when is the right time to start...

Test Preparation
1

<p>my son is 14 and in 9th grade do you think he needs to start studying for the sat and act right now or it's too soon? and how ? with tutors? alone with books? thank you for letting me know your experience on that matter...</p>

2

<p>I would wait at least a year. Just make sure he’s studying hard and reading a lot.</p>

3

<p>That’s a tough question. I’m an SAT tutor, and I do occasionally get asked to work with kids your son’s age. That being said, I’m not sure if tutoring is the right thing at that age for a couple of reasons. A lot of the material tested, especially math, is going to be things he may not have had yet in school. It’s so discouraging to work on problems you don’t have a chance to answer correctly! Also, you don’t want him to exhaust some of the best prep materials available so far in advance of crunch time. As for tutoring, I think it makes the most sense to consider it the summer before his junior year. That way he’s getting some hardcore prep before National Merit Qualifying.</p>

<p>So I’m not sure if serious prep is warranted right now, but I do think it’s worthwhile to encourage a lot of reading (not just school stuff, but fun books and newspapers, too), which is absolutely the best prep you can do for the writing and critical reading sections. He could get started early on vocabulary, too, since vocab is good for life in general not just the tests! There was another thread up recently about ideas for vocab review - <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/779669-vocabulary.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/779669-vocabulary.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Best of luck to you and your son.</p>

4

<p>thank you very much for your help!</p>

5

<p>While I don’t advise true studying this far in advance, they probably know all of the material unless they attend a school with somewhat low standards (or simply slower curriculum) in math, so I wouldn’t let that discourage you.</p>

6

<p>“probably know all of the material”</p>

<p>I would dare say that most American 9th graders have not had a chance to learn about trigonometry and precalculus.</p>

7

<p>^ SAT/ACT math is mainly algebra and geometry.</p>

8

<p>Begin studying vocab now - just not in the grinding sense. Have your son look up and learn any words he comes across that he’s unfamiliar with. Building an expansive vocabulary is a long, gradual process that will serve huge benefits for your son’s SAT score and beyond.</p>