SAT and ACT prep with 3 weeks to go?

[Kendall]

I have read the recent threads on ACT prep and I think we know what to do there.  That test is in 3.5 weeks.  The SAT is in 2.5 weeks.  His sophomore score on the ACT was 27.  His big trouble is speed(always in everything:)).  This spring he worked really hard for the 3 weeks leading up to AP English and AP Gov tests and gained some speed and finished the 3 essays for the first time on the actual AP English test.  I saw him prep really well for those and he is motivated to prep well for the ACT/SAT (first child I haven't had to push just to do a few practice tests! yay!).  We just need a little direction.

 

He is feeling like he should focus mostly on the ACT prep because he did so well on the PSAT (above the cutoff for the highest state) and he is assuming the SAT is just more of the same.  In the past though, my older 2 kids also did close to that well on the PSAT and their SAT scores were not equal to PSAT x 10.  Since the PSAT was a good test for him I think we should maybe spend time prepping specifically for the SAT.  

 

Do you have thoughts on where we should focus our efforts?

 

What is the best prep material/methods/youtube/websites for the SAT?  I did some searching and haven't seen a thread on that.  I do have a bunch of old PSAT tests, should we use those or are they easier than the SAT?

 

I feel like math wise, anything we do for either will help for the other.  Do you think that is true?

 

Thanks,

Kendall 

[1Togo]

Here is a strategy. Your son should take a complete test in one sitting with the same time parameters as he will face on the test day - start, timed sections, break. He should have the snack he will have on the test. Score the test. Analyze the wrong answers. Take an ACT. Go through above process. Take an SAT. Repeat process. Then, retake the ACT. Repeat process. One week for each test to take and analyse.

[VANURSEPRAC]

Here is a strategy. Your son should take a complete test in one sitting with the same time parameters as he will face on the test day - start, timed sections, break. He should have the snack he will have on the test. Score the test. Analyze the wrong answers. Take an ACT. Go through above process. Take an SAT. Repeat process. Then, retake the ACT. Repeat process. One week for each test to take and analyse.

 

 

So every two weeks he will have taken both the SAT and ACT.

 

So one spends the week working through the incorrect answers.

 

How many of these cycles does one do?

 

Do you do the writing for the ACT?

[mumto2]

We aren't doing the SAT (doing SAT subject exams) but I would locate a good prep book used or better yet from the libray for both. The SAT is June 6 so prep that first. Especially since he did well the previous time. Pretest for a base line, some books might have a diagnostic pretest which seem to generate a lower score than an actual test for us but knowing the target areas is worth the panic with my kids. I think much of the SAT prep will help for the ACT, grammar, vocabulary, and maths are centainly basic components for both.

 

My plan would be as soon as the SAT is over he gets the afternoon off then starts on the ACT prep materials. Same pattern, full pretest then individual sections based on weak points. Make sure you dgo over the science section well. My kids had problems on the actual even though on practice exams they had booeen near perfect. Rap up with a full test. The Barron's ACT prep book was really good imo. It really helped us to get ready.

 

I think one of the exams has a couple of trigonometry questions and the other doesn't. Someplace I saw a breakdown. So the math is very similar.

[swimmermom3]

We are in a similar situation, with 3 SAT Subject tests on June 6th and the ACT on June 13th.

 

We have a couple of prep books and I made a schedule that incorporates studying for both simultaneously over the next 2.5 weeks.  If you have Amazon Prime, you can get the official prep books that the makers of the actual tests put out.  I am not familiar with when the new SAT test goes into effect, so be sure you have the right prep book.

 

My student is also a slow worker, so we are employing the same strategy that his AP English Language teacher used last year. He is taking practice tests, but initially taking all the time he needs to finish the test. We'll take the difference between the actual time and the recommended time and maybe halve it, so on the next practice test, he'll have less time than the first test, but still a bit more than the actual time. We work our way down, so he gets the pacing.

