Recommended Resources to Prepare Students for the SOL Test

[Anonymous]

Is there a good resource that anyone can recommend to help 3rd grade student prepare for the SOL test? Specifically, I'm looking for either workbooks or online resources. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a good resource that anyone can recommend to help 3rd grade student prepare for the SOL test? Specifically, I'm looking for either workbooks or online resources. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I am curious why you care about 3rd grade SOL.

If it were my kid, I would have them pay attention in class, try to get them to spend more time reading books than playing video games, make sure they know their times table and understand the transitive, associative, distributive, commutative properties by the time they are done with 3rd grade.

[Anonymous]

Curiosity can be detrimental if you are not careful. If you don't have anything constructive to add, it's best to move on. It's not your place to judge someone else's child or accuse them of not doing well in school. To the original poster, you deserve applause for being a proactive parent. Students who do well on tests like the SOL often have proactive parents. You got this! I’m sorry I don’t know any resources.

[Anonymous]

OP: This is a good resource for SOLs and other exams: https://members.testingmom.com/test-prep/states-common-core/Virginia.
It is also helpful for parents who aren't getting enough clarity about the grade level requirements from their children's schools. I use it to "track" whether my kid knows what fourth grade math/reading/etc cover. Since VA tests are mostly adaptive, it won't prepare your child for the exact level of material he or she will encounter on the SOL because success on the easy questions will prompt the test to bump up the level of difficulty. I suppose you could have them move to the next grade level to account for that, but eventually you will have to "teach" or get a tutor to teach material that is beyond grade level. So be careful not to bite off more than you can chew.

[Anonymous]

Here are actual VA DOE released tests:

https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/student-assessment/sol-practice-items-all-subjects/released-tests-item-sets-all-subjects

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curiosity can be detrimental if you are not careful. If you don't have anything constructive to add, it's best to move on. It's not your place to judge someone else's child or accuse them of not doing well in school. To the original poster, you deserve applause for being a proactive parent. Students who do well on tests like the SOL often have proactive parents. You got this! I’m sorry I don’t know any resources.

Oh really? How can curiosity be detrimental?
I am not judging someone else's child or how they choose to raise them but i have never heard of a parent preparing students for a 3rd grade SOL test.

I understand the 6th grade SOL is considered in the 7th grade geometry determination but 3rd grade SOLs don't seem like something you would do something special for.

I am not opposed to extra-curricular study or advanced academics. My kid went to TJ and I know the drill but 3rd grade SOLs are not useful for much. If you want your kid to be successful academically, math is the bottleneck for almost all students. Sometimes language too. And the best way to improve math before algebra is to get real comfortable with the math properties. They will help you with math competitions (my kid was aime) and general mental flexibility.

[Anonymous]

You absolutely should NOT prepare your child for SOL. The SOL is a test for the school. If the school isn't educating your child well enough for them to pass the SOL then the state should know about that. I never prep my children and the one year my child was offered a retake I knew it was purely for selfish reasons from the school, so I declined.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You absolutely should NOT prepare your child for SOL. The SOL is a test for the school. If the school isn't educating your child well enough for them to pass the SOL then the state should know about that. I never prep my children and the one year my child was offered a retake I knew it was purely for selfish reasons from the school, so I declined.

The SOL may seem like it's just for the school, but it's the students who take the test, and their scores are attached to their names. It’s not simply a test without consequences for students. For instance, my child got advanced scores in both Math and Reading in 3rd grade, and it helped them get into full-time AAP. So, please don't imply that it's solely a test for the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You absolutely should NOT prepare your child for SOL. The SOL is a test for the school. If the school isn't educating your child well enough for them to pass the SOL then the state should know about that. I never prep my children and the one year my child was offered a retake I knew it was purely for selfish reasons from the school, so I declined.

Parents that feel this way are only hurting their children. I am a middle school teacher where a significant portion of my students did not pass their last grade level SOL. That means they are even less likely to pass this years. When they get to high school, they have to pass SOLs to graduate.

I am also an AAP parent whose kid got a 600 on their 3rd grade math SOL with no additional support at home, so I see both sides of the coin. If my child was struggling, we would definitely be providing that support - there are only so many minutes of math in the day and many students of.varied abilities (including in full-time AAP).

