DS can’t get past 1490 on the SAT’s. Any recommendations ?

[Anonymous]

My son scored around 1470 when he took the SAT in November of his junior year and then scored a 1550 in March with no additional prep other than his regular schoolwork. I say let it ride.

[Anonymous]

1490 is a great score … by end of junior year the score rises.
Plus there’s the Superscore.
Mastering the Maths is the key … the English comes with school work through wnd of Junior year.

[Anonymous]

end

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior and an excellent student at his school. He already took honors precalc as a sophomore and achieved a near perfect score in that class. He’s aiming at a few T20 schools and knows that’s it’s almost a must to get over 1500 on the SAT.

He’s taken 4 practice SATs over the summer and his score is ranging between a 1450 and a 1490, almost equally split between Math and English. He’s already taken several sessions with a tutor he likes at a reputable testing place in the area. The tests aren’t revealing any particular areas of weakness.

If your child was in a similar position , what has helped the most? More practice tests? Changing tutors? Simply more studying ?

Too early.

The verbal score will naturally increase after taking AP lit in junior year. 50 point increase will make it to 790 or 800.

The verbal part can't be easily prepped. Rigorous English courses really help, a lot.

I think most schools do Lang in 11th and then Lit in 12th. But either way, 50 point increases above 740 don’t generally just naturally happen like they do with lower scores. That’s missing few to no questions. Most have to really study for that because it really isn’t about content gaps at that level anymore.

This is absolutely false. It’s not about content gaps at all. It’s comprehension. Mine improved naturally on verbal part after AP lit, which involves tons of reading and analysis. If the kid hasn’t taken AP lang, then lang will also help. FWIW, mine got 800 on verbal.

AP Lit is a senior year class. How is your kid taking it in 11th?

[Anonymous]

OP you are going about it the right way. You want to try to get the SAT out of the way before junior year if possible. My daughter took the ACT in summer as a rising junior and scored a 34. Took it a second time in December of her junior year and got her superscore up to 35. I recommend you have him take the real test and see how he does. You can always prep more and have hime take a second test later on. You don't want him to be focused on SAT in junior year if possible because those grades are so important. Also, have you had him take an ACT practice test? My daughter did significantly better on ACT vs SAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior and an excellent student at his school. He already took honors precalc as a sophomore and achieved a near perfect score in that class. He’s aiming at a few T20 schools and knows that’s it’s almost a must to get over 1500 on the SAT.

He’s taken 4 practice SATs over the summer and his score is ranging between a 1450 and a 1490, almost equally split between Math and English. He’s already taken several sessions with a tutor he likes at a reputable testing place in the area. The tests aren’t revealing any particular areas of weakness.

If your child was in a similar position , what has helped the most? More practice tests? Changing tutors? Simply more studying ?

Too early.

The verbal score will naturally increase after taking AP lit in junior year. 50 point increase will make it to 790 or 800.

The verbal part can't be easily prepped. Rigorous English courses really help, a lot.

I think most schools do Lang in 11th and then Lit in 12th. But either way, 50 point increases above 740 don’t generally just naturally happen like they do with lower scores. That’s missing few to no questions. Most have to really study for that because it really isn’t about content gaps at that level anymore.

This is absolutely false. It’s not about content gaps at all. It’s comprehension. Mine improved naturally on verbal part after AP lit, which involves tons of reading and analysis. If the kid hasn’t taken AP lang, then lang will also help. FWIW, mine got 800 on verbal.

AP Lit is a senior year class. How is your kid taking it in 11th?

High schools vary. Most seem to teach Lit as the senior year class, but some flip it and teach Lang as the senior year class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior and an excellent student at his school. He already took honors precalc as a sophomore and achieved a near perfect score in that class. He’s aiming at a few T20 schools and knows that’s it’s almost a must to get over 1500 on the SAT.

He’s taken 4 practice SATs over the summer and his score is ranging between a 1450 and a 1490, almost equally split between Math and English. He’s already taken several sessions with a tutor he likes at a reputable testing place in the area. The tests aren’t revealing any particular areas of weakness.

If your child was in a similar position , what has helped the most? More practice tests? Changing tutors? Simply more studying ?

Too early.

The verbal score will naturally increase after taking AP lit in junior year. 50 point increase will make it to 790 or 800.

The verbal part can't be easily prepped. Rigorous English courses really help, a lot.

I think most schools do Lang in 11th and then Lit in 12th. But either way, 50 point increases above 740 don’t generally just naturally happen like they do with lower scores. That’s missing few to no questions. Most have to really study for that because it really isn’t about content gaps at that level anymore.

This is absolutely false. It’s not about content gaps at all. It’s comprehension. Mine improved naturally on verbal part after AP lit, which involves tons of reading and analysis. If the kid hasn’t taken AP lang, then lang will also help. FWIW, mine got 800 on verbal.

AP Lit is a senior year class. How is your kid taking it in 11th?

