My child is enjoying his summer vacation before 10th grade. I am wondering if they should spend the summer prepping for the competitive exams that they plan to take.
Do students take AMC-10 in 10th, and try AMC-12 in both 11th & 12th?
What the ideal timeline for taking PSAT & SAT?
I hear PSAT matters for National Merit Scholarship. But not sure whether UCs weight it.
Can someone please share their thoughts on PSAT & National Merit Scholarship?
I also read somewhere that UCs consider 13 areas for application.
Does anyone have more info about these 13 areas.
UCs are test blind for admission and others may correct me but don’t participate in national merit.
If you’re 100% hung up on UC vs going OOS even if cheaper, then no reason to take a test. Or even if you plan to take just in case but preference a UC, even not one of the biggies (a UCR, UCM), then take it but no reason to spend your summer consumed by it. Studying in small doses should be fine.
@tsbna44 is correct that the UC’s are test blind, do not participate in the National merit program however being a National Merit scholar can be listed on the awards and activities section of the UC application.
Here are the 13 areas of criteria the UC’s use to evaluate all applicants.
PSAT in 11th grade is the one that matters for NM or CBNRP that may lead to scholarships. Prepping really only makes sense if a practice test shows the student on the expected borderline or just below for NM or CBNRP and is interested in colleges giving scholarships for that.
SAT and/or ACT best time is late 11th grade, then optionally in 12th grade if a retry is desired.
UCs and CSUs do not use test scores, and appear to care very little if anything about NM or CBNRP status.
To be precise, do not use test scores for admission. Test scores can still be used for placement, for example at UCSC a SAT reading/writing sub score of 680+ satisfies the entry level writing (equivalent to a 3+ in AP English): https://writing.ucsc.edu/requirements/elwr/elwr-pathways.html
To OPs question, not much to do for SAT before 10th grade. Try the practice PSAT cold if offered in 10th grade to decide whether prep for the actual PSAT is needed next summer. If AMC participation is desired then it is better to spend time on that early on as qualifying in 12th grade may be too late to affect college applications.
The PSAT for NM status will be taken fall of your kid’s junior year of high school. Some students take the PSAT in 10th grade as a practice, if they can find a site and register…as noted above.
Agree that SAT/ACT can be taken spring of junior year with retake in early fall senior year if needed.
I personally would not have my rising high school sophomore prep for these tests. Prep is best if completed not long before the actual test, in my opinion.
The best use of your child’s time when it comes to test prep in the summer before tenth grade is reading (novels, classics, non-fiction, whatever they like) to broaden their vocabulary, their education, their view of the world, and to hone their reading speed (passively, not active speed reading) and comprehension. Also, if they are behind in math, or ahead in math, or anything other than a good math student whose needs are being well-served by their school’s math program, then some summer math catch up, or enrichment, wouldn’t be a bad idea.
For a CA student whose goal is in-state public schools, the only way to let the admissions committees know of a high test score at this point, because of the test-blind policy, is to get a score high enough in National Merit to get an award: at least commendation, and hopefully semi-finalist and then finalist, because these can be listed in the awards section. If your child is a good standardized test taker, then this is a very reasonable goal, and should be able to be accomplished with some summer test prep NEXT summer. If they’re not a great test taker, then it’s not worth the time, unless your child plans to apply to private schools or out of state schools - and even then, he can go test optional, unless it’s someplace like MIT that is still requiring a test.
Otherwise, there are plenty of things that your child could be doing this summer to improve his application chances. If he hasn’t yet found something that he just loves doing, have him try things. If he can get a job, great. Volunteering would also be good. Anything that helps him to find what he might be interested in doing more in-depth for the next 2-3 years of high school, that will demonstrate passion, commitment, and hopefully eventually leadership in something in his applications.
If we were to go for PSAT, looks like it is recommended in early Junior year & SAT is recommended late in the junior year. Again these tests will not help test blind institutions, unless you are NM (and even there the weightage is questionable).
Also I deduce that since the application process stats so early, AMC-12 is best taken in the junior year than in the senior year. But I am not sure what is the overall significance of AMC in UCs & OOS.
I guess that leaves this summer to prep for AMC-10. Other suggestions for the summer were reading & math.
Get a part time job. Much better use of time - develop an EC, gain responsibility, and make a few bucks. It will help more than studying for a test.
But if you study, take a practice test. See the areas of strength and weakness for better focus but I would not sue md more than 30 mins a day studying. Let her be a kid.
I note our private HS with high-level college counseling services generally recommends students take both a relatively early SAT and relatively early ACT to figure out which is best for them. The students then have time to take up to two more of their favorite as warranted (they generally recommend strongly against taking more than at most three of one test). Of course if your first early test goes well enough, you could abandon the other early test, or indeed be entirely done.
“Early” SATs would include the December and March dates of Junior year. “Early” ACTs would include the December and February dates. Two in December is a lot, so in practice this can mean doing the February ACT and then either the December or March SAT.
This is definitely not something you must do. But the logic of figuring out your best test in time to do focused prep and possibly one more retake for that test makes some sense.
UC’s do not much significance on AMC exam scores like National Merit but high scores qualifying for USAMO can be listed under the awards/activities section of the UC application.
Taking the PSAT in 10th is good practice and helps a student get familiarized with the testing environment. The one that counts is in 11th. If a student has completed Algebra 2, I suggest preparing for the SAT over the Summer before Junior year, taking it in October to refresh on testing, and then the PSAT right after.
This leaves the rest of the fall, spring, and even fall Senior year to re-test if needed. If Algebra 2 isn’t completed, wait until May/June for the SAT, when more of the material will have been studied.
AMC depends on how interested a student is in competition math. Mine took the 10 in 8th, 9th, and 10th, then the 12 in 11th and 12th, as part of a regional math club she was involved in since 8th grade. Without a deep interest and ongoing involvement/preparation, it’s unlikely to be worth taking. There’s no reason to take the 12 before 11th grade outside of the elite students trying to make AMO/MOP/IMO who have been deeply involved for years.
If this student is going to go to a UC or CSU, no matter what, are these worth taking at all? Obviously they can’t hurt but I’m thinking study time.
Obviously there are privates and OOS they might consider as it’s still early for them but if the odds are low or it’s an area school that doesn’t base merit on test, does this matter?
I’d agree if someone is nmf, that matters (not for ca publics). . I’m not sure if the student is realistically there…it’s a tiny fraction of kids….just not a tiny fraction of CC kids.
Kids get stressed. If you’re ok with UCR or a Long Beach State type or an Arizona type school and have no intention of an elite private or OOS public, I’d be inclined to save this level of stress that will be added to in future years and forgo the entire exercise.
But I understand why someone wouldn’t. I’m just reading about early SATs and the like and wondering if the extra work will cause issues later.
My kids were severely burned out with test prep, tests, classes, and apps. If there’s a chance to remove any potential stressor from their plate, personally I’d take it.
How different it was when I was in high school, when tesp prep for the PSAT or SAT was under 15 minutes doing a few sample questions in the booklet with the sign up form.