Hi all. My junior son got a 1490 on his PSAT, (equally high score in both math and reading) no SAT yet. He took a trial ACT in December (no prep) and got a 30 (solid STEM scores, low language arts).
Looking for recommendations on a testing plan, given we’ve got 10 months till go time. Focus on SAT? Both? (his high school will administer ACT in March). I’ve heard there are ACT kids and SAT kids, not sure how accurate this is, what are people’s thoughts? I’ve got to look up the testing dates as well, to see what works for us.
Most highly effective test takers have taken a lot of tests. The best advise I’ve read is to take one section at a time, timed, and then go over every single question, right or wrong to understand how they came to that answer. Wash, rinse, repeat. Your student can do this with the free SAT materials. The more time they dedicate to it, the better, but hours aren’t unlimited. They have to balance other academic pulls, hobbies, and still have time to be a kid.
That’s excellent advice, thank you! We are all about having a balanced life, and want him to make the most of the time he has for this versus other pursuits. I really appreciate you getting back to me.
Agree that you kid sounds like a SAT kid so just focus there. We had two who did better in ACT and one who did better in SAT and it didn’t change with prep. Part of it are the questions and part seems to be the speed of the tests.
The PSAT is designed - in part - to predict your SAT score. But you have to keep up with one more year of math/literacy to actually pull that off.
So if you want to get that 1500-ish score, my Best advice is to get into a class now with less of a time commitment over a longer period of time and study specifically for the SAT. Then take it more than once.
Be aware some schools like Ivies and Maryland will want all of your scores. In your case, I’m guessing your kid - like mine - start high and probably move 50-100 pts max so potentially consistently high scores which probably isn’t bad.
The other things to consider: (1) for your potential reach schools what is the middle 50% SAT range? (2) if you need merit aid, the higher the better.
One of the things with boys in particular is just staying fully engaged throughout the whole arduous process. I think that’s a significant factor in ACT/SAT discrepancies. The ACT is almost purely about speed and focus. The SAT is more about knowledge and reasoning.
As a test prep tutor, I’d like to clarify this. The most highly effective test takers have taken a lot of official practice tests, and they’ve learned strategies the right way from the start, before trying to sit down and blindly do a full official timed test. In my years of experience, the people who get the highest scores don’t need to take a lot of official tests in an official setting. They need to prep the right way.
There are many ways to prep. In my opinion, there is no need for a student to spend the better part of a year prepping for a test. It’s most effective for a student to start prepping 2-3 months before. There are variations on that timetable, depending on factors ranging from sports to time of year. The new SAT will be administered in March, and frankly, at the moment, it isn’t even possible to prep for a year given the scarcity of official SAT practice material available.
Here is a thread all about the new SAT. If your child wants to take it, have a look: The NEW digital SAT
With a 1490 PSAT this sounds like a strong test taker who probably doesn’t need much prep. I would do a practice SAT now on Khan Academy under test conditions and see what the score is, before deciding to invest time in extensive study, let alone tutoring.
FWIW my three kids barely did any practice (a few hours on Khan Academy with 2-3 practice tests) and were one and done (1540, 1530 and 35 ACT). They had many better things to spend time on. (Their PSAT scores were between 1410 and 1440, all were NM Commended).
I agree 100%, and should have been more clear. I didn’t mean official tests. To clarify further, I meant the individual sections that are mostly under an hour, some under 30 minutes, and just one of those during a prep session.