<p>seiclan and mom60, that’s my concern as well. D hasn’t taken the SAT yet but has taken the PSAT. She, too, has a 200 point differential between math (the higher) and CR.</p>
<p>She took the ACT (no prep) in June so I am curious to see that score.</p>
<p>lilmom- please let us know how the ACT worked out. We are debating when DS should take that test (Oct, two weeks after SAT or November?). I am hoping that with test prep the CR will improve, although it will most likely still be lopsided next to his math score. Our son did the SAT 2, math 2, in June, we didn’t even think about the ACT that soon but now I sort of wish we did (just for a baseline).</p>
<p>As a parent, I recommend Silverturtle’s guide (#879) to your '12 student(s).</p>
<p>I sent the link to Silverturtle’s guide thread to my son. Hopefully, he will read it and heed it. Thanks for your efforts Silverturtle!</p>
<p>They do make SAT prep/review games for the Nintendo DS and PC.</p>
<p>S took the SAT and the ACT tests this summer without studying so that he could get a feel for both tests. He is lopsided as well. His scores on the ACT were higher though, since it is not so much about the vocabulary memorization. I recommend those lopsided kids try both tests. We are going to start studying the SAT (using the Nintendo DS game) for the PSAT, then he will focus only on ACT.</p>
<p>Thanks for the positive thoughts on the guide.</p>
<p>The ACT has always been easier for my kids to make it to the 99%ile than the SAT. I don’t know why. I recommend that any student try both. </p>
<p>On another note, I’m feeling great because my 2012 daughter just went through all the clothes, shoes and stuff that we packed in boxes before she went away for her exchange year last August and she found that she was ready to part with 90% of it. Yes! (There were only a few items from he childhood that I wasn’t ready to give away - good thing I didn’t show her old baseball team t-shirts to her dad.)</p>
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<p>Yes, the tests have fundamentally different philosophies to approaching assessment (the ACT is achievement-focused and the SAT is aptitude-focused); many students find that one test is better suited to their strengths, so I agree with your recommendation.</p>
<p>Good idea to start early apollo6. I have my kids go through their things every summer and store what they want to keep and toss the rest. This year, however, it’s been harder for me to ask my S who’s leaving for college in Sept. I’m getting emotional about it!</p>
<p>You need to get those baseball team t-shirts back!</p>
<p>We had S’s band shirts made into a quilt.</p>
<p>Love the quilt idea . . . “been there, done that, mom sewed the tee shirt into the quilt!”</p>
<p>D2 didn’t do as well on her SAT IIs (Chem and Literature) as she would have liked - 690 and 670. Her college counselor had advised her not to take the Literature one until Junior year, but it was good practice for her. I don’t think there will be much she could do about Chem because science is just not her thing.</p>
<p>We got her IB entrance test result back. She will be doing high level for english, history and spanish, but standard for math and physics next year. She will also be doing IB art next year. I am really wondering how she will do next year, at a new country, school and curriculum.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, she is having a great time at her summer program. She is loving her photography course. She visited Yale and thought it was fabulous, but not sure if it’s possible at this point. She will be going up to Boston this weekend to visit more schools.</p>
<p>I ordered the SAT game for nintendo DS called MY SAT Coach with the Princeton Review. I figured that while we are at the Jersey Shore for two weeks (our annual vacation) DS will hopefully try it. Wish us luck. I also gave him the book, Direct Hits vol. 1 (for SAT vocabulary) that was highly recommended here. </p>
<p>As I have said, it will be very interesting to see how he does on the actual test this October (since his sophomore PSAT scores last year were 20 points diff. btwn CR and M). His SAT 2 in Math 2 last month was good (790) so I think he should be ok for the Math section of the SAT(although he still needs to review the basics) but critical reading is…hovering around the 60%tile on practice tests! </p>
<p>One thing I will say about my son, his crowd of friends at school is basically the math team and many of them are equally talented in reading and writing. This does fuel his ambition to improve on his CR and W scores, since he enjoys competition and won’t want to be embarrassed. Believe it or not, he was upset by his SAT 2 score since all of his friends got an 800!!! Hope that is enough to motivate him.</p>
<p>Seiclan, the fact that your S is motivated to improve is important. My S wasn’t motivated to do his best on the SAT and studied little (if at all) and was fortunate to score just under 2000 which was enough for his target school. His weak area was math which seems to be a little easier to prep for than CR so I still think he could’ve raised his scores significantly with prep. Still, i can’t second guess and he’s attending his first choice school (Cal Poly SLO). D is the opposite - gifted in math but not in reading. I worry about that! I will look for that Direct Hits book you mentioned. Every little bit helps!</p>
<p>Lilmom, if only motivation could be translated into CR/W SAT points! Unfortunately, I am told that it is easier to go up in M than in CR and W. We will see though. </p>
<p>Here is a link to purchasing the book/s (so you can see what it looks like).</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> direct hits vocabulary 2010](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=direct+hits+vocabulary+2010&sprefix=direct+hits]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=direct+hits+vocabulary+2010&sprefix=direct+hits)</p>
<p>It’s summer vacation, but I’m already getting a bit nervous just thinking about D1’s PSAT in October. Glad to know I’m not the only one feeling this way. I regret not letting her take it last year…her older brother did fine without taking any practice exams. My view changed after she told me what she got on her self practice test. I guess you can’t treat them all alike – each kid is different…sigh. Hope her lack of real test experience isn’t going hurt her performance. Her younger '13 brother will be taking it for practice.</p>
<p>PCPop, no use looking back. I didn’t plan on D taking the SAT last month and regret it. She might be more motivated to study her vocabulary if she were familiar with the test. But there’s still time and your D may want to focus on studying for the PSAT first. My S says the SAT was easier than the PSAT. I don’t know why but he did do better on the SAT than the PSAT. </p>
<p>Thanks for the link seiclan!</p>
<p>Thanks girls! Printed silverturtles SAT guide --WOW! and clicked on seiclan’s link to order the book! I was going to buy a box of cards, but I will try this instead.</p>