NYTimes opinion page: How I Learned to Take the SAT Like a Rich Kid

[Arcadia]

It is an interesting read regardless of what you may feel about test taking

 

"Family and friends from home thought it was weird that I went to “school†during my summers, but the kids at Exeter saw summer academic programs as normal and enjoyable. I was happy to be around so many fellow nerds. Still, they approached studying for the SAT with a near-professional intensity that was alien to me.

 

I realized that they didn’t just want to score exceptionally well on the SAT. They were gunning for a score on the Preliminary SAT exams that would put them in the top percentile of students in the United States and make them National Merit Scholars in the fall."

 

"I had opted out of Exeter’s SAT prep. So the following fall, when I posted a so-so SAT score, I went into Super-ZIP-kid mode.

 

I couldn’t afford a $3,000 40-hour prep course or tutor. But I could take out test prep books at the public library. There were very few checkout stamps on the book jackets, so I kept renewing them. I also took a $99 online program I heard about on NPR and Khan Academy’s free SAT section. On Saturdays, I commuted an hour each way to Ann Arbor for a free test-prep program at the University of Michigan.

 

My post-prep score saw a solid pop, and that awarded me access to tens of thousands in automatic merit awards to local colleges. I was encouraged to throw my hat in the ring at some more selective universities."

 

"This past month, I watched many of these friends dazzle their social media followers with acceptance letters from Northwestern, Harvard, Williams and Duke, as well as six-figure Presidential Scholarships to various public universities. Their success was hard-earned and I am proud of them. I only wish that more lower- and middle-income peers knew how to pursue such aggressive strategies."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/opinion/how-i-learned-to-take-the-sat-like-a-rich-kid.html?_r=0

[...................]

I love it.

 

If I had read this article as a teenager maybe it would have helped me. It never occurred to me to study for the SAT and even though I went to a small private school, had a kind, involved guidance counselor and graduated top ten in my class, not a single person ever explained to me that study books existed or how to use them.

[regentrude]

I do not understand the article. What exactly did the author do that "rich kids" do? Take some test prep books and prepare before taking the test? Wouldn't that be common sense?

[Arcadia]

I do not understand the article. What exactly did the author do that "rich kids" do? Take some test prep books and prepare before taking the test? Wouldn't that be common sense?

Unfortunately it is not common knowledge that taking the SAT or ACT matters. In fact my district announced recently that they would pay for the first attempt at SAT or ACT but it is not compulsory to take either exam. My district is not sponsoring a retake though. Kids are not told PSAT scores matters so parents who know prep their kids while parents who don't know won't even realise what PSAT is since it is done on a school day.

 

On some local high schools' webpages under SAT prep is a list of private prep centers. Free resources were not listed. Whether public school guidance counselors mention about automatic merit awards being available for good SAT or ACT scores is really dependent on the counselor. The private schools we visited would talk about scores and scholarships during parent information sessions at open houses.

Edited April 10, 2017 by Arcadia

[madteaparty]

I do not understand the article. What exactly did the author do that "rich kids" do? Take some test prep books and prepare before taking the test? Wouldn't that be common sense?

For real.

[kiana]

It is not even so much "things rich kids do" as "things from families with cultural capital do". If you are from that sort of family, it is mind-bogglingly obvious.

 

If nobody you know has ever gone to any college other than possibly a local state U or CC for which they paid with loans and got admitted with their average SAT/ACT from their first attempt (or especially if nobody you know has ever gone to any college at all), it is a foreign concept. 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I do not understand the article. What exactly did the author do that "rich kids" do? Take some test prep books and prepare before taking the test? Wouldn't that be common sense?

Less common than you might think.

 

I also think that as schools have shifted to administering the PSAT as a mandatory test during a school day that it can become just one more test, blending in with state assessments and end of course exams.

 

I did a College booth a few years ago about a week before the PSAT. I was dismayed by how many students didn't know if they were taking it or what it was.

 

I meet seniors who are first thinking about taking the SAT in fall of senior year. Often the Dec test is the next one open. Which means they will have 1-2 sitting max and none that allow for an early action application.

[StillStanding]

Just last week at Wednesday Night Supper at our church I overheard (this family sat next to us) a conversation about the ACT. This young girl, a senior, was hopping to get a 21 to qualify for the HOPE Scholarship. The father of the family next to us asked her why she was even bothering to study for the ACT. He then proceeded to call his son who just graduated last year, and he asked his son what his ACT score had been. The son said he had received a 19 and that was good enough to qualify for the TN Promise so why bother. The son then proceeded to tell this girl that he had had a few subscores below 19 and that had just meant he had to take remedial classes his first semester of community college....He is planning to transfer to a 4 year college after he receives his associates degree. :glare:

 

I was just shocked (mostly by the adult's response).

