If your child had an almost perfect SAT Verbal score…

[GracieJane]

…how did they get it? Reading a lot? Studying Latin? Learning other languages? 
 

Thank you!

[Xahm]

I went to a "nerd school" so I knew lots of people with perfect or near perfect scores. None of us studied Latin, though we all studied a modern language to fluency or near fluency. We all read a lot, including complex works and works in other languages, and played lots of word-games, like making silly puns on a daily basis. To be fair, those of us who scored well all found the SAT far easier than our normal school work. One of my friends didn't speak any English until she immigrated here in middle school. She got well over 700, which is pretty amazing after less than 4 years of English exposure. She absolutely worked for it, doing lots of practice tests and working with a tutor. I knew other people who improved their scores immensely by using private tutoring, but none into the "near perfect" range. If the school had been more cut-throat, probably more of the kids scoring in the 650 range would have done extensive tutoring, but it seemed that the kids in that range were satisfied and focused on other things.

That was all back in the early 2000s and everything has changed since then, I'm sure.

[KSera]

Mine with a perfect score was always a fanatical reader and had solid grammar and foreign language instruction. She didn't do anything special to prepare for the SAT or ACT, though. I honestly think she was just lucky in that being an innate strength of hers, though it was certainly supported by schooling that encouraged that strength.

[freesia]

I have two with nearly perfect scores, and one whose first shot was 720 and will retest. We dabbled in Latin for the oldest—but that’s it. All of them read a lot—the older two the most. We did a lot of read alouds , had regular discussions about books and movies, and they memorized poems and speeches.(Although I think that mostly helped their writing). They all did grammar in middle school—mostly Rod and Staff through book 7 or 8. They also did Daily Language Review in late elementary.  I wouldn’t say foreign language was a factor at all. 
 

We also started SAT practice in ninth grade-just occasionally at first. We always read the corrections. This is the way to see the patterns in the questions. 

[Kassia]

I had one who just read an awful lot - he's also amazing at any games with words, vocabulary, etc.  Most people - including his gf - refuse to play Boggle or scrabble with him.  

 

Dd did a lot of prep.  She felt that prepared her for what kinds of answers SAT was looking for.  She took the newer SAT version and her brother took the older version.  

ETA - they both had good grammar skills, but dd's are exceptional.  And she loved foreign languages and felt that helped her a lot with grammar.  She was pretty much fluent in Spanish and was also studying Portuguese, some Italian, and some Russian.  No Latin but we did do one year of classical roots.  I don't know if that was useful or not.  We also used fix-it grammar with her.  Ds was in public school.

Edited October 20, 2021 by Kassia

[Lawyer&Mom]

I got a near perfect score in the late 90s.  I did take Latin in high school, but I think it was just growing up as a voracious reader and always testing well that made the difference.  No specific test prep. 

[Momto6inIN]

I have 2. They both read a lot and did a little test prep, but honestly I think their scores had more to do with innate ability than anything they (or definitely I) did. No Latin. 3 years of foreign language, but nothing special or in depth.

I know that the tests aren't the be all end all when it comes to measuring school success, and there are ways to game the system and increase your score, but the tests are legitimately measuring something. And IMO scores that high usually reflect a natural strength rather than something external.

[maize]

Mine just scored 770 verbal on her first ever SAT, with zero prep for the verbal section.

She's done almost no formal language arts study ever, she just reads a ton. Probably well over 10,000 pages of Brandon Sanderson alone last year 😂

I don't know that all kids can learn just through reading absorption this way, but it certainly doesn't hurt.

[maize]

I agree with @Momto6inIN that natural ability plays a big role--both natural verbal ability and test-taking ability. 

 

[EmilyGF]

I got 800 in the late 1990s. I read a lot and learned foreign languages for fun.

I also worked a job in a furniture store. Someone had brought in a lot of out-of-date SAT prep books to use as props in the children's bedroom, which is where my desk was. When there weren't customers to work with, I worked through SAT analogies to pass the time. I never specifically studied vocab words, just did problems and read solutions. 

Emily

[Bocky]

DD 17 read a lot of fiction and lit, especially through 4th to 8th grade. We did First Language Lessons and MCT in elementary, and dabbled in languages including Latin. This language rich environment (channeling Julie Bogart here) probably helped her develop her strong natural abilities. When I realized that the SAT might not be cancelled (after a year of cancellations) I had her go over some English sections from the official book of practice tests so that she'd understand the format. I definitely recommend at least prepping by working through a couple of practice tests. DD got a 760.

For learning grammar specifically, I have come to think it is best learned through using a new language - not one that is native to you. This can be done with Latin, but it's harder because you're not speaking, and you're doing very little writing. Both my dds became interested in really understanding grammar to improve their chosen foreign languages.

[purpleowl]

14 hours ago, Lawyer&Mom said:

I got a near perfect score in the late 90s.  I did take Latin in high school, but I think it was just growing up as a voracious reader and always testing well that made the difference.  No specific test prep. 

Same, except I took French, not Latin.

