Resources for SAT subject tests?

[readwithem]

What resources have your students used to prepare for SAT subject tests? I see the College Board has an all encompassing book, with practice tests for all subjects. Is that too broad? We'll likely do chemistry, math, French, lit and US history over 2 test dates next spring.

[Gwen in VA]

1) Get a SAT-II prep book (or two) for each and every subject. Each SAT-II prep book has a different "flavor"; my kids usually worked through one prep book in entirity and then poked through another.

 

I believe the College Board book just has practice tests, so your child will need another practice / test prep book in addition to the CB one.

 

2) Choose the prep book(s) by having your dd go to a Barnes and Nobles or whatever. Go to the test prep section, pull out all the relevant books, and leave her with the stack and instructions to find the two that seem to fit best with her learning style. The prep books are VERY different -- even if she usually likes REA or Kaplan's or whatever, you can't just assume that REA or Kaplan's is the best book for every test.

 

(Between my two older kids we somehow ended up with four prep books for the math SAT-II level 1. They were so different that we could hardly believe they were all intended to help with the same exam!)

 

3) After your child has worked through one of the prep books, have her take practice exams from both prep books. The tests from the different practice books will be quite different and will give different scores -- ignore the scores! Focus on improvement. (My kids found that the scores on the test prep tests were MUCH lower than the actual scores they received on the tests.)

 

4) After your child feels like she knows wht she is doing on the practice tests, have her take the "real" test from the College Board book. It is probably MUCH easier than the practice books, it has no errors in it, and it is better written. Take that score more seriously.

 

5) Have your kid relax .....:D and if she wants to, do another practice test.

 

Test prep is important. I know that especially for the chemistry and the literature exams, my kids said that they would not have done nearly so well without the prep books that gave them an idea of the type of problems to expect. (The chem exam has one seriously weird section -- you could spend half an hour just processing the directions!)

[readwithem]

Thanks Gwen. Maybe we can borrow your books :):)

 

Going to B&N is a good idea - we did that for SAT books (to prepare for the PSAT) so I don't know why I didn't think of it. As I recall, the B&N had some "holes" in what was available so I have been looking at Amazon.

 

And thanks for the heads up on the chem exam. She looked at the college board site and was pleasantly surprised - I think she thought each subject test would be the length (and depth) of the SAT I exam.

 

This is really going to be her year for testing. She will likely take the SAT I in March, since the subject tests aren't given for that date. Then in June she will probably do SAT IIs in the morning and dance in the afternoon :) Nothing like trying to do it all.

 

Edit to say I was kidding about borrowing your books - we should have thought of that last week! :)

[Jane in NC]

This might not be much help to you, but I will tell you that my son took the Sat subject test in biology on the heels of doing the AP test. This seems to be the usual path for the science courses (as opposed to foreign language where you would like your student to have as much under his belt as possible).

 

His preparation focused on the AP exam. In the weeks between the AP in early May and the SAT subject in early June, he worked through a couple of books. I don't think that there is a magic publisher for any of these test prep books other than most people recommend taking a look at the official guide that the College Board publishes. I would supplement this with some of the other study guides. Perhaps your library has some for you to examine?

 

Good luck.

Jane

[readwithem]

thanks Jane, I know she's considered doing some AP's with that thought in mind - and those would be for the courses she's doing this year (US History, chem, etc.). At this point AP's are a little lower on her priority list than SAT subjects, but she wants to get through the PSAT in the next few weeks and then get a study plan for the rest of the year. Junior year is the most intense (so far anyway!) but she's motivated and loves just about everything she's studying.

[Brenda in MA]

discussion forums about the SAT Subject Tests. My son has taken 3 tests, and our experience has been the opposite of Gwen's. My son has done worse on each test than the practice tests indicated.

 

I found out later through College Confidential that certain publisher's prep books have more realistic tests than others. For example, my son used the Kaplan book for the Physics test and easily got 800s on the practice exams. This demotivated him from studying hard for the test because he thought he was all set. He was discouraged to find that the actual test was quite a bit harder, and he scored considerably lower than 800 on it.

 

Just our experience,

Brenda

[Kareni]

Five exams over two test dates could be pretty grueling. Also, I believe that if your child feels she did poorly, one cannot selectively cancel scoring. It's an all or nothing proposition for a given date.

 

Also, not all exams are offered on a given test date so do double check. A number of exams are only given twice a year (Latin is one example).

 

I second the recommendation of looking over a variety of test prep books. In addition to B & N (and don't forget your educator's discount), see what your library has. Free is always good!

 

Best wishes to your daughter. Mine also took a boatload of tests in junior year.

 

Regards,

Kareni