SAT/ACT in 7th and 8th: via talent search or on your own

[quark]

That is very reassuring Barbara! Thanks so much! He is relieved to know it.

 

It struck me yesterday how glad I am that we waited till this year to try testing. While he might have been just about ready contest-wise for the math and reading tests last summer, he was definitely more prone to the anxiety and executive function slip ups too. Waiting a year was very helpful in his case. It was also helpful because he was driving the weekly prep and was very motivated to do so. It wasn't so important to him last year.

 

Yet, being young enough so that the experience is still low stakes is helpful too.

 

ETA: the fact that he was older by a year and has developed good stamina working at a desk for hours if need be (to solve intricate math problems) was helpful too.

[Connections]

May I ask... what do you do for photo identification?

 

Thanks,

[Crimson Wife]

The test proctor in DD's room would not accept the letter from NUMATS in lieu of a photo ID and sent DD to the office in a completely different building to speak with the head proctor. By the time they had gotten everything all straightened out, the proctor in DD's room was halfway through the instructions. She was the only talent search kid taking the test (maybe the other talent search kids did it in January like DD was originally scheduled to?)

[quark]

DS used the DMV-issued ID card. We had applied only 3 weeks before last Saturday and thankfully DMV took shorter than the 60 days that they mention on their site to send it to us. DS's admission ticket didn't have a photo (not required for testers under 8th grade). He didn't have problems at the start of the test but one proctor did question him about it after one of the 5-min breaks when it was time for the kids to re-enter the room. But a more experienced proctor knew enough about younger testers to allow DS back into the room.

[Dana]

I got ds an ID card at the DMV when I renewed my license.

[quark]

The test proctor in DD's room would not accept the letter from NUMATS in lieu of a photo ID and sent DD to the office in a completely different building to speak with the head proctor. By the time they had gotten everything all straightened out, the proctor in DD's room was halfway through the instructions. She was the only talent search kid taking the test (maybe the other talent search kids did it in January like DD was originally scheduled to?)

 

Ugh. I'm so sorry. Hope your DD wasn't too affected by it. I know they are busy teachers etc themselves but I do wish they could be a little more aware of these things.

 

I wanted to subtly let the school know that mine was a younger student and not from the high school. I kind of guessed that he was going to be the only younger one. So a week or so before the test, we visited the school and DS introduced himself and spoke to a few people at the office desk with me standing behind him just in case uncomfortable questions were asked. One of them was kind and gave him a big smile when she saw SCHOOLED AT HOME printed on his ticket. She helpfully pointed out the building where the test was going to be held and that helped DS check out where restrooms etc were located.

 

Another one gave me what I think is a "you must be a tiger mom!" look lol. Oh well.

[Barbara H]

 

It struck me yesterday how glad I am that we waited till this year to try testing.

 

That's excellent. And, it is great to frame this as a victory. He was stressed out about the thin pages and the honest statement - but he totally got through it. That's huge!

 

It is good that when they are ready they get the opportunity to learn this stuff because in other forms they will experience it again. In big university classrooms there is often quite a bit of test security with monitors walking around, ID checking, etc.  Also, tests like GRE, MCAT, etc. have really intense security now. Dozens of cameras, electronic scanner or pat down, several honesty statements, etc.  So, it is good for students to become aware so it isn't a surprise and they understand that's just the way it is done now.

[Crimson Wife]

DD doesn't have a high opinion of bureaucrats so it was more like a "here we go again" annoyance with the hassle than something to shake her up. I didn't realize that the DMV gives out ID's to kids (I thought it was just to teens & adults who don't drive) until I checked just now. I think I'm going to get one for her so that next year she won't run into any hassle.

[EndOfOrdinary]

We have an Enhanced ID for my son. So much easier than a passport. It has come in handy quite a few times for weird stuff. If we weren't traveling a year or so ago, I would not have bothered. I am amazed at what an asset it has been! Totally worth it if only to eliminate hassles!

[Crimson Wife]

We did end up going last week to get DD a state ID card. CTY told us that they would accept the 6th grade SAT scores from NUMATS only for courses through this summer (but at least they did finally qualify her for STEM ones without requiring her to re-take the SCAT). I had been planning on retesting through them next year in any case, but it's annoying that they're requiring it when she more than met the 7th grade cutoffs.

[Crimson Wife]

Quick question...can anyone comment on reliability of the SAT college board blue book practice test scaled scores vs real SAT scaled scores received? Big difference? Very accurate? Small difference?

Let's call my DD's actual SAT scores x for CR, y for math, and z for the writing. Her scores on the first 3 practice tests in the blue book (the ones I've heard are the most accurate) were:

 

test #1: x-20, y-10, z-70 on the multiple choice part of the writing only

test #2: x+10, y, z-110 (mc only)

test #3: x-10, y-10, z-90 (mc only)

 

So the practice tests were fairly accurate for the CR and the math, and not accurate at all for the writing portion. However, I don't have the breakdown yet for the mc vs. the essay and it wouldn't surprise me if the essay brought down her overall writing score considerably.

[quark]

Thank you CW! How do you compute the mcq score?

