Jugglin'5 Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 We got my senior's first SAT scores this morning - what a relief. So it turns out that, yes, she should have concentrated on the SAT rather than the ACT all this time. Her scores were not astronomical, but good enough to feel safe for the colleges she's most interested in. I am planning to have her retake in December, with less stress, to see if we can eek out a few more points for scholarship purposes. I was thinking of having my junior go ahead and take it too. She's fresh off prepping for the PSAT, and I can kill two birds with one stone. Is there a disadvantage to doing this? Would it be better for her to wait until the spring? She will be studying for the Latin AP at that point, but I guess we could wait until the June date. She's a somewhat better test taker than her older sister. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nancy in nj Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Most colleges superscore the SAT, so there would be no disadvantage to taking the Dec. test while she is fresh from prepping for the PSAT. My dd took the SAT in Oct. junior year a week before the PSAT's and actually scored 90 (converted) pts higher on the SAT. She did end up taking it for a 2nd time in March, but it was nice having a strong base score. Overall, I think taking the SAT's in the fall of Junior year is a lot less stressful than waiting to the spring. I say go for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicmom Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I'd go for it. Both my dc took the SAT for the first time in December of their junior year and it worked out really well. They were fresh off prepping for the PSAT, which reduced stress, and Ds scored high enough that he really didn't need to take it again, which made for a less stressful spring for him. Dd did decide to retake it the following June--so she not only had experience from December, but quite a bit of time to prep and hone her skills, which resulted in the higher score she wanted. And she had it all out of the way before senior year. (I can't imagine anything more stressful than trying to retake the SAT in the fall of senior year!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in MA Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 If she's already done the prep, I don't see any disadvantage to taking the SAT in December of the Junior year as long as she's had the math needed to do well (finished or near the end of Algebra 2 would be ideal). I can think of several advantages. First, as you mention, she'll be busy in the spring preparing for the AP exam. Also, I don't know about your students, but mine seem to get really tired of school and mentally ready for a break around early May, so I don't know how much energy would be left to prep for the SAT again. My junior took the October SAT then PSAT this year. We just got his SAT scores this morning, and he is thrilled. He's thinking he's done with the SAT -- now to focus on AP exams in the spring... Best wishes, Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwen in VA Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 My kids all took the SAT or the first time in January of their junior year, which is pretty close to December!:) Why did we choose January? We wanted them to have the option of retaking it in March and still being sane for May AP exams and June SAT-2's. I like having the SAT over sooner rather than later! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 We got my senior's first SAT scores this morning - what a relief. So it turns out that' date=' yes, she should have concentrated on the SAT rather than the ACT all this time. Her scores were not astronomical, but good enough to feel safe for the colleges she's most interested in. I am planning to have her retake in December, with less stress, to see if we can eek out a few more points for scholarship purposes. I was thinking of having my junior go ahead and take it too. She's fresh off prepping for the PSAT, and I can kill two birds with one stone. Is there a disadvantage to doing this? Would it be better for her to wait until the spring? She will be studying for the Latin AP at that point, but I guess we could wait until the June date. She's a somewhat better test taker than her older sister.[/quote'] An early SAT (Dec, Jan, Mar of Junior year) can also give you good scores in hand for applying to summer programs. This can be handy since homeschoolers often don't have class rank or outside grades. In our area, we're recommending earlier SATs for anyone applying to service academies, because it gives them time to improve before needing to provide scores to the academies and to nominators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 If she's already done the prep, I don't see any disadvantage to taking the SAT in December of the Junior year as long as she's had the math needed to do well (finished or near the end of Algebra 2 would be ideal). I can think of several advantages. First, as you mention, she'll be busy in the spring preparing for the AP exam. Also, I don't know about your students, but mine seem to get really tired of school and mentally ready for a break around early May, so I don't know how much energy would be left to prep for the SAT again. :iagree: My junior took the October SAT then PSAT this year. We just got his SAT scores this morning, and he is thrilled. He's thinking he's done with the SAT -- now to focus on AP exams in the spring... Same here exactly, except my son will probably retake the SAT in November (missed a perfect score in math by one question, apparently, and it irks him, haha!) :001_smile: But he's basically done ... I can put these scores on his transcript now ... and he can concentrate on his CC and AP classes the rest of his junior year. A much better place to be than where my older son (currently a senior) was, taking the ACT the fall of his senior year ... My kids all took the SAT or the first time in January of their junior year, which is pretty close to December!:) Why did we choose January? We wanted them to have the option of retaking it in March and still being sane for May AP exams and June SAT-2's. I like having the SAT over sooner rather than later! :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jugglin'5 Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 Thanks everyone. I guess we will go for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Mine liked taking it in January of their junior year. It was early enough in the spring semester that their cc courses didn't have any major projects or tests to work on/study for over the weekend and it was also a date that offered the question and answer service. The Q&A service sends you a copy of the actual test with the student's answers and what the correct answers were, so you can see if your student simply ran out of time or was actually lost. My oldest repeated the SAT in June and brought her score up by 250 points. My middle just took it once. Her score was high enough that we were pretty sure she wouldn't be able to beat it. Her math score was higher than it had ever been on any of the practice tests she took. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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