 

All of his classes except AP Biology through the public school were finished at the end of the AP exams, so he has almost full days to devote to studying. I dislike intensely putting this much focus on test preparation. The science section was really problematic on the ACT and hurts his composite score. Some schools will only take a composite of the English and math portions. If we could count on that, it would be fantastic, but we can't.

 

Make sure your student really reads the tips in the books. Good luck!

[Kendall]

Thanks so much for the suggestions so far.  I also dislike spending so much time in test prep, and this is the first time I have ever done it, but it is helping my attitude by viewing it as a job rather than school.  This could potentially=money.  

 

And at least the math review is applicable to life in the future even if nothing else is.  

[JanetC]

A couple of things:

 

1. PSAT tests are not good prep for the SAT. They're shorter and a bit easier.

 

2. 1Togo's suggestion of taking complete tests and reviewing the missed problems is a good one if your main issues are speed and pacing and wanting to repair careless errors. However, it will not catch math content holes (for example, I had DD do some drills on function problems for the SAT). For those, you would want a diagnostic test from a math test-prep book. The Princeton Review books do a good job of giving kids the "lay of the land" as far as an overview of what's on the test and what the test taking strategies should be for both math and verbal.

 

3. My DD did SAT prep in a bit of a time rush as well for the March test. I had her take the tests, but I graded them and chose which mistakes to review. Sometimes there isn't enough time to fix everything. In my case, I recorded "Khan academy" style solution videos on my ipad for her to study from during odd hours between dance classes and such since we didn't even have much time to sit down together.

 

[swimmermom3]

Thanks so much for the suggestions so far.  I also dislike spending so much time in test prep, and this is the first time I have ever done it, but it is helping my attitude by viewing it as a job rather than school.  This could potentially=money.  

 

And at least the math review is applicable to life in the future even if nothing else is.  

 

Absolutely "Yes!" to the part in bold. That's how we are choosing to view it too. The math review is fine. Ds took a year off out of the regular sequence for math to do AP Statistics, so going over geometry and algebra before heading into precalculus  is a good thing.

 

The rest of it primarily feels like one giant hoop.

 

[Kendall]

What makes the PSAT easier.  Does it have more of the harder questions?  Is each level of questions harder?  Are there other reasons?

[mjbucks1]

My ds raised his ACT score significantly by doing the following (I think this was a method recommended by College Confidential).  He would take a section of the test, but gave himself 10-15 minutes MORE time than was actually allowed.  He then reviewed ALL problems, even those he got correct to make sure he understood WHY each answer was correct.  He would then take another test, lowering the time by 5 minutes.  Again, he would go over every problem.  This method helped a great deal with pacing the test.  He was able to raise his ACT from a 28 to a 32.  He is going to take the ACT one more time in June because when he took the ACT last fall the science section was ridiculously hard (in his opinion) and it lowered his composite.  He would like a 34, so we will see.  

[mom31257]

Dd used the REAL ACT Prep book. She said the science was the hardest to complete in the timeframe, so she read the questions first and skimmed for the answers. It was her highest score, 35. She had a 33 overall, which was her average score on the practice tests in the book.

[JanetC]

What makes the PSAT easier. Does it have more of the harder questions? Is each level of questions harder? Are there other reasons?

It's shorter, has fewer sections and types of questions, and the math is a little easier.

Shorter is a big thing. If you don't use SAT practice tests you don't get a feel for the endurance and stops and starts required.

[katilac]

Is there a reason he is taking both? 

 

If he doesn't have a compelling reason to take both, I would pick one and drop the other. Just google "act vs sat" and it's easy enough to figure out which one you prefer.  

[Kendall]

I wish I had considered whether to just take the SAT.  I didn't even think about it.  He has to take it because of the PSAT, but even though most schools around here want the ACT I am sure they would take the SAT instead.  Oh well, we have paid for both, but if we decide he needs to try for a higher score in the fall we will pick the best test for him and only redo that one, Thanks for mentioning that.  

