My son is taking the SAT as we speak
D19 is taking the SAT this morning. She has already taken the ACT and will take the ACT again in June. Todayās SAT is likely her only attempt.
D took the SAT for free at school on Wednesday. She did no prep at all since we were planning on sticking with the ACT but she did say it seemed easier then last time (at least the english part, she always hates the math.) I also signed her up for the ACT in April, hopefully that will be her last test. She got a 32 the first time around on ACT but did not do well on math so figured she might as well give it one more shot to bring that up.
Here in FL you can get your permit at 15 and license at 16. D turned 17 in February and still doesāt have her license. She has probably only had a total of about 1-2 hours of driving time -she hates driving! I need to get her to work on it though because the carpool thing is starting to get much harder with different schedules for every kid.
We are trying to plan our spring break right now - a little last minute since it is next week. :)) Iāve known all along that we will go to NYC for 2-3 nights but I am trying to see if I can fit in some school visits as well.
Thanks to all for the support as I worried about D19ās SAT!
It hit her last night that she doesnāt want to go in blind and anxious (she didnāt take the PSAT and hasnāt even looked at a practice test). Sheās also not on top of her schoolwork right now because our spring musical just finished, and she didnāt multitask well during tech week and show time. She rapidly entered a state of panic when she finally faced the fact that when you donāt prepare, the day still comes, and you are in fact, unprepared.
This is an organized kid with solid study skills whoās a good test taker, so itās surprising to me that she didnāt get motivated on this until it was way too late . . . Is there a ājunior slumpā? Maybe all the over-achiever chatter at school got to her, or maybe she needs to deal with her perfectionist tendencies. In any case, I want to give her space so the motivation comes from her, not me or DH.
So, I told her last night that itās her decision when to take the test, and that she could pay to change her reservation to May as long as she writes a list of what she plans to do differently between now and then so she doesnāt end up here again. She took me up on it. Hope I did the right thing.
There is a June and August test date too, that helps.
Good luck to all taking the SATs today!
My son is waiting until June so he can finish out this year of math. His verbal on the fall PSAT was great. The math was so-so, because he needs to finish this year out to have learned everything thatās on the test.
Heās an āoldā junior who will be 18 in September. He got his license last summer. In PA, you get your learnerās at 16. The earliest you can get your license is six months after that, provided you completed the online course, driverās ed, and on-road hours.
DS finished his testing last September, except for SAT 2s, which heāll take in June. He is also an older junior and has been driving for 18 months. I donāt worry about him, but I do miss the time in the car that is so good for talking. D21 is less than a year away from her license, and I volunteer to drive her as much as I can. She is the chatty sort, and I will miss these opportunities when she begins driving herself to her many activities.
@EastGrad Car talking is the best. Iāve learned to just stay silent when driving S19 home from practice. I seem to hear whatever is foremost on his mind that way. If I ask him how his day was, I would get āokā. If I ask if he has a lot of homework, the answer it always āyesā. We only live ten minutes from school but sometimes I wish we had a longer drive home!
S19 finished his private driving class in the summer and just did his last driving lesson with them. In five weeks, he will be eligible to get his license. He has not had the 50 hours of practice that is āmandatoryā but we may let him get his license just to putz around town and tell him no highway driving alone until we practice with him more. He and his friends really just stick around our town anyway.
My daughter took the SAT this am. It was her first attempt. We are really hoping one and done, but she is not a fantastic standardized test taker (good, but not fantastic). She did say that she felt the math and grammar sections were rather easy today, although the reading sections were slightly more difficult. We shall see. I did sign her up for the April ACT, which I am beginning to think is more her speed.
My D took the SAT with essay today too. She is sleeping now. She went to sleep early last night but woke up at 4 AM to do some practice. Not a good strategy. I asked how she did. She said it was OK. I hope this is the last time I take her to a SAT center.
My S, after being a bit stressed earlier this week about the test, came home and proclaimed the experience ānot that bad.ā Iāll take it!
Popping in from 2020 parent forum. Good luck to all who took the SAT today!!!
I heard from someone who tutors SATs/ACTs that since the new SAT, the PSAT is not as indicative as it was before. It is a lot easier. I guess it can be interpreted as the new SAT is a lot harder? Do you and/or your kiddo feel the same?
@whataboutcollege my daughter definetly scored better on the PSAT than on the SAT so that is possible.
@EastGrad I totally hear you on missing out on car time. S19, S21, and I used to have āriding in the car with Momā talks as we drove around to various activities. And what was discussed in the car, stayed in the car. Now they ride in the car together without me. Perhaps they are having ābrother timeā talks with each other. I hope so anyway. 
@whataboutcollege, both my kids (S14 and S19) did better in the SAT than the PSAT. S14 did the old SAT, S19 new SAT, but similar experience. The reason they gave me was that the PSAT is less forgiving of mistakes. Interestingly S19 got the exact same score on the PSAT in his sophomore and junior years.
Congrats to all of you with kids that have todayās SAT under their belts! One thing done on the checklist for ya.
My D19 is on the young side like so many of yours ā born late July, but was also a preemie and āshould haveā been born a few weeks later. When we went to the DMV to get her learnersā permit, I screwed up and didnāt bring the right kind of address verification ā so dumb, as I did it right for her older sister a couple years ago. And she hasnāt had the time or wherewithal to go back since. At this rate, her hours will expire and sheāll need to do that dreadful weekend class thing again before she can get her learnerās permit. Iām think, just go to college in a city with good mass transit, and deal with it in your 20ās!
She didnāt think that was as good an idea as I did, though, strangely.
The PSAT and SAT system was designed so that the student would score similarly if the tests were taken on the same day; growth is expected between the time the PSAT is taken fall of jr yr and the later time that the SAT is typically taken spring jr or fall sr yr.
The first part never made much sense to me as the ceiling on the PSAT is lower. But interestingly, as it turned out, my junior did score very similarly, only slightly higher on the SAT a few weeks after the PSAT. Itāll be interesting to see if there is any further growth on the SAT after several more months.
Since S19 studied for the SAT over the summer and got a 1540 on the Aug SAT, he didnāt do any PSAT-specific studying for the Oct PSAT. When he came out of that test, he was a little shell shocked. He thought it would be an easier version of the SAT but he thought it seemed like a different test for the math section. The material wasnāt as advanced but the questions seemed worded differently. Reading and writing seemed more similar to the SAT.
Ended up with a 1490 on that PSAT. Got pretty much the same number of questions wrong on each test which I guess makes sense 1540/1600 and 1490/1520. The ceiling on the PSAT is a 1520 so, at the higher end of the scale, thereās no way to get equivalent score.
For a student not taking the SAT before the PSAT, i would suggest studying for PSAT test with PSAT practice tests and saving SAT practice tests for when the student is studying for the SAT.
My junior also took the SAT before the October PSAT and scored significantly higher on the SAT. I donāt think he blew off the PSAT because his score was similar to the one from the year before but I think he probably rushed through it to get it over with.
Thank you all for your experience!!! My D17 only took the old SAT and her Junior year PSAT was the first new PSAT (if I remembered it correctly). Her experience wasnāt that relevant. 