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orchestramom
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Posted: Thu Feb 15th, 2007 03:56 pm |
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This morning D checked her scores from the January SAT (her first attempt) and is overall EXTREMELY happy with 780 CR, 770 W but a little disappointed about her 620 M. Math is not "her thing" but she feels she can do better with some prep.
I have suggested that this will be a good thing to discuss with her college counselor at our meeting next week, but in the meantime she should simply relax and enjoy her accomplishment. It's a great baseline and I think will be enormously useful in the college research she's doing, in terms of seeing where she falls in their stats ranges.
She's planning to take a couple of SAT2s in May and/or June, and would probably want to do the SAT retake early in the fall, doing the math prep over the summer.
Thoughts, opinions, from any testing/strategy veterans out there?
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patsmom
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Posted: Thu Feb 15th, 2007 04:27 pm |
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orchestramom -
My son is most definitely NOT a math person. He does okay in it but is no superstar. He's a senior in honors precalculus this year and has always gotten grades between 86-90 in math in HS. Humanities is his thing, not math.
His first SAT math score was 650, I think. He retook it a few months later and scored a 730. All he did in the way of prep was practice tests from the big blue SAT book and from the Real ACT book. It wasn't easy to get him to sit down and do those tests, but breaking the full tests into 30-minute sections and having him tackle one every week on a light homework day was the way he did it. He always read the explanation of the right and wrong answers -- that helped a lot.
Practice seems to be the key, and not necessarily in a SAT prep course. It's easy (and cheaper!) to do it at home.
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orchestramom
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Posted: Thu Feb 15th, 2007 07:26 pm |
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patsmom--
thanks...your son sounds a lot like my daughter. She's a junior, hovers around an A-/B+ average in honors pre-calc. Definitely willing to self-study and perhaps get extra help from her math teacher. Not interested in a prep course, and I don't think that's necessary either. I guess her October math PSAT (61) was a close predictor, and it was also 10 points higher than last year's math PSAT as a soph. I agree with her that there's some room to increase the math score, but I don't want her to stress herself out about it, at all. (As a probable music performance major, she's looking at lots of audition prep over the summer and next fall.)
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DesperateDad
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Posted: Thu Feb 15th, 2007 08:16 pm |
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the good news is that the math is the easiest for which to prep. Just like the old story of getting to Carnegie Hall...."practice, practice, practice" using CB and other national prep books (PR and Kaplan). Take it 15-20 minutes every weekend or so, and by next fall, she could be looking at a 700.
While prolly not a big deal for a music major, a stronger math score would help a lot for possible merit money.
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Wstrdg
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Posted: Thu Feb 15th, 2007 09:00 pm |
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Everything said so far about practice is great.
In addition, your D should analyze these aspects of her last test performance:
1. Time. Did she finish? Did she skip judiciously and make it to the end, or just run out of time? Can she push herself to work faster? Can she judge which questions to skip for later?
2. Calculator. If she didn't use her calculator at all, then there are definitely problems that she didn't/couldn't do. If she used it on the easy problems, she wasted time. Under- and over-use of calculators is the easiest problem to identify. With practice, she will find herself reaching for it less and less on the easy problems. Learning to use it on the tough problems can be learned through internet tutorials and books.
3. Problem type. Keep a notebook of practice sets. Try to find trends in problem types. The tests tend to re-run classic problem types, in variations, of course. Some review/prep books are better than others. That "other" site usually has a running discussion of likes and dilikes, by brand name. The CB's own book is great, but it doesn't have enough material for a summer of practicing.
This is a boring project, but well worth her time. She will definitely see results, and since she'll have to take that whole monster exam over again (and not just the math part), she'll only want to do the re-do ONCE.  And she'll want to do it EARLY next fall before mid-terms and finals.
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orchestramom
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Posted: Thu Feb 15th, 2007 09:28 pm |
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thanks for the great advice, keep it coming!....