 

 

[katilac]

I wish I had considered whether to just take the SAT.  I didn't even think about it.  He has to take it because of the PSAT, but even though most schools around here want the ACT I am sure they would take the SAT instead.  Oh well, we have paid for both, but if we decide he needs to try for a higher score in the fall we will pick the best test for him and only redo that one, Thanks for mentioning that.  

 

Personally, I would eat the test fee and take just one of the tests, AFTER comparing them and deciding which one he is likely to do best on. Don't assume anything based on PSAT. 

 

The prep time plus time actually taking the test will outweigh losing the test fee, and it is far easier, imo, to focus on one test. 

 

If he really wants to take both, then I would pick one to focus prep time on, I would not go back and forth. They are really quite different tests. 

 

The ACT is the one that has trig, but it's just a few problems. 

[swimmermom3]

My ds raised his ACT score significantly by doing the following (I think this was a method recommended by College Confidential).  He would take a section of the test, but gave himself 10-15 minutes MORE time than was actually allowed.  He then reviewed ALL problems, even those he got correct to make sure he understood WHY each answer was correct.  He would then take another test, lowering the time by 5 minutes.  Again, he would go over every problem.  This method helped a great deal with pacing the test.  He was able to raise his ACT from a 28 to a 32.  He is going to take the ACT one more time in June because when he took the ACT last fall the science section was ridiculously hard (in his opinion) and it lowered his composite.  He would like a 34, so we will see.  

 

Ds's science score was significantly off from his other scores and it lowered his composite score.  He was offended as he is taking AP Biology and the teacher had recently complimented him on the progress he had made and how well he was doing in the class. It's good to hear others say that the section is difficult.

Dd used the REAL ACT Prep book. She said the science was the hardest to complete in the timeframe, so she read the questions first and skimmed for the answers. It was her highest score, 35. She had a 33 overall, which was her average score on the practice tests in the book.

 

Thank you both for the tips, which we can put to good use here. I have wondered how accurately the science portion of the ACT truly reflects a student's readiness to take a college-level science class.

[amsunshine]

Also, you may want to really keep tabs on the new PSAT and SAT, which roll out in Fall 2015.  From what I've read, the PSAT is supposed to be designed to more closely mimic the difficulty of the SAT, and there will be some different topics on the tests.  For example, I believe there will be less emphasis on geometry and more on algebra II on the new tests, but you should make sure you review that yourself before going into either of those tests in the fall.

[Kendall]

My son thought the magnet guys science videos were helpful.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef7rXEwHDFk

 

 

We are also finding the advice from this site helpful  https://www.prepscholar.com/

 

I like that there is a lot of free advice on the site and the guy says you don't have to do his class to improve.  

 

One thing he says is that going over every question (right and wrong) is more valuable than doing more tests and not going over them.  I can really see that this would be true on the math, not that it isn't on the others, but I went over every math question from the first ACT practice that he took.  My son misses almost nothing of what he finishes, but in those that he got right we found a lot of ways to make those questions faster.  He is going to go through the science himself the same way and see what he can learn.  He doesn't think that for him that the scan the questions will work, but he is figuring out that there are only certain parts that he needs to read before going to the questions.  

[swimmermom3]

My son thought the magnet guys science videos were helpful.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef7rXEwHDFk

 

 

We are also finding the advice from this site helpful  https://www.prepscholar.com/

 

I like that there is a lot of free advice on the site and the guy says you don't have to do his class to improve.  

 

One thing he says is that going over every question (right and wrong) is more valuable than doing more tests and not going over them.  I can really see that this would be true on the math, not that it isn't on the others, but I went over every math question from the first ACT practice that he took.  My son misses almost nothing of what he finishes, but in those that he got right we found a lot of ways to make those questions faster.  He is going to go through the science himself the same way and see what he can learn.  He doesn't think that for him that the scan the questions will work, but he is figuring out that there are only certain parts that he needs to read before going to the questions.  

