8th grade SAT score

[mamato4]

Dd took the SAT last month and I think she did very well. Now I'm debating whether to keep or purge her score. I'd like to keep it because I think it's a great score for an 8th grader, but I have a friend whose public-schooled son got a great ACT score in 8th grade but only improved by 1 point by the time he became a junior. There is this fear that if that happens to dd, it will not reflect well on her (okay, it won't reflect well on mom, too!)

 

So, if it were your 8th grader, what SAT score would compel you to keep it on the record?

 

:confused:Anna

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Dd took the SAT last month and I think she did very well. Now I'm debating whether to keep or purge her score. I'd like to keep it because I think it's a great score for an 8th grader, but I have a friend whose public-schooled son got a great ACT score in 8th grade but only improved by 1 point by the time he became a junior. There is this fear that if that happens to dd, it will not reflect well on her (okay, it won't reflect well on mom, too!)

 

So, if it were your 8th grader, what SAT score would compel you to keep it on the record?

 

:confused:Anna

 

I would be tempted to keep a score if it were a competitive score for the colleges my kids might consider. In other words, not a good for 8th grade score, but a good for 12th grade score.

 

(Given the schools my kids might be interested in, I would consider keeping anything above 700 per section for verbal and math. I am less concerned about writing, because I think there will be a lot of development in that area over the next few years.)

[Barbara H]

We were glad we kept the Talent Search SAT scores because we were able to use them for dual enrollment. If it gets her in the ballpark for a score required for any local colleges, it may be worth keeping it.

 

It is a pretty rare situation that a student who didn't have an extremely high score would find that their score did not go up at all in high school. Typically scores go up quite a lot.

[regentrude]

We were glad we kept the Talent Search SAT scores because we were able to use them for dual enrollment. If it gets her in the ballpark for a score required for any local colleges, it may be worth keeping it.

 

It is a pretty rare situation that a student who didn't have an extremely high score would find that their score did not go up at all in high school. Typically scores go up quite a lot.

 

:iagree:

We kept DD's score from 7th grade because we wanted it to negotiate early dual enrollment.

 

If I understand correctly, talent search score from before 9th grade do not have to be reported in the college application.

[creekland]

Keep it for DE possibilities, but be aware that many colleges want to see an ACT or SAT score within the past 3 years for 4 year college apps. If you're considering keeping it for that reason, check with the colleges you're interested in to see if it would work for them. ;)

[Kathy in Richmond]

I've never seen a case where Talent Search scores hurt a child in any way. Most kids will improve over the years. If they're already high, they might not improve by a huge amount, but that won't hurt in college apps either.

 

We kept our kids' early SAT scores. While we didn't need them for dual enrollment, my dd did end up using hers on her college apps (the old SAT was sent on her score report along with her more recent SAT subject test scores). Both kids also used their scores on summer program applications, though they could have done that whether or not they had saved their scores officially.

[mamato4]

I had dd take the SAT because she always complained the regular standardized test was soooo easy. I figure she was up the challenge. I didn't even know about talent searches until a friend told me after dd's scores came out. So I did send in an application to the CTY. Dh said to do it just to keep options open. I never thought of DE. Thank you for sharing that info.

 

She does need work on the essay part because she tends to write short and to the point. ("Why do I need to keep repeating myself?!")

 

Now on to the next question of how to plan a challenging high school course for her.