 

I actually googled the average ACT score for my county. It is a 19.5.

 

Our high school does not provide an ACT prep. class.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

It is not even so much "things rich kids do" as "things from families with cultural capital do". If you are from that sort of family, it is mind-bogglingly obvious.

 

If nobody you know has ever gone to any college other than possibly a local state U or CC for which they paid with loans and got admitted with their average SAT/ACT from their first attempt (or especially if nobody you know has ever gone to any college at all), it is a foreign concept.

There is a leg up for families who know what questions to ask. Even though the process has changed quite a bit, we had a starting idea of what the process would look like.

 

But

 

I've also read many books and articles about college applications starting back when my kids were in middle school. We went to college fairs and info nights. I've been on email lists and blogs and boards. I read articles about education and asked questions. I tried to whittle down the pile of known unknowns and figure out answers to the known unknowns.

 

When my kids have done various sports there have often been kids who practiced everyday instead of twice a week. In swimming there were kids in the pool at 0430 and again in the afternoon. It's not surprising that they swam faster than my kid.

 

Many parents who don't know about college apps or tests know exactly when little league or pee see football or 4 year old soccer opens up.

[8filltheheart]

Less common than you might think.

 

I also think that as schools have shifted to administering the PSAT as a mandatory test during a school day that it can become just one more test, blending in with state assessments and end of course exams.

 

I did a College booth a few years ago about a week before the PSAT. I was dismayed by how many students didn't know if they were taking it or what it was.

 

I meet seniors who are first thinking about taking the SAT in fall of senior year. Often the Dec test is the next one open. Which means they will have 1-2 sitting max and none that allow for an early action application.

 

I gave a college application workshop on Sat.  Many of the parents were public school parents.  The parents had never heard of the PSAT before.  They didn't understand that many scholarships are connected to certain scores, etc.  I am going to give another one this summer and I have a feeling that the next one is going to be dominated by the ps parents.  I had a lot of parents tell me that they had never heard anything like I shared and that they realize now that they cannot rely on their guidance counselors.  I

[showelott]

I talk to parents all the time that are caught off guard by the SAT. Locally our guidance counselors are swamped - they are supposed to oversee hundreds of kids.The great news now is that the College Board is finally releasing their old practice tests that you can download for free. And they have full explanations for every question (the math explanations leave something to be desired, but at least it is something) And the Khan Academy also offers free practice. And lots of tutors put tons of great info and resources on their blogs. It's easier than ever to access good info - but there's still work to do to make sure every kid has access to good test prep info and materials in order to get their best score.

 

[regentrude]

It is not even so much "things rich kids do" as "things from families with cultural capital do". If you are from that sort of family, it is mind-bogglingly obvious.

 

If nobody you know has ever gone to any college other than possibly a local state U or CC for which they paid with loans and got admitted with their average SAT/ACT from their first attempt (or especially if nobody you know has ever gone to any college at all), it is a foreign concept. 

 

It is mind boggling to me.

I mean, I grew up in a foreign country and never even heard of the existence of these tests (let alone took any standardized test, ever) until a few years ago. Where I am from, people get into university by passing their high school finals of the college prep high school.

 

But once you know there are tests, don't you read up a little and figure out what they are used for?

Or look up the local college's website and realize, oh, they want such-and-such a score, and take it from there?

Edited April 10, 2017 by regentrude

[8filltheheart]

It is mind boggling to me.

I mean, I grew up in another culture and never even heard of the existence of these tests (let alone took any standardized test, ever) until a few years ago. Where I am from, people get into university by passing their high school finals of the college prep high school.

But once you know there are tests, don't you read up a little and figure out what they are used for?

 

From listening to other parents talk, it sounds like public schools really do not like parental involvement when it comes to anything academic.  Ironically, no matter where we have lived, parents always insist that their local public school is great and that the poor public schools are elsewhere.  (every single state.  Just NO!!)

 

Anyway, b/c of those 2 attitudes, it seems like parents just step out of the picture and let the schools do everything and expect everything to turn out the way it is meant to be.  Ugh!  It is just plain crazy.  The parents that came to my workshop were proactive parents.  It is why they were there.  And even they had never heard of the PSAT.  The ACT they knew about.  This is ACT country, so part of the ignorance probably stems from the fact that they are just completely unfamiliar with anything to do with the SAT.  They had never heard of subject tests, either.

[kiana]

But once you know there are tests, don't you read up a little and figure out what they are used for?

