hopskipjump Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 (edited) useless or worth going through? I have two SAT-prep books that dd1 never used, since she was ACT-all the way. We have the Blue "Official" SAT and, I think Barron's SAT prep books. If dd2 were to take some of these tests just to start adjusting to the "idea" of standardized tests... and then we purchase the new books with the "revised" SAT info and she continued with those... would that be useful? Or better to start a hesitant test-taker off with the "NEW" SAT prep books? (she will WANT to take as many practice tests as she can get her hands on.) DD1 - I just threw books at her and she scarfed down the information in whatever format it was presented. DD2 - needs a little sugar to help the medicine go down. The plan right now is for her to take a practice ACT and a practice SAT without any prep. She won't know the score, but I will calculate is so that I can gauge her weak spots and we can start there. She'll prep for a while, and then take another ACT/SAT. At that point, I'll make a call as to which test she seems to favor and we'll go from there. I'm just unsure if these "old format" books are useless or not... :/ Which would be a shame... lol Edited May 6, 2017 by hopskipjump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 (edited) The English sections has changed a lot so I won't use the old SAT books for test prep. Use these 8 free practice tests from Collegeboard instead. https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/practice/full-length-practice-tests For ACT, use the 5 free tests here http://blog.prepscholar.com/printable-act-practice-tests-5-free You will only be out the cost of printer toner and paper :) Edited May 6, 2017 by Arcadia 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gratia271 Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 Just my .02 here. I have worked with some middle schoolers and early high schoolers who want to improve reading comprehension and speed along with cultivating rhetorical reading/analysis skills. The old CR passages are excellent for that. Many people who have solicited my help have mentioned this is the hardest aspect of ACT and SAT type test-taking. I don't know what time frame you are looking at, but having taken my own kiddos and others through the process, working through the old test passages is not a waste of time at all. This also comes from my oldest son's experience, who happened to take the old test at the time that the new test was being incorporated, so he had the new CR section for experimental purposes. Based on my experience, the hardest thing about these sections, whether ACT or SAT, is getting students to come up with good rhetorical reading and analysis skills, then working on speed. Many people I have worked with focus on the speed first, and I try to help them develop strategies passage by passage for gisting the passage and getting those answers correct before focusing on speed. Anyway, any type of practice with those types of CR passages is meaningful in our experience. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowbeltmom Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 Just my .02 here. I have worked with some middle schoolers and early high schoolers who want to improve reading comprehension and speed along with cultivating rhetorical reading/analysis skills. The old CR passages are excellent for that. Many people who have solicited my help have mentioned this is the hardest aspect of ACT and SAT type test-taking. I don't know what time frame you are looking at, but having taken my own kiddos and others through the process, working through the old test passages is not a waste of time at all. This also comes from my oldest son's experience, who happened to take the old test at the time that the new test was being incorporated, so he had the new CR section for experimental purposes. Based on my experience, the hardest thing about these sections, whether ACT or SAT, is getting students to come up with good rhetorical reading and analysis skills, then working on speed. Many people I have worked with focus on the speed first, and I try to help them develop strategies passage by passage for gisting the passage and getting those answers correct before focusing on speed. Anyway, any type of practice with those types of CR passages is meaningful in our experience. :iagree: I just purchased a new copy of the old SAT Blue book. My daughter is going to work through the reading sections of those 10 tests this summer. Since the writing format has changed so much, I don't think there would be any benefit to working though the old writing sections, so she will skip that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinRTX Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 Well, my daughter worked through old SAT material before I started on the new SAT material. I even had her work through some material I had from her brother who took the SAT 14 years ago (so 2 changes ago). The practice on both the reading and math sections did not hurt. The new tests are different and that is what she worked on mainly toward the end of test practice, but doing the math and critical reading from the old tests did give her timed practice. She made an almost perfect score on the SAT so the practice with the old material did not hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopskipjump Posted May 6, 2017 Author Share Posted May 6, 2017 Thank you!! I'll have her take a new SAT initially for baseline purposes and then use the books for math and critical reading practice and we will skip the English section. 👠Goal is to take her first official ACT/SAT 2nd semester of next year (her jr year), unless she takes to it easier than I am expecting. So we have plenty of time for warmup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 For writing and language section (section 2), it is 44 questions in 35 mins. Less than a minute per question. My speedster managed to finish and get a decent score but he is a speed reader. The good thing is that there is a longer restroom/snack break after section 2 so kids get to recharge a little before the two math sections. Comparison chart from collegeboard https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/inside-the-test/compare-old-new-specifications There is also no penalty for guessing for the new SAT which is very useful for my kids because it eliminates the anxiety of guessing or coloring a wrong answer. The penalty for wrong answers remain for SAT subject tests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopskipjump Posted May 6, 2017 Author Share Posted May 6, 2017 Ah, I hadn't realized the wrong-answer penalty was still a thing for the subject tests! That's very good to know! I'd thought all the SAT-based tests had made the switch. That penalty is a huge reason dd1 preferred the ACT. Stressed her out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 Ah, I hadn't realized the wrong-answer penalty was still a thing for the subject tests! That's very good to know! I'd thought all the SAT-based tests had made the switch. I thought so, too! I wish I had known this before my dd took a subject test this morning. :sad: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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