SAT subject tests: how long to prep for them?

[Garga]

I'm planning out next year's school year--9th grade. 

 

By the end of the year, ds will be ready to take at least one SAT subject test, maybe two.  I plan on getting an SAT test prep book of some sort (or Khan academy) to prepare for the test.

 

How long does it take to go through books like that (or Khan) to prepare for the test?  How many hours a day for how many days?  Should I make time for 20 days (a month of school) to prepare?  40 days (2 months?)  Longer?

 

My son is not yet a highly motivated student.  He does what I ask to him and puts in the least amount of effort to get the job done. He will not dig into these books himself for his own sake.  Unless something changes over the next 10 months, he'll do it with resignation and only because I make him. 

 

For that kind of student, who will drag his feet through the process, how long?

 

P.S.  He's getting a lot better.  I'm not trying to bad mouth him, but the motivation of the student oftentimes sets the length of time the job will take. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TiaTia]

Your mileage will vary, but here's what I think.

 

Because of where he is, in terms of motivation and ownership (and age), I'd take a long, close look at the curricula he's using for the subjects you think he'll take SAT Subject Tests on.  Before worrying about any prep books, you (not him) could drill down into the real, released subject tests available in those big, fat College Board books or on their website. See what the material tested actually is.  Look at CB's web pages where they tell you the percentage coverage for specific topics tested.  Check out the practice questions they provide online.  Then tweak the coursework so that he's got the best possible shot of covering and understanding the actual material they will be testing on, next June.  Check the content at midyear to see if he's on track.  If he's a lukewarm student anyway, but really does care about the eventual test scores, for whatever reasons of his own, then this sort of "teaching to the test" won't ruin anything for him, but could help set him up for success.  I'd make sure he does cumulative review all year so that the chances of content "sticking" increases.  Then his review will pay off more handsomely. 

If he's done with his courses by early May, then he'll have nearly 4 weeks before the Saturday, June 3 testing. 

 

1. If you can get for him TWO real, released exams (not prep book exams) for each subject, that would be beautiful.  (Two might be close to the maximum number you can get, by the way, so I wouldn't squander them by using them earlier in the year for review or practice.)  Your student could start by taking one of these the moment his course is over.  This would be JUST a place-marker.  Tell him the number really doesn't matter, except as a bookend.  He would use its results, though, to make a list of exactly where to focus his efforts -- and he may enjoy the idea of investing as little as possible for the maximum reward possible, based on what you wrote.  On the other hand, if that score happens to be a rude wake-up call because it's a lot lower than hoped, that might help him light his own fire.  As long as he knows the first score is JUST a starting line, and NOT an assessment of his self-worth or intellect or place in the universe and your heart, then he might enjoy the competitive aspect of beating his score on the second round. 
    
2. For 2 weeks, he can focus on those areas of review that he thinks would give him the most payoff.  That's where prep books can come in handy.  He'll be glad he did cumulative review (if he did) when he realizes his brain is better able to take in materials it has seen at some point in the past. 
    
3. Then, taking the second real, released test with about a week to go would allow him to make a serious comparison.  Hopefully, his score would go UP (!) and that would encourage him.  Bonus:  he'd still have time to brush up on a couple things before the real exam. 

Compared to what he'd learn by relying on prep book practice tests, I think that using the CB exams in this way may give him a more realistic notion of where his scores could likely fall -- plus or minus some margin for the weirdness of real life.  That can be a psychological boost.  It's about attitude!  If you think only a 780 will do, you could be bummed by a 775.  But if you're working in the 580 zone and end up with a 615, you may feel very cheerful indeed.

 

One last thought: some 9th graders find that one Subject Test is plenty.  If they are fearful or reluctant, or just not big scholars yet, then scoring well on ONE instead of "meh" on two can give them some nice confidence for their next year, when their academic skills may be better anyway. 

[Garga]

Your mileage will vary, but here's what I think.

 

Because of where he is, in terms of motivation and ownership (and age), I'd take a long, close look at the curricula he's using for the subjects you think he'll take SAT Subject Tests on.  Before worrying about any prep books, you (not him) could drill down into the real, released subject tests available in those big, fat College Board books or on their website. See what the material tested actually is.  Look at CB's web pages where they tell you the percentage coverage for specific topics tested.  Check out the practice questions they provide online.  Then tweak the coursework so that he's got the best possible shot of covering and understanding the actual material they will be testing on, next June.  Check the content at midyear to see if he's on track.  If he's a lukewarm student anyway, but really does care about the eventual test scores, for whatever reasons of his own, then this sort of "teaching to the test" won't ruin anything for him, but could help set him up for success.  I'd make sure he does cumulative review all year so that the chances of content "sticking" increases.  Then his review will pay off more handsomely. 