 

We have his scores now (were able to get them over the phone for anyone wondering since he is <13yo, and were also given his essay score and writing mcq). DS only used the College Board blue book btw. He prepped by doing one practice test (following the actual time limit per subtest) a week for about four weeks. He did some random subtests some weeks too e.g. maybe 1 math subtest and 1 cr subtest in week 1, 2 writing subtests in week 2 and so on. And he did one practice test at home and a simulation at our local library the last (fifth) week for a total of 6 practice tests altogether + some sections of a 7th practice test (if you add up the random subtests).

 

DS actual scores are a little on the wild side vs first 2 practice tests! But overall we are very, very happy with his scores! It was the right time to do it for sure.

 

x=CR, y=math and z=writing (mcq scaled score)

 

Test #1: x+40, y+40, z-8

Test #2: x+70, y-20, z-4

Test #3: x+0, y+10, z-3

 

ETA: he mentioned when he exited the room that the actual test was harder than the practice tests. He didn't leave any question blank btw, and had enough time to finish everything with time left over to quickly check his answers and that he had bubbled the sheets correctly. I think with the essay he had just enough time to finish writing a quick conclusion but he might not have written >2 body paragraphs. I've requested a copy of the essay using the link Tattarratat provided upthread but I'm not sure if they will send March essay copies by mail. I believe they only do that for certain test months?

[Dana]

 

ETA: he mentioned when he exited the room that the actual test was harder than the practice tests. He didn't leave any question blank btw, and had enough time to finish everything with time left over to quickly check his answers and that he had bubbled the sheets correctly. I think with the essay he had just enough time to finish writing a quick conclusion but he might not have written >2 body paragraphs. I've requested a copy of the essay using the link Tattarratat provided upthread but I'm not sure if they will send March essay copies by mail. I believe they only do that for certain test months?

 

I ordered the question/answer service for the Jan test about two weeks ago. I was told that essays are only available online and as under 13, we just won't have access to it.

 

That may be incorrect info, but the essay is what I care least about, so it wasn't worth further investigation for me.

[quark]

I ordered the question/answer service for the Jan test about two weeks ago. I was told that essays are only available online and as under 13, we just won't have access to it.

 

That may be incorrect info, but the essay is what I care least about, so it wasn't worth further investigation for me.

 

Thanks Dana. I will wait and see and update if they respond to my letter!

 

[Dana]

Interesting about the scores...

 

Ds was

T1: x-60, y + 50, z + 1

T2: x-40, y+20, z+4

T3: x-30, y, z

 

So he made good progress with understanding what the reading questions were asking for & with speed.

Math... seemed to really depend on the day - although T3 was on target for both writing and math.

 

I'm curious what next year will be like.... and then the tests change! Glad we've got some years before they count....

[Crimson Wife]

Thank you CW! How do you compute the mcq score?

The blue book we have has a "table 4" after every practice test that converts the raw score on the mc part of the writing to a scaled score. Add a zero since it's out of 800 rather than 80. I took the low end of the range given as a conservative estimate, but it still dramatically overestimated her performance on the real SAT. So either she did much worse on the mc portion compared to practice tests, or the essay dragged her score way down (a more likely scenario as she only got 3 paragraphs on paper).

[quark]

The blue book we have has a "table 4" after every practice test that converts the raw score on the mc part of the writing to a scaled score. Add a zero since it's out of 800 rather than 80. I took the low end of the range given as a conservative estimate, but it still dramatically overestimated her performance on the real SAT. So either she did much worse on the mc portion compared to practice tests, or the essay dragged her score way down (a more likely scenario as she only got 3 paragraphs on paper).

 

Thank you CW. I eyeball-scored his practice essays and gave him very low scores because that felt more accurate to me. I multiplied these by 2 to check Table 3 for predicted writing scores. His actual writing score is a pleasant surprise as a result. :tongue_smilie: Not a lot higher than the eyeballed ones but I really wish they send me a copy of his essay so I can see how much difference there is between their rubrics and my own writing expectations.

[Crimson Wife]

We got the score report from CB yesterday. She scored a 6/12 on the essay, so not great but not horrible either. An essay scoring a 3/6 is supposed to represent "developing mastery" showing some critical thinking but with inadequate evidence & limited organization. I'd say that is a fairly accurate assessment of DD's writing skills compared to college-bound high school juniors and seniors (and as a fall birthday 6th grader, totally expected).

 

Turns out she did do significantly worse on the mc portion than she had on the practice tests. Her actual score on the mc writing was 30 to 70 points below the scores she was getting on the practice tests. Not sure what happened, and unfortunately the full Q&A service is not available for the March test date so I'm not sure it's worth paying for the limited one that is available.

[quark]

quark, for those under 13, one can request a copy of the essay even if you're not with talent search by writing to CB: The College Board, PO Box 234112, New York, NY 10023

 

See here.

 

 

ETA: he mentioned when he exited the room that the actual test was harder than the practice tests. He didn't leave any question blank btw, and had enough time to finish everything with time left over to quickly check his answers and that he had bubbled the sheets correctly. I think with the essay he had just enough time to finish writing a quick conclusion but he might not have written >2 body paragraphs. I've requested a copy of the essay using the link Tattarratat provided upthread but I'm not sure if they will send March essay copies by mail. I believe they only do that for certain test months?

