PSAT results— what should DD be doing before SAT tutoring starts?

[Anonymous]

Have her watch the series of videos on YouTube where they teach how to use desmos. Then have her retake the math section and see.
My 10th grader got 1320 raw but only because he is good at reading, 730. His math was not good and he said he didn’t use desmos so that’s the first thing we are doing over TG break.
Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, this is anonymous. Just tell us the very disappointing score. Your (and her) definition of "very disappointing" might be different than what is healthy and appropriate. My kid was happy with his good but not amazing verbal PSAT score but disappointed he did not get a perfect math score as he "assumed" he would.

Op here. 1200.

It's a normal score, on the lower side though. But PSAT means nothing.
A lot of kids improve their score by junior year, merely one year of education taking AP lit and AP lang will naturally boost her score by 100 points.
Don't panic.

You are literally a freak.

1200 in 10th grade is 92%. that is "lower side" to you?

NP. For kids who are aiming at T20, it is a lower score. But for 10th grade PSAT, I would not worry too much at this point. Try to see where the strength and weaknesses are and build on that.

[Anonymous]

My 10th grader is reporting a 960 and my 11th grader a 1370. You’ve no idea the relief the 960 is to me. I was worried it’d be even lower

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:reading tons of books

reviewing the weak areas in math in khan academy or watching my chemistry tutor on youtube

sorry - I meant the organic chemistry tutor on YT- he is great
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEWpbFLzoYGPfuWUMFPSaoA

watch his videos on your kid's weak areas for math; he does have an SAT playlist too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:reading tons of books

reviewing the weak areas in math in khan academy or watching my chemistry tutor on youtube

sorry - I meant the organic chemistry tutor on YT- he is great
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEWpbFLzoYGPfuWUMFPSaoA

watch his videos on your kid's weak areas for math; he does have an SAT playlist too

AND try to have your kid do written problems (workbooks, etc.) - my kid's score really increased after doing loads of problems to put the concepts into practice

but I'd start with the videos to review the concepts

[Anonymous]

I’ve always heard that scores just naturally go up 100 points each year simply from more academics test taking abilities and maturity. And then add the prep work on top of that. Your kid will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Are most taking the SAT jr or sr year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are most taking the SAT jr or sr year?

Junior year. Some seniors are done with all their college applications by now.

[Anonymous]

I think she should try a sample ACT and if she does better, just let go of the SAT. You don't need to do both.

If she does better on the SAT than the ACT, I would have her prep over the summer and take it in August. It's easier to do before school gets going and will give her additional retake options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My soph took it in aug. There's no reason not to take it if you can afford the SAT registration fee. It is good prep for the PSAT NMSQT test in October of junior year.

Good point. Thanks. So when did your sophomore start prep? I am trying not to be too crazy and stress my daughter out. But I did learn from my two older kids that we need to plan things out sooner and more intentionally.

To answer someone above I meant that the fact she studies so much to get her 4.0 might mask that her “natural’ smartness isn’t on par.

She also isn’t and hasn’t been a big reader. She plays several sports and just doesn’t prioritize reading. I have always worried her SAT scores would suffer because of this …

My DS hasn’t read one single book outside of school sine he finished the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series in elementary. He just scored a 1510 on the junior year PSAT and had a perfect score on the verbal section. I think he had a 1320 sophomore year. In between, he watched a lot of YouTube SAT prep videos. My DD took a group prep class with Capital Educators a few years ago and found it helpful.

[Anonymous]

You people are off the chain! Let your kid enjoy some of HS!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are most taking the SAT jr or sr year?

Really should take it first during sophomore year. Gets one ready for the PSAT.

There is no downside to taking the SAT multiple times.

[Anonymous]

Unless your kid applies to one of the handful of schools who require all scores be reported, ie Georgetown.

For my 3 kids we hope for strong scores for application purposes, but don’t care about the PSAT in the NMF sense so what they do is take whatever is offered sophomore year - their school offers PSAT in the fall and PreAct in the spring - and use that data/experience to determine which test to focus on. Test prep is during the summer between 10th and 11th. First SAT fall of 11th, 2nd sitting Dec or March, and if needed, a 3rd either in June (although my one who took it 3xs was spent from AP exams by June) or Aug of Sr year. One kid wanted 3 sittings, one finished at two, and the 3rd kid is tbd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are most taking the SAT jr or sr year?

Really should take it first during sophomore year. Gets one ready for the PSAT.

There is no downside to taking the SAT multiple times.

That seems excessive unless your kid is advanced in math. Starting the beginning of junior year (August or September) is plenty. You want Algebra II/trig under your belt and most take that sophomore year.

DC’s PSAT went up from 1330 in fall of 10th to 1480 (including a perfect math score) in fall of 11th mostly organically, because the summer blew up and DC ended up only doing SAT prep for a only few days before the August sitting (which ended up a 1510, near-perfect math).