 

If he's done with his courses by early May, then he'll have nearly 4 weeks before the Saturday, June 3 testing. 

 

1. If you can get for him TWO real, released exams (not prep book exams) for each subject, that would be beautiful.  (Two might be close to the maximum number you can get, by the way, so I wouldn't squander them by using them earlier in the year for review or practice.)  Your student could start by taking one of these the moment his course is over.  This would be JUST a place-marker.  Tell him the number really doesn't matter, except as a bookend.  He would use its results, though, to make a list of exactly where to focus his efforts -- and he may enjoy the idea of investing as little as possible for the maximum reward possible, based on what you wrote.  On the other hand, if that score happens to be a rude wake-up call because it's a lot lower than hoped, that might help him light his own fire.  As long as he knows the first score is JUST a starting line, and NOT an assessment of his self-worth or intellect or place in the universe and your heart, then he might enjoy the competitive aspect of beating his score on the second round. 

    

2. For 2 weeks, he can focus on those areas of review that he thinks would give him the most payoff.  That's where prep books can come in handy.  He'll be glad he did cumulative review (if he did) when he realizes his brain is better able to take in materials it has seen at some point in the past. 

    

3. Then, taking the second real, released test with about a week to go would allow him to make a serious comparison.  Hopefully, his score would go UP (!) and that would encourage him.  Bonus:  he'd still have time to brush up on a couple things before the real exam. 

Compared to what he'd learn by relying on prep book practice tests, I think that using the CB exams in this way may give him a more realistic notion of where his scores could likely fall -- plus or minus some margin for the weirdness of real life.  That can be a psychological boost.  It's about attitude!  If you think only a 780 will do, you could be bummed by a 775.  But if you're working in the 580 zone and end up with a 615, you may feel very cheerful indeed.

 

One last thought: some 9th graders find that one Subject Test is plenty.  If they are fearful or reluctant, or just not big scholars yet, then scoring well on ONE instead of "meh" on two can give them some nice confidence for their next year, when their academic skills may be better anyway. 

 

 

Thank you for that answer!  That's exactly the sort of thing I need to know.  Thank you for taking the time to write it.

[Lilaclady]

I will say it really depends on the subjects he is taking. You can look at what each subject tests covers and see how they align with what courses he will be taking during the year.

[workingmom]

1. If you can get for him TWO real, released exams (not prep book exams) for each subject, that would be beautiful.  (Two might be close to the maximum number you can get, by the way, so I wouldn't squander them by using them earlier in the year for review or practice.)  Your student could start by taking one of these the moment his course is over.  This would be JUST a place-marker.  Tell him the number really doesn't matter, except as a bookend.  He would use its results, though, to make a list of exactly where to focus his efforts -- and he may enjoy the idea of investing as little as possible for the maximum reward possible, based on what you wrote.  On the other hand, if that score happens to be a rude wake-up call because it's a lot lower than hoped, that might help him light his own fire.  As long as he knows the first score is JUST a starting line, and NOT an assessment of his self-worth or intellect or place in the universe and your heart, then he might enjoy the competitive aspect of beating his score on the second round. 

 

Where do you find real released test? We're in this predicament for BIO SAT II. He technically already took BIO in 9th but at that time didn't know he'd need a science subject test. We need to prep for the test after he takes DE Anatomy and Physio Fall.

[TiaTia]

Workingmom, get the College Board's big, fat blue book called Official Study Guide for All SAT Subject Tests, Second Edition.  You can find used copies everywhere, cheaply.
 

It has at least one bio test . . . actually, I think only one (can't lay my hands on mine right now to confirm), but with questions from both the E and M versions (they share a common core set of questions). 

 

Alas, unlike the US and world history subject tests, you can't buy an additional skinny volume to get an extra practice test from the College Board.  (That skinny history book happens to have two tests each for US and world, with one each that are NOT duplicated in the big, fat book.)

 

If you can't Google the answer to a question, try the College Board order-takers on the phone.  I had good luck there once when I was very puzzled about something.
 

[mumto2]

We used the Blue book, Barron's, annd Princeton. We bought most used inexpensively. One thing I wish I had done was get the review books at the beginning of the course for my use. I think it would have been really nice to have checked topics off as we covered them.

 

I think review wise it depends on the student. For Maths 1 and 2 ds reviewed pretty intensely the two weeks before. I made a serious schedule and we did it. Dd took the same exams with very little review because it was during AP exams. Dd spent a month going through the REA guide for Latin at her own pace. The Lit books we barely touched. The pretest went well. Did an actual a couple days before.

[MomsintheGarden]

Hi Garga!

 

:seeya: For those of you who don't know, Reg and I have met both Garga and Creekland in real life at the meetups.  They are lovely ladies.

