I’m hoping someone here can help.
My teen, who is homeschooled, is very intelligent and a hard worker. He has made six perfect scores on SAT practice tests put out by college board. Done countless hours of Kahn academy and prep work. There is no question of legitimacy, as I administer them and grade them myself. However, he cannot duplicate that on the real SAT. He has attempted it four times and not broken 1100. We are about to give up. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Does he practice under the timed conditions of the test?
Does he have test anxiety in general?
Is he using the bubble sheets for practice?
If you can afford it, I would visit a psychologist to discuss this problem.
He is consistent, which suggests there’s something different about the way you are administering the practice tests from the way the actual tests are administered. See if he can tell you what is different. Unfortunately if he’s taken that many tests and had consistent scores, if he takes it again and sees a huge jump, there’s a good chance his scores will be suspect. You might be better off switching to the ACT - but try to identify what’s different fist, because whatever is standing in his way in the SAT setting could be just as much of a problem with the ACT
I agree…either:
- He is not taking practice tests under test conditions
- He has anxiety
For the first, maybe have him take the test at a library with other people around. You provide him the timers on each section. Make him fill out the bubble sheets.
If the second, have him talk to a psychologist/psychiatrist.
What does your teen say when you ask him? Did you buy the question and answer service for any of his sittings to see his mistakes?
In a real testing situation you don’t have perfect quiet. There is generally a clock somewhere ticking in an annoying fashion. There is someone next to you who grinds his teeth, or a girl with the sniffles who is blowing her nose periodically, and someone chewing gum. And the proctor is wearing new shoes which squeak.
Try giving a practice test under less than perfect conditions-- a phone ringing off in the distance, ambient noise, an overhead light that causes glare and makes a shadow on the answer sheet. A couple of those ought to reset the clock.
Agree that if this doesn’t work you may want him to talk to a professional.
While this suggestion doesn’t solve anything necessarily, I’d be curious and have your son take a proctored practice test at one of the many test prep companies that offer these. This test would not count (so less anxiety perhaps), but yet be taken under similar set up as the Real SAT. See what he scores on such a practice test. Gaining that information might help.
My dyslexic kid has trouble with bubble answer sheets. She always skips a line or screws them up somehow. We literally had to practice bubbling.
In addition to distractions, other ways you can make it more like the real test - start at 8:30 am, read the actual text from the SAT proctor’s guide (available for download on the college board website), make sure not to allow snacks/water/bathroom breaks except as they occur during the real test.
I would maybe consider switching to the ACT at this point, too: He may just feel that the SAT is hopeless after four tries. Order the question/answer service for sure if you do any more testing – it’s hard to figure out what’s going on if you can’t see the mistakes.
Thanks for responding. Yes, we try to replicate the testing schedule and do it first thing in the morning with five minute breaks between each section. I do feel like anxiety is an issue, as he says that he just blanks out or becomes overwhelmed during the actual testing…
Perhaps a counselor could help him to better manage his anxiety. This would be helpful moving forward and many college courses are graded by student’s performance on a midterm and final exam and a similar type of problems could crop up during other high stress exams.
OP- try to figure out what’s overwhelming your son. As much as we’d all like to believe that the testing stuff is over once you get to college- truth be told- it’s not. GMAT’s, MCAT’s, LSAT’s, GRE’s- all the gatekeeping exams to graduate school. Some tests in college- particularly in the early years before classes become 12 person seminars. And licensing exams- CPA, nurses, bar exams, CFA, etc.
A 50 year old doctor friend of mine is freaking out because she’s got to get re-certified in one of her specialties in order to maintain her hospital privileges-- even though it’s an aspect of medicine she hasn’t used in 10 years. So in addition to her patient load, her teaching load, and some administrative responsibilities for her department- she’s now cramming to pass a test which she honestly doesn’t need (it’s peripheral to what she does medically) but MUST HAVE in order to stay at the hospital. And taking the test alongside 32 year old doctors who have just finished a fellowship in this exact area so the material is completely fresh to them.
So high stakes testing is likely to be part of your kids life for a very long time… getting ahead of this now is a really good idea.
Has he tried ACT? Sometime a different test format helps. My D2 is just the opposite. She did so-so in practice and did not show improvement over the summer but score higher than practice in both real tests. I have been suspecting her to have some attention deficiency issue and she has been taking some supplement for that.
Yes, we are trying to stay as true to the actual testing format as possible 
“he just blanks our our becomes overwhelmed”
Sure looks to me like testing anxiety. Get a therapist to look into this with him. If he needs to work on that for a while and hold off applying to college, well so be it. Getting the anxiety under control should be the priority here.
This sounds exactly like stage fright. It is very real to the person experiencing it.
A psychologist can help him learn manage it in time. In the short run medication will probably be helpful. Especially if it happens quite infrequently.
I have horrible test anxiety. A well-meaning psychiatrist gave me something (some sort of anti-anxiety medication) before the GRE. I was so medicated I couldn’t do the test. So, be careful with medication!
It is what it is
My daughter is not that good, but routinely scored 1450’s in practice we bought every book out there ( name one we bought it) and 32-33 on ACT prep tests (again bought them all), she has prepped more than anyone I KNOW self study.
We have over $600 in books from Amazon she has done them all.
She scored lower as well…not that much lower, but lower, 27 and 31 ACT and 1200 and 1320 SAT.
Taking both one more time at the end of this year!