SATs - What's involved, how to do them?
 

My daughter just finished up Grade 10, but has completed Grade 11 math already. She's going down to a couple of college fastpitch recruiting tournaments in Houston and Dallas in a few months, and apparently the American College recruiters will be wanting to see her SAT scores.

I figured it might be a good time now to write (?) them, since she is fresh out of school (and Gr 11 math) for the year. I have no idea what's involved in writing them though; where one does this, how they might practice for them, whether it can be done online, or ??

Can anyone give us pointers?

Thank, Cherie

Hi Lady - here is a link with lots of information about the test and has several good links in it.

DD16 has been studying for hers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAT

not sure. my 3 older ones got their books through school. studied their little brains out. :wink:

i can do some checking.

http://www.proprofs.com/sat/ try that. found it saved in my education file. sooooo one of them must have used it.

btw...be sure to let me know when y'all are in dallas. :D

Thanks T and Curious. You two posted what I needed, even in the right order for reading up. :D

I looked at the practice stuff, and I think even I could do it. :cool: Maybe I will, just for the fun of it. :)

Cherie

If I can make a suggestion, get her a computer based preparation program that will point out what she did wrong on questions she missed. That was one of the single most valuable prep tools I used when I was taking the test. The program I got would tell you why you misse each wrong answer and would also give you information about what the test is trying to evaluate with that type of question. They will often point out how the test makers try to trick you with certain types of questions, which was EXTREMELY valuable. I found myself taking the test and when i would read certain questions, I would think to myself "this is one of the trick questions...they are trying to get me to pick the wrong answer". I took the test several times between grades 10 and 12 and ended up raising my score enough to earn a National Merit Scholarship, so the test prep must have worked somehow.

Hi Cherie, I used to teach high school kids how to take the SAT when I was in grad. school (extra money on the side). It was fun, esp. when I would see the kids work at it and improve. Everyone has already said this but the only way you improve is to practice, practice, practice with those tests--which you can get online or you can buy in print form. I think they added a new section on writing a few years ago. I'm in the DFW area like Curious. Maybe we could set up a GTG if you come down this way! :)

Wow, this seems like a great idea, but I'm not clear on what you mean exactly.

Do you mean once she's already taken the test, or to prepare? Do they get the test back then, with the questions they answered wrong?

Is this a software that one buys, or is there some company that offers this service? How do they enter their errors for evaluation? :confused:

Thanks Natalie. From what I'm reading (between the lines), there are perhaps a lot of trick questions . . .? I'm going to have to dig into these myself, as I love testing my brain.

I guess they can take the SATs several times then, and only the last mark counts. :confused:

Cherie

Oh, and does anyone know if they are allowed to use calculators in the test?

Cherie

Yes, they can take the SATs several times and a school will typically look at the highest score (usually that is the last score because you assume the kids get better as they go along). I dont' know what other people think but I wouldn't suggest taking the test more than 2x--maybe 3x maximum. Admissions offices are weird about that (I worked in one briefly at a college in MA.). If you take it too many times you risk having scores all over the place (some high, some low) and then it becomes useless really as a gauge.

I'm not sure if there are "trick questions" but there are definitely certain strategies you can learn to sort of game the system, so to speak. There are all sorts of books with practice exams in them that are old SAT tests--usually the books will give advice on how to approach the questions. Some students will take an SAT preparation course but that can get expensive. Good luck with everything! :)