[2_girls_mommy]

We do ACT here, not SATs, but my odd had a perfect English and a one point from perfect reading or the other way around.  I think it is from studying Latin and using Rod and Staff English, and of course reading a lot.  But those are very thorough programs that really taught grammar and comprehension deeply.  (by programs for Latin I mean just the study of Latin.  We mostly used Memoria Press, but used a lot of supplementary materials along the way too.) 

[PeterPan]

We did the ACT, not the ACT, which has a science component score as well. My dd isn't particularly a science person, but she thought her high scores were due to these essay collections I had her reading https://www.amazon.com/Best-American-Science-Nature-Writing/dp/1328519007/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=best+nature+writing&qid=1634766091&sr=8-3

 

[fourisenough]

My DD who scored a 36 English and a 35 Reading (ACT) was an early and strong reader, plus we did a full grammar curriculum (Analytical Grammar), five years of Latin, and both AP English classes (after years of just reading good children’s literature) before testing. 

[2_girls_mommy]

19 hours ago, PeterPan said:

We did the ACT, not the ACT, which has a science component score as well. My dd isn't particularly a science person, but she thought her high scores were due to these essay collections I had her reading https://www.amazon.com/Best-American-Science-Nature-Writing/dp/1328519007/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=best+nature+writing&qid=1634766091&sr=8-3

 

Thanks for the link. Mdd is still doing her ACTs trying to bump it up a little before scholarship deadlines. I'll try adding this to her studies. 

[prairiewindmomma]

I attribute my son's scores to all of the time we did with Exercises in English. https://www.loyolapress.com/language-arts/exercises-in-english/  He had also had First Language Lessons, but I think EiE prepped him for the test better.  He solidly had his mechanics down. I think the vocabulary, reading ability, and test taking ability were innate.  Latin did nothing for this particular child. He had two years of it, but it was an immense struggle for him. He took four practice tests, and that helped with pacing.

My next kid in line is on track to be close to that based on how his Stanford tests are playing out each year. He just took the PSAT though, and hasn't taken the SAT or ACT yet so I don't know how things will work out. 

[Frances]

On 10/19/2021 at 7:24 PM, Momto6inIN said:

I have 2. They both read a lot and did a little test prep, but honestly I think their scores had more to do with innate ability than anything they (or definitely I) did. No Latin. 3 years of foreign language, but nothing special or in depth.

I know that the tests aren't the be all end all when it comes to measuring school success, and there are ways to game the system and increase your score, but the tests are legitimately measuring something. And IMO scores that high usually reflect a natural strength rather than something external.

This is pretty much the same for my son who got perfect verbal PSAT (including the first time he took it completely cold with no prep in 10th grade) and SAT scores. No Latin, basic test prep, high school Spanish for foreign language, but always an avid reader (and listener of audio books) and lover of words and I’m sure like most on this board, he was raised in a very language rich environment. He had an amazing vocabulary from a very young age to the degree that several times people surprised us by paying for restaurant meals and then coming to tell us it was because they so enjoyed listening to him talk. One of his preschooler teachers told us introducing him to a new word was like giving candy to another child.

Interestingly, my son resisted studying a foreign language in high school and only reluctantly did Spanish. Due to my experience studying foreign languages and wanting the opposite for him, we really emphasized speaking and understanding and minimized reading and writing. Despite spending likely far less time than most college bound students on foreign language during his high school years, he did CLEP out of two years of college Spanish. Later, after doing science research in Germany, he decided on his own to stay and study German. He got way into it, specially the grammar, and since then reads grammar books for fun. He strongly disliked Analytical Grammar when we did it in middle school (the only grammar program we ever used, another example of wanting to do the opposite of my schooling, 12 years of endless mediocre grammar instruction and exercises), but he was very fast at doing it orally, and he thanked me many times during college for making him finish it.

Edited October 22, 2021 by Frances

[Dmmetler]

I do think it's a chicken and egg thing. Yes, my kid had Latin early on, and had spent a lot of time on etymology-but the fact is, my kid WANTED to do Latin at age 4/5, and had chosen to spend a good part of three years preparing for the National Classical Etymology exam, and to not stop until getting gold at the highest level. So, was my kid good at standardized tests of English because of studying classical languages, or were they interested in classical languages because they just plain innately good at language and therefore found studying them rewarding? 

 

 

 

 

[lewelma]

On 10/20/2021 at 11:31 AM, GracieJane said:

…how did they get it? Reading a lot? Studying Latin? Learning other languages? 
 

Thank you!

My older boy scored a 780 on the SAT verbal section. I believe he developed his verbal skills by reading the Economist, National Geographic, Scientific American, and deep literature for 3 hours per night for 365 days a year for 4 years. He did this with no assignments, tests, essays, discussion, etc. He just read.

We also did 8 practice tests to make sure he understood how the test worked. We studied each question he got wrong and really owned why it was wrong and the other answer right. This took him about 3 weeks and 25ish hours.

Edited October 29, 2021 by lewelma