Or look up the local college's website and realize, oh, they want such-and-such a score, and take it from there?

 

This is your reaction because you are an intellectual and a scientist. :)

 

You would be honestly amazed at the number of people who will do crazy things just because that is the way their family did them or because an authority figure told them to do it that way. 

[kiana]

From listening to other parents talk, it sounds like public schools really do not like parental involvement when it comes to anything academic. 

 

Yeah, this too. When my mother was trying to advocate for me (in elementary school), a direct quote was "Look, Mrs. Kiana, you don't understand. You put them on the bus, and we take it from there."

[Garga]

I never took the SAT in high school and wasn't encouraged to by anyone. A few kids took an SAT prep class, but it always seemed foreign to me. It was only the preppy kids who took those classes and they were always anxious over their grades and I never understood why. Something about how their parents wanted them to get good grades. I was glad my parents didn't make me anxious and were laid back about my grades. I got As and Bs and a C in gym and they were fine with that.

 

My parents didn't know anything about SAT tests and did not encourage me to go to college. They didn't have a clue how to help me as they never went to college either. When I was 15 they said, 'We have $2500 that we can give to you toward a car or toward college. You pick." I chose the car. (Doh!)

 

It's been 27 years since I was in high school, so perhaps things have changed...and perhaps not.

Edited April 10, 2017 by Garga

[Garga]

From listening to other parents talk, it sounds like public schools really do not like parental involvement when it comes to anything academic. Ironically, no matter where we have lived, parents always insist that their local public school is great and that the poor public schools are elsewhere. (every single state. Just NO!!)

 

Anyway, b/c of those 2 attitudes, it seems like parents just step out of the picture and let the schools do everything and expect everything to turn out the way it is meant to be. Ugh! It is just plain crazy. The parents that came to my workshop were proactive parents. It is why they were there. And even they had never heard of the PSAT. The ACT they knew about. This is ACT country, so part of the ignorance probably stems from the fact that they are just completely unfamiliar with anything to do with the SAT. They had never heard of subject tests, either.

My nephew gets straight As in his public school high school classes and gets straight As in his duel enrollment classes and has taken enough that his first year of college will be done by this June. However, he wrote a positively dreadful essay to apply to the University of Maryland this year. His mom posted it on FB saying, "It's a rough draft, but it's great!" Well...it wasn't.

 

I had a job helping people to write short essays and I offered to help him with his essay. I reminded him about an incident in his life that would have made him shine and told him I'd give him pointers to re-write the essay. He resisted me. He said, "Let me see what my guidance counsellor thinks." The GC told him that the essay he'd written was fine (it wasn't.)

 

I asked nephew if he'd applied to more than one school. He didn't. UMBC has a 56% acceptance rate, which is pretty low, so he had about a 50/50 chance of getting it.

 

Well, he didn't get in. He was so sure that his straight As would get him in. I know he didn't do SAT prep.

 

The thing is, this kid wants to do the right thing for the most part. But he trusted his guidance counsellor over his old aunt. He didn't understand about acceptance rates and how getting into some schools is a lottery and you can have straight As, but so does your competition. And with a crummy essay...nope.

 

He's not a dumb kid. He just has no guidance that he knows how to trust. His parents didn't help him. They just let him write his essay alone without giving him feedback, told him to apply to one school...and he missed his chance for a 4 year college, which is what he wanted. He'll finish his 2nd year of college at the local CC, and then transfer. It's sad to me, because he knows what he wants to do and has goals in life and would put in the work if he just knew where to direct his attention.

 

His family is lower middle class. They don't especially value education. His older brother never even graduated high school at all.

[8filltheheart]

My nephew gets straight As in his public school high school classes and gets straight As in his duel enrollment classes and has taken enough that his first year of college will be done by this June. However, he wrote a positively dreadful essay to apply to the University of Maryland this year. His mom posted it on FB saying, "It's a rough draft, but it's great!" Well...it wasn't.

 

I had a job helping people to write short essays and I offered to help him with his essay. I reminded him about an incident in his life that would have made him shine and told him I'd give him pointers to re-write the essay. He resisted me. He said, "Let me see what my guidance counsellor thinks." The GC told him that the essay he'd written was fine (it wasn't.)

 

I asked nephew if he'd applied to more than one school. He didn't. UMBC has a 56% acceptance rate, which is pretty low, so he had about a 50/50 chance of getting it.

 

Well, he didn't get in. He was so sure that his straight As would get him in. I know he didn't do SAT prep.

 

The thing is, this kid wants to do the right thing for the most part. But he trusted his guidance counsellor over his old aunt. He didn't understand about acceptance rates and how getting into some schools is a lottery and you can have straight As, but so does your competition. And with a crummy essay...nope.