[Anonymous]

Do not waste any time worrying about the SOLs for third grade. As they get older, there are resources at SOLPASS.org to look at various content sections for subject tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You absolutely should NOT prepare your child for SOL. The SOL is a test for the school. If the school isn't educating your child well enough for them to pass the SOL then the state should know about that. I never prep my children and the one year my child was offered a retake I knew it was purely for selfish reasons from the school, so I declined.

The SOL may seem like it's just for the school, but it's the students who take the test, and their scores are attached to their names. It’s not simply a test without consequences for students. For instance, my child got advanced scores in both Math and Reading in 3rd grade, and it helped them get into full-time AAP. So, please don't imply that it's solely a test for the school.

+1 SOL is a big deal for kids and most want to do really well. My child's teacher is out for the rest of the year, and you better believe we're prepping for SOL. The long term sub is barely holding her head above water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You absolutely should NOT prepare your child for SOL. The SOL is a test for the school. If the school isn't educating your child well enough for them to pass the SOL then the state should know about that. I never prep my children and the one year my child was offered a retake I knew it was purely for selfish reasons from the school, so I declined.

I too discouraged my DCs from prepping when they were in school. Now, one of them is a hairdresser and the other works changing oil at jiffy lube. Both are happy with their careers, and I'm proud of not being a pushy parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curiosity can be detrimental if you are not careful. If you don't have anything constructive to add, it's best to move on. It's not your place to judge someone else's child or accuse them of not doing well in school. To the original poster, you deserve applause for being a proactive parent. Students who do well on tests like the SOL often have proactive parents. You got this! I’m sorry I don’t know any resources.

I am not the pp but I am wondering if the point is that the SOL is intended to assess how the school is doing in preparing your child. Prepping for that would get in the way of that process. I'm also curious--is there a reason to try to get your kids score higher than it would be without prepping? Like does the test count towards anything like admissions, awards, etc.?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You absolutely should NOT prepare your child for SOL. The SOL is a test for the school. If the school isn't educating your child well enough for them to pass the SOL then the state should know about that. I never prep my children and the one year my child was offered a retake I knew it was purely for selfish reasons from the school, so I declined.

The SOL may seem like it's just for the school, but it's the students who take the test, and their scores are attached to their names. It’s not simply a test without consequences for students. For instance, my child got advanced scores in both Math and Reading in 3rd grade, and it helped them get into full-time AAP. So, please don't imply that it's solely a test for the school.

+1 SOL is a big deal for kids and most want to do really well. My child's teacher is out for the rest of the year, and you better believe we're prepping for SOL. The long term sub is barely holding her head above water.

Is this really true? I have never heard of SOL being part of the AAP application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You absolutely should NOT prepare your child for SOL. The SOL is a test for the school. If the school isn't educating your child well enough for them to pass the SOL then the state should know about that. I never prep my children and the one year my child was offered a retake I knew it was purely for selfish reasons from the school, so I declined.

The SOL may seem like it's just for the school, but it's the students who take the test, and their scores are attached to their names. It’s not simply a test without consequences for students. For instance, my child got advanced scores in both Math and Reading in 3rd grade, and it helped them get into full-time AAP. So, please don't imply that it's solely a test for the school.

+1 SOL is a big deal for kids and most want to do really well. My child's teacher is out for the rest of the year, and you better believe we're prepping for SOL. The long term sub is barely holding her head above water.

I know 0 kids who care about passing the SOL. It means little to nothing for 99% of the kids. There are a few kids who will benefit from high SOL scores, 6th graders looking to get into Algebra 1 in 7th grade and a few kids whose parents are desperate to get kids into AAP early on. Maybe it matters to the kids at high SES schools but I would guess that is because it matters to their parents. I know that there are some Teachers who make the SOLs seem all important but they really are not.

Kids who are struggling will be pulled out for extra help by the Teacher or some school staff.

No one looks at SOL scores, they are not shared with colleges and they are not used to get into classes, other then Algebra 1 in 7th grade. They mean nothing to the vast majority of the students.