So S26 took it this past weekend and got a 1470. Honestly I was shocked, I expected him to get something like 1000-1200 and have to work on it for a few months. He said the math was very easy and a lot of it was just putting equations into the calculator.
This doesn’t seem right to me. He’s scheduled to take the real SAT in October, I was telling him that he needed to prep this summer the high score has him telling me he’ll study a month before the test. Given his score I find it hard to argue with him.
Does anyone have experience with this ? is the test accurate ? I figured if he gets anything above 1500 we are done but now I am doubting myself. Does it matter if he gets anything above 1500 ?
Yes, the tests are real tests created by CollegeBoard. However, I definitely see students struggle the most with tests 5 and 6. As more tests are administered, I expect CB will add some to the canon of practice tests. IMO, tests 1 and 2 are the easiest.
I think your son is fine taking practice tests about 6 weeks out from test date. I almost never see a reason for any student to spend all summer studying for a standardized test. I actively discourage it because students get burned out.
My son, a rising junior, is planning to take a practice DSAT on Bluebook this week. Do you recommend he choose one of the later tests to get a more accurate predictor score? Does he have the option to select which practice test test to take?
For me (took the digital SAT in February & April), the tests are accurate and many of the math questions are graphing the equations in the calculator.
The harder tests (5 and 6) are the most precise because they’re harder.
I’ve also noticed that the math type of questions are often verbatim from the bluebook to real test, just with different numbers, so I would recommend writing it down neatly with the steps on how to solve them if you get a math problem wrong for final review!
He can take any test he likes. But why not start with an easier test, such as 1 or 2, to warm up? I personally would never tell my students to start with 5 or 6.
I heard a podcast with a test prep expert who said Tests 1-3 were too easy and 4-6 were better measures of what you’ll see on the real test. So for the first real computer test a lot of students complained how hard it was because they had inflated expectations based on their performance on 1-3. Supposedly 7 and 8 will be released soon.
My daughter is starting to prepare and she took test 1 and scored much better than we were expecting. So we are taking it with several grains of salt. I think we are holding off on taking some of the other tests until closer to exam to save real tests for practice but in the interim work on some Khan academy materials.
My S25 scored lower in actuality than in practice, but not by a huge factor (had 1580-1600 on the last couple practice tests, but 1520 in reality). That seems within a reasonable margin of error when correcting for nerves, the fact that he had to get up early and drive to the test, etc.
His ACT practice vs real life was I think a bigger difference though! We still can’t quite figure that out.
He took both the SAT and ACT ? Why ? I thought people usually pick one or the other. I never considered the ACT, most people in his school are taking the SAT he tried it and did well and I figure we go with that.
I think they are accurate content wise, but the bluebook grading may be a bit harsher than the real Collegeboard curve. For example, I got multiple upper 1400s on my practices but I got a 1550 on the only digital SAT I took. The questions are very similar and great prep, but don’t put a ton of thought into how the practices are scored, since they are scored by a computer while the real SAT’s are scored based on a curve.
ACT is the “required” test here (We are in Minnesota, where the ACT is much more popular generally). All the 11th graders our kids’ school take it on a school day. Because the digital SAT is so different from the ACT, my S25 thought he might do better on the SAT. He is not a fast reader and the passages are shorter on the SAT. He did, in fact, do much better on the SAT reading than ACT reading. Reading was the lowest section on ACT for him. Math was higher on the ACT - he had a 36 math on ACT, but on SAT math was lower than reading. If he took SAT one more time he might knock it out of the park in both sections, but the closest SATs are over an hour away so it’s not necessarily super convenient just for a small bump.
I wish the closest SAT was an hour away, I had to book a flight and hotel for October SAT. There is a real shortage of locations to take it, his local highschool is booked until next summer.
My son is taking the SAT in August and we’re hearing that the Blue Book tests are not aligned with the real tests all that much from several tutors. One claims that the scores can vary hugely and he can still get a score in the 1300s without extensive prep (he’s scoring in the mid-high 1500s on the practice ones). Trying to decide if this is just marketing or he really needs much more work. Also i hear there are some sites that have much more accurate practice tests you can purchase. Has anyone else heard of those?
Some tutors/tutoring companies can use fear and/or harder tests (deflating scores) to get families to purchase more hours.
I have heard some of the blue book practice tests are too easy (lower numbers) and the higher numbered ones approximate the actual test more closely…@lindagaf any insights?
Both Compass Prep and Applerouth have developed their own digital Sat practice tests. Additionally, some local or regional companies may have developed their own practice tests too, so take a look in your area…many tutoring companies provide a free or low cost practice test. Personally, I would not take any non-adaptive digital SAT practice tests.
Agree that non-adaptive tests make no sense. I’ve seen places like Score Smart and Test Innovators recommended for more accurate practice tests, would be nice to know if those are really better than the official College Board ones. I do wonder if some of it is fear-mongering, but it seems like many tutors (I’ve spoken to several in the past few days trying to decide if we should hire one) really feel like the digital test is so new, it’s hard to know how to prep for it. Pretty much all have tried to steer us towards the ACT instead, which my kid is not interested in at this point.
My opinion is that tests 1 and 2 seem easier than the others. I believe 5 and 6, released after the March SAT, are more reflective of the actual test. My students seem to find them the most difficult.
My son took test 1 and 5 and got the same score on both, before he took 5 however he did spend 3-4 weeks studying so 5 is definitely harder. I can’t speak to the accuracy of the test but when people start taking tests in August I am sure we’ll hear from them.
My kid took practice tests 2, 3, and 6, in that order, with a month between each and minimal prep/studying (just did questions from the CB question bank based on what what they got wrong on the practice tests). Got exactly the same overall score on each, with very even sub-scores that varied by only 20 points across the three tests. Based on numbers of correct answers on the practice tests, it looks like 6 was the hardest and 3 was the easiest.
Took the June 1 SAT and scored 10 points lower overall, with the same even split. So the practice tests were highly predictive.
This is great to hear that the practice tests were predictive! My kid’s highest score is on #5 so far, he hasn’t done 6 yet. Were the Question Bank questions helpful? My son just started doing those, but even filtering by difficulty, he’s not missing any so it’s not been super helpful in pointing out any weaknesses.
When do you think SAT practice tests 7 and 8 will be released?
Do you know if practice test questions (tests 1-6) for different students are the same? Another words, students who log in under different CB accounts get access to the same questions or different? I know that second module has 2 versions.