 

He's not a dumb kid. He just has no guidance that he knows how to trust. His parents didn't help him. They just let him write his essay alone without giving him feedback, told him to apply to one school...and he missed his chance for a 4 year college, which is what he wanted. He'll finish his 2nd year of college at the local CC, and then transfer. It's sad to me, because he knows what he wants to do and has goals in life and would put in the work if he just knew where to direct his attention.

 

His family is lower middle class. They don't especially value education. His older brother never even graduated high school at all.

 

That is such a heart-breaking story.  I am sorry he didn't listen to your advice.

 

That is another thing I did at my workshop.  I shared 2 different topic paragraphs from a couple of dd's essays.  Dd is a powerful writer.  I used them to emphasize that students need to "show, not tell" in their essays.  I could hear a couple of comments from down in the audience while I was reading them.  The woman that organized the event told me later that a couple of parents told her that they had never heard writing like that before.  :(

[regentrude]

You would be honestly amazed at the number of people who will do crazy things just because that is the way their family did them or because an authority figure told them to do it that way. 

 

I guess this is where growing up in a totalitarian regime where you never trusted any authority figure is an advantage.

 

This is so sad.

[Bootsie]

I have never taken the SAT exam.  I took the ACT exam twice--once in my junior year and early in my senior year.  The only prep I did was review a short practice exam that was provided in the application booklet.  I did not know anyone who studied for the ACT (I lived in a state in which ACT was the predominate test and can't recall anyone ever taking the SAT).  It wasn't that I was a slacker--I was valedictorian of my high school class.  I received what was fairly equivalent to a full-ride at a state university.  

 

Way back then, the thought was that you could not practice for and significantly improve your ACT or SAT scores.  Your job was to focus on school work and learning you material, and then the test scores would fall in to place.  Especially the SAT was supposed to be a measure of aptitude, not necessarily hard work or preparation.  Although learning basic test taking strategies could help, there was not such thing as learning the tricks of the exam.  Also, I never took a dual credit or AP class in high school, but I received a strong, appropriate high school education.

 

DH had much the same experience.  He took the SAT once and applied to only one university--no AP or dual credit courses in high school.  

 

So, even if parents went to college themselves, the approach to the test preparation is much different today than it might have been when they were in high school.  

[MinivanMom]

From listening to other parents talk, it sounds like public schools really do not like parental involvement when it comes to anything academic.  Ironically, no matter where we have lived, parents always insist that their local public school is great and that the poor public schools are elsewhere.  (every single state.  Just NO!!)

 

Anyway, b/c of those 2 attitudes, it seems like parents just step out of the picture and let the schools do everything and expect everything to turn out the way it is meant to be.  Ugh!  It is just plain crazy.  The parents that came to my workshop were proactive parents.  It is why they were there.  And even they had never heard of the PSAT.  The ACT they knew about.  This is ACT country, so part of the ignorance probably stems from the fact that they are just completely unfamiliar with anything to do with the SAT.  They had never heard of subject tests, either.

 

My dh grew up in ACT country. He signed up for the PSAT, because his counselor told him he was supposed to take it. He qualified as a NMSF with no prep, but never went on to take the SAT. All the schools he was applying to required the ACT, and he didn't realize that there were scholarships available for NMF even at ACT schools. Plus, his dad told him that he was better off working and saving the money than skipping a Sat morning's wages for a test that didn't count for the colleges he was applying to. Of course he trusted his dad. 

 

Dh wound up attending a university that offers full-tuition scholarships to NMF. He did not get one of those scholarships. He didn't even realize he missed out until I found his PSAT scores in a box of old school things when we were moving as newlyweds and explained it to him. He had no idea. 

 

So if you're wondering who those kids are who qualify as a NMSF, but go no further . . . dh was one of them. He had great PSAT scores and a 4.0 gpa, but never took the SAT. Never mind prepping for the SAT; many kids don't even know that these kinds of scholarships exist or realize that those opportunities could apply to them. There is a huge knowledge gap for so many kids.

[JoJosMom]

My dh grew up in ACT country. He signed up for the PSAT, because his counselor told him he was supposed to take it. He qualified as a NMSF with no prep, but never went on to take the SAT. All the schools he was applying to required the ACT, and he didn't realize that there were scholarships available for NMF even at ACT schools. Plus, his dad told him that he was better off working and saving the money than skipping a Sat morning's wages for a test that didn't count for the colleges he was applying to. Of course he trusted his dad. 

