Really lopsided SAT score

Test Preparation
4

@JenskiMom

As an SAT tutor, here is what I will tell you.

  1. If she really thinks timing is affecting her this much on math, you ought to try and get extended time. Colleges are interested in finding out how much math your daughter is. If she is affected by time this much, they aren’t getting a very good idea of her abilities from the test. There are reputable centers where psychologists can test students for such things and help them get documentation (if they need it) which the student can then use to get approved for extended time.

  2. One thing you can do that might help give you a better idea as to whether your daughter might need extended time is the following. Give her an official SAT practice test (there are 8 for free on Khan academy and more elsewhere) early in the morning (to simulate testing conditions) with 1.5 time (what she would likely get if she were to get approved for extended time) and with an answer sheet to bubble in answers. See how she does on it, and see if there is a big discrepancy between the score she gets on that and the 620.

  3. Also, on the test she already took, you might be able to check which answers she got wrong. Often, students have much more timing troubles with section 4 (math with calc) than with section 3 (math no calc). You should be able to tell whether this is the case from the list of q’s she got wrong. My point here is that section 4 q’s are more word-problemy, which students often aren’t used to. They can generally get faster at these with practice. (There is also more reading involved in section 4 which affects students who are slow readers.)

  4. Many students can improve on timing. Perhaps your daughter needs extended time and perhaps she doesn’t. Some students only need it for certain sections, so perhaps she only needs it for math. However, she is completing reading in the time provided so there is also a chance that she has the potential to complete the math section in the time allotted. Therefore, while you are investigating whether she needs/can get approved for extended time, you should probably also have her work on timing. Students really can get faster–not enough perhaps to fully compensate in the case of a student who needs extended time, but enough to make a difference. There are generally several ways in which students can improve on timing.

    a) Many students are not accustomed to testing under tightly timed conditions. Practicing under such conditions 
        can help.

    b) Many students are not as familiar with the material as they could be. Perhaps they are familiar enough to get 
        the questions right, but not in the time allotted. Dusting up on some material can be very useful.

    c) There are faster ways to do many problems. Figuring these out can be a real time saver.

    d) Many students do not know how to budget their time very well and as such spend more time on the easy 
        questions than they should, leaving less time for the harder problems later in the section. Thinking about how 
        best to budget time and practicing this skill on practice tests can be useful.

    e) Again, getting accustomed to the type of questions on the test is important. Future SAT questions tend to 
        resemble past SAT questions. The more questions your daughter has seen, the quicker she should be. I also 
        recommend doing some practice tests untimed. This helps many of my students get accustomed to the q's.

    f) Knowing how to convert English into equations is an important skill for solving word-problems. Many students 
       lack this skill and can acquire it through deliberate practice. 

   g) There are speed exercises that can be done. There are many other things I didn't list, but this post is long 
       enough. If you have any questions on what I said, let me know.

I hope this helps!

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