S28 scored in the 90th percentile with an 1170 on PSAT10 with no preparation this fall. Being a National Merit Semi or Finalist would be nice, but real focus is to bring SAT score to a level needed for colleges he is likely to consider, ie needs to aim for at least a 1450.
looking through earlier threads, the College Board website and other sources I’m getting a huge range of recommendations on when to start prep, presuming a baseline SAT next August or October.
Any BTDT recommendations for strong outcomes on the SAT in terms of when prep began. Did your child succeed solely via at home prep with books and websites, or do you think a tutor or class is worth it. Not asking for recommendations on specific classes or tutors, just the idea.
My D’s private school had kids start prepping the summer in between 10th and 11th. The prep books were part of their summer work and they were required to turn in the practice tests. Then in mid August when school started, there was a weekly prep class offered before 1st period. They met until the PSAT in October. Most students took the ACT or SAT shortly thereafter.
We got both a tutor 6 hours. My kids would not do well solely at home study.
Others might not do well with a tutor or class.
I think it really depends on the kid.
one of mine took it 3 times and said no more. The other 6 and on the 6 was his best.
Some of it is luck. If you have a 31 on English and 24 the next time - it could be one test was just too hard vs the other etc.
You might start with a book or online. See how that works or if they need more hand holding. I want to say the tutor was $90 and hour but that was 2017/18 ish. You can pivot from the self study if you go that route and can afford and want to afford those kind of rates.
As to when - I think second semester junior year) is early enough but many take sooner.
I think if taking a class, 7-8 weeks b4 is ample time bcuz 6 sessions is six weeks. If self study, probably the same is enough, especially given a strong starting point.
My kids did self prep. They used Erica Meltzer’s books for R/W and Kahn Academy for math. They did much better after a couple of tries because they were used to the exam format. It’s also a little luck based on the questions for that particular test.
I suggest preparing during the summer between sophomore and junior years. My kid’s SAT/PSAT prep consisted of doing 7 official SAT tests released by the College Board (timed, obviously) and going over the questions that he missed. He did one SAT test per week that summer. He was very happy about his 1590 score on the real test.
Junior year can get awfully busy, so prepping the summer before can make sense, and it has the benefit of preppingfor the PSAT as well (if NMF seems within the realm of possibility. ) It will also leave time to work on the score all the way through the next summer if need be.
Some kids do great with online resources. Others need the structure of a class. And many will benefit from a good tutor who can help them figure out how best to focus their efforts. The latter can be particularly helpful for math.
We waited till their junior year tests (state-sponsored SAT and also the ACT) to see which test would work better for each kid and decide which one to focus on for a second test. Both seemed to be stronger at the ACT. D23 used some review books and Khan Academy videos and boosted her ACT score from 33 to 34 and decided she was done (we agreed). S26 did the same but also got 5 hours of one-on-one tutoring targeting specific strategies for improvement and boosted his ACT from 31 to a 34 superscore and we decided we were good. No one – parents or kids – was ever really willing to do more testing than that, and all of the schools they applied to were test-optional.