 

Dh wound up attending a university that offers full-tuition scholarships to NMF. He did not get one of those scholarships. He didn't even realize he missed out until I found his PSAT scores in a box of old school things when we were moving as newlyweds and explained it to him. He had no idea. 

 

So if you're wondering who those kids are who qualify as a NMSF, but go no further . . . dh was one of them. He had great PSAT scores and a 4.0 gpa, but never took the SAT. Never mind prepping for the SAT; many kids don't even know that these kinds of scholarships exist or realize that those opportunities could apply to them. There is a huge knowledge gap for so many kids.

 

:iagree: I guess it's very easy for people who are active on a homeschool board to forget that others lack their same level of knowledge.  I was the first person on either side of the family to go to college.  Now my parents-especially my dad-were incredibly supportive of me, but you don't know what you don't know.  It wasn't until I participated on these boards many (many) years later that I realized the missed potential of not following up on that "congratulations, you are a National Merit Semi-Finalist" letter.  That was long before the internet, so there was no looking up the information.  (And even now, some of us live in flyover country where internet is a luxury that many people simply don't have.)  Looking back, I can't help but wonder where the heck my guidance counselor was; one would assume that something like that would have been on her radar, but apparently not.

[lewber]

This is exactly how it is on our public high school. The guidance counselors have become social workers and they do not have the time to help 300 kids get into the perfect college. It's very sad. My DS is in public school but I come here for educational advice because, obviously, you all are the most involved in educational matters for your children.

I did some scholarship application screening this year for small scholarships, and while many of the kids took the ACT 2 or 3 times, there was no change in the scores. I don't think they were doing any prep between tests.

I think there is a lot to know about getting into college, and most parents leave it up to the schools, and that is a mistake.

[Junie]

:iagree: I guess it's very easy for people who are active on a homeschool board to forget that others lack their same level of knowledge.  I was the first person on either side of the family to go to college.  Now my parents-especially my dad-were incredibly supportive of me, but you don't know what you don't know.  It wasn't until I participated on these boards many (many) years later that I realized the missed potential of not following up on that "congratulations, you are a National Merit Semi-Finalist" letter.  That was long before the internet, so there was no looking up the information.  (And even now, some of us live in flyover country where internet is a luxury that many people simply don't have.)  Looking back, I can't help but wonder where the heck my guidance counselor was; one would assume that something like that would have been on her radar, but apparently not.

 

:(  This makes me so sad for you.

[Junie]

I went to public high school.  I had never heard of anyone studying for the SAT.  Ever.  I took it after I had been celebrating at a cast party until 1 a.m. (or something like that).  My parents didn't think it was a big deal.

 

 

[historically accurate]

I went to public high school.  I had never heard of anyone studying for the SAT.  Ever.  I took it after I had been celebrating at a cast party until 1 a.m. (or something like that).  My parents didn't think it was a big deal.

 

At my home school that I attended as a freshman, no one even took the SAT; it was ACT only. They didn't study for that one.  

 

I went to a boarding school for 10-12 grade. There were people aiming for Ivies, but their parents must've been guiding them because my counselor never told me I should study for the ACT, SAT, etc. I didn't know what an AP test was (despite the fact that every class I took at boarding school was AP approved). My brother went to college a few years before me, but no one else in my family ever had. No one in my family knew what to do with a high stats kid, so I just kind of fumbled through. 

[mirabillis]

I love it.

 

If I had read this article as a teenager maybe it would have helped me. It never occurred to me to study for the SAT and even though I went to a small private school, had a kind, involved guidance counselor and graduated top ten in my class, not a single person ever explained to me that study books existed or how to use them.

 

Likewise here.... SATs... APs... study? Who knew?! If only I had me as a parent, I'd have been off the charts! LOL! If only our kids knew just how lucky they are... :)

[TX Native]

Add me to the list of those who received no guidance about studying for the ACT. This was a high school in a somewhat low income area. The guidance counselor never mentioned it. I was just advised to take it the spring of my JR year and fall of my SR year. No SAT was encouraged in our area at the time. I scored just a tad above average and got a small amount of scholarship money to a local private university for being Valedictorian. Had I known the people at the private high school down the road with so so grades got great scores due to excessive prep and multiple test sittings, I could have at least bought a prep booklet and took it another time to get more scholarship money.

[JoJosMom]

:(  This makes me so sad for you.

 

 

You're a nice person, Junie.    It worked out fine, but it still makes me wonder how many kids got that letter but didn't have my dad, you know?

