"What is your GPA?.....Tell me about your test scores"

Thank you for the information. When do you recommend they sit for their first SAT/ACT test?  It looks like you did the tutoring during the HS sophomore year.  When did he take the test?  

Thanks again.

Opus X posted:

Thank you for the information. When do you recommend they sit for their first SAT/ACT test?  It looks like you did the tutoring during the HS sophomore year.  When did he take the test?  

Thanks again.

As soon as possible. Mine took his first test during sophomore year. Sooner is better on several fronts. One, it gives you a flash of how close or how far they are from a good score, which will help you prepare a plan of action w/ tutoring to get a better result. These things take time and it's better to know now

Since SAT’s are about the best score don’t worry about testing early and not scoring as well as expected. My son took them twice soph year. The second time he got the score he would need for HA’s with baseball.

In between I paid for one on one tutoring. The tutor didn’t make him smarter. The tutor helped him prepare better and deal with the test better. 

Sometimes it’s about preparation and dealing with the test rather than smarts. My son’s IQ is 10% higher than his older sister. I expected his score to be equal or better than her 1300+. The first time it wasn’t. 

Depends on the type of school you're going to/how important sports are. Some schools you just need to be an NCAA qualifier, others don't budge on admissions. 

2019 took the SAT for the first time after he was already committed. He did terrible, dreaded that conversation with the coach. Told him the score and that he already registered for another test in a few months. Coach was fine with the original score. On the other hand I still know kids heading into their senior year trying to get their scores up for HA schools. 

This is an important post, and is not just for HA schools; I have heard of kids spending senior year trying to get their scores to an acceptable level for P5s and other D1s, after NLI is signed.  Very stressful, so no matter what level your son is targeting, work on test scores earlier than senior year. 

As others said, there is no reason not to take both SAT and ACT, in sophomore year, to see how you stand.  Almost all schools only use your highest verbal score + your highest math score, they don't even have to be from the same sitting, and it doesn't matter how many times you take it, so an early bad score is not the end of the world.

Totally agree with this post, especially if your player is trying to target HA D1 schools. My son took both ACT and SAT during his sophomore year.  This gave him a definite advantage during the summer and fall of junior year as he could tell coaches that he had the test scores taken care of. And it still gave him time to improve the scores. We know at least one player who verbally committed to a D1 (not HA) as a sophomore and is now struggling to meet the minimum admission requirement... 

Before paying for tutors, have your kids try Khan Academy.  It is free, and they partner with the College Board (company that does the SAT).  Your kids can log in with their account and it will pull up their PSAT and/or SATs and create customized practice plans based on where your kid had shortcoming in their tests.  My kids did it (as have friends of ours) and they all had great results.....and did I mention it's FREE.

There is lots of good SAT info on the r/SAT board on Reddit, Including details on the various test prep routes (paid and unpaid).

Remember for D1s to combine academic money with athletic money you need a 3.5 or 1270+ on the SATs (or the ACT equiv).

Buzzard05 posted:

Before paying for tutors, have your kids try Khan Academy.  It is free, and they partner with the College Board (company that does the SAT).  Your kids can log in with their account and it will pull up their PSAT and/or SATs and create customized practice plans based on where your kid had shortcoming in their tests.  My kids did it (as have friends of ours) and they all had great results.....and did I mention it's FREE.

I second Khan Academy!!  My son used it last year before taking his first SAT and improved his score by 250+ points over the PSAT.   He is taking the SAT again this month and studying targeted/customized questions based on the questions he missed the first time around is really helpful.  He really likes the flexibility of being able to study on his own schedule and squeeze in some time between other activities.  The one thing they don't really do is teach test strategy.  I know some kids who used an individual tutor and they learned a lot of great strategies that help with time management, etc. 

The ACT and SATs are very different in timing and format and it's true that kids likely do better on one vs. the other.  The ACT really rewards quick thinging compared to the SAT.

One thing we found helpful is to take advantage of past ACT tests that are available for free online.  Mine were familiar with the SAT format from countless PSATs but had never taken the ACT.  So, I had them take at my office using the same time constraints.  One did great, the other hated it and couldn't finish any of the sections in time.  

The one that didn't do well on the ACT practice test just focused on preparing for and taking the SAT, which worked out well for him.

Honestly, I don't think that's the first question, UNLESS you're dealing with a school that gives its coaches no admissions latitude.  But it's definitely true that the topic will eventually come up.

