<p>THE MOM: "S2 had the ACT sample test book…the most he did with it was move it around on his bedroom floor…</p>
<p>Ha ha ha! You mean there are really boys that touch the junk scattered about their floors and move it around occasionally? You gave me a good laugh :)</p>
<p>Vicariousparent: “I think any serious and sensible student would at a minimum inform himself or herself about the content and format of the exam in advance. The thing is, there are no extra brownie points assigned for ‘no prep’ scores.”</p>
<p>Some kids don’t need extra brownie points. There are plenty of students who can do very well on these tests without prepping at all. They may be naturally good test takers, very analytical, and/or smart and there isn’t really any need for them to spend the time prepping. After all the standardized tests these kids take during their schooling, they’re pretty familiar with how to take these tests. I must say in the part of the midwest where we’re at, in general, prepping for ACT/SAT is not very common. And lots of students do really well.</p>
<p>S1 did “minimal” prep, mainly to familarize himself with the format of the questions and to make sure he could crank out a decent five paragraph essay in 25 minutes. We got the Blue Book; he did a total of three tests, two of them in pieces (just CR/W) and one full sitting. Based on his PSAT score, we knew he was in very good shape, so he focused on obscure grammar rules. Math prep was one test.</p>
<p>S2 has taken on the QOTD quite diligently. His score went up 22 points from 9th to 10th grade, and we attribute it to the excellent (if nerve-wracking) IB English courses. He did a lot of practice work with the Math Level II – the timing coordinated with his pre-calc final, and those efforts have benefited him in Calc AB this year and, he feels, on this year’s PSAT, though we won’t see the results for another week. He is planning to take the SAT in February so if he’s not happy he can take another shot at it, and before APs and IBs consume his life. </p>
<p>S2 will also use the Blue Book and do more prep. I like doing several of one type of section in a sitting, and then analyzing the heck out of the Qs and As with him. The Blue Book has enough tests that one can use a few of them for that kind of intensive work. In any event, the amount of prep is going to be limited by his heavy course schedule and strange insistence on eight hours of sleep (per night) and a social life. :)</p>
<p>We are of the one-and-done philosophy around here whenever possible re: standardized tests. No tutors or prep courses here, either.</p>
<p>Anyone have scores go DOWN after test prep?
I didn’t prep the first time I took the SAT and scored 99th percentile verbal, 98th writing, 88th quant
After prep, I scored 98th verbal, 96th writing, 77th quant on the same test!
Sometimes, I think the test prep companies do more to dumb down the top students with their shortcuts than they do to actually help us. Of course, that example could just be a case of reliability. I don’t think n=1 with those changes is probably significant, although it was consistent on three different subtests. Anyone else have a similar experience?</p>
<p>My hunch is that SAT prep courses are generally designed to help kids in the 60-85th%tile range to move up a couple of hundred points so they are more competitive for admissions/merit. The courses aren’t directed at kids already at the 2200+ end of the curve and who are trying to get to 2400.</p>
<p>I have heard anecdotally from parents whose students had scores drop after test prep.</p>
<p>Our school system offers a SAT prep course as an elective, which I think is a great alternative to the commercial prep classes.</p>
<p>LOL. I couldn’t even get mine to take a prep course for the MCAT. :eek: She did however “study” on her own. (Edit: and it may bite her in the butt at the top med schools.) </p>
<p>She took the SAT and ACT cold , then spent maybe 10 hours (if that) on “prep” consisting of taking some practice test sections. I agree that once you are in the top couple of percent, familiarization with the test and the test format is about all you can do. That and voodoo. </p>
<p>So , to answer the question…no prep means no prep. Cold. Everything else is just levels of preparation.</p>
<p>I agree, but I do think it’d be worthwhile for test prep companies to split their classes by level instead of just geography or available time. (I.e., a course for those scoring <450, one for 450-600, another for 600+.) Otherwise, how we perfect our negative skew on these tests?! ;-)</p>
<p>So in general the term “no prep” would be used to describe a student who was dropped off at the test site on test day direct from his flight from Mars?</p>
<p>^^^That would be my son. He took the PSAT this Oct, as a Freshman, with No prep, No brains. IOW, he didn’t even open the sample book to see how to do the test. His explanation was it didn’t count so why bother.</p>
<p>NJres–I think actually the sense most people are conveying here is that no prep means, at the most, familiarizing yourself with the format from the booklet and possibly taking the practice test included. No classes, no “self-study” of vocab etc, no other test books ( bought a few for S; he cheerfully ignored them.) D took the sample test from booklet, S didn’t. S did look at the question and answer key from his first SAt where he’d gone down in his strong subject from PSAT, realized he’d made some careless mistakes, and concentrated on being more careful a second time. Which worked. So, maybe that counts as prep, but it wasn’t “studying” of any sort. We wanted the tests to show where they were, not where they could get by studying lists. Their vocabulary came from extensive reading.</p>
<p>To sum up, I’d say that studying is prep, while acquainting self with format is closer to having a pencil, calculator, etc.</p>
<p>Having read this thread, I would propose the following definitions:</p>
<p>No prep = What your children did, as a result of which the SAT (a) reflected their natural abilities, or (b) failed to reflect their natural abilities. There are limits on this, of course. Taking a multi-week paid prep course is not “no prep”.</p>
