SAT Secrets??

Spend the money for tutoring. If you can afford private one on one lessons that's even better. If not, there are group lessons at adult education schools and schools who specialize in SAT prep. Some high schools have a course. The tutor will prepare the kid and teach all the tricks. 

My son did not take any courses or get a tutor. He purchased the SAT practice books and worked through them. The best thing he found was for him to take the sample tests that were timed, which he did multiple times and this helped him understand what pace he had to work at to complete the test in time. 

 

Good luck!

Princeton Review is a clear market leader in the SAT prep market and has a number of options, depending upon your timing and budget.  http://www.princetonreview.com...est-preparation.aspx 

+1 on tutoring.  Private is best.  Small group is second.  I would contact a parent or coach from the best private high school in your area and find out who the kids at that school hire.  Unfortunately, it's going to be very expensive.  But it's worth it.

 

Have your kid take both SAT and ACT.  Some kids do poorly on SAT but crush the ACT.

I would agree, tutor is critical.  Obviously private is best, and likely most expensive.  Mine did an online chat type class and it helped immensely.

Do a search for Xiggi Method on the internet.  Xiggi tells you the best resources and tip/tricks on the SAT.  Xiggi is free too.  One of the main things he recommends is doing practice test after practice test.

Practice tests are great, no question about that. But I would think it's kind of like baseball -- going to the cage everyday and taking lots of swings is a good thing in principle, but it isn't going to help all that much if you're just repeating the same old mistakes over and over.

 

Best secret: take the ACTs instead! It's a standard, and there's no essay. The SAT essay issue is relevant for the 2016s, and not so for the 2017s and thereafter.

 

There seems to be a bias in the Northeast towards taking the SATs, but once you realize the ACTs are an easier path, life gets a bit better.

Tutors and organizations that charge a lot of money are just placebo's IMO.My son worked with the published study guides and used the practice tests extensively, it is all about the effort you put in, there is no magic IMO just hard work and prep.  What is really important is to start kids reading a lot when they are younger, turn off the TV and games, and force them to read a lot. Taking the timed tests over and over really prepared my son for the time constraints of the test. Some kids do better on the SAT and others the ACT, good advice to take both. 

A related question...for the experts.  If a kid puts in the time and efforts and does many practice SAT tests, reviews and knows all the materials (etc, etc.), is he or she then prepared to take the ACT as well?  Or, is there additional prep work/material to  know?  Thinking about timing between SAT and ACT here.

1) Understand your kid.  Some kids have the self-discipline, maturity and desire to study on their own.  Get them the materials and let them do the practice tests on their own.  Other kids need help, direction and someone to coach them.  Get them the resources they need to help them as well whether it is a tutor, class , whatever.  This will be a recurring theme once they are college freshmen.   JMO.

 

2) Get a good nights sleep.

 

3) Don't let them stress out

Not true. My son was a top student and went through the gifted program. In high school he took several AP courses. He did not excel at standardized tests. After having a tutor for six weeks his SAT score went from 1100 (Math & English) to 1270.

Anecdotal evidence is what it is, but ours is similar to RJM's.  Our 2015 plans to apply to some highly selective schools.  His SAT scores were well below the mean at those schools, while his ACT composite was a 31, which is at or a little below the mean.  Before retaking the ACT this summer, along with required single-subject SAT's and the AP Physics test, he did 4 hours of private tutoring and 6 hours of group tutoring with an independent guy who was recommended by other parents. I overheard some of one of his sessions, and besides very specific help on what to expect in terms of ACT questions as well as the AP and SAT tests, he did a lot on strategy - when to guess, when not to guess, which questions to skull out and which to skip over and get back to, how to identify various types of reasonable yet wrong answers, etc.   He also did practice tests, as he had one before his first, untutored round.  It was expensive, but the result was a 34 composite ACT, which  puts him well over the mean at the schools he wants to apply to, including a 36 in math, which could help him a lot at those schools that super-score, which is pretty much all of them. He did well on the SAT and AP tests too, but those were his first attempts, so they're not so relevant.

 

Like I said, it was expensive. But if he gets into a school he wants to get into, and they give us enough money, it will have been more than worth it. We'll know in a few months.

RJM, I guess Fenway's point is accurate, know your son. Some clearly can use the help and others can do it on their own, at least in my son's case I doubt a tutor would have changed his numbers much. (not that I will ever know or care at this point in time...he is taking the GRE on Friday. ) 

 

We've been through phase two. He's taken the GMATs. My daughter is already in law school.

Respectfully disagree completely with the statement above. The ACT is a knowledge based test that favors kids who work quickly and are more decisive. The SAT's are quite different, ding you for "guesses" and are not as straightforward. There are books, articles, questionnaires you can do to identify which one would be best suited for your kid, but the best thing to do is probably to take the practice ones and see which test favors your kid's learning and test taking style.

 

My son did well on the PSAT, and poorly on the ACT practice test, so we focused on the SAT. The ACT is not for everyone, and concentrating your resources on studying for the test that will be best for you is a better use of time than trying to study and tutor for both. I'm not sure about your children, but mine has school, baseball, football, friends, traveling, and college essays to work on. There aren't a lot of extra hours in the day.

Thanks for all the great info. I will definitely get my son to take each practice test to see where he stands. Bought he a book by a kid who aced the SAT, hopefully will use some techniques that will help him get a respectable score. Thanks again.

