Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Out of level/early SAT

The SAT will be offered in my home district this year. I'm thinking of having both my 7th and 9th graders take it, mostly to see if they would meet the DYS qualifying scores. I guess it would have to be after my daughter's 13th birthday in February.

Would this information be useful at this late date in their educational careers, or would it be a waste of money? Also, is there a chance that my 15yo's score could count against him in his eventual college search, assuming it's lower than he would make his senior year?

Thanks for any information!

Technically, <13 y-o are allowed to take the SAT, but not to register for them online, or take them at any nonstandard administration date. But yeah, it would be simpler to just wait until her birthday!

I've had my young teens take the SAT at around this age as a reference point for myself (especially as each of them was homeschooling at the time of their respective tests), and so that the first time they sat for it, it would be very low-stakes. Good thing, too, since one of them failed to turn the page at the end of a section, resulting in an artificially-lowered reading score! One set of scores also turned out to be useful when we started dual enrollment not long thereafter, and the school was willing to take SAT scores for placement.

For the younger child, any scores 8th grade or earlier will be deleted on high school entry anyway, unless you actively request to have them retained. For your older child, I personally wouldn't worry about effects on uni admissions, as I think most schools routinely superscore. And it might be a nice practice test for the PSAT/NMSQT (technically in reverse, I know!).

Also, I really doubt his score will go down between now and senior year!

Students under 13 years old are no longer allowed to register for SAT weekend administrations.

I believe this change happened within the past year?

https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/register/special-circumstances

http://www.profoundlygiftedparenting.com/act-sat-testing-for-students-under-13/

Yep, it was my understanding that the no kids under 13 rule was new. I guess we will think about a March test date, if they offer one locally -- now that I see the registration deadline is in February, that gives us some time to think about it!

To answer the other question, when we did ours, we could pick which SAT scores to send. At that time, there was one school (Carnegie Mellon) that required ALL scores, and I think they dropped that since, but you'd just have to check the schools. Might be that no schools require all scores to be sent anymore. Most likely, it will not be an issue at all-- you just send your best scores. You can look it up on the college board website to be sure since the landscape seems to be in a state of flux.

Here in our part of Oz, the education system uses the most recent score for any subject to calculate a student’s tertiary entrance rank which I think is very reasonable. This is the third year of our son’s HSC campaign and he has another year of school to go. Any score of 98+ is ceiling bumping, so he decided at the outset that he would only retake a subject if he scored less than 98 (he has scored 98 in two of two exams so far). His principal recounted an anecdote of a pupil at his old school who scored a 96 in music (which is pretty exceptional given that assessments are more subjective in this field) and agonised over whether to retake the subject.

During my time in high school, they took an average of all attempts to calculate the tertiary entrance rank. I prefer the current system. I took no chances, however, and requested written confirmation from the principal that only the most recent mark in each subject was applicable.

Ugh, I'm still waffling about this. Today is the last day to sign up for an in-school SAT testing date in March. It seems like a cheap way to get access to DYS, and my son might end up needing the extra documentation to get early access to dual enrollment, which is something he's considering for his sophomore year. But is the potential for test anxiety and the awkwardness of sitting the test with juniors and seniors worth it? Dilemmas, dilemmas.

*sympathetic nod*

So much depends on your particular child, and how s/he experiences the test-taking experience. Ask. What does he want to do? Keeping in mind that, all the way up until test day, I think you can cancel/postpone the registration to another administration date (check CB to confirm this, though), so there's an escape hatch.

My experience was that it was more awkward for the juniors and seniors than it was for the young test taker.

At least it'll be exam experience.
And if the daughter scores exceptionally, maybe look into the Study of Exceptional Talent?

Thanks! Both my kids were up for it, but the counselor ended up telling us that this date was really meant for juniors and seniors and those slots were full. We will keep looking for a weekend test I guess. The counselor suggested that my freshman take an early ASVAB instead, but I politely declined.

As others have mentioned above, it depends on the student. I am aware of students as young as 11 years old, with 7th grade placement, being curious to experience the high-stakes testing process and subsequently successfully sitting for the test with High School Juniors and Seniors... without experiencing awkwardness. Going into it without expecting any special treatment or consideration for one's age difference may be key. A government-issued picture ID was required.

I suspect it also depends on the school. With only 120 students total in the 11th and 12th grades here, outsiders stick out like a sore thumb, which is why I guessed that my students would be a focus of speculation. Still, my kids did say they'd have been fine with it, and my son is already in math class with nearly half the college-bound students so there would be familiar faces. But we might have a better, more anonymous experience going to a Saturday test date, even though the nearest site is about an hour away. We'll see if they still have seats after my daughter's birthday (which will be 4 days before the registration deadline)!

Well, as a follow up, my seventh and ninth graders both sat for the SAT today. They didn't want me to walk in with them, and all went well.

My DS15 says he had at least one question he wasn't confident of the answer. DD13 said it was a few more that she was uncertain of, and she particularly didn't like the dense nonfiction passages about science and politics. Chances are probably good that they didn't get DYS qualifying scores, but at least it was a chance for them to experience some independence, and to stretch themselves a bit, and they feel good about it. DS is looking forward to studying for a "for-real" SAT around his junior year. DD says it would have been a good experience IF she hadn't been annoyed that she was missing pottery class. (We had signed her up for the weekly Saturday morning class after the SAT was scheduled, and it didn't occur to me to just reschedule the SAT, until it was too late to do so.