 

Ds 18 is the only one of my children who has taken SAT Subject tests so far.  He took six of them because he had his sights set on a highly selective school.  I am not sure any of our other children will because it depends on where they may want to go.  SAT Subject tests really add to the testing load if a student is doing the PSAT, the SAT, and AP tests.  The curves are also pretty brutal as the test takers are a self-selecting bunch, many of whom are excellent students with high aspirations.  If you don’t need them, I don’t recommend them.  Ymmv, though, a lot!

 

Ds took the SAT Math 2 subject test in May 2015.  He finished Larson Precalculus with the Dana Mosely of Chalkdust videos the week of March 23-27.  After he finished precalc he went into “math lite†mode because he was getting ready for the Chemistry SAT subject test, the AP English Language & Comp AP exam, and the AP Chemistry exam, etc.  He is an excellent math student and test taker, and the Larson books (Algebra I – Precalc) combined with the Chalkdust videos taught him pretty much everything he needed for the SAT Subject test.  He just needed to review and practice.

 

Here is his schedule for last year.  It’s a little wonky based on which books I could get from the library, and for how long.  I couldn’t get the College Board book, but that would be a good choice if it were available to you.  Since these tests have not changed much in the past few years the non-CB prep materials are quite mature and helpful.

 

March 23-27:  Finish Precalculus, Take the Barron’s SAT Math 2 Subject Practice Test 1, score your test and review the concepts you missed.

March 30-April 3:  Take  the Barron’s SAT Math 2 Subject Practice Test 2 and Practice Test 3, score your tests, and review the concepts you missed.

April 6-10:  Take the Princeton Review SAT Math 2 Subject Practice Test 1 and Practice Test 2, score your tests, and review the concepts you missed.

April 13-17:  Take the Barron’s SAT Math 2 Subject Practice Test 4 and Practice Test 5, score your tests, and review the concepts you missed.

April 20-24:  Take  the Barron’s SAT Math 2 Subject Practice Test 6, score your test, and review the concepts you missed.

April 27-May 1:  Review anything you need to.  Take the SAT Math 2 Subject Test this Saturday, May 2.

 

His prep for the Chemistry subject test consisted of taking four practice tests from the Barron’s prep book, spread out over the month before the test, but mostly prepping for the AP Chemistry exam, which was harder.

 

HTH,

GardenMom

 

ETA - just a few additions & corrected typos.

Edited July 31, 2016 by MomsintheGarden

[workingmom]

GardenMom,

How many hours would you say it took him each day he did your schedule for that week?

[JanetC]

I would think really hard about whether an under-motivated freshman even needs to take subject tests.

 

Most colleges don't require subject tests, and those that do have requirements tend to require only 2 tests. These tests can be taken up to the fall of senior year. There is plenty of time.

 

Guide to subject test requirements on page 62 here:

http://downloads.compassprep.com/compass_guide_to_admission_testing_2015-16.pdf

 

ETA Newest version here http://downloads.compassprep.com/compass_guide_to_admission_testing_2016-17.pdf

Edited August 1, 2016 by JanetC

[MomsintheGarden]

GardenMom,

How many hours would you say it took him each day he did your schedule for that week?

 

Finishing all the tasks on the prep book schedule took between one and five hours per week, which was much less time than he usually spent on math.  His precalc course took him about 2 hours/day.  Chalkdust/Larson precalc is the most time-consuming course in their series.  Many students take 1 1/2 school years to finish it.

 

I prefer to do what I call "front loading" the study schedule for these kinds of tests, especially AP exams.  I schedule my children for more work early in the school year if possible so they have time to learn the subject without panicking over the exam.  For example, ds took four APs this spring.  He began studying the textbooks for those exams in late August, and finished studying them by the end of the first week of March.  He then spent the rest of March and all of April studying a prep book for each exam.  That gave him time to study each subject twice, a solid strategy for really learning the material and scoring well on the exams.

 

This kind of schedule does not work well with all students.  Some prefer to study a prep book along with the textbook.  Others do not need as much review. Five of my children have each taken at least 2 AP exams so far, and I far prefer front loading followed by relearning/reviewing with a prep book for at least a month before the exam.  Front loading the study schedule also gives the student a bit of cushion for illness, travel, activities, and other events.

[MomsintheGarden]

I would think really hard about whether an under-motivated freshman even needs to take subject tests.

 

Most colleges don't require subject tests, and those that do have requirements tend to require only 2 tests. These tests can be taken up to the fall of senior year. There is plenty of time.

 

Guide to subject test requirements on page 62 here:

http://downloads.compassprep.com/compass_guide_to_admission_testing_2015-16.pdf

 

:iagree:

Yes.  Exactly.