Reply to Thoughts on help for the SAT/ACT for a smart student who is struggling with these tests

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have twins. 
They both do equally well at a rigorous school that is very stingy with As. 
One is in harder classes (physics C, multivariate, etc).

The one in the easier classes takes standardized tests extremely well.  NO PREP.  First try ACT 35.  First try SAT 1540/ 
The one in the harder classes just really struggles with the ACT/SAT.  Scores have been 1410 and now 1360.  ACT was 27.
He/she has done fine on AP exams (all 5).  There is something about the SAT/ACT that he/she cannot perform on. 
He/she has done extensive prep (several hours a week doing problems for months).

We're realizing that this kid probably has some sort of undiagnosed learning issue (too late for this now). 
He/she can't read at the speed needed for the passages (even the short ones on the digital SAT).  Has to read 
things 2 and 3 times to focus.  Also having issues with the math although it's less clear what. 
Where would you go from here?
They're not going to apply to Ivies but we were hoping for reasonably competitive schools. 
If not applying test optional, is there some way to do intensive prep?

It's so frustrating because on a daily basis these kids perform the same or if anything the second one is a stronger student in harder classes and able to grasp more abstract concepts.

Thoughts on what to do about prep?

[/quote]

Sorry OP,

Something isn’t adding up. You have a junior who is so far ahead in math that he/she is taking multivariable calc (and has an A or A-) as a junior AND has taken multiple AP tests and gotten 5s on each but is struggling with SAT/ACT after working with a tutor? This makes no sense. Perhaps you’ve embellished to hide identity?

I’d say it’s test anxiety, but so many things don’t add up that I’m just skeptical.

[/quote]

NP to the thread and I agree. Public schools often have the mean as an A- , and a 1410 could be the top10% at public school,  however this is still strange as that math level is typically for the 99th%ile kids who have zero trouble with SAT math. The student seems as though they were over-accelerated and does not have a concept of the basics. I am not anti-acceleration--one of mine was moved into the next grade just for math(ie Algebra 1 in 6th--Calc 10th), by the school's urging, not by us, and that kid and the other kid who did it aced the SAT math with zero prep, as did many of the kids a level below(Algebra in 7th--Calc in 11th).  I would be curious which APs were taken that resulted in 5s? Something is certainly off. [/quote]

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