If your kid can't get a 1400 Duke will be a real challenge academically. The rest once your in, getting out with less than a 3.8 is very hard.

Will your kid be happy and successful at a school where he had to make an enormous effort to score 100-150 points lower than non-athletes at the school? We were in a similar situation and decided it would be setting our kid up for failure.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he can likely get to 1400 with a LOT of work - but he needs to be motivated. Agree though that the math section is where one improves the most with prep. Verbal score is harder to improve. ACT is much easier to improve with test prep so consider that instead.

If it is more difficult to improve on the verbal section than the math section, does that mean that kids who do better on the verbal section are more intelligent than kids who do better on the math section?

What is intelligence? What it means is that it's harder to move the needle on the verbal section. Maybe scoring 95+ percentile on the math and scoring lower on verbal means you're a better learner and vice versa means you have good intuition for language but aren't that great a learner.

Or maybe that you had crappy math education in your school district. Because it's easier to voraciously read independently than to teach yourself math going up to Algebra 2 by yourself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he can likely get to 1400 with a LOT of work - but he needs to be motivated. Agree though that the math section is where one improves the most with prep. Verbal score is harder to improve. ACT is much easier to improve with test prep so consider that instead.

If it is more difficult to improve on the verbal section than the math section, does that mean that kids who do better on the verbal section are more intelligent than kids who do better on the math section?

What is intelligence? What it means is that it's harder to move the needle on the verbal section. Maybe scoring 95+ percentile on the math and scoring lower on verbal means you're a better learner and vice versa means you have good intuition for language but aren't that great a learner.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he can likely get to 1400 with a LOT of work - but he needs to be motivated. Agree though that the math section is where one improves the most with prep. Verbal score is harder to improve. ACT is much easier to improve with test prep so consider that instead.

If it is more difficult to improve on the verbal section than the math section, does that mean that kids who do better on the verbal section are more intelligent than kids who do better on the math section?

My son is also a junior athlete. I do not believe this is achievable for most kids. We live in a bubble and it feels like most kids around us are scoring high but this is not representative of the general population. My student athlete will be TO because I can’t imagine that the money, time and stress will be worth the score he earns. He has not officially taken the test but based on PSAT he would need to gain 300 points.

DD took test prep. Started with 1200 and ended with 1200. The needle didn’t move.

Older DS scored upper 1400s after expensive 1:1 test prep but the increase was less than 100 points.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the starting point. I’m confident more than 50% of kids could get a 1400+ given they grew up in a household that valued education throughout their lives. If you’re asking if most kids can get a 1400+ given they’re already in their junior year. Obviously not.

The SAT is curved, so it doesn't seem like 50% of kids could achieve the 97th percentile without a 1400 being seriously diluted.

I said this assuming the household really valued education from basically birth. This isn’t the case in reality for everyone, which is why 1400 is 97th percentile. If everyone was given the resources, it’s 50% easily. In other words, I believe it’s totally possible for a student with 50th percentile intelligence to score a 1400.

Sure it’s possible. It also sounds like the “he’s been told he’s ivy level” is very far from someone actually doing a pre read and then making an actual offer. Good luck. Ivy sounds ambitious with this grade and score profile

Anonymous wrote:Yes. The current SAT is very easy with little prep needed.

It’s got the same bell curve distribution as previous tests so it’s not “easier” or “very easy”, idiot.

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP. An 1180 is not good and even a 1400 won't get your DC into the Ivies, unless he's hooked, but being a bona fide athlete may.

so 1) obviously look at test optional schools; 2) have your high school administer the ACT; both of my kids did well on it;
3) study the stats of the schools your kid is interested in ... A 1400 is below the 25th percentile at UVA. I suspect it's even lower for the schools you mentioned.

good luck

Also you don't mention the rigor or AP courses your kid has taken. Elite schools want to see a lot of those. Also ECs.

Also top ten% isn't going to cut it at tge elite schools you are talking about. Go see your high school counselor; ask to see tge Niance scores for these schools. If they seem overwhelmed, consider hiring a private counselor

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the starting point. I’m confident more than 50% of kids could get a 1400+ given they grew up in a household that valued education throughout their lives. If you’re asking if most kids can get a 1400+ given they’re already in their junior year. Obviously not.

The SAT is curved, so it doesn't seem like 50% of kids could achieve the 97th percentile without a 1400 being seriously diluted.

What? If 50% of kids reached 1400 it wouldn’t be the 97th percentile…

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the starting point. I’m confident more than 50% of kids could get a 1400+ given they grew up in a household that valued education throughout their lives. If you’re asking if most kids can get a 1400+ given they’re already in their junior year. Obviously not.

The SAT is curved, so it doesn't seem like 50% of kids could achieve the 97th percentile without a 1400 being seriously diluted.

Hi OP. An 1180 is not good and even a 1400 won't get your DC into the Ivies, unless he's hooked, but being a bona fide athlete may.

so 1) obviously look at test optional schools; 2) have your high school administer the ACT; both of my kids did well on it;
3) study the stats of the schools your kid is interested in ... A 1400 is below the 25th percentile at UVA. I suspect it's even lower for the schools you mentioned.

good luck

Anonymous wrote:I think it was easier to do with the paper version for various reasons. It is still possible with hard work, but I think a waste of time for your kid. If your kid has the metrics, the coach will push your kid. Get a tutor and try to bring it up 100 points.

Why was the paper version easier?

I think it was easier to do with the paper version for various reasons. It is still possible with hard work, but I think a waste of time for your kid. If your kid has the metrics, the coach will push your kid. Get a tutor and try to bring it up 100 points.