<p>leicestermom, with a 232 on the PSAT as a sophomore, your daughter does not need any prep courses! Working through the blue book of Real SAT’s should be more than enough. D’s friend scored 2400 just by working the “SAT problem of the day,” which students can receive online after registering for the SAT. At your daughter’s scoring level, the time spent on a prep course would be absolutely wasted.</p>
<p>I do think that there are some American cultural expectations built into the SAT’s, which make them somewhat easier for a student who’s been educated here. However, again, at your daughter’s level, this seems irrelevant. Two comments vis-a-vis writing, though:
- In British English, collective nouns such as “committee” are often treated as plural, so that it would be correct to say “the committee have decided that . . .” In American English, such nouns are singular, and "The committee has decided that . . . " This one will crop up on the Writing portion, in the form of “agreement in number.”
- In British English, if a student is asked, “Are you planning to participate in academic competitions?” (or something similar), she might reply, “I might do.”
But in the US, the response would be, “I might.” (I could be missing a subtlety of British usage here, and this one is less likely to crop up.)
British spelling is not an issue.</p>
<p>The difference between 232 and “almost perfect” could easily be 1 or 2 questions. Most Americans attach no importance to the difference.</p>