<p>I’m wondering what about the essay you think is different. Our schools start teaching the 5 paragraph essay in 6th grade. So they’ve already had 4+ years of experience with that by the fall of junior year. We also offer AP world as a 10th grade course, so yes, they get some essay experience with that as well. </p>
<p>As far as I know, my daughter was among the first SAT takers for her grade, and most of them started in Jan or March. I don’t think any of her friends had taken it in Oct or Dec., though she certainly wasn’t the only student at the Dec 1 testing. I recall one friend taking it in Jan and wanting to retake, signed up for March and my thought was, I don’t think she has enough time to make a significant improvement.</p>
<p>I think if you know your child is a pretty good standardized test taker, then it makes sense to couple the PSAT prep with SAT prep. This worked out very well for my D. She took the October SAT, then PSAT two weeks later, and then the ACT in February. This gave her enough time to retake one (or both I suppose) prior to the craziness of AP exams and finals if she wanted to. Over the summer, she can start her college apps and know what schools are in range for her. </p>
<p>@mathyone Yes, I think every student I know heard of a 5-paragraph essay. They know they need an intro, a conclusion, and 3 paragraphs in between. But they are not quite used to essays like those on the SAT. But because they are getting an A in school, they are presuming they are in the 10-12 range.</p>
<p>The typical essay I see at the get-go, the student gives lots of generalizations in the intro. Very padded intros because the intros are often over-emphasized in school. So maybe a 1/4 of the essay is the intro. But then the bodies barely say more. They have no semblance of a topic sentence, they jump around within them, repeat material from earlier body paragraphs, and give no meat or depth. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, the ones I see who test early pull no higher than an 8. </p>
<p>I just hear in junior year, the students tend to write a lot more essays, especially as more folks are taking AP history classes. </p>
<p>Also I just see over the course of junior year, as students just grow up a bit more, they have more sophisticated things to express in their essays. Plus, they have more life experience and things studied in school to relay in their body paragraphs to back up their points. </p>
<p>All I’m saying is that I see plenty of students here who take the SAT in October or November. I’ve said many times. It is appropriate for some people as @suzy100 wrote, but it is not appropriate for most people. At least here, it seems to be a trend that has created a fair amount of undue stress and harm.</p>
<p>@satteacher, then you will probably be horrified that I am considering having my next child test as a fall sophomore, so that we don’t have to deal with the new SAT.</p>
<p>@mathyone I’m not horrified in the least that you want her to take current test before the test changes. But next fall seems premature considering that test changes aren’t for 2 years (right?) unless she’s already in the 2200+ range. </p>
<p>She’s not in any range. She’s in 8th grade, hasn’t done any SAT prep at all, and I wouldn’t even be thinking about this yet for her if they weren’t changing the SAT in the spring of her sophomore year. I don’t like the idea of her being a guinea pig, and I don’t like what little I’ve heard of the changes (except maybe the essay part but that won’t be a problem for her either way). That’s why I am trying to learn more about the new SAT and make some decision. There’s also the issue of whether I would be able to sell her on doing SAT prep so early, which is not a given. SAT prep is a pretty dull thing to do and a lot of kids aren’t willing to do it seriously until it’s really past time to start.</p>
<p>@mathyone I just said I’m highly sympathetic. You don’t have to preach to the choir about the guinea pig argument–I’m telling parents that all the time But like I said before, next fall sounds early the test isn’t changing for 2 years.</p>
<p>I think you misunderstood. She would take it on the last possible date. She will be a sophomore then. She’ll have one shot at it in Dec. If she nails it she is done and if she isn’t happy with the score at least she will have what she needs for NMF, and is free to try the ACT instead of being a guinea pig.</p>
<p>@mathyone Ok then you meant the fall in about 1.5 years. Yes I am completely on board with the guinea pig theory. In that case, that trumps any desire on my end to be perfectionist about when to take things. I will actually encourage early testing with the current freshman class for folks who are above average exactly for the reasons you’re giving, although with the current 8th grade class I didn’t think that deeply into. </p>
<p>But for this year’s junior class and this year’s sophomore class, I still stand that early testing is not for as many people as at least the hype around here as swept up.</p>
<p>@satteacher @mathyone
Thanks for your conversation, but I have decided to take the SAT in fall and retake if necessary in spring or June (depends on the score).
I do think the posts are getting kind of off topic now, but thanks to everyone for their suggestions and input! </p>
<p>personally, i would suggest taking your first SAT later. If you take it in the fall, you will not have had math all summer. Also you will have been reading and learning new words all during Junior year.
Now all of this depends on how advanced you are. If you are already doing practice tests and getting awesome scores, then take it when you want. If not, then why take it a year before most other people take it?</p>