 

Tattarrattat and others, just an update that my letter to the New York address requesting a copy of his essay was returned to sender today. :glare: USPS was unable to forward it. I'm keeping fingers crossed that there will be a copy of his essay available online but it might not be helpful if we can only see it when he turns 13yo.

 

BTW, when I asked CB about keeping scores and being able to see them in a future online account, they said to call them when he next takes the SAT (at >13yo). When you call them they will use the email address used prior to 13yo and merge the info with the online account (you have to send a separate letter in or before June requesting that they keep the scores of the <13yo test).  Someone I know from another forum mentioned that when her DS turned 13yo, his scores from a younger age test were available on his just-set-up online account, complete with score breakdown.

 

HTH someone.

[Tattarrattat]

just an update that my letter to the New York address requesting a copy of his essay was returned to sender today. :glare: USPS was unable to forward it. 

 

quark, the old PO box address obviously doesn't work any more since my letter was also returned. CB provided a new address, and I just received a copy of the essay after a few weeks of wait time. In case you'd like to try it again, here it is :)

 

College Board SAT Program

Attn: Search Scores/Essay

PO box 025505

Miami, FL 33102

[quark]

 

quark, the old PO box address obviously doesn't work any more since my letter was also returned. CB provided a new address, and I just received a copy of the essay after a few weeks of wait time. In case you'd like to try it again, here it is :)

 

College Board SAT Program

Attn: Search Scores/Essay

PO box 025505

Miami, FL 33102

 

 

You rock T! Thanks so much. :)

[Cosmos]

BTW, when I asked CB about keeping scores and being able to see them in a future online account, they said to call them when he next takes the SAT (at >13yo). When you call them they will use the email address used prior to 13yo and merge the info with the online account (you have to send a separate letter in or before June requesting that they keep the scores of the <13yo test).  Someone I know from another forum mentioned that when her DS turned 13yo, his scores from a younger age test were available on his just-set-up online account, complete with score breakdown.

 

HTH someone.

 

That is not the same as the information I was given. Ds took the test in June of 2013 at <13 years old. I talked to CB in spring of 2014 about saving scores and the CB rep said they had already been purged. In fact, she said that we would have had to request the scores to be saved *before June of the year that he took the exam*. Since he took the exam in June, I asked if she meant we would have had to request the scores saved before he even took the exam. She confirmed that that was the case (!!!).

 

The person I spoke to did speak of merging accounts when he takes the exam again later and that they do have a record of his registration for the test but that the scores themselves are gone.

 

I just mention this in case you want to double check with CB. I would hate for you to lose your scores if you were given bad info.

 

ETA: Oops, I think I misread your post. I thought you were saying you didn't need to do anything at all to have the scores saved, but reading through this old thread I see the June deadline and the need to request in writing have already been discussed.

[amsunshine]

Hope this is helpful to someone.  My dd12 took the SAT on May 3rd.  As she is not yet old enough to register on the CB site, I called to find out if there was any way to get her scores online.  (DD knew the scores were supposed to be online yesterday and was anxious to find out.)  The CB rep was kind enough to just give me her scores verbally over the phone without charging me.  So, for those of you with 12 yr olds or younger, this is an option to get the scores as soon as possible for those anxious dc!

[Pen]

subbing

[madteaparty]

I'm bumping this thread to ask: is it the case that we would get a detailed score analysis for the ACT if we go through a talent search (CTY in our case)? Or is that only an SAT thing?

Trying to decide the easiest way to register for the October ACT.

[4ofus]

Well, we have done the ACT through Duke Tip once & through ACT once. We received the same score report both times from ACT. The only thing different through Duke was a comparisons chart to other Duke Tip testers. The chart is usually available online anyway. It's not kept secret or anything I don't think. It costs more to register through Duke TIP & the additional analysis (?) wasn't much.

Edited May 1, 2016 by 4ofus

[madteaparty]

Well, we have done the ACT through Duke Tip once & through ACT once. We received the same score report both time from ACT. The only thing different through Duke was a comparisons chart to other Duke Tip testers. The chart is usually avaialable online anyway. It's not kept secret or anything I don't think. It costs more to register through Duke TIP & the additional analysis (?) wasn't much.

Thank you. And there's no difference on how quickly you get the score? I could care less how he compares to other talent search testers frankly so this is useful. Thanks again

[4ofus]

No, the score came to us directly from ACT. The timing was similar both times. It might be worthwhile to determine exactly what CTY provides. It's possible that it's more than what Duke Tip provides. 

[Dmmetler]

We got DD's SAT score from CTY before it came physically from the college board, but I assume I could have called CB directly and gotten it there as well-it was simply that CTY contacted me to verify her grade level for awards before I realized they were out.

 

So far, except for class eligibility, the only benefit of going through CTY has been getting an invitation to the awards (which we can't go to because it's the same weekend as DD's state cheer competition). I figure if any of the other searches has something interesting, we'll send her scores to them directly.