SAT scores - to report, or not to report?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:11:15 here: The cheating is alarming. What generally happens is these kids take these tests 2,3,4 times and see a bump in their scores. Most take a prep class at some point, and of course see a bump of 8-10 points in the ACT, or a couple of hundred points in their SAT. This is what flags them in the system. And the system is rigged: no one ever wins the appeal. They cancel the score and ask you to take it again to "validate" your score. Many students were screwed because it was their Senior year and applying for colleges.

Well, this is scary. You would expect that a kid who took the SAT after only having taken Algebra 1 and Geometry, for instance, would get a pretty substantial bump in their score after successfully completing Algebra 2 and maybe even a prep class. Right?

With so many kids apparently getting 1400+ scores these days, a kid earning sub 1400 would probably be inclined to make additional attempts to score better. The difference between a 1300 and a 1400 is roughly 10 questions (?).

10 points on the ACT scale of 36 is much different than 10 points on the SAT scale of 1600.

[Anonymous]

OP again. Thank you all for your advice! DD doesn't have a clear direction of where she wants to go or what she wants to study. She's not Ivy-bound and probably not even UVA or W&M material. We're thinking she should be able to get into one of the other VA publics test-optional, worst case scenario. This might be wrong-headed, but hopefully not too far off the mark.

She works so hard at school and is already so stressed out, that I can't see putting more stress on her to do well on these tests. The problem is not the content, but the lack of time. This has always been a big problem for her. I am sure that some test-taking strategies and a little practice would help her out, but I don't see her making a huge improvement after an expensive prep course. Not to mention the fact that it irritates me to no end that kids need to prep at all (outside of taking a practice test or two). Aren't these tests supposed to measure knowledge? I'll have her play the game, because she has to, but only to a certain extent. Ok, sorry for the soapbox moment!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:11:15 here: The cheating is alarming. What generally happens is these kids take these tests 2,3,4 times and see a bump in their scores. Most take a prep class at some point, and of course see a bump of 8-10 points in the ACT, or a couple of hundred points in their SAT. This is what flags them in the system. And the system is rigged: no one ever wins the appeal. They cancel the score and ask you to take it again to "validate" your score. Many students were screwed because it was their Senior year and applying for colleges.

Well, this is scary. You would expect that a kid who took the SAT after only having taken Algebra 1 and Geometry, for instance, would get a pretty substantial bump in their score after successfully completing Algebra 2 and maybe even a prep class. Right?

With so many kids apparently getting 1400+ scores these days, a kid earning sub 1400 would probably be inclined to make additional attempts to score better. The difference between a 1300 and a 1400 is roughly 10 questions (?).

10 points on the ACT scale of 36 is much different than 10 points on the SAT scale of 1600.

Very true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again. Thank you all for your advice! DD doesn't have a clear direction of where she wants to go or what she wants to study. She's not Ivy-bound and probably not even UVA or W&M material. We're thinking she should be able to get into one of the other VA publics test-optional, worst case scenario. This might be wrong-headed, but hopefully not too far off the mark.

She works so hard at school and is already so stressed out, that I can't see putting more stress on her to do well on these tests. The problem is not the content, but the lack of time. This has always been a big problem for her. I am sure that some test-taking strategies and a little practice would help her out, but I don't see her making a huge improvement after an expensive prep course. Not to mention the fact that it irritates me to no end that kids need to prep at all (outside of taking a practice test or two). Aren't these tests supposed to measure knowledge? I'll have her play the game, because she has to, but only to a certain extent. Ok, sorry for the soapbox moment!

My son never did serious test prep because he had substantial course rigor during the school year. There are only so many hours in a day.

But given that test scores seem to be a such a huge factor in admissions decisions, if I had it to do over I would have insisted (I think?) on test prep the summer before his senior year and had him retest after the prep in the fall because a good part of these tests is simply knowing HOW to take them. But...he needed a break from school, tests, studying and I honestly couldn't blame him. That meant summer fun and no summer test prep. Better to go into that senior year not completely burned out.

He did pretty good with minimal prep but, as good as his scores are, I think that his scores are low for his actual ability if that makes sense. He is not generally a poor test taker, either.

FWIW, he's got 3 solid admissions offers in hand (including some merit money) so he has some great options and we are sincerely grateful for that. Can't help wondering if he would have received 1 or 2 more offers had his scores been just a bit higher....

Best of luck to your DD. She sounds like a great candidate and I'm sure that she'll find a school that is the right match for her.

[Anonymous]

^Forgot to mention that my son did the free score reporting all 3 times he took it. I don't think it really mattered one way or the other his case.

[Anonymous]

My kids did test prep the summer before Junior year. Yes, it was early, but squeezing in test prep during the junior year (APs plus sports etc) was tooo stressful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had ds (10th grade) take a practice SAT test without any prep on khan academy to see whether he needed to take a Kaplan course this summer. Based on his results (770 verbal and 740 math) I feel like it is not necessary. He is aiming high ito college selection but I cannot justify paying hundreds of dollars to improve his score by 20-40 points. I might buy him a Kaplan book

I am not sure if a kid like this would need to prep

[Anonymous]

See how she does. Only after you have scores, decide. You can have the scores sent later. Just make sure she doesn't fill out info for colleges when she registers/takes the test. She also does not have to have her scores reported to her high school if she doesn't want.

[Anonymous]

God the people who come on her to brag about their DC getting a 1500 SAT without any prep are insufferable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:God the people who come on her to brag about their DC getting a 1500 SAT without any prep are insufferable.

Jelly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:God the people who come on her to brag about their DC getting a 1500 SAT without any prep are insufferable.

so only kids with less than 1500 should prep?
If the poster's kid is trying to get into schools that normally accept very high scoring kids it might be tough to decide how much to spend and how much time to spend to increase the child's score by 30-50 points

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God the people who come on her to brag about their DC getting a 1500 SAT without any prep are insufferable.

Jelly?

Nope. I have a college degree and millions in the bank without getting 1500 on my SAT. You jelly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God the people who come on her to brag about their DC getting a 1500 SAT without any prep are insufferable.

so only kids with less than 1500 should prep?
If the poster's kid is trying to get into schools that normally accept very high scoring kids it might be tough to decide how much to spend and how much time to spend to increase the child's score by 30-50 points

The OP was about sending in scores or not to send in scores. The post about getting 1500 without prep was not relevant and self-serving. But then again that is what it is all about here.