About half our high school takes AP lit in 11th and it is a public magnet. Many she met at her ivy did the same even if they did not take the AP, it was structured similarly to be able to easily get a 4 or 5. 12th is for college-style English classes. The feederish private near us does college-style semester literature classes 11&12 and does not offer the AP at all but many take it in 11 or even 10th. AP language content is covered in 10th but not called AP.

[Anonymous]

These posts are really kind of sad.

[Anonymous]

Take a real test and you have a baseline. Unless applying to Georgetown or MIT you super-score. If he gets over 1500 submit with a 1 and done.

Don’t overthink this. Or put too much pressure on the kid. That won’t help the score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior and an excellent student at his school. He already took honors precalc as a sophomore and achieved a near perfect score in that class. He’s aiming at a few T20 schools and knows that’s it’s almost a must to get over 1500 on the SAT.

He’s taken 4 practice SATs over the summer and his score is ranging between a 1450 and a 1490, almost equally split between Math and English. He’s already taken several sessions with a tutor he likes at a reputable testing place in the area. The tests aren’t revealing any particular areas of weakness.

If your child was in a similar position , what has helped the most? More practice tests? Changing tutors? Simply more studying ?

Too early.

The verbal score will naturally increase after taking AP lit in junior year. 50 point increase will make it to 790 or 800.

The verbal part can't be easily prepped. Rigorous English courses really help, a lot.

I think most schools do Lang in 11th and then Lit in 12th. But either way, 50 point increases above 740 don’t generally just naturally happen like they do with lower scores. That’s missing few to no questions. Most have to really study for that because it really isn’t about content gaps at that level anymore.

This is absolutely false. It’s not about content gaps at all. It’s comprehension. Mine improved naturally on verbal part after AP lit, which involves tons of reading and analysis. If the kid hasn’t taken AP lang, then lang will also help. FWIW, mine got 800 on verbal.

AP Lit is a senior year class. How is your kid taking it in 11th?

Lang also helps a great deal. It doesn't have to be lit. If the kid hasn't been exposed to any AP English courses, it's difficult to have a decent verbal score.

[Anonymous]

No clue whether or not your DS “needs” to break 1500, but here’s my advice:

Tell your DS to find a couple of well-rated videos on YouTube that focus specifically on using the Desmons calculator thing. I stayed out of it, but DD said she picked up a few extra time-saving tips that way, even after a few sessions with a tutor.

Also, have him take the real test at the end of this month or early fall and see how it goes. Some kids really do perform better on the real thing than in practice tests.

Once he gets his scores back from his first real test, you’ll know a lot more. DD ended up taking it twice junior year - same total score, but the math and verbal flipped the second time, so her superscore went up. Great result for her. Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior and an excellent student at his school. He already took honors precalc as a sophomore and achieved a near perfect score in that class. He’s aiming at a few T20 schools and knows that’s it’s almost a must to get over 1500 on the SAT.

He’s taken 4 practice SATs over the summer and his score is ranging between a 1450 and a 1490, almost equally split between Math and English. He’s already taken several sessions with a tutor he likes at a reputable testing place in the area. The tests aren’t revealing any particular areas of weakness.

If your child was in a similar position , what has helped the most? More practice tests? Changing tutors? Simply more studying ?

Too early.

The verbal score will naturally increase after taking AP lit in junior year. 50 point increase will make it to 790 or 800.

The verbal part can't be easily prepped. Rigorous English courses really help, a lot.

I think most schools do Lang in 11th and then Lit in 12th. But either way, 50 point increases above 740 don’t generally just naturally happen like they do with lower scores. That’s missing few to no questions. Most have to really study for that because it really isn’t about content gaps at that level anymore.

This is absolutely false. It’s not about content gaps at all. It’s comprehension. Mine improved naturally on verbal part after AP lit, which involves tons of reading and analysis. If the kid hasn’t taken AP lang, then lang will also help. FWIW, mine got 800 on verbal.

AP Lit is a senior year class. How is your kid taking it in 11th?

Lang also helps a great deal. It doesn't have to be lit. If the kid hasn't been exposed to any AP English courses, it's difficult to have a decent verbal score.

DP. I'll add that APUSH and similar can also help increase the verbal score, if the student doesn't take AP Lang/Lit.

[Anonymous]

Back the hell off, mom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These posts are really kind of sad.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a rising junior and an excellent student at his school. He already took honors precalc as a sophomore and achieved a near perfect score in that class. He’s aiming at a few T20 schools and knows that’s it’s almost a must to get over 1500 on the SAT.

He’s taken 4 practice SATs over the summer and his score is ranging between a 1450 and a 1490, almost equally split between Math and English. He’s already taken several sessions with a tutor he likes at a reputable testing place in the area. The tests aren’t revealing any particular areas of weakness.

If your child was in a similar position , what has helped the most? More practice tests? Changing tutors? Simply more studying ?

I have a four step process for you that is almost guaranteed to work. Step one is really critical…

1. Relax and take deep breathes
2. Have DC take the test
3. Diagnose test results and get targeted tutoring
4. Have DC retake the test and super score