 

[JoJosMom]

Likewise here.... SATs... APs... study? Who knew?! If only I had me as a parent, I'd have been off the charts! LOL! If only our kids knew just how lucky they are... :)

 

You are so, SO right! :thumbup1:

[snowbeltmom]

Growing up, I had never heard of the PSAT, SAT, or AP classes/exams.  I didn't know anyone who prepped for the ACT.  I didn't even know prep books for these tests existed.

[madteaparty]

nm, no point.

 

Edited April 11, 2017 by madteaparty

[FriedClams]

I think some of this is current culture.

 

I went to a top college and took the SAT twice. I did minimal prep. It wasn't a "thing" then. And, neither was the proliferation of youth sports, traveling teams for everything, and parents being micro involved in every aspect of their kid's lives. I think kids were more independent then.

 

So now it's a thing. And I think the gap is widening for those who have the knowledge and time to work the system and those who don't (just like sports or music has that huge gap now too). I think the great test score off the cuff is now a lot like a great high school athlete being givena full ride that just started playing in middle school and only plays for fun on the school team in season. It's very, very rare.

[learners4life]

Many parents who don't know about college apps or tests know exactly when little league or pee see football or 4 year old soccer opens up.

 

Isn't that the truth!

[Gratia271]

I do not understand the article. What exactly did the author do that "rich kids" do? Take some test prep books and prepare before taking the test? Wouldn't that be common sense?

 

While it is common sense to a certain data set, I don't think it is for most people.  I have met parents with highly talented students at public schools who are never told by counselors about talent search contests, university research opportunities, etc.  Some counselors think it shows favoritism to the top tier students, so they don't disclose it and expect the parents/kids to figure it out for themselves. I know people like this, and they don't live in "poor" school districts that don't know any better. Quite the contrary.

[Guest]

I do not understand the article. What exactly did the author do that "rich kids" do? Take some test prep books and prepare before taking the test? Wouldn't that be common sense?

 

You assume too much.  I was first-generation to go to college in my family, my extended family, and in my extended social circle.  All I knew was that I was to show up on such-n-such a date and take some test that was supposed to get me into college.  I did ZERO test prep.  NONE.  And I took the test only once.  Luckily for me, I did well enough on it to land a scholarship and get admitted to college.  But no one advised me to study.  As a matter of fact, I was told you COULDN'T study for this test.  So I didn't.

 

And I see this scenario play out *all the time* still today.  I know many, MANY low-income, never-been-to-college homeschoolers who do not get the importance of SAT/ACT, and especially not the PSAT.

 

Which reminds me... I took the PSAT one day during high school.  I thought the "P" stood for "practice".  So I didn't take the test seriously at all.  I pretty much blew it off and was annoyed to be bothered with it.  Wasn't I surprised to learn that one of my best friends got a huge scholarship to college based entirely on her score on this test!  No one - NO ONE - told me the potential importance of the PSAT.  I was a little bitter, because I was BY FAR a better student than my friend was.  Oh well, it's water under the bridge at this point in life.  LOL

 

So yes, there is a huge discrepancy in how the "rich kids" -- kids whose parent most likely went to college themselves -- prepare for these tests versus what the non-rich kids do.

[regentrude]

You assume too much.  I was first-generation to go to college in my family, my extended family, and in my extended social circle.  All I knew was that I was to show up on such-n-such a date and take some test that was supposed to get me into college.  I did ZERO test prep.  NONE.  And I took the test only once.  Luckily for me, I did well enough on it to land a scholarship and get admitted to college.  But no one advised me to study.  As a matter of fact, I was told you COULDN'T study for this test.  So I didn't.

 

And I see this scenario play out *all the time* still today.  I know many, MANY low-income, never-been-to-college homeschoolers who do not get the importance of SAT/ACT, and especially not the PSAT.

 

Which reminds me... I took the PSAT one day during high school.  I thought the "P" stood for "practice".  So I didn't take the test seriously at all.  I pretty much blew it off and was annoyed to be bothered with it.  Wasn't I surprised to learn that one of my best friends got a huge scholarship to college based entirely on her score on this test!  No one - NO ONE - told me the potential importance of the PSAT.  I was a little bitter, because I was BY FAR a better student than my friend was.  Oh well, it's water under the bridge at this point in life.  LOL

 

So yes, there is a huge discrepancy in how the "rich kids" -- kids whose parent most likely went to college themselves -- prepare for these tests versus what the non-rich kids do.

 

OK, I get what you are saying. Then the title is misleading, since it has nothing to do with being rich, but with having educated parents. Which is absolutely not the same thing.

