Do you start SAT prep in 9th grade?

[mamananci]

If so, what do you use??

 

Thanks!

[Vida Winter]

If so, what do you use??

 

Thanks!

 

My dd is finishing 9th grade and we have been using PSAT prep books to get used to the format of questions and problem types. They sell them at the College Board but they are much cheaper on Amazon. At some point we will switch to SAT prep but she is not that far along in math yet.

[LittleHouseHomeschool]

We did and we felt like it was a huge mistake. We should have started earlier!

 

We needed a lot more critical thinking and advanced reasoning practice. So with younger children, we are building this into our program from the get-go.

[creekland]

For my oldest we did no prep and he scored well. I had bought him Barron's Prep book a couple months before his test (March of junior year), but he barely cracked it.

 

For my middle, we started prep over the summer after his freshman year (same Barron's book). He was self-motivated and did the prep all by himself and scored well on his practice PSAT as well as the ACT in the spring (borrowed an ACT prep book from the library). He'll take the tests for real this year (junior year).

 

My youngest (just entering 9th grade) has been doing the SAT Question of the Day for about half a year so far. We'll have him keep that up this year and start looking at PSAT prep the summer after his freshman year. He should score well.

 

All three of mine - even my college bound senior - still do the SAT Question of the Day. It's good at keeping the brain fresh (and it's free).

[angela in ohio]

We started last year (8th grade.) I heard a speaker talk about keeping a file system of topics for SAT writing prompts, so we started setting that up, using lists of topics I found on College Confidential. I also had dd write a few untimed SAT essays. We are at the point that she can write an essay in one day, se will do timed essays this year. I want it to be second nature by the time she takes the SAT.

 

We also have the Direct Hits SAT vocabulary books and Hot Words for the SAT. My two oldest work on those on their own.

 

I plan to put her through a more formal SAT prep course at the end of 9th grade. Other than some test-taking strategy, I'm not working on math, besides using a solid program. I do test-taking strategy as part of our study skills plans, and I think it will help with the SAT/ACT and college.

[DebbS]

On the college board site there's a daily SAT question that my son have been answering daily for about 2 years. Next year (10th grade) we'll start doing some SAT prep - mostly the writing and the subject tests.

[imeverywoman]

book. We have also purchased materials from College Prep Genius which we will begin to use over the summer.

[Nscribe]

Dd will take a practice SAT in June under timed conditions using one of the tests in the big blue book (end of her 9th grade year). I will use it and the experience to guage how to prep to prepare for a real one in the 2nd semester of 10th grade. While the SAT/ACT are important, Dd has a great deal of testing experience and I don't want to spend years focusing on something and creating anxieties that need not be there.

[Barbara H]

The College Board has announced that the SAT is going to be revised. It is likely it will become more like the ACT. The changes are most likely to appear in the fall of 2014 or fall of 2015. So, I personally would not invest time or money in purchasing current SAT prep materials as they may not be applicable.

 

Here's what I would suggest:

 

1. Sign up for the free ACT and SAT questions of the day. Over time this practice really adds up.

 

2. Keep your child on track for math. Some teens are able to sort of get through math by learning the format of problems, but they never really understand it so once the format of the problems are changed they falter. So, try to keep mixing it up for math - use more than once resource - look at the relevant ACT and SAT questions of the day and make sure they are on track.

 

3. Now and then try out free fun vocabulary building activities like Free Rice.

 

4. READ - not just fantasy fiction or textbooks assigned for school. Read widely - science, politics, social science. Quality popular media is particularly helpful such as the New York TImes, Atlantic Magazine, Smithsonian are particularly good for building vocabulary and critical reading skills.

[Nscribe]

The College Board has announced that the SAT is going to be revised. It is likely it will become more like the ACT. The changes are most likely to appear in the fall of 2014 or fall of 2015. So, I personally would not invest time or money in purchasing current SAT prep materials as they may not be applicable.

 

 

This is the other reason why we chose not to spend a great deal of time on prep for this year (9th grade) and why Dd is shooting to take it Spring 2014. We would like for her to get it in once before the changes. I am thinking (just from having followed it all, not from a report) it will most likely be Winter 2016. This is the reasoning on that guess: 1. Timelines in past on first mention of possible revisions and implementations 2. The lead time they use on changes to the AP's 3. They are very involved in the CC and would want to target the class that would be the first year CC freshmen 4. If I remember correctly their last revision fell in the Winter/Early Spring.

[Barbara H]

Yes, that makes sense. I wish they'd release more details so we'd have more than speculation.

 

My other thought for 9th graders is that it is a fine line. I hate that the college admissions process keeps getting pushed back earlier and earlier. Most students will have a pretty significant increase in scores from 9th grade to 11th grade even without specific test prep. It is fine to keep test prep in the back of your mind as you plan for school, but I would be wary of explicitly labeling a lot of what they do as being about test scores. For some kids that can really ramp up anxiety.

[TNLisa]

It is fine to keep test prep in the back of your mind as you plan for school, but I would be wary of explicitly labeling a lot of what they do as being about test scores. For some kids that can really ramp up anxiety.

 

I totally agree!

I also appreciate your previous post with your recommendations about freebies - I love the "Free Rice" site!

 

Thanks for your input!

[Vida Winter]

Addendum to my previous post (from 3 years ago). With our next dc I am starting ACT/SAT prep in 7th grade, at least with vocabulary, grammar, and the simpler math.