guaranteed merit for NMFs regardless of grades. In my experience adcoms don’t like the high scorers and low grades if the kid is not taking the most challenging classes in the school. If he is not, it’s seen as lack of motivation and under achieving.</p>
<p>I think it is worth it – it sounds like he’s really close already as a sophomore. And, his gpa still has a room for growth in the next year or year-and-a-half. NMSF status is a significant boost at a lot of selective and public colleges. </p>
<p>I’d also second the suggestion of checking with the counselor to get some sense of where his gpa puts him in the class. Ask for a copy of the school profile and see what that says that can also help you put it in context. If he’s a good-but-not-great student rank-wise at his school, adcoms will see an underachieving student, and the most selective colleges may not be interested. Lots of other colleges will be. </p>
<p>If his junior year (and fall senior year) grades are significantly better, that will be an important signal even if it doesn’t boost his gpa by a whole lot.</p>
<p>Thanks arabrab and GT… His school does not rank… it is a very selective college prep with high admissions standards. 100% of kids go to 4 year and top 50% go to top 20 schools. My S is taking a pretty demanding schedule. All classes at his school are considered honors and a few are weighted. Hasn’t taken any AP’s yet, but will have a few next year and more Senior year. I think he would be marked somewhere around a demanding schedule but not most demanding. There are ALOT of incredibly smart kids at his school. I think he falls somewhere in the middle of the pack.
kajon… thanks, I will have him check out the sparknotes website. His CR score was almost perfect so he doesn’t need help there, but he does need math and writing.</p>
<p>In my experience, it doesn’t help to do an SAT test prep course for a kid that is naturally a good test taker. The time is better spent doing classwork and EC reading of extra classic literature. That helps you with your grades as well as your scores.</p>
<p>Have the kid prep on his own, doing the 10 Real SAT’s (even one or two for psat prep.) After doing well on psat, my kid didn’t do anything except take a couple of real SAT’s as prep (for timing and for getting when to answer or pass) on her own the week before the test. Her classmates who spent weeks in sat prep didn’t raise their scores at any significant level across the board, plus they wasted time that would have been better spent on school, sports, or EC’s. None of the top scoring psat kids did formal SAT prep. Also at least under the old 1600 system, kids naturally do about 100 pts better with each year of school, fyi. That was accurate for us.</p>
<p>At a very selective school, with a reasonably challenging schedule, all he can try to do is raise his gpa. They will be familiar with the school grading and it will be known that it is harder to get A’s. His EC’s, essays and rec’s will come into play.</p>
<p>If you really want him to spend time in prep, do a SEARCH on these forums for XIGGI’s SAT test prep formula. It has been awhile, but for your kid, that seems like a better investment of time, and certainly of funds, since that is an issue.</p>
<p>Have you run an EFC calculator? If he is at a prep school, is he on scholarship?</p>
<p>Hmmmm wish I could find the article…but there was one in the paper yesterday that actually talked about these prep courses and that they are not all that worthwhile. One company (I can’t remember which one) is actually taking away their promise of a 250 point total increase in scores.</p>
<p>NOW…having said that…we had both outcomes. DS took the test the first time, and increased his overall CR/Math (pre writing) SAT score by over 300 points following an SAT prep course.</p>
<p>DD, OTOH, took the same prep course and got EXACTLY the same score the second time as the first. She did NOT take the SAT a third time (in retrospect, she probably should have done the ACT).</p>
<p>SO…YMMV.</p>
<p>Brownparent… yes, he is on scholarship and our EFC is 3,500.00</p>
<p>I echo what brownparent suggests about having the kid prep on his own. Prep classes seldom are oriented towards top performing kids and will bore and frustrate your kid.</p>
<p>Have your son do real SATs/PSATs and work only on the stuff that stumped him. For my son, it turned out to be three grammar rules and a better sense of timing for the reading section. I wish he did this work BEFORE the PSAT because it would have put him over the top from commended to National Merit. That said, when he finally got around to doing the work, it yielded great benefits at very low cost (financial and time wise).</p>
<p>Our older high scoring son tried taking a prep course for the SATs (to improve the W score) and it was completely useless - very much geared to low performers and worse than useless for improving his essays. He got all of a 10 points boost in one section. </p>
