Is there any harm in a 10th grader taking the SATs?

LaurenTheMom · 08-01-2009, 05:29 PM

My D wants to do a program with CTY (one global one China). She has never taken the SATs but apparently, needs certain scores to qualify. Is there any harm in taking the SATs as a 10th grader? Will colleges hold those scores against her in the admissions process? Do they have to be sent at all since they are not being taken for college admissions purposes?

Hunt · 08-01-2009, 05:33 PM

Colleges won't care about those scores, and lots of kids take the SAT for CTY and similar purposes. You may not have to send them, depending on whether the colleges she ultimately applies to have score choice. But the SAT she takes in 11th and 12th grade are the ones that will matter.

Sirensong · 08-01-2009, 05:38 PM

If she actually has a purpose in taking them (other than doing it just for the heck of it), I cannot imagine it would matter for college admission. That's not to say it won't end up on her transcript, because it very well might.

12Artleye · 08-01-2009, 05:39 PM

I'm in 10th grade. After talking to my school counselor i have found that there is no harm to taking them as a 10th grader. He says 1st, colleges don't really care about your score then (And they don't have to see them if your not required to put all your scores on your transcript...Which i'm told most colleges don't), #2 - You might do really well if you study and post a score you want colleges to see, #3 - Take it in 10th so you can do better when it matters more as a junior and senior

Also, I haven't taken the SAT yet, But i have taken the PSAT (Practice) and i'm taking the SAT in like October or something. I also plan to take it in late spring next year. It doesn't hurt and it only yields positive results. Hope this helps

mathmom · 08-01-2009, 05:42 PM

Some colleges ask to see all your SAT scores, so even though there is now score choice (you aren't forced to send all the scores in), many colleges will want to see all the scores. I firmly believe, however, that admissions officers are smart enough to look at the dates when the tests were taken and to realize that a 10th grade score is not the same thing as an 11th or 12th grade score.

LetsGoMets · 08-01-2009, 05:45 PM

Check the CTY website. In the past, they accepted PSAT scores from 9th or 10th grade as qualifying scores. Many schools administer PSATs to 10th graders just as a practice test. If that's true for you there'd be no need to take the SAT early.

tokenadult · 08-01-2009, 06:03 PM

This is utterly not something to worry about. The CTY program is more than a good enough reason to overcome worry about the nonexistent supposed harms from having more than one SAT score on a score report. (College Board tells high schools NOT to put SAT scores on high school transcripts without EXPLICIT written permission from the student, although many high schools muff that point of law.) But just don't worry about it. Colleges are in the business of giving students the benefit of their BEST scores for admission purposes, and, as mathmom correctly says above, the score report notes the date of the test and the grade of the test-taker, and this simply isn't going to be a problem.

kelsmom · 08-01-2009, 07:30 PM

If you are concerned about the scores going out to colleges, she can take the ACT, instead.

LaurenTheMom · 08-01-2009, 08:01 PM

Will the ACT be more difficult for a early term 10th grader? She has taken geometry and will be taking algebra II in 10th grade.

yellowismellow · 08-01-2009, 08:06 PM

wait, so if i flunked the sat in sophomore year but got a good score junior year, how much will that hurt/not hurt me?

i would really recommend taking the act after algebra ii and during/after an ap science class.

kelsmom · 08-01-2009, 08:19 PM

Both of my kids took ACT in middle school for Midwest Talent Search. They also took SAT somewhere in there ... whichever year in school was the last one in which it wouldn't show up on an official score report. Both found they scored better on ACT.

yellowismellow · 08-01-2009, 09:19 PM

oops, just realized that this was in the parents forum so i shouldn't have posted in here, sorry.

but just fyi, if you take the act in middle school then you have to submit that score when you apply to colleges (according to some lady at a princeton infosession).

kelsmom · 08-01-2009, 09:45 PM

That would be a new rule, because it used to be that they didn't send middle school ACT scores.

Sirensong · 08-02-2009, 09:06 AM

My school at least does not send middle school scores, and they are one of those schools mentioned above that automatically reports all of your SAT score.

LaurenTheMom · 08-02-2009, 09:56 AM

Our school was sending ACT/SAT scores, but then because of an uproar by parents, they decided to take them off. I wish I had her take SAT/ACT in middle school. I'm going to contact CTY on Monday and see if they will accept PSAT scores, although from their webpage, it doesn't look like it.