SAT score not commensurate with GPA/ AP scores / academic rigor despite prepping and tutoring

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is an excellent student taking on the most rigorous classes offered at her DMV private . As a junior, she’s already in AP Calculus BC and AP Lang and excelling in both. Based on the honors list numbers at her school , she’s around the top 10-15% of her class. She took 3 AP classes as a sophomore and scored 5’s on all three.

Here’s the issue: she just can’t seem to do well on the SAT in spite of studying hard for it and having excellent tutors.
She scored a 1460 on the first benchmark blue book practice test with zero prep back in June , so we thought it would be easy to get past the 1500 with some tutoring.
Fast forward 6 months, some 20 tutoring sessions, hours of studying on her own and her December SAT came in at 1440.
Kids at her school who are around her level have mostly scored 1530+.

Granted a 1440 is somewhere around the 96 percentile but it’s not even in the ball park of the schools she was hoping to apply for next year.

She’ll retake the test in the Spring but we are just perplexed at why this is happening. We are also doubtful that her score will go up much in the next 3 months if it hasn’t budged in the last 6 months. How can a student who is clearly capable, prepped so much, not be able to do well on the test?

Has anyone had this experience with their child before ? Would love to hear your thoughts.

No mean comments please.

TIA

TAKE THE ACT!!! Many kids just do better on that one!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it curious that people think the verbal section of the SAT is hard to prep. My DC is not reader at all. Hates it. Reads books for AP English classes and is an excellent writer, but nothing for pleasure since about age 10. I’m not kidding. It is upsetting as a parent that reads all the time and I read to him nightly even through 8th grade (!) when I would read chapter books each night! He scored a perfect score on English and Reading section of the ACt (36s). It was shocking. 35 on the test overall not superscored. OP, maybe try the ACT.

I’ve been telling people to do the ACT as well, it’s easier to get a high score on the ACT than the SAT. Congrats to your son! Regular and consistent childhood reading matters - especially to 8th grade which isn’t common.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The blue book practice tests are skewing high right now especially beyond 1450. This is my experience. So a kid who averages 1580 is getting 1530 at most. I think the digital SAT has had some issues in its infancy. Too many high scores. That’s been remedied as of maybe March? but the practice tests still reflect that beginning.

I agree with this. My kid scores higher on blue book practice tests than on the actual exam (taken twice). I chalk it up to differences in scaling after the psat disaster (the psat scores were way too high, which meant that NMSQT required near perfect scores).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The blue book practice tests are skewing high right now especially beyond 1450. This is my experience. So a kid who averages 1580 is getting 1530 at most. I think the digital SAT has had some issues in its infancy. Too many high scores. That’s been remedied as of maybe March? but the practice tests still reflect that beginning.

I agree with this. My kid scores higher on blue book practice tests than on the actual exam (taken twice). I chalk it up to differences in scaling after the psat disaster (the psat scores were way too high, which meant that NMSQT required near perfect scores).

I disagree, based on conflicting but equally anecdotal experience.

My kid’s highest verbal on a practice test was a 750. Their highest math on a practice test was 770. But those were different tests. They took all ten practice tests, and their highest single-sitting composite score was 1510.

Single-sitting SAT score? 770 verbal, 800 math.

Some kids turn it on under the pressure of test conditions, the same way some athletes are clutch in key moments. Other kids are rattled by the pressure. Practice is invaluable, but it isn’t quite the same thing as playing the game.

[Anonymous]

Here is my tip. Sign up for the test twice in a row. Part of this is relaxation and experience with the actual test. Best scores from multiple students I know, including my second, were received in the second of back to back tests.

Also, I second the advice to try the ACT.

This is all if your student wants it. Your student is great and will succeed from her work ethic no matter where she goes.

[Anonymous]

Has your kid tried a practice ACT? Try that instead.

Also maybe try a different tutor.

[Anonymous]

NP here--I would be curious to hear more about test anxiety management strategies from the PP. I have one child who has now taken the test twice and actually did worse the second time. The first time she had no prep so we were encouraged since that score was much better than her PSAT. but then should took a prep course and actually got a lower score. During her prep session practice exams she routinely scored over 1500 and the instructor kept asking her to explain the answers to the rest of the class. But then on the actual exam she ran out of time and had to guess on the last several math questions, which says tome she's freezing up. She had this problem on her first AP test as well and ended up cancelling the score because she freaked out.

[Anonymous]

Dear God let this be a troll post

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the breakdown in scores? Nearly all schools super score, so if the scores are very lopsided (nearly 800 in one section), just focus entirely on the other section.