 

[klmama]

Even kids whose parents went to college don't understand everything they need to know, and guidance counselors and high school teachers are not necessarily enlightening them.  A college-educated neighbor with a son hoping for a top university didn't know to have him prep for his ACT - when we were kids, we were told you couldn't prep for it.  She was surprised when I told her there were books with old tests kids could use to practice.  The same woman thought her ds was earning real college credits just by taking AP classes, and she was shocked when I explained how it really worked.  She didn't know he needed to take exams held only in the spring, that he had to earn certain scores on those exams for colleges to give credit/waive courses, or that all colleges wouldn't even accept all AP exams.  Because of poor guidance from the (supposedly excellent) school, they missed the cut-off for signing up for the AP tests his junior year, so he's going to take some of those tests this spring, along with tests for his senior year AP courses. 

[Penelope]

In the eighties I took the SAT exactly once. I had one prep book and studied a couple of weekends, we did take the PSAT in 11th (but not before), and I did know that (at the time) they subtracted 1/4 point for an incorrect answer, I think it was, so I must have read something about test taking strategy. My parents were college-educated and had taken it, but at that time, it just wasn't common to take the test more than twice, and you only took it twice if your score was low.

 

Test prep companies and courses were around then, but there was sort of almost a stigma to them, like they were for underachievers, because the SAT was supposed to be an aptitude test and at that time, there was some correlation with IQ. And I'm pretty sure that at that time, it was true that taking such a course and devoting a certain number of hours did not improve your score very much. There is still a lot of debate about how much studying helps. There was no SAT prep in high schools (wow, was I surprised to see that at so many schools these days), and there was no idea that you should start working on test prep many months ahead.

 

Guidance counseling at my middle class middle of the road high school was pretty poor back then, too. They were geared toward the local community college and a couple of state schools, and had no idea about anything else. My parents were highly involved in sourcing information on colleges and requirements. I found out senior year that I needed some SAT subject tests for my school of choice and had to figure out quickly how to take them. I did not have prep books for those and did not study for them!

Edited April 11, 2017 by Penelope

[Guest]

I have never taken the SAT exam. I took the ACT exam twice--once in my junior year and early in my senior year. The only prep I did was review a short practice exam that was provided in the application booklet. I did not know anyone who studied for the ACT (I lived in a state in which ACT was the predominate test and can't recall anyone ever taking the SAT). It wasn't that I was a slacker--I was valedictorian of my high school class. I received what was fairly equivalent to a full-ride at a state university.

 

Way back then, the thought was that you could not practice for and significantly improve your ACT or SAT scores. Your job was to focus on school work and learning you material, and then the test scores would fall in to place. Especially the SAT was supposed to be a measure of aptitude, not necessarily hard work or preparation. Although learning basic test taking strategies could help, there was not such thing as learning the tricks of the exam. Also, I never took a dual credit or AP class in high school, but I received a strong, appropriate high school education.

 

DH had much the same experience. He took the SAT once and applied to only one university--no AP or dual credit courses in high school.

 

So, even if parents went to college themselves, the approach to the test preparation is much different today than it might have been when they were in high school.

This was my experience as well except with SAT. I wasn't aware people paid for expensive test prep courses until I was in the workforce and a coworker was paying a couple of thousand for each of her kids to take SAT prep courses. All of the kids in that income bracket did. I don't know if it was generation or economics, but when I was in high school I wasn't aware of any prep. If you were informed you knew it was better to skip a question than guess and be wrong. That was our test prep. Edited April 11, 2017 by texasmom33

[Guest]

OK, I get what you are saying. Then the title is misleading, since it has nothing to do with being rich, but with having educated parents. Which is absolutely not the same thing.

 

This is true. But it boggles my mind how many parents we know think their kids are going to magically snatch full rides to any school just because they're in AP classes. I know this board has a unique population- but there is more knowledge usually in one thread here on applications than in an auditorium full of typical high school parents. At least in my experience. I know more about the high school requirements than my PS parental peers because I make it my business to know. They just hand the kid over and expect the school to do it. I'm sure there are parents that are uber involved, but my friends seem to worry more about their kids' extracurriculars than college entrance and testing. I think perhaps there is a disconnect that people think it's the same as when they were growing up.

[Reefgazer]

Sadly, no, it's not common sense.  My mom only graduated high school and my dad quit in the tenth grade; they were not equipped to coach me on things I could do to improve my chances of getting into a top college.  Rich kids nearly always have parents who can do that, which is one of the reasons that these tests are tilted in favor of upper-middle to upper class kids.

 

It s drilled into students from a young age that they can't study for this test, that it is the accumulated knowledge of years of study.  So those kids who have no savvy mentor don't study; they wing it, like I did.  While it may be true that you can't study for it, you surely can prep for it, but no one explained that subtle difference to a kid like me. 

