11th grade DS is planning on majoring in clarinet (probably performance, but that’s still up in the air). He took the SAT in 10th grade without a ton of prep (a few minutes of khan a couple times a week for awhile) and got a 1400. Our plan was that he would spend some time on test prep over this past summer and take it again this fall, probably get the score up at least a little, and likely call it done. The summer and fall, of course, wound up being different than we’d foreseen, so that didn’t happen. Now I’m wondering whether he should bother putting much effort into prepping for a retake after all. Is his time better spent elsewhere? Right now he’s looking at a couple of in-state public schools (where his 1400 would be plenty high) and places like Bard, Oberlin, Lawrence…possibly Vanderbilt, although they seem to have lost their clarinet prof, so not sure what’s going on there…probably not any stand alone conservatories. I’ll probably have him take the SAT one more time at least in the spring just because he’s had more math since last time he took it so it seems fairly likely his math score would be higher. But how much effort does it make sense for him to put into test prep? Is the difference between a 1400 and a 1450 or 1500 going to make a big difference for admissions or scholarships for music programs? He’s homeschooled, if that makes any difference (test scores tend to matter more for homeschooled kids, but I don’t know if that’s still true for music programs)
I think a 1400 is more than fine. He would probably score higher since that was his only test, but I don’t think it is worth prep time. If he wants to take it, he probably just needs to make sure he knows whether to guess or skip a question, that kind of thing.
It really depends on how he feels, and how much stress is involved. A 1400 is considered a darn good score already. I don’t think a higher score is needed for admissions.
FYI Oberlin, Bard, Lawrence and Vanderbilt don’t even require test scores.
https://www.fairtest.org/university/optional
In his case, scores are high enough already to submit but these schools are on this list because they don’t require or emphasize test scores for admissions.
Sometimes scores do help for merit scholarships, but for a kid applying to the conservatories on campus I would check if this is still true. You could just ask admissions at the conservatory.
Agree with the above. A higher test score will probably not mean much as far as acceptance. However high test scores can help at certain schools for merit (particularly schools with high stats). The highest merit often goes to both talent and high scores/grades. You do need to check each school of high interest. STILL with COVID, who knows how that will be determined in the future.
I’d take it again if scholarships are in play. Many schools will stack academic merit scholarships and music talent scholarships. For pure admissions, I suspect you are fine.
Thanks, everyone! You’re all confirming my original inclination, which is to think that it won’t hurt for him to take it again and see if he can get the score a bit higher, but it’s probably not worth dumping a ton of time into at the expense of other things. He is looking at a lot of test optional places, but often they’re not actually test optional for homeschoolers…or at least tests are “strongly recommended” for homeschoolers. He has/will have a fair number of AP scores and dual enrollment classes, too, though.
The generic answer on testing for homeschoolers is often that SAT/ACT are suggested, or required. But with AP scores and dual enrollment, his aptitude and achievement levels are demonstrated. Much different from the kid who does the “unschooling” form of homeschooling.
The other big factor for admission, we found, was talent and achievement in a performing art. So some schools will of course value that over scores anyway.
Merit aid may be the only reason to retake.
His scores are already excellent so this is a no stress situation.
I think you have reached a perfect balance of retake with low stress and avoiding intensive prep so as to focus on more important things.
One reason that you might want to have him study for, and re-take the SAT (or print off and take a practice ACT test, to see whether it’s more of a match for him) is merit money. I agree that his 1400 is good enough to get in everywhere you’ve mentioned, except Vanderbilt, which is more like 1500 average. But Bard has at times given substantial merit money. I’ve heard of a musician a couple of years ago who was National Merit and a top player, who was awarded a full ride at Bard. It’s too late for doing anything for the PSAT (do homeschoolers get to take that?), but it seems that someone who got a 1400 in 10th grade, with only minimal prep, could get a 1500 or higher with some prep. He’s in 11th grade now, so in my opinion, the most important thing for him to concentrate on is his instrument. But he could certainly do standardized test prep once a week from now until spring, and take another shot at it then. My daughter brought her math score (her weaker score) up at least 100 points simply by doing 6 hours of review of the math she’d learned in 8th and 9th grade. She said that it was by far the easiest thing she could do to improve her application. I think it had a lot to do with her getting the maximum out of state merit at the OOS flagship that was her first choice. And my son put in about 60 hours of prep for the ACT, and wound up with a 36 composite, which will surely help his application process. For a homeschooler, I think that it can only be a big help to have a high standardized test score. Luckily, he has the time to steadily prep for taking it again, should be able to significantly increase his score. So unless he is resistant to doing it, I’d encourage him to prep, and take it again.