<p>Conversely, Prep = 1. Whatever additional things other children did, especially involving additional resources, that allowed their SAT scores (a) to be better than your children’s, even though they are your children’s intellectual equals, or (b) to be equivalent to your children’s, even though they are your children’s intellectual inferiors. 2. The modest, reasonable things your children did that ensured that their SAT results would reflect their natural abilities, and that showed what hard workers they are, too.</p>
<p>I used to describe the promise of test-prep companies as “everybody gets a 500,” including the students who could naturally get a 700. Many of the rules of thumb taught in test prep courses may make a student all thumbs when it comes time to take the actual test. </p>
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<p>That’s my sense of what people really mean. </p>
<p>My one further comment is that schools (and families) vary so radically that one student might have MUCH more exposure to how to do well on standardized tests than another just from school lessons or even just from dinner table conversation. There’s not any exact way to identify who has had the least meaningful test prep, if test prep is broadly defined as anything that gets a child prepared for the test. </p>
<p>For those who haven’t seen it before, here is my advice on test prep: </p>
<p>READ, READ </p>
<p>To learn how to score well on a standardized test reading section, the number one piece of advice is READ, READ, READ, and READ. Read about what you like to know more about. Read things that are fun for you. Find books and magazines about interesting topics and read them. Turn off the TV and read. Put away the video game controller and read. Read hard things, and read easy things. Read a lot. </p>
<p>For years, I wondered why it came so readily to mind to write “READ, READ, READ” in all capital letters like that when I give advice on this subject, as I have frequent occasion to do. Recently, I reread the section “Suggestions for Study” in the front matter of John DeFrancis’s book Beginning Chinese Reader, Part I, which I first used to learn Chinese back in 1975. In that section of that book, I found this passage, “Fluency in reading can only be achieved by extensive practice on all the interrelated aspects of the reading process. To accomplish this we must READ, READ, READ” (capitalization as in original).</p>
<p>What my D did to prep for the SATs she took this week for the first time: Took the PSATs in 9th (I did not know this until last week when I looked at the college board website), 10th grade, and 11th grade. Took an SAT prep course as a school class in which she informs me nothing was done, but she had a lot of time to do her homework. ;)</p>
<p>About test prep courses lowering performance of high-scoring students, I can see that happening. But to be fair, if you actually consult with the ‘advisers’ at these test prep companies they will generally tell you that for students who start at a high level their recommendation is to go for individual one-on-one tutoring to target specific deficiencies. I can see how that might help but of course it is much more expensive.</p>
<p>Based on some of the posts above it appears that some schools actually teach to the tests and model their own exams after the standardized tests. I guess it makes sense for schools to teach to the test if the schools themselves are going to be evaluated according to the performance of their students on the test (as some midwestern states are doing by requiring the ACT). So of course, these students <em>are</em> getting test prep but in the form of school work. </p>
<p>For my own D, she has done ‘prep’ by taking practice tests and checking the answers she gets wrong. I think it has helped.</p>
<p>"I see a lot of thread in a lot of places on College Confidential that mention a student taking a college entrance test (e.g., the SAT or the ACT) with “no prep.”</p>
<p>Typically that means the student’s family didn’t pay big bucks for the student to take prep classes or get tutoring.</p>
<p>The student may have, however, studied on their own for hours a day using a variety of prep materials.</p>
<p>For us, I believe the kids may have recieved the SAT prep booklet that College Board puts out.<br>
The week before the test, we were at the local public library & I happened to see a book in the new books section called “Tooth & Nail,” which was a novel SAT prep book (a novel with SAT words). I was intrigued & borrowed it & S took it from me & read it because he was curious (D was not interested). S was mildly disappointed because the plot wasn’t great & he said very few words were actually new & different from what he was normally exposed to (our household is full of avid readers).
For the PSAT/SAT in HS, he refused to attend the summer PSDAT/SAT prep course that many kids take because he said he felt he was only making careless errors & didn’t see how they could teach him how not to make careless errors on any test. He did great on the PSAT & SAT.<br>
D took the summer prep course with her friends & it did help her with math that she hadn’t covered yet in school that would be on the test. Both found the vocabulary unnecessary, since their vocabulary has always been vast due to extensive reading.</p>
<p>If that 's the case/definition, my S took 2 AP courses with “no prep” since he just browsed the books in the library & bookstore for a few hours without having taken the courses. He spent $0 & did great with 5s for both tests.</p>
<p>These days I think it means doing nothing more than reading the sample test booklet and perhaps checking out the college board or ACT website. When I took the SAT, taking courses or doing sample tests was rare; back then I’d say “no prep” meant having to borrow a number 2 pencil in the testing room.</p>
<p>S1 = No Brains, blew test away, not sure how much all this prep stuff really matters without some evidence from a randomized controlled study of motivated kids. Anyone know of any?</p>