I’m not sure when it changed, back in the early 80s, we didn’t really study for the PSAT and also took it in spring of jr and/or fall of senior year, depending on how we did in the may/june test. Then out here, in an admittedly more competitive part of the country, the kids studied for the PSAT/SAT in the summer of jr and took the Oct, maybe Dec SAT of jr year.
The college board doesn’t release SAT takers by grade, just overall, they do say 1.8M took the PSAT as jrs, so if even 30% of those also took the SAT in Oct/Dec, that’s still a decent amount.
Huh? PSAT is in fall of 10th and 11th grade (both optional, though the 11th grade one counts for NM qualifying).
Back then, for the SAT, trying the practice problems in the booklet with the signup form was the extent of most students’ prep for it. However, additional prep books and classes were available. From what I remember of a Princeton Review book that I looked through afterward, it was mostly about test-taking techniques (many of which seemed fairly obvious, but apparently were not so obvious to some students who could get noticeable improvement afterward). There was also at least one book with thousands of SAT words because the verbal section was basically a vocabulary test (questions were easy if you knew the words; harder questions used more esoteric words).
For Achievement tests (now called SAT subject tests) and AP tests, I do not recall many students studying specifically for them beyond taking the associated high school course.
@cgemaj agree about the 1570, but Florida would have taken the Dec. test. Just think the test optional was unclear, especially for guidance counselors in Florida. Since it was required here, they did not know how it would hurt the kids who sent scores OOS. I see how many kids who have been rejected or deferred so far, the numbers are high.
IMO it should have been a National decision by the SAT and ACT to nullify scores.
@CSJA2025 she sounds exactly like my D. Very similar scores. Applied to big state schools, so far 4 for 4 and 5 to go. So we know she is going to college. First choice is the last school to announce sadly. Good luck to your D.
Agree! And I can speak from experience as my child got into a school that others got deferred at who had similar gpa’s. They sent scores, mine didn’t. Not saying they won’t get in but they don’t know yet
I can’t imagine that the testing agencies would have ever made this decision. If they nullified scores they’d have to refund everyone who took exams, some more than a year ago.
Sorry, meant to say took the SAT in the spring of jr year. I took the SAT in 83 and 84 and the SAT prep I did was a class offered by a couple of high school professors (one for English, one for Math)., I think once a week for three hours, low key compared to today.
However I talked to a couple of friends who graduated after me and one of them took Kaplan classes in 85 or 86. So I think the SAT test prep probably got going around then even though the companies had been around for a while, as others have mentioned.
Three hours was twelve times the amount of SAT prep that I did and what apparently most others I knew did (around the same time frame). How many weeks of three hour test prep sessions did you do?
I want to say 10, maybe 11, the first session was a practice SAT, then eight weeks, then the last session was another practice SAT. The most value in the class was to force us to study, put some structure around it. They did have some good tricks especially around guessing, recall that back then, that was a lot.
I agree with this! I have a CA student. She tested junior year. She has the stats for the top UCs but it feels like a crapshoot without her test scores included in her application.
Changing the rules at the 10th hour is not very fair IMO.
There was no fair way to handle the situation, given test cancellations and lawsuits.
In any case, UCs already de-emphasized SAT/ACT scores compared to HS GPA, so relying on high SAT/ACT scores to get into a UC tends to lead to disappointment.
This year is exceptional, we recognize that. But in general, having national exams when leaving high school is the norm in Europe: baccalaureate, A-levels, matura, etc. In Asia too. Kids there test on all material (language, math, science) from HS, or at least math+litterature+ subject(s) in which they will major in college. This exam largely determines who goes to University and who does not.
With the extraordinarily variable (and often sub-par) quality of the US HS education, having some form of a national exam is necessary, be it AP tests, SAT/ACT or others.
These tests are taken only once - no retakes.
IMO, students should report all tries at a standardized test. This is an aptitude test, you should not take it ad nauseam.
My D goes to Oxbridge. To get in, she had to take a much harder version of the SAT, called Thinking Skill Assessment. You are only allowed to take it once, and everybody takes it on the same day. The ones that pass the test are interviewed by the profs (known as “tutors”) in person for 30 to 40 min. Every and each candidate. They are looking for passion for your subject.
Nobody cares if you play an instrument or are a semi-professional athlete.
The SAT used to be promoted as an “aptitude” test (“Scholastic Aptitude Test”), although it back then it was mostly an English vocabulary, algebra, and geometry test. Now, it is just the “SAT”.
Many other countries’ standardized tests are subject matter tests that cover material learned in specific high school courses (conceptually similar to SAT subject tests or AP tests).
I understand that. We live in the US and my D18 and S21 went/go to school here. My point is that there should be one test date when everybody takes the same standardized national exam (SAT, ACT, something else) with a possible make-up date for people who are sick, and that’s it. Not multiple tests, superscoring, etc. This will also make it easier for the kids to be done, and not having to go through multiple cycles of stressful test prep for months. Just my 2c
I definitely agree that taking it only once may be the way to go, but the pressure of that single testing date would be too intense for the kids in the US, who are used to multiple test dates, and can take it the first time thinking they can take it again (pre-covid). Maybe you limit the tests taken to two.
Re: limiting taking of standardized tests to once…
Of course, with so much* riding on one chance at the test, test prep would probably be even higher in volume and more stressful than it is for those today who choose to put so many hours into it and suffer the stress of doing so.
*While test scores are certainly nowhere close to everything in college admissions in the US, they often function as limits to what colleges one can realistically get into, particularly at the higher end of selectivity. I.e. a high test score will not get you into a highly selective college, but a low test score will keep you out.