 

Kendall, thanks for the info. We found the part in bold to be true here too, but not finishing all of the questions is of course, problematic.  I didn't think about looking at the questions to see if you could handle them faster. Would it be possible to give me some sort of sample strategy that you came up with?

 

[Kendall]

This is from the ACT 64E practice.  I don't remember what year test it was, but those numbers are on it and the link is on that prepscholar site on the page that has links to real ACT tests.  http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/360031/file-2227156987-pdf/Documents/ACT_Test_2011-12.pdf?t=1432245580872  Hopefully this link will take you right to the test.  

 

I'm just making this stuff up as I go, so I don't know how helpful in the end it will be.  We have only gone over one test.

 

1) Some of the speed issues can be cleaned up with some practice with concepts.  He can dredge them up but they aren't quick.  So we are going to review exponent rules, some geometry things, and I'm sure some other things will come up.  

 

2) On some problems he is writing too much down or doing too much of the problem.  For example, #4  If you add the squared terms there is only one answer that works.  Done, move on, don't simplify the whole thing.  #27 he wrote an equation, simplified it to 60=21t then wrote down the divide by 21 on each side.  Then used his calculator(I think)  He isn't here to ask.  First, 60 over 21 is almost 3 and there is only one answer close to that so you don't need to know exactly what it is.  Second, don't write down the divide by 21 part.   #11 You can quickly get to the point where you see it is over 5000.  Don't finish it, the answer is E 7350, #33 he wrote down what he was going to need to add together, no do it on the calculator(he is using a graphing calc so he can see what he is entering)  #42 He wrote down 3/15 and 5/15.  He knew the denominator was 15  just write the 3 and 5 if you must but nothing else.

 

I've got to help a child with writing that is due tonight.  I will do more later.

[Kendall]

Question #9 If you graph the two points the answer is obvious, no need to use the midpoint formula.  

#10 there are two points that are close(one is right) but just using the fact that the top two points are 4 apart in the x direction means the bottom one and the missing one will also be 4 apart makes that quick.

 #12 he calculated, when knowing that the exterior angles always sum to 360 saves lots of time  

#20 can be done without getting the exact square footage to cover.  You get the entire area, recognize it will be somewhat less, divide by 300 and you have the answer.  

#25 recognize that ratio of sides is same as the ratio of the perimeters (rather than finding all the sides and adding them)  #28 he drew lines for the paths, should have just written the number of paths(at most)  

#37 I would estimate by drawing a right angle(rip off a corner of the paper and use that if necessary) and only go back and be more precise if I had time to spare.   #38  He found the angle which is unnecessary as is finding the missing side.  This one can be done without even finding the side KL if you know the sine ratio.  It has to be something over 12 and it isn't 10 so that leaves only K to be the right answer.

#40 should not be done on the calculator that will take too much time.  divide the numbers and subtract the exponents and you have it.  #41 you don't even have to read anything, just use the picture if you know the law of cosine uses the angle between the sides.

 #50 is a concept one-if you know even functions are symmetrical about the y axis and odd ones about the origin then you don't need to plug numbers in.

#54 is another where the answer isn't close to any of the options except for the correct one so you don't have to get it exact.  Think 50 squared times 3 (instead of 52 squared times pi) and J is it.

 

These are a few of the things I shared with him.   He was trying to work some of these in the thorough get the final answer way needed for free response questions but that is often not needed for multiple choice. Time will tell whether this is helpful, I plan to go over some concepts and do some practice problems and then after he takes another test go through it the same way.  He is usually able to tell me which ones he spent too much time on.  I also encouraged him to skip the few with lots of words and get the others done and go back.  Lots of words really slows him down. Also some of the ones with lots of words don't need to be read such as #30.  See the formula, find the numbers plug and calculate.