DesperateDad -- I'll have to share the Carnegie Hall analogy with her, she'll get a kick out of that (she played there with her youth orchestra last spring) She's definitely going to be looking for merit $$, and also is not completely decided yet on whether to go straight music performance or possibly double degree or some humanities subject with music as a strong independent activity). And "the list" is still evolving. She's a strong student academically (4.0 unweighted, mostly honors and APs) It's her own opinion that there's room for improvement on the math, so I'm happy to support that, but hopefully in a constructive way. She really did no prep beforehand, was in the middle of auditions for summer music programs, and was the only junior in her school to take the January test (everyone else picked March, which she wanted to avoid because of scheduling problems and she also wanted an early read on what her scores might look like). I think she'd like to aim for 700 if possible and I don't think that's unrealistic, with enough practice. She's got a good sense of her starting point, a good goal, and enough time -- if she's diligent.
Wstrdg--She finished the whole thing, didn't run out of time, answered every question (maybe she should have left one or two blank LOL). She was actually pleased that she worked faster and smarter this time compared to the PSAT in Oct. About the calculator-- I know she had it with her, I think she used it, but effectively? not sure, will suggest she think about that. I don't think they've posted the details on the correct answers yet, which she is planning to analyze as soon as they are available.
What about a Math subject test? Should she add that to the test mix or just focus on improving the match section of the SAT?
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Wstrdg
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Posted: Thu Feb 15th, 2007 09:44 pm |
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What about a Math subject test? Should she add that to the test mix or just focus on improving the match section of the SAT?
I don't think these are mutually exclusive goals. And if she doesn't take a math subject test, she may be limiting her application options.
OTOH, if she already has a firm college list, and none of those schools require math, then she doesn't need to take a math subject test. The score report WILL show all of her subject tests, even though most schools say that they consider only the required number/highest scores. And she can always take a December of senior year subject exam in math, if she decides to apply somewhere that requires math.
How's that for an indecisive answer?
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DesperateDad
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Posted: Thu Feb 15th, 2007 11:04 pm |
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| if she's in honors precalc, then Math 2 would be the math test recommended since the material is fresher in her mind, and it has a very generous curve. However, math 2 is very calculator-centric, so if she is not comfortable with a TI, she may not score well. Also, before recommending it, I suggest a practice test at home. The tests are less than an hour and you can obtain immediate feedback.
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Tue Feb 20th, 2007 08:35 pm |
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First, keep in mind that test scores are not the most important factor in admissions. Grades and curriculum are. While test scores are important, being lopsided won't preclude your daughter from any school. 
The math section is much easier to prep for than the verbal section, so if you have to be lopsided on your first sitting, it's better for the lower score to be math. As a general rule, most non-specialized colleges would rather see a lopsided student with higher verbal (and for some writing) scores than higher math scores. But if she is a fairly strong math student, she should be able to pull that math score up closer to 700 with a bit of preparation. She may even do better on her second sitting in the other two!
My daughter, who is definitely NOT strong in math, had PSAT scores that were also very skewed towards verbal/writing, with her math scores being more than 100 points lower. She found it was really useful to work with a private tutor just on math. They used the SAT test book - she did the tests at home, then they reviewed all of her answers, both the correct ones and wrong ones. After about six weeks, she started to "Get it" more, retook the test, and her math score went up 100 points. So, your daughter might ask her math teacher if she could do the same with the teacher, or if the teacher could recommend a tutor just for math. Or, if she's pretty sharp when it comes to math, she could do fine just prepping on her own.
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moewb
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Posted: Tue Dec 11th, 2007 10:35 pm |
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Ok, my son's verbal scores are 140 points below his math scores - any suggestions for closing the gap?
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leftcoast
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Posted: Tue Dec 11th, 2007 11:04 pm |
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I want to echo Carolyn's comments -- I think those scores would be fine for any college except the super-selective (Ivy League) -- and I am assuming that a prospective musical performance major is more likely to be looking at conservatories or colleges with a strong BFA program. (?) Anyway, my d. had 580 SAT math/23 math ACT and is doing just fine at Barnard, after turning down U. of Chicago & Berkeley.
Your daughter's CR & Writing scores are so high I sincerely doubt that she has anything to worry about or any need to retake. So if she wants to... fine -- but if it were my daughter I'd figure that was a good enough result and move on. For your d's plans, her audition prep and any opportunities to build her music resume are far more important.
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n2ny
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Posted: Thu Dec 20th, 2007 03:46 pm |
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Carolyn, we have the exact oposite issue: my junior just scored an 800 in math and a 650 in CR (and a 690 in writing). His composite is 2140, but that 150 point gap is unsettling to me. He's got his eye on an Ivy for ED, and wants to retake it. I'm thinking October (he's taking his SATIIs in June, and March is probably too soon to see any significant change).