I do not understand the article. What exactly did the author do that "rich kids" do? Take some test prep books and prepare before taking the test? Wouldn't that be common sense?

 

[Reefgazer]

In the USA, I would say these are very closely related, nearly synonymous.

OK, I get what you are saying. Then the title is misleading, since it has nothing to do with being rich, but with having educated parents. Which is absolutely not the same thing.
 

 

[Reefgazer]

This exactly - it is a mantra in public schools here, so few people give prep a second thought.

Even kids whose parents went to college don't understand everything they need to know, and guidance counselors and high school teachers are not necessarily enlightening them.  A college-educated neighbor with a son hoping for a top university didn't know to have him prep for his ACT - when we were kids, we were told you couldn't prep for it.  She was surprised when I told her there were books with old tests kids could use to practice.  The same woman thought her ds was earning real college credits just by taking AP classes, and she was shocked when I explained how it really worked.  She didn't know he needed to take exams held only in the spring, that he had to earn certain scores on those exams for colleges to give credit/waive courses, or that all colleges wouldn't even accept all AP exams.  Because of poor guidance from the (supposedly excellent) school, they missed the cut-off for signing up for the AP tests his junior year, so he's going to take some of those tests this spring, along with tests for his senior year AP courses. 

 

[Meriwether]

I'm a first generation college student. I never knew anyone who studied for the ACT. No one took the SAT. I took the ACT three times until I got a score I wanted, but I never studied for it. My parents were supportive, but they knew less than I did. Telling us what we needed to know for college was the school's job, you know?

[Ann.without.an.e]

I was in the top classes at my PS, but I was never even told to take the tests and NEVER ever encouraged to prep for them.  It was "just try your best and see how you do".  If it comes up good, go to college.  If not, don't.  My DH is brilliant, brilliant but was never told that prep was a thing either.  Public Schools that I know don't tell kids these things.  Either the parents are supportive and do that or no one does.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Attolia

[Guest]

OK, I get what you are saying. Then the title is misleading, since it has nothing to do with being rich, but with having educated parents. Which is absolutely not the same thing.

 

Oh no. The rich, and we are talking the kind who send their offspring to private k12 school with very high price tags, hire individual tutors to prep their dc for the SAT. The less well off educated do not have the means, so they go for kaplan etc. and prep enough to get the score they need for the college they want. Prep is essential now because the schools are no longer teaching the grade level material, particularly in english -- if you want to know the grammar and the writing, its diy. The essay isn't taught until twelfth grade AP English here...way too late, and it excludes very smart boys who couldn't get a seat. Afterschooling public schooled students now has to be done by all income levels, since most high school is focused on remedial. In my day, I went to a rural high school and scored well without any prep at all...but my english was still just under 700 due to lack of access to the skills needed to go that high (All lit elements I wasn't aware of, or vocab). I didn't have a book I could read that would tell me what I wasn't offered in class. in math, I did. And I was a reduced lunch high school student.

What the local high school just started was a semester prep as a class, to benefit reduced and free lunch students. It wasn't till college that I met students who prepped, and it sounded like the same experience - the high school didn't offer the level of coursework needed, but since they lived in a big city, prep was available. Students in wealthy private schools have had the material, but are prepping for the test format and remediating any gaps. Students in public are prepping by learning the material and the test format.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Heigh Ho

[Bootsie]

I think the attitude of significant prepping for the ACT and SAT exams is a recent phenomenon. Although it has always been around some, it was not considered something someone was supposed to do 2 or 3 decades ago.  I do not see that this trend has been helpful for the education of many students.  It has intensified the "teaching to the test" mentality.  I see college students who prepped and prepped for the SAT, ended up with perfect or near-perfect scores, but who cannot write a coherent paragraph.  They spent a year in high school practicing the type of questions that will be on the verbal part of the SAT--the SAT is measuring their knowledge of those questions and rules.  I was just working with a couple of college students with high scores on the SAT but they could not solve a basic equation with one unknown--the equation was 45 = 1.50/(.11- X) ; with my own children I chose to forego significant exam prep, hoping that spending that time on basic education would serve them better in the long run. 

[madteaparty]

I knew what the SAT was and took it, in what you'd consider a third world country. There were even prep materials in the USAID office or some such. No, my dad is not an oil oligarch and my parents didn't know what the SAT was.

At some point, maybe around 18, there is something to be said about personal agency. God I sound like a republican 😂

Edited April 11, 2017 by madteaparty

[regentrude]

In the USA, I would say these are very closely related, nearly synonymous.

 

No, absolutely not. Not all college educated people (or even people with graduate degrees) are rich - very far from it.