My son has already taken a couple of practice tests. It shows what needs to be worked on.

The college counselor at my son's HS recommended taking both the ACT and SAT tests in the Spring of the junior year.Whichever test you do better on take that one again.My son scored higher on the ACT in February,so he took that one again in June.I like this strategy and it has proven to work well for many students who have attended my son's HS.

 

We did not send our son to any test prep classes or tutor. He felt it was not necessary and did not want us to spend the dough.Instead he took the free practice tests online.Also,he was more focused the second time around and took the test more seriously.

 

Good luck to your son !

 

 

bobbyaguho- I like that strategy as well.

 

I understand the importance and purpose, but I have wished for some time that standardized testing go away. When I was in high school, much of the learning we did was intended to help us prepare for a test, not practical use of the material. Had I gone into the "real world" based on what I was taught, I probably would not have been well-prepared.

 

With that being said, I took the SAT (2008 HS graduate) and my sister took the ACT (2013 HS graduate). She scored in a higher percentile than I did.

 

 

 

 

I have an older son who was not an athlete, and here is my advice based upon what we learned with him.  Prepare your child early in his Junior year (we start in August) with the method you think works for him either practice tests or tutoring.  Take the test early!  We are aiming for the October tests with our ballplayer.  If the scores are above the middle 50% of last year's admitted students for the colleges your child is interested in, you are finished.  If they are not, you know where he needs work and can take it again Junior year.  The application process will take a great deal of time early in the Senior year, and it is nice to be finished with that testing.  

 

If your child is interested in very selective schools, they will want to see scores of ALL tests taken.  If you choose to only submit the SAT or ACT that is fine, but all scores of that test must be submitted.  So make sure his is prepared THE FIRST TIME  he takes it if he is applying to those schools.

 

 

JCG,

 

Congrats to your son and his 34 ACT score.He hit that one out of the park ! That score qualifies him for every college in the country. I'm sure your mailbox has been inundated with college brochures and award offers.When my son hit that magic number just below your son's the floodgates opened.Dude It was on ! Our mailbox was full almost everyday for 2-3 months.I'm sure the mailman was pissed at my son. LOL ! I saved everything my son ever received and after he was admitted early decision I piled it up on the table and took a few pictures.I'm still amazed when I look at those pics.

 

Your son has the  test scores now it's time to find the right fit academically and athletically.That's the tricky part as I'm sure you are finding out.My son decided that he wanted to attend an elite academic institution and use his baseball skills as a tool to help him reach that goal.That strategy worked for him and can work for your son too.Let me know if you need any specifics.

 

My wife and I just came back from Massachusetts Monday night after dropping off our son at college.It was 31 years ago(I can't believe I just typed that) almost to the day that I began college at Arizona State.There is nothing and I mean nothing similar to our experiences.My son is in good hands which is comforting to know since we live in SoCal.

 

Bobby, thanks for the very kind post. You're right - things are different, and one of those things is how crazily competitive admissions are, and how many wonderfully qualified kids get turned away by these schools.  Kind of funny - as a child of the internet age my kid  ignores all the brochures, but the other day he picked up one from U of Chicago that had his name custom printed on it. He shook his head and said, "Chicago, you just want to reject me so you can keep your acceptance rate low."  So it he gets it.  But I'm  excited for him. He'll be applying to some of the usual suspects here in CA as well as some great school in the east, and I think he'll have some fantastic options in the end.  BTW he's not a ball player. My player is a 2017 who is starting to look at his brother's brochures.

JCG,

 

FWIW - My two oldest son's took both the ACT and SAT.  Both were or are engineering majors and both think like engineers.  Both studied on their own, and both did better on the SAT than ACT.  Both retook the SAT again to boost their scores, and both did getting over 150 points the 2nd time.  Their math & reading scores improved but writing score did not. 

 

baseballlife's bolded comments above make a lot of sense to me as I'm going through this again with my youngest son.

 

 

bobbyaguho,

...

Best of luck!  We'll be following him.  He'll love the weather....it'll .get wicked in November.   My oldest son's college roommate was from SoCal. His roommate spent the first week of school online ordering fall & winter clothes.  If you get a large bill from LL Bean, you'll know he was busy doing the same!

My son also went the private tutor route. He attended 10-12 one hour sessions at $100/hr. It's was easy to rationalize the cost when we considered the money spent on baseball. His overall scores went from 1500 to 1800 and helped to opened up many opportunities.

Is the ACT/SAT comparison a "regional" thing?  My daughter is a soph at Ohio State....never took the SAT...heck, never even heard her talk about it being offered.  She got a nice scholly without ever being asked about it.  Same thing with my son.  He's a 2015 committed to a D1 in Ohio.  He talked to several other schools and was never once asked about the SAT....and he has never mentioned that it's even being offered to him.  I know when I was in HS here in Ohio (mid 80's) I took both...but it just seems like, at least in this area...that the SAT is kind of irrelevant.

Yes. I had never heard of the ACT until I got to college. Our high school passed out registration papers to the SAT.

Here are some real results from getting a tutor.  If ACT test my son scored a 26 Composite, only 23 in English and Reading.  Nice scores, but not good enough for the IVY he is looking at.  We hired a tutor to work with him on English and Reading.  Today he got his scores back from the ACT he re-took.  30 Composite, 30 English and 29 Reading.  4 point gain overall and a 7 point gain in English.  Tutors work!