In our program, we consider it our job to collect that information and know about it in advance -- not to throw kids out, but rather, to help point them towards schools that are realistically in reach for them or (for high academic kids) appropriately challenging for them.  E.g., If you've got a strong player who's not D1 or D2 eligible, then that kid needs to know that he should be thinking more about JuCo's.

We require our players to take the SAT in March of their junior year.  I don't recommend earlier, because you're only going to get a misleadingly low score and it could result in the player targeting the wrong schools.  Also remember that they only take your highest scores until you have taken it 3 times, after which they average, so I don't like to see anyone spend one of their 3 early on and then end up with that low score acting like an anchor on their averages. 

An early score will be lower just because the SAT will include math problems that the player may not yet be prepared for, or language concepts that may not have been covered in his HS classes just yet.  This is why most kids don't take the test until fall of senior year. 

But for baseball players, I do think you have to get it done before the summer after junior year.  If a kid has committed to or is looking at schools that it turns out he can't get into, he needs to know that in time to redirect his efforts.  If he's "on the bubble" with his favorite school, having those numbers can meet the college coaches' concerns, too. 

I prefer the March testing date because it allows the player to do test prep and to take the test all before the HS season has really gotten going.  So often, once the season starts, the player has difficulty preparing for the test.  And sometimes, you end up with a game on testing day if you wait that long.

This way, we have the scores at the end of March, and that leaves most of HS season and the critical part of summer play for the player to ask the right schools to take a look at him.

It's true that more and more players are committing well before that time.  But in our experience, the GPA/SAT numbers only trip up a player or two here and there, so I don't think you need to make your recruiting work revolve around the academic numbers.  For most guys, you know from their report cards where things are going to end up well before you actually get the SAT numbers.  (Did I mention that we round up report cards from everyone in our program?  That starts in spring of freshman year.)

BTW, it has been my experience that the players who struggle academically tend to identify themselves very swiftly.  They profess to have no idea what their grades are like, or they come up with a string of reasons why they can't seem to get a copy of their report card to you, ad inf.  Whereas strong students can't wait to tell you all about it.

We try to assuage their fears by pointing out that there truly is an opportunity out there for anyone with the talent to play.  It's just that for some, it may be JuCo only.  Or sometimes you get a kid who really should be looking only at Ivy League schools!

"We hired an ACT/SAT tutor during his HS sophomore year. They're expensive. But it was worth the stretch."

The most important words ever spoken here.  This is valid for every kid, not just athletes.

SultanofSwat posted:

"We hired an ACT/SAT tutor during his HS sophomore year. They're expensive. But it was worth the stretch."

The most important words ever spoken here.  This is valid for every kid, not just athletes.

Agreed. My 2020 that just committed, we know that if he bumps his SAT score another 50 points or so, it'll increase his academic money over 4 years. It basically comes down to an investment decision. Invest in tutoring now, and save multiples of that for the next 4 years....

Midlo Dad posted:

Also remember that they only take your highest scores until you have taken it 3 times, after which they average, so I don't like to see anyone spend one of their 3 early on and then end up with that low score acting like an anchor on their averages. 

 

 

This is not my understanding of superscoring.  I'm pretty sure you do not have to take the test 3 times before the college will use your highest scores across all test dates for admissions purposes.  Also, with superscoring, the college takes your highest score for each section of the test, regardless of when you took it.  The college does not average your scores over different tests.

PABaseball posted:

Depends on the type of school you're going to/how important sports are. Some schools you just need to be an NCAA qualifier, others don't budge on admissions. 

2019 took the SAT for the first time after he was already committed. He did terrible, dreaded that conversation with the coach. Told him the score and that he already registered for another test in a few months. Coach was fine with the original score. On the other hand I still know kids heading into their senior year trying to get their scores up for HA schools. 

Technically that's true in a lot of cases, but when a coach knows the test scores, he can make the offer seem "sweeter" by knowing what the kid will receive in academic money.  In a lot of cases, a schools website will have guaranteed academic money based on ACT/GPA or a combination of both.  It's sometimes tough to find....but it's there.   In my son's case, he was a 31 ACT, 3.5 GPA....it's right there on the website that he would get $5,000/year.

When the coach offered....he told my son, "we can give you 5k/year in baseball money and $5K a year in academic money".    The $5k baseball money was right at 25%, which is where we figured he'd be....throw another $5K on it and the offer is 50%.....good enough for us....done deal on the first phone call.   Coaches know that the "total offer" is what a kid and parents are looking at.   He'd have been crazy to call us and say "we'll give you $5k"....without knowing that there was additional guaranteed academic money.   We wouldn't have been nearly as quick to jump at that deal