770 in Math, 670 in English

So, stop studying Math and focus entirely on English. It literally doesn’t matter if after the next test, she score a 770 in English and a 500 in math…she will tell colleges she scored a 1540.

Good luck, sincerely to the OP and their DC, but it’s nauseating that super scoring even exists. The fundamental unfairness of viewing one kid with a one-and-done 1600 the same as another kid who took six SAT administrations to cobble together a Frankenstein’d 1600 via super scoring … it’s ridiculous.

Annual petition to limit re-takes to one for valid medical reason with no super scoring …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the breakdown in scores? Nearly all schools super score, so if the scores are very lopsided (nearly 800 in one section), just focus entirely on the other section.

770 in Math, 670 in English

So, stop studying Math and focus entirely on English. It literally doesn’t matter if after the next test, she score a 770 in English and a 500 in math…she will tell colleges she scored a 1540.

Good luck, sincerely to the OP and their DC, but it’s nauseating that super scoring even exists. The fundamental unfairness of viewing one kid with a one-and-done 1600 the same as another kid who took six SAT administrations to cobble together a Frankenstein’d 1600 via super scoring … it’s ridiculous.

Annual petition to limit re-takes to one for valid medical reason with no super scoring …

Multiple sittings are still more respectable than hiring someone or using ChatGPT to write essays, more respectable than parents-driven non-profits, more respectable than fake research. The kids are at least taking the tests *themselves*. What you are railing against isn't the biggest issue with unfairness or cheating in college applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it curious that people think the verbal section of the SAT is hard to prep. My DC is not reader at all. Hates it. Reads books for AP English classes and is an excellent writer, but nothing for pleasure since about age 10. I’m not kidding. It is upsetting as a parent that reads all the time and I read to him nightly even through 8th grade (!) when I would read chapter books each night! He scored a perfect score on English and Reading section of the ACt (36s). It was shocking. 35 on the test overall not superscored. OP, maybe try the ACT.

My non reader got 34s on those sections. Also has adhd so likely the small passages on the test are more palatable

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What’s the breakdown in scores? Nearly all schools super score, so if the scores are very lopsided (nearly 800 in one section), just focus entirely on the other section.[/quote]

770 in Math, 670 in English[/quote]

So, stop studying Math and focus entirely on English. It literally doesn’t matter if after the next test, she score a 770 in English and a 500 in math…she will tell colleges she scored a 1540.[/quote]

Good luck, sincerely to the OP and their DC, but it’s nauseating that super scoring even exists. The fundamental unfairness of viewing one kid with a one-and-done 1600 the same as another kid who took six SAT administrations to cobble together a Frankenstein’d 1600 via super scoring … it’s ridiculous.

Annual petition to limit re-takes to one for valid medical reason with no super scoring …[/quote]

I know right?

Would you go to an SAT surgeon for a major SAT replacement operation who needed 6 tries to get 2 halves of an 1600 SAT?
Does a Bachelors—let alone a PhD!—in SAT even mean anything at that point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the breakdown in scores? Nearly all schools super score, so if the scores are very lopsided (nearly 800 in one section), just focus entirely on the other section.

770 in Math, 670 in English

So, stop studying Math and focus entirely on English. It literally doesn’t matter if after the next test, she score a 770 in English and a 500 in math…she will tell colleges she scored a 1540.

Good luck, sincerely to the OP and their DC, but it’s nauseating that super scoring even exists. The fundamental unfairness of viewing one kid with a one-and-done 1600 the same as another kid who took six SAT administrations to cobble together a Frankenstein’d 1600 via super scoring … it’s ridiculous.

Annual petition to limit re-takes to one for valid medical reason with no super scoring …

I know right?

Would you go to an SAT surgeon for a major SAT replacement operation who needed 6 tries to get 2 halves of an 1600 SAT?
Does a Bachelors—let alone a PhD!—in SAT even mean anything at that point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the breakdown in scores? Nearly all schools super score, so if the scores are very lopsided (nearly 800 in one section), just focus entirely on the other section.

770 in Math, 670 in English

So, stop studying Math and focus entirely on English. It literally doesn’t matter if after the next test, she score a 770 in English and a 500 in math…she will tell colleges she scored a 1540.

Good luck, sincerely to the OP and their DC, but it’s nauseating that super scoring even exists. The fundamental unfairness of viewing one kid with a one-and-done 1600 the same as another kid who took six SAT administrations to cobble together a Frankenstein’d 1600 via super scoring … it’s ridiculous.

Annual petition to limit re-takes to one for valid medical reason with no super scoring …

What makes you think that single sitting 1600 wasn’t the fluke?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dear God let this be a troll post

Private school parent, not troll. Believes that everything in life can be purchased.