when should my junior first take his ACT/SAT

Parents Forum
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<p>DS3 took:</p>

<p>SAT II Biology in June 2011 after AP Bio in sophomore</p>

<p>Both PSAT and SAT in October of his Junior year</p>

<p>SATII Math after junior year</p>

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</p>

<p>They’re fans of this approach because some students will get good enough scores without studying.</p>

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<p>I’ll just add this thought which was a factor for us - only certain sittings of the SAT allow you to order the answer service ( <a href=“http://www.sat-tutors-blog.com/2010/02/23/hot-tip-order-the-sat-question-and-answer-service-qas/[/url]”>http://www.sat-tutors-blog.com/2010/02/23/hot-tip-order-the-sat-question-and-answer-service-qas/&lt;/a&gt; ). If a retake is a possibility, knowing exactly what s/he got right and wrong is a very useful study aid. D chose January for this reason (she is a junior). Plenty of options for retakes if needed.</p>

<p>She did NOT want May because that’s when all her APs and finals are happening. She will do the SAT Subjects in May, however, since they cover material similar to her AP exams.</p>

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<p>DS, along w many of his Junior classmates, are taking the Jan SAT next month for practice. </p>

<p>

For National Merit, doesn’t the SAT have to be taken in fall of Senior year?</p>

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<p>I think just anytime within a year of the PSAT.</p>

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</p>

<p>No. There is a fairly wide range of acceptable SAT test dates, including some dates before the PSAT.</p>

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<p>If you think your child has a shot at National Merit, then I think the best approach is to prep before taking the PSAT in the fall, and follow that with the SAT soon after, so hopefully you can be done with the whole thing. However, the OP didn’t mention trying to get National Merit.</p>

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<p>Baseline unprepped score was diagnostic. One kid needed no prep, happy with score. Yay for saving big bucks and time for prep. One needed a particularly ridiculous score for her school of choice, so knowing her weaknesses was key in targeting prep. Third is a mixed bag, but we know he is happy with CR score, so targeted math prep will be sought.</p>

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<p>Even if you think the unprepped SAT score is going to get your kid into the college they want, a higher score might get them a scholarship. Even a little bit of prep can make a significant difference. Considering how much time and effort goes into all the schooling and the whole application process, I think it makes sense to try to get a score that somewhat represents their ability.</p>

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<p>Sorry, Mathyone, we shall agree to disagree. 2 kids down, and 1 kid to go. We have had good success with our approach, but concede that it may not work for everyone. I will concede that kid 1, had he not gone the service academy route, could have prepped some to improve scholarship prospects. But then again, our kids’ schedules were so jam packed with ECs, and high time requirement sports (which generated a nice scholly for kid 2) that I still would do a baseline to see exactly where the test prep focus should be. Different strokes for different folks.</p>

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<p>DS took ACT and SAT fall of junior year, SAT II’s June of Junior year and then ACT and SAT again fall of senior year. No prep for any of them however he did do better the second time around on the ACT and SAT. I had him retake them in order to help his scholarship offers.</p>

<p>If he hadn’t done well the first time around I would have had him take a prep class. I think going in without studying is fine unless you wait until senior year. By then it’s too late to see if you need a prep course. I plan on doing the same thing with my younger
kids.</p>

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<p>OP, does your school offer a free full-length practice test? We’re required to take the ACT here in MI (it’s tied to our standardized testing) so the vast majority of high schools will offer a free full-length practice test with results (I don’t remember what the results consisted of… it’s been too long). If so, that might be a good way to test where your student is at. </p>

<p>I recommend doing both the ACT and SAT in the fall (in your case, ASAP). See whether you get better results with one or the other, and then retake that one in the spring or early fall if you’re not satisfied with the score.</p>

<p>FWIW, I improved 4 points between the mandatory ACT test and the ACT test I took a few months later with no prep either time. However, the 2nd ACT test I took right after school let out so I was calmer and had had more sleep.</p>