zyxwvut Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 I think I'm going to have dd take the SAT in the spring, but I'm really new to the idea, and don't really know how to prepare her. Can anyone help me orient to the whole procedure? Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCB Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Not sure how old your dd is but am assuming she's younger as you posted on the Accelerated board. My dd took the ACT as a 7th grader. She had done the Explore test the previous few years. We did not prep for it at all because it was just an opportunity to see where she was and to give her experience with the longer test. I did tell her that she would see some math things on it that she had probably never seen before but not to worry about them and just do her best. It was a good experience for her. She came out of it with the feeling that she could see herself knowing most of the things on the test once she had done some more years of school. She actually scored quite well for a 7th grader so that was a bit of a confidence boost as well - mostly for me as the homeschooling parent lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyxwvut Posted December 26, 2016 Author Share Posted December 26, 2016 Dd will be newly 12 when she takes the test, and I'm hoping for a similar outcome for her. Also, I am considering looking into some of the gifted camps and things, but she has never been tested. I understand that a good sat score at a younger age can stand in for those test scores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 Take the 6 free SAT practice tests from CollegeBoard on paper timed and see how your daughter does https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/practice/full-length-practice-tests My slower DS11 did the SAT before he turn 11 years old by test prep with the 6 practice tests and then the three practice tests from Princeton Review book the week of the SAT tests and had scores good enough for all the Talent Searches and Davidson Academy. His ACT scores are higher. My DS12 did the SAT when he was 11.5 years old with no prep other than one practice test. He is a seasoned test taker as he was in public school from K-4th grade. He did very well for ACT and SAT, much better than my DS11. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellojwolford Posted December 26, 2016 Share Posted December 26, 2016 The College board has teamed up with Khan academy to provide free prep materials online. I thought the practice materials wwre excellent. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8Arrows4theLord Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Use Khan Academy. Take lots of practice tests. Make sure she can do math up to at least a pre-calc. level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilaclady Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 You can get practice books from the library. you don't have to take the essay with either the SAT or ACT so it may make for a shorter first attempt. Let her do at least some practice tests with the actual time so you will need about 3 hours. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Khan Academy is great now. I'd start with that. I'd also buy one or two prep books for good practice tests. I think the most important things are 1) to do a couple practice tests to get a feel for the format and timing. Do more if your kid is stressed by these things. 2) Review all missed questions each time . . . so the kid walks way knowing how to answer each and every question correctly. Rinse, repeat. If your kid is a poor test taker or an average or weaker performer, my advice in #2 may not be appropriate. I have only helped my own kids with these things, and they're good test takers, so we had relatively few missed questions, so this was feasible. If you have tons of missed questions, then presumably, a more systematic topic by topic approach might be better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerriM Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 We're doing practice tests and maybe Khan academy. We'll see how the latter goes. I think the big thing is knowing what to expect. Knowing how fast the problems should go--when to skip if you're running into an issue. DS#1 took the practice and spent 5 minutes on an easy math problem that he didn't immediately get the trick to. That was another 5 problems he didn't get to but he got right when I told him to do them after. Now he knows to skip and come back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerriM Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 (edited) I have a hard time with the idea of buying the practice books..... I hate the commercialization of these tests and how much people are encouraged to spend to prepare for them. The fact that there is a whole industry around this feels wrong. Edited February 14, 2017 by tiuzzol2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 (edited) I have a hard time with the idea of buying the practice books..... I hate the commercialization of these tests and how much people are encouraged to spend to prepare for them.We use the library copies. We are lucky in that local libraries bought the newest Barron's, Princeton Review and Kaplan on pre-order so I could browse through before my DS12 took the June 2016 test. It was so similar to ACT that it was not worth test prep time for this kid who is a seasoned test taker. My DS11 who is slow in reading speed was scoring in the low 500s on the CollegeBoard practice tests paper version. He scored high 600s on the Khan version. So bubbling scantron sheets was one of the bottlenecks, the act of looking at the answer and bubbling the correct circle. Using the test prep books help in that skill a lot. He scored in the 600s for the actual SAT after a week of using the books. So worth it for his morale and we are not out money for the prep books. His brother's scores are in the 700s so it would be demoralizing if he had scored in the 500s. The other day my oldest did a SAT physics test prep test for revision. He skipped question 32 because he didn't understand the question and then he wrote Q33 answer on Q32 and so on. Basically he would have gotten negative scores from Q32 onwards for most questions. The difference in scores is stark due to bubbling errors. He is definitely going to pay attention for the actual subject tests. Edited February 14, 2017 by Arcadia 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 We just Interlibrary loan what our library does not have. Often, the books have a passcode for online materials inside them. It allows you to not spend anything, study well, and eliminate so much of the ridiculous game this industry has become. