How did your child get their SAT scores up?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
I know another poster has accused you of a "humble brag" but I am not going to because my dc has similar stats and I also wondered whether it was worth the expense and time of a prep course. We don't have $600 to throw around and so like you I wanted to make as fully informed a decision as possible What I decided was to buy a SAT prep book for $15. I will have him work on it in August and have him take the test in November or December. For the top colleges you definitely want to aim for a SAT score above 1500 but I don't think a 1570 is necessarily better than a 1550 in their eyes. Good luck |
Anonymous
This is good advice. Some kids will find they don't need the expensive tutor/prep course depending what the goal is. My kid had a 1360 on the 10th grade PSAT, spent 2 hours on Khan Academy, did one practice test, and got a 1480 early in junior year. That score was fine for him (he took an ACT just to see what happened and got a 34, which is a little better, I think). I did buy him some prep books for both tests, but he never opened them. |
Anonymous
How many kids have you actually had complete the college admissions process? I have a hunch it's zero. |
Anonymous
None. If I got something wrong please correct me. I am basing this on CDS mid range SAT scores and what his school asst principal told me. I do not have the benefit of experience. Would appreciate your insight |
Anonymous
I did earlier. I'm the humble brag parent. I know from having five kids go through the process that once you hit a certain point top collegs stop caring about the SAT. You don't need a 1500, and colleges certainly don't think a 1570 is "necessarily better than a 1550." They simply don't differentiate between SAT scores that precisely. I've had kids get in the 1200s, the 1300s, the 1400s, and the 1500s. All but one got accepted into what DCUM parents would consider to be top colleges. The one who didn't was the one with the 1500s, and the one who did the very best (top 5 SLAC) was in the 1300s. The one who got in the 1200s ended up at UVA. Grades and courses are much, much more important. I know this. |
Anonymous
Thanks. I did see your post but I have to say I assumed that your kids had some kind of hook to get into top colleges with SAT scores in the 1200-1400 Range and so I thought perhaps your experience might not be relevant. Thanks for posting again. Do you have an opinion on the number of AP exams a student should aim for? |
Anonymous
My kids had zero hooks of any kind other than the luxury of a attending a good DC area suburban high school. Well, they did have one hook, to be fair -- we are VA residents and UVA and W&M admissions are easier than out of state. Our student with the 1500s didn't have the academic record or courses to back up the score, while our student with the 1200s (who took the SAT twice and did about the same both times) did. The one with the 1200s took 8-10 APs, I think, and graduated with over a 4.0 weighted GPA Didn't pull all 5s on the AP exams, either -- did get a few but had scores all over the board, including a 1. Our kid who got into the top 5 SLAC (along with W&M; didn't apply to UVA) had 10 or 11 APs and almost a perfect high school GPA. Mostly 4s and 5s on the AP exams, along with a few 3s -- better overall than our child with the 1200s who went to UVA but far from perfect, telling me that colleges don't care all that much about AP exam scores either. We had another who got into several US News top 25 (and one top 15), including UVA, with 1300s on the SAT and 8-10 APs. This one started off relatively slowly, with a couple of Cs early in high school, but turned it up and schools took notice. None of ours kids, btw, was a recruited athlete and we are not URMs. We're a white suburban family attending public schools in NOVA. |
Anonymous
Wow! I am the PP you are responding to. This is a very reassuring post. My kid is in a MD Magnet and has great grades but is not interested in getting on the AP treadmill. He will have 6 by the end of 11th grade and might take 2 or 3 in 12th grade |
Anonymous
Honestly, he should take 3. Not 2. But, yeah -- parents on this board and elsewhere are a little obsessed. |
Anonymous
Thank you. It really isn’t a humble brag. In fact, it’s not an issue I want to raise with DCs friends parents because it sounds obnoxious. But DC is looking at scholarships and admissions at some pretty competitive private schools. And even WM and UVA are very competitive in 2018. The difference between a 1520 and a 1560 or a 1540 and a 1580 significant is a legit question, IMO. There is just a ceiling. My kid will likely miss a few and top out at a 1560ish no matter what. Up to that point, does every point count? In our case, I think the limiting factor is time more than money. But yes, not having to pay for the class would be great too. Stopping after junior fall with say a 1540 would be fantastic. Plenty of other things to worry about junior year. But we won’t if the extra 20-40 points are the difference between being admitted to UVA and not, or getting a merit scholarship and not. I’m new to this. I’m from the Take the SAT Once And Live With the Score generation. And, no, I don’t want to say to a friend, is a 1520-1540 high enough? It is obnoxious. And Princeton Review will tell me why he needs the class. Hence the wisdom of DCUM and the BTDT parents. If you have BTDT, what is the point/score you stop and say “high enough” for selective colleges, but not Ivy, or top ten LACs (ie, for LAC with merit aid). UVA, WM, Davidson, Kenyon, Oberlin, Grinnell, Vanderbilt, etc. At what score do you stop? When does the cost outweigh the benefit? |
Anonymous
Thanks again |
Anonymous
I'm the BTDT parent who responded earlier. I've had kids in the 1200s-1400s get apply to 4 of the schools you just listed an get into three, and I've had some kids apply to higher ranked SLACs than the ones you listed and get accepted. One of my kids applied to Vanderbilt with 1300s on the SAT and got waitlisted, but didn't accept the waitlist after getting into another higher ranked national university and UVA. One thing to keep in mind is that national universities with high reported SAT scores and big time sports are likely to require non-athletes to have scores on the high size because they need to bring up the average that some (not all) of the sports teams bring down. I'd put Vanderbilt in that category. But no school of the caliber that you just listed requires anything close to a 1500. None. Not even Vanderbilt, and not even for merit aid. Note, though, that several of the schools that you listed don't offer much merit aid. Grinnell can be generous, but it's a rarity among schools at that level. |
Anonymous
| PP again -- sorry, I should've proofread. I mean my kids have applied to four of the schools you listed and get into three, waitlisted only at Vanderbilt. |
Anonymous
Way too dense to read. Too many tests that are besides the point. There is no excuse for going into a test cold, so review the tests in the test books. I wouldn't do more than that, but make sure the kid takes the test with enough time to retest after more serious prep should it be necessary. A score like you are looking for is possible, but so is something much worse. I also think you need to step back. You have a long year in front of you and you need to avoid contributing to the stress. Your post stressed me out. |
Anonymous
| Prep matters seems to produce exceptional results. My son’s classmate who struggled in math in middle and high school was able to raise his ACT math score in 8 months from 17 to 31 by private tutoring. |