<p>Both my kids did better on the PSATs junior year compared to sophomore year without any prep at all. (My younger son went from 185 to 208 I think, and older son from something like a 218 to a 237.) That said a bit of targeted studying might be worth it for the NMF status. For suggestions on how to study you might check out the “Xiggi method” described here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/68210-xiggis-sat-prep-advice.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/68210-xiggis-sat-prep-advice.html</a></p>
<p>My younger son was a B+/A- student - with very high CR score. At his school, that actually gave him a decent rank. I don’t think colleges looked at him as a slacker - he got into Chicago (EA) and Tufts and was rejected by the two Ivies and Georgetown (which was not a surprise at all - very few kids with his grades had ever been accepted to those schools).</p>
<p>Even if he doesn’t have NMF status, he will have options for merit aid at many schools. Also, don’t think that because his grades are a little low-ish (and it doen’t really sound bad), that he should then let his scores also be low to match. He needs to achieve the best he can in each category, regardless. If there is a disparity, then you explain it in the application (only if totally necessary, not for small degrees, like this sounds.)</p>
<p>My dd went to a private HS on scholarship, so I understand the concern, but gpa and rigor of study should be the focus for him. Also an interesting/dedicated Ec doens’t hurt.</p>
<p>Is that his weighted GPA? </p>
<p>I would have him self-study for the junior year PSAT. Get a practice book. Making NMF will open up scholarships for him.</p>
<p>Did he use his PSAT score sheet to go online and see what he missed? If that feature is still available, then he should use that.</p>
<p>Generally, prep courses are not very helpful for high scoring kids. If your son will do a few practice SAT tests on his own, he will probably get better results and spend much less time and money on it.</p>
<p>High scores + low GPA is better than low scores + low GPA. But if he is a sophomore, he has plenty of time to improve his GPA as well.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for all of your advice! Yes, it was running through my head to not give him any test prep and hopefully his scores would be more inline with his grades. I guess, based on what you guys have said, that it is important to do the best you can do in all areas. He has some amazing EC’s and will have great recommendations ( his teacher’s LOVE him). He does have a learning disability that explains his lower grades but he doesn’t want to use his accommodations and will probably not disclose… his wants, not mine. </p>
<p>His GPA is UW because he has taken no AP’s yet. I’m hoping next year he will get more serious and put all of his effort into getting the best grades possible. He is also going to Vermont for a semester next year to a school called The Mountain School. I think that will help his grades because he will have no distractions… no internet(except in the classrooms) and no cell phones. </p>
<p>He does have the score sheet from his PSAT that tells him what he got wrong so I’m thinking I will just get him a book and have him go over the answers. I had already said no to a test prep “class” because he would #1 HATE ME!!! and #2 would cover stuff that he doesn’t need. I had thought more on the lines of a private tutor to just help him with the sections he needs help on. But I’m afraid that would be too expensive.</p>
<p>There are so many pieces to the admission’s puzzle. As your son is choosing his high school courses, remember that his guidance counselor will fill out a form for the college apps and will report what level of courses your son is taking. the most difficult, above average, etc.</p>
<p>In my experience with two kids of the same/similar ilk, there is not a lot a parent can do but angst over high test scorers who won’t* show corroborative GPAs! </p>
<ul>
<li>I use won’t because this kind of kid can…they just choose not to.</li>
</ul>
<p>Peace. It all works out in the end.</p>
<p>5boys, does your son have the book of 10 Real SAT’s? Given his score as a sophomore, in my opinion, that is all he really needs to do well. </p>
<p>In writing, there are some particular types of errors that the SAT writers really dislike and test often–so it’s good to know what they are. The pamphlet about the PSAT lists a number of them: Parallelism (they are real sticklers for this), indefinite reference of pronouns, sequence of tenses, subjunctive; also noun/verb agreement in complicated sentences, “everyone” is singular, neither . . . nor takes the singular, dangling participles, etc. . . . nothing complicated. Your son just needs to know where CB draws the line on formality in writing.</p>
<p>For math my advice is: just be really careful. One question wrong or omitted can often cost 4 points out of 80 on this section of the PSAT.</p>
<p>Reading: Probably no problem here. I personally like “Free Rice” for vocab, but it gets mixed reviews on the SAT prep forum. I would say that if your son hits level 40-45 consistently, he’s more than set. (In fact there is one poster with an 800 CR who claims to score in the 30-35 range.) No need to try to go higher than 40-45 for SAT prep–beyond that the words become rather arcane (and frequently foreign).</p>