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 I tend to do minimal or no prep for talent search type testing, mostly because I don't want DD to put too much pressure on herself over it. Having said that, she had a gridding error on the SAT last fall, and it dramatically decreased her math score. I'm guessing it was just stress and fatigue more than anything else. When she did the ACT, and had done a couple of practice tests (because she did an ACT camp with a high school junior friend of hers), she didn't score any different on the real ACT than on the first practice test-but she also didn't have any bubbling errors. This Spring, she'll do the new SAT, and I'm not really planning to have her prep at all-it's more that I want a test for the file for each year K-8th, so she might as well try the new format SAT and see how it changed from the old one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerriM Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 I tend to do minimal or no prep for talent search type testing, mostly because I don't want DD to put too much pressure on herself over it. Having said that, she had a gridding error on the SAT last fall, and it dramatically decreased her math score. Interesting..... But you have her take the SAT anyways right? I thought you posted somewhere saying that was your end-of-year standardized testing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 Yes-we do some standardized test every year to have a test for the file. We started testing through Talent Search at age 8/third grade. Realistically, as long as she's at her age-grade level, we're good, so I don't see any real need to prep for an out of level test. Having said that, on a bad day and totally messing up one of the Math sections, she was still well above average for high school seniors as a 10 yr old, so that does kind of play into it. Because of the pending DA application, she did both last year, one in the fall, one in the Spring. I also kind of wanted her to take the SAT pre-changes, because I wasn't sure how long it would take for Talent search to start accepting SAT scores on the new test for their programs, which is why she did the SAT in the fall vs doing the ACT first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerriM Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Oh fount of wisdom, can you guys answer an easy question? If you are taking only the English/Math basic test (no essay) with "doors closing at 8am" when do the kids get out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 (edited) If you are taking only the English/Math basic test (no essay) with "doors closing at 8am" when do the kids get out?12 noon or later usually. Get there by 7:45am as the line is crazy long for gated high schools. Some test sites lock the gate at 8am so don't be late. The test sites my kids took at started the test at around 9am. Before that the invigilators/proctors would go round checking ID and then checking calculators. Then kids get to bubble in the personal information. There is also a toilet/snack break. When oldest took at Palo Alto High, kids need to check which room they are assigned to and then go straight to that room to be checked in. My youngest took at Newark High and it was gated so only one entrance to go in and out with a staff manning the door. We just designate a waiting spot when we drop off our kids so that they don't need to bring a cellphone with them to call us. ETA: My kids brought their passports. The staff at the gate/ classroom door checked their passports since we did mail in registration instead of talent search. Edited March 6, 2017 by Arcadia 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerriM Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 (edited) Ok Thanks! Do you think they'd definitely be done by 1pm? Edited March 6, 2017 by tiuzzol2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Do you think they'd definitely be done by 1pm? Yes. I think the latest allowed start time is 9am. So SAT without essay is done by 12:30pm latest inclusive of breaks, and proctors counting and recounting papers before letting the kids out. My boys said there were two breaks. My boys brought a drink and a snack for the breaks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathkath Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 My 12yo 6th grade daughter took the ACT last month. She has a need to go into things knowing what to expect so we bought a prep book that talked through what each section was like. She ended up getting pretty sick in the month before testing so she didn't do as much prep as she would have liked. She ended up reading bits and pieces about strategies, and I printed out a list of formulas it said were covered. She went on Kahn academy 4-5 times to go over some of those. I'm not sure exactly what she did on there but she felt like she was studying. We approached the whole thing saying there is no way you'll know a good part of it and it's unlikely you'll finish, just grab as many points as you can. She ended up doing really really, better than we expected and overall it was a great experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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