Reply to Guidance with SAT or ACT prep and tests for my junior year DS?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Not every kid needs test prep. Lots of time and money is wasted on prep for kids who would get essentially the same scores with or without test prep. If a kid has a high GPA and usually does well on standardized tests, he doesn't really need SAT/ACT prep. His time would be better spent on leadership, sports, arts, whatever EC that he loves and will set him apart as a candidate.

Some kids have trouble taking tests and need prep, but many kids just don't need it. By this age, parents know their kids and have seen how they do on many standardized tests over the years. Once you're over 2200 or 32, colleges don't care if a kid has a "perfect" score.

There are lots of free and low cost ways to get familiar with the questions and directions ahead of time, so there is no need to spend hundreds of dollars on test prep. I would save my money and put it away for college or retirement. 
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Most kids benefit significantly from test prep, and I don't think it's very responsible to suggest otherwise.  I agree that you don't need to spend a lot of money for it; the ACT and SAT prep board at College Confidential has very good advice for low-cost DIY options.  It also doesn't take a significant amount of time to prep, whether you do it with a prep company or on your own.  A focused course of study will take no more than 4-6 hours per week for 3-6 weeks.  It will not interfere with any ECs your child is doing or may want to add.

With respect to your comment on scores, 2200 for the SAT and 32 for the Act are good scores.  But top colleges will certainly look more favorably at a 2350+ or a 35 or 36 except in cases where the child is being recruited for a non-academic reason, and higher scores can make merit awards for kids who also have great grades.  Parents and kids should look at the 25/75% averages for colleges to help figure what sorts of scores will make a particular school a reach, match, or safety. 
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Some kids benefit from test prep, not every kid does. Some kids will get high scores no matter what. Studies show that scores go up upon taking the test a second time even without any prep in between test administrations. Many test prep places give kids a tough sample test which gives them a lower score to start off with, so that they can seem to get a higher return on their test prep dollar. One of my kids took a free test at his school. I actually laughed when I saw the score, because it bore no relationship to the score I would expect from this child from his previous performance on the many standardized tests given during school. He took the real test about six months later with no additional prep in between and got the scores I would have expected. If your kid does well on standardized tests, you know that by the time they're juniors in high school. It would have been a waste of money for our kid to do test prep.

We've talked to a lot of college admissions officials and they all say once you're over 2200, you are wasting time and money if you keep retaking the SAT.  They just don't differentiate after that level, they are looking at lots of other aspects of the application. Test scores are only one piece of the application and not even the most important piece. 
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