KarenNC Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 My daughter recently got her ACT scores (Duke TIP 7th grade). Her science score was 11-12 points lower than her reading and English score, and her social studies/science reading subscore was 4 points (22 percentile points) lower than her arts/literature subscore. Her math score was about the same as the science one, but that's something that will just come with time and additional progress in her math studies. I'm happy that she did well on the English and reading sections and totally expected the discrepancy with math, but the science reading is a little concerning. She's probably going to be taking the SAT later this spring (on the off chance she might qualify for the SET program in verbal). I'm worried that her feelings about science/math in general (NOT her favorite subjects, to put it mildly) are negatively impacting her performance in reading passages related to science, and I'd like to get her over that hump, in addition to helping her with the actual science section of the ACT for next year. Anyone else had a similar situation and/or any ideas? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Science is supposed to be one of the harder portions of the ACT because of the time crunch. It is also supposedly the least predictive when it comes to success in college. My DD loves science but on the EXPLORE science was her lowest subscore by quite a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Just linking this thread -- the snack idea seems and esp. good one, if it is practical! Also, if part of the challenge is the reading time, I think a good investment of time is to practice some rapid reading drills -- Rapid Reading is my favorite book for this; if you use or try that book, don't bother about the official schedule of practice, just do some push-up (reading farther) and push-down (reading faster) drills regularly. Have her practice on popular science that is at her level. I am not saying she should speed-read her way through the tests; but her overall speed and comprehension should improve, and it is a nice set of skills to have. She'll know what to do in the future if her reading load becomes insane. FWIW I used this approach for science papers in grad school and it was very useful. Even for the mathy ones. Though I had to go back and crunch through the equations very slowly ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 My daughter recently got her ACT scores (Duke TIP 7th grade). Her science score was 11-12 points lower than her reading and English score, and her social studies/science reading subscore was 4 points (22 percentile points) lower than her arts/literature subscore. Her math score was about the same as the science one, but that's something that will just come with time and additional progress in her math studies. The science portion of the ACT is difficult. you don't need the actual content knowledge, but it helps tremendously to have a vague idea what the passage is talking about. This will come naturally with taking more advanced science courses. Also, interpreting data tables and graphs is something she will be doing in her high school studies - for a 7th grader, it would not worry me AT ALL. I'm happy that she did well on the English and reading sections and totally expected the discrepancy with math, but the science reading is a little concerning. She's probably going to be taking the SAT later this spring (on the off chance she might qualify for the SET program in verbal). I'm worried that her feelings about science/math in general (NOT her favorite subjects, to put it mildly) are negatively impacting her performance in reading passages related to science, and I'd like to get her over that hump, in addition to helping her with the actual science section of the ACT for next year. Anyone else had a similar situation and/or any ideas? There is no science section on the SAT. There are some youtube videos about the ACT science section, which are a good preparation - but really, I would not do them with a 7th grader. I'd simply study science with her. Reading about science, doing labs, making data tables and graphs herself in lab will go a long way towards improving reading of such data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted March 8, 2013 Author Share Posted March 8, 2013 There is no science section on the SAT. There are some youtube videos about the ACT science section, which are a good preparation - but really, I would not do them with a 7th grader. I'd simply study science with her. Reading about science, doing labs, making data tables and graphs herself in lab will go a long way towards improving reading of such data. I'm sorry, I didn't express that well. I know there isn't a science section on the SAT, but the registration material says some of the reading passages come from natural sciences. Her reading subscore in social studies/science was substantially lower than her reading subscore in arts/literature, and she said that she had trouble with the passage in the reading section related to science. Right now, I'm primarily looking for ideas to help her get past being intimidated by the mere fact that the passage is about a science topic so that she can focus on the reading itself. I'm hopeful that doing that in itself will give her a bit of a boost toward the ACT next year as well as helping her be more comfortable with the SAT reading related to science. Any tips on helping her approach reading science passages would also be helpful. I'll definitely look into the rapid reading that was suggested. She'll be doing physical science next year, which should help with the actual science section. She's not going to be taking the ACT again until next year. We wouldn't be worrying about the SAT this year if the eligibility requirement for the SET program didn't change so much once she turns 13. I'd like to at least give her a shot, and I didn't find out about SET until after she was already taking the ACT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted March 8, 2013 Author Share Posted March 8, 2013 Just linking this thread -- the snack idea seems and esp. good one, if it is practical! Also, if part of the challenge is the reading time, I think a good investment of time is to practice some rapid reading drills -- Rapid Reading is my favorite book for this; if you use or try that book, don't bother about the official schedule of practice, just do some push-up (reading farther) and push-down (reading faster) drills regularly. Have her practice on popular science that is at her level. I am not saying she should speed-read her way through the tests; but her overall speed and comprehension should improve, and it is a nice set of skills to have. She'll know what to do in the future if her reading load becomes insane. FWIW I used this approach for science papers in grad school and it was very useful. Even for the mathy ones. Though I had to go back and crunch through the equations very slowly ... Thanks, I'll look into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted March 8, 2013 Author Share Posted March 8, 2013 Science is supposed to be one of the harder portions of the ACT because of the time crunch. It is also supposedly the least predictive when it comes to success in college. My DD loves science but on the EXPLORE science was her lowest subscore by quite a bit. I think the fact that it was the last test that day also played a part. I'm not all that worried about the science section itself. It's highly unlikely she's headed to any science field. I'm mostly wanting to help her get over being intimidated by science to the point that it drags down her reading score. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Maybe something like Critical Thinking Press Science Detective? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara H Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 I have two suggestions. 1. Reassure her that the science reading passages on the SAT are very different than the science section of the ACT. The ACT test has a lot more to do with reading charts and graphs. It also is an acheivement test that assumes the student has taken high school science courses. The SAT science section is more a test of critical science thinking - it doesn't require the background in high school school science. Many students do very well on the SAT passages even if they struggle with the ACT. 2. To boost her confidence maybe it would be good to read and talk about science articles. My favorite free online source of articles that are at about the right level is the New York Times. You'll want to prescreen but maybe pick out two or three that seem like they might interest her and print them out. After she's read them, talk about what she understood. Hopefully this will help her see she's got what it takes to read science passages and make sense of them. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted March 9, 2013 Author Share Posted March 9, 2013 I have two suggestions. 1. Reassure her that the science reading passages on the SAT are very different than the science section of the ACT. The ACT test has a lot more to do with reading charts and graphs. It also is an acheivement test that assumes the student has taken high school science courses. The SAT science section is more a test of critical science thinking - it doesn't require the background in high school school science. Many students do very well on the SAT passages even if they struggle with the ACT. 2. To boost her confidence maybe it would be good to read and talk about science articles. My favorite free online source of articles that are at about the right level is the New York Times. You'll want to prescreen but maybe pick out two or three that seem like they might interest her and print them out. After she's read them, talk about what she understood. Hopefully this will help her see she's got what it takes to read science passages and make sense of them. Good luck! Thanks, I'll try those suggestions as well. I do think half the battle is in getting her not to shut down thinking about it because of the topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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