 

 

[1Togo]

I haven't had time to reply until now.  Regarding my suggestion, it was based on prep for three weeks to go.  In an nutshell, take a complete SAT on the first day of the first week.  Then, spend the rest of the week analyzing each wrong answer.  Through analyzing, your student can determine if there is a strategy to help or if there is a knowledge gap for review.  The second week, take a complete ACT and go through the process.  The third week, take another SAT and go through the process.  If the ACT is a priority, change the test sequence to ACT, SAT, ACT or change the test date for the SAT to the first fall date and concentrate on ACT prep. Taking a complete test will take half of a day.  Analyzing a section takes 1+ hours, depending on the number of wrong answers, especially with math.

 

For long term prep, we have done the following:

 

Analytical Grammar

Fix-It

Access to Energy - science newsletter with lots of graphs

Bravewriter Timed Essay course

Math - Saxon, Tablet Class math

Beasley College Prep

 

[VANURSEPRAC]

:hurray: Thank you 1togo !

[Kendall]

Thanks everyone for the ideas back when I started this thread.  He raised his ACT score 6 points over last year and 5 points over his first practice test this year. And that was with a bad math day.  He did worse on math than he had with the last 4 practice tests.  He knows he just didn't move on from a few hard ones quick enough.  He raised science 10 points from last year.    His SAT was comparable.  So I am very pleased.

[Aretemama]

I also appreciated the helpful comments on this thread. My DS had a difficult school year with surgery and a long recovery and struggled to keep up in his classes. As a result his time for test prep was limited, but he did raise his score by six points from the year before, so we were happy. 

 

We used the 'Real ACT' tests, did about one a week and went over each question as Kendall had recommended which was a great help.  There were a couple of books that were inexpensive but helpful. Kaplan's ACT Prep book for overall strategy,  'Barron's ACT 36' was helpful for especially for the English sections, and Kaplan's ACT prep videos for math.

[goldberry]

I appreciate this thread, my daughter also has speed issues.  Here's a question:  She is way ahead of me in math.  She used Teaching Textbooks and Khan Academy, and in fall is taking College Algebra.  How can I help her get faster on math when I don't understand the problems myself to go through each one with her?

[JanetC]

I appreciate this thread, my daughter also has speed issues. Here's a question: She is way ahead of me in math. She used Teaching Textbooks and Khan Academy, and in fall is taking College Algebra. How can I help her get faster on math when I don't understand the problems myself to go through each one with her?

 

Are you doing sat or act? For the fall SAT, have her use Pwn the SAT Math book.

 

http://www.amazon.com/PWN-SAT-Guide-Mike-McClenathan/dp/1495933180

[Kendall]

She could do a lot of it herself.  Just going back through the problem and thinking about faster ways to do it, or where she wrote too much down or went to far in the problem when the answer was obvious earlier.  Always keep an eye on the solutions given.  The answer is there!  Don't do more work than necessary.  You could have her take the practice test that I mentioned above and then look at my comments, just to get her started.  A lot of times my son would be able to tell me what he had done and what he could have done to make it faster.    Also, the solutions in the ACT prep guide won't likely give you the fastest way to work it.  If she needs to look at the solutions to understand the problem that is okay, but then have her look for a faster way to do it.   You have probably read this, but the standard advice seems to be to only use real ACT test or practice tests and the tests from the Real ACT prep book.  

[Aretemama]

I appreciate this thread, my daughter also has speed issues.  Here's a question:  She is way ahead of me in math.  She used Teaching Textbooks and Khan Academy, and in fall is taking College Algebra.  How can I help her get faster on math when I don't understand the problems myself to go through each one with her?

 

You don't actually have to understand the problems to help her with speed strategies. Do you have a Roku? You can access Kaplan's test prep videos for free with the Roku. I think the Kaplan Youtube site has the same videos:  https://www.youtube.com/user/KaplanSATACT

These have nothing to do with understanding higher math, but with knowing how to find the answer faster.