A well-known college counselor assured me that all he needed to do was hit 650 to keep him in the "possible" pile. But the scores are SO lopsided.
He was privately tutored for this and did about five practice tests. Is there anything else he can do to boost his CR score?
Thanks.
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lfm
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Posted: Thu Dec 20th, 2007 09:17 pm |
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n2ny wrote: Carolyn, we have the exact oposite issue: my junior just scored an 800 in math and a 650 in CR (and a 690 in writing). His composite is 2140, but that 150 point gap is unsettling to me. He's got his eye on an Ivy for ED, and wants to retake it. I'm thinking October (he's taking his SATIIs in June, and March is probably too soon to see any significant change).
A well-known college counselor assured me that all he needed to do was hit 650 to keep him in the "possible" pile. But the scores are SO lopsided.
He was privately tutored for this and did about five practice tests. Is there anything else he can do to boost his CR score?
Thanks.
I have heard the best way to boost CR is to have them read the editorials in the NYTs and The Wall Street Journal (online). Then aks them questions. These are pieces that are about the same reading level of the SAT questions.
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Alumother
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Posted: Thu Dec 20th, 2007 10:21 pm |
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I recommend for the lopsided CR score you find magazines with a high level of literacy that still offer content a teenage boy would like and say, here, read this.
For example:
Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone, Men's Health, Esquire.
The New Yorker is a bit more of a stretch but the movie reviews are pretty digestible and they use some big words and some fancy language structures.
Otherwise, if your guy doesn't think this is weird, believe it or not Magic cards have great language...
Last edited on Thu Dec 20th, 2007 10:23 pm by Alumother
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Consolation
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Posted: Wed Dec 26th, 2007 02:11 am |
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Magic cards, huh? Maybe that explains why my S scored 800 on CR both times he took the SAT!
Seriously, I know it's not a popular viewpoint, but when it comes to the CR score IMHO there seems to be nothing that is a good substitute for 12 years or so of reading at a challenging level. The writing score seems to be very erratic, but can apparently be helped by producing a very formulaic essay. Inspiration neither required nor desired! 
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Wed Dec 26th, 2007 07:18 pm |
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| Alumother is correct: the best way to raise the reading (and, often, the writing) score is to read, read, read. In addition to the publications she recommended, I'd add reading the newspaper every day, especially the editorials, and trying to figure out how the writer supports his/her argument. I have also found that boys seem to enjoy reading Discover magazine and Popular Science. I have had several kids boost their reading scores significantly (50+ points) through a dedicated effort to read more often, and to choose somewhat more challenging materials than they normally would. Even if it doesn't help with the SAT scores, improved reading skills are so important in college, so it is never a wasted effort.
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n2ny
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Posted: Thu Dec 27th, 2007 01:35 am |
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| Thanks, everyone, for the great advice. I really appreciate it.
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CardinalFang
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Posted: Wed Mar 26th, 2008 04:02 pm |
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Coming in late here, I know, but... Magic cards? No wonder my son, who is severely dyslexic and didn't learn to read until he was 8, did so well on the CR part of the SAT. The kid has been playing Magic since he was 4.
Now if he could only learn to punctuate.
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leftcoast
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Posted: Wed Mar 26th, 2008 07:58 pm |
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LOL, I also have a dyslexic son who couldn't manage to read anything but Magic cards before age 11. He ended up NMS with about 700 on the SAT Verbal (this was before they changed it to "CR"). I was completely blown away by his scores...
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bumpyroad
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Posted: Wed Mar 26th, 2008 11:52 pm |
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This may be getting a little off topic, but along the Magic card lines my youngest (who is now 10) basically taught himself to read in kindergarten using only Calvin and Hobbes books, which gave him a rather precocious vocabulary. We taught him a few words, then for a couple of months he sat on the couch and read Calvin and Hobbes, which we thought was kind of cute - look, he's pretending to read. It wasn't until he was asking about the meaning of words like existential that we realized he was really reading.
Ever since I've been touting Calvin and Hobbes as much cheaper and more entertaining than phonics primers.
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