Parents who have a child who will be a junior in the fall, especially if this is their first child, may be getting nervous around now about dealing with the SAT/ACT. Below are a few suggestions about how to approach The Test over the next few months, followed by suggestions about some things to avoid. Finally, for those who are particularly interested, I have a download about the most powerful preparation factor and how to get it.
Taking the test “early” – the first ACT sitting is on September 10, and the first SAT is on October 1 – allows the most time to work on boosting your student’s results. A general observation: most parents underestimate the considerable time and effort that may be required to improve scores meaningfully. The argument against starting early is that students usually do improve somewhat just from getting a little older and a little wiser, even without preparation. A senior in the October of her senior year – for many that October is their last shot at the SAT – is probably a little bit smarter than she was as a junior a year earlier. However, I do not find this persuasive because the improvement is slight. Take the test sooner rather than later.
Many people have their child take the test for the first time “cold” – without preparation. This often stems from a refusal by the parents to get excessively caught up in admission test “fever.” The instinct to avoid the mad frenzy is very healthy, but whether going in cold is the optimal approach very much depends on the child. Of course, if your student does really well the first time (but that is rare – even excellent students often are surprised by their first test scores! The tests are hard!), there is no problem. But what if your student does poorly compared to expectations? Certain kids will not doubt their intelligence because they scored 200-300 points less than seemed likely – they just say to themselves, “Jeez, I bombed that time,” and for many of these kids, the too-low score serves as a strong kick in the pants to work hard to do better next time. So that’s a good result. But some are utterly crushed by low scores. A teenager’s hold on self-esteem may not be sturdy enough to overcome what many will see as powerful evidence that one is not as smart as once thought. Those kids would most likely have been better off preparing before going in the first time. Is that your student? This is a call you have to make: you are the world’s greatest expert on your child.
This brings us to the third point. If you intend to have your child test early and prepare, that more or less means he or she has to do this over the summer. Ugh! But keep in mind that your student will be very busy during the school year. The junior year and the first half of the senior year are typically hard, and the pressure to get good grades is unyielding. Adding SAT/ACT prep on top of this is asking a lot – too much, for many students. As much as I appreciate the value of summer – our kids have been fortunate to have summers they will remember all their lives – I strongly feel that carving out a few hours a week for test prep during the summer is better than trying to do all the prep during the regular school year.
Those are some considerations for now and the next few months. What about mistakes to avoid? I think of three mistakes. The first is to fall into the trap of equating high scores on the SAT/ACT with high intelligence. Nearly everyone believes that people with high scores are brilliant, and people with low scores are not intelligent. Importantly, your child believes this, your child’s friends and teachers believe it, and probably you believe it. This is firmly embedded in our culture. In fact, various studies do show good correlations between SAT scores and IQ scores. However, I know some very smart people who did not score well on the SAT/ACT (and I suppose these people do not have high IQ scores, either). Probably you do, too. Intelligence comes in many different forms, and some of these just do not translate to high test scores. Presumably, you understand the ways your child is smart that may not show up on theses tests – make sure your child sees these, too. Furthermore, the SAT/ACT is clearly an imperfect measuring tool. Though I can’t scientifically prove it, I believe that, given plenty of time, I could train many kids to get perfect test scores. Does that mean that all such kids are super smart? Probably not. But I do think it means we should not automatically accept a test score as “reality.”
The second is to forget that, in the long run, what will matter to your child’s success is what she actually does, not her test scores. Intelligence as measured by an IQ test, or an SAT/ACT, is far, far from the only consideration. We all know successful people who were told at one time that they lacked a crucial ingredient – perhaps IQ – and yet persevered and thrived. If you have a good idea, and you can make use of that in a beneficial way, no one will care what your scores were (or what school you went to). We also all know people who are very smart in some way (and who may possess high test scores), but who are nonetheless impaired in some other ways, possibly significant ways that overall diminish that person’s power. We are so much more than our test scores!
The third mistake is to fail to shift gears if you have a child who, despite all reasonable, high-quality effort, underperforms on the SAT/ACT repeatedly. There can be various causes, but at some point, as a practical matter, you may run out of time/energy/money to go further, whatever the reason. My suggestion is to consider colleges that are SAT/ACT-optional. There are many, including some excellent schools.
What is the most powerful factor in preparing for the SAT/ACT? And how can you get that factor to flourish? Click below to get your copy of my article.
