The SAT

A good starting point would be the College Board website. They produce and score the SAT tests.

On the site they have free practice tests and low cost SAT study guides.

The site is at http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/prep_one/prep_one.html

Good Luck!

I would recommend buying one of the books that contain full practice tests (typically, about six or seven tests). Then have Krak Son take the tests under the exact same situation as the real thing (timed, etc.). The practice will probably help.

Many kids will increase their scores 30 or so points, from what I have observed. Some have increased significantly more.

If you need the exact name of one of these books, PM me and I will track it down.

Sacto and Texan have given good advice. BUT, the key for many kids is vocabulary, which is built through reading - so I recommend he read every day, especially articles in the newspaper which are based on argument (like daily editorials). He should quickly see the point and the evidence supporting the editor's position. Discuss it with him to make sure. I teach test techniques for our school district. Most of these techniques are set forth in the intro to various books like Princeton Review, or the other SAT prep outfits. Read it and then practice. Work on your weaknesses, not your strengths. If he is weak in math, work on that - reading? the same. There is no sense in sitting down and taking a full length test except to get an initial diagonosis. Like going to the batting cage, there is not substitute for repetition and then immediate correction.

My son took it back in January and also didn't make as good as I or he thinks he should have (due to lack of real commitment in studying). I paid the extra few $$ to get his graded test book sent to us with the scores so we could see the areas in which he struggled with the most. Instead of studying for ALL the test he can now see what he needs to focus on most. We also ordered "THE OFFICIAL SAT STUDY GUIDE" for $19.95 from the CollegeBoard website. It has 8 practice tests in it.

Has my son's "lack of commitment" changed any during the summer? You better believe it has. Now that he knows what major schools are looking for and his scores don't exactly measure up. It's one thing for us parents to harp to our kids that they better study, work harder in school, etc. but when they hear from the College scouts how the scores/grades really count, it hits home....quick!

This probably won't apply in your son's case, Krak, but for anyone else considering SAT prep, I highly recommend a prep course by Kaplan or one of the other test prep companies. Last fall, I organized a private PSAT/SAT prep class with Kaplan for the boys who play in our summer program. Unfortunately, not too many of our baseball players signed up, so we opened it to a few of the kids my daughter goes to high school with.

We had 15 hours of PSAT prep in the fall, and 36 hours of SAT prep in the spring before the March SAT test. Out of 14 kids in the class, 5 of them scored in the 87th or higher percentile nationally on the PSAT, and most of the others did very well too. When the SAT test came around, several more of the kids scored really high and most of them did pretty well. The consensus among the parents is that it was worthwhile and helped the kids to better scores. About the only negative was that the kids didn't care to give their Sunday afternoons away to studying for 6 weeks, but they all agreed their scores were better than they would have been without the class. My daughter scored above 1800, and there is no way she'd have acheived that score without this testing.

As for cost, it wasn't cheap but was very reasonable for the amount of hours included. If you get a group of 10 or more, most of these companies will give you a serious discount from their published rates. We got a discount of several hundred dollars per student for our group of 14.

1. Get the Princeton Review SAT study guide. Absolutely, no doubt THE best advice I ever got in preparing my kids for the SAT. I also recommend you read it yourself so you understand what the techniques are and you can work with your son.

2. Straight from the mouth of an admissions officer at one of the most competitive schools in the nation. Focus on improving the lower score whichever it is: of either the math or verbal section.

Contrary to popular belief, this person told me that the combined score is much less important to them than the lower score. YoungGunDad - I believe your efforts are right on the mark!

krak....Go to www.collegeconfidencial.com and
you likely will get a very good perspective from so many parents and students on exactly what your son needs to get done to dazzle them to improve his score and improve his application so that it stands out from others.

Small step, I know, but a good one.

It works.

Consider the ACT. His strengths may be better suited for that test. Schools accept either one.

Disagree with baseball.

Many schools do not "accept either one."

Especially now with the writing requirement, the SAT is a must for the more prestigious schools...those are the schools which your son is hoping to attend, Krak.

The Princeton Review Complete Guide to (1792 or so) US Colleges and Universities was our bible for the past 4 years. It has everything you need to know about the requirements for all schools but were afraid to ask (because you may not want to know the answer)! For the most prestigious schools the SAT 2 and subject tests are required.

This book helps to identify which schools should not be considered because the academic standards could be too low (or too high). It was invaluable to us for this purpose. It also has current tuition costs, also to be used as a guide. I highly recommend it.

Thank you for all the input....the school he's MOST excited about (and is most excited about having him there) accepts both ACT and SAT, so son will do SAT once more in early Oct, and then the ACT later in Oct. Two and a half months to build up for one more shot.

I'm inclined to believe he'd be accepted with what he has now on that SAT, but very doubtful any merit aid will come in to play unless he can boost his score.

brod does bring up a good point. Some kids need to rehearse or better learn the subject matter.

Other kids however, know the subject matter. But they work too slowly, or tend to get uptight due to the time restraints. For these kids, working the full practice tests under timed conditions will be most beneficial.

Just have to figure out which category your kid fits into, and approach appropriately.

My son had pretty decent scores (85 %), but we decided to take it again in hope of improving the scores. We bought the study guide from the CollegeBoard along with practice tests.

He probably did not put enough time into it and actually scored slightly lower the 2nd attempt.

I dont know what prestigious schools you are looking at. But, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford all take either one. And so does just about every college in the nation. Either test has a writing component.

quote:

Originally posted by BeenthereIL:
Disagree with baseball.

Many schools do not "accept either one."

Especially now with the writing requirement, the SAT is a must for the more prestigious schools...those are the schools which your son is hoping to attend, Krak.

quote:

Other kids however, know the subject matter. But they work too slowly, or tend to get uptight due to the time restraints. For these kids, working the full practice tests under timed conditions will be most beneficial.

Good point, Texan. My son made an "okay" score on his ACT and decided to take it again in the hopes of boosting his score. Imagine our dismay when he scored 2 points lower. I asked him what happened and he replied, "I was trying to be so careful to answer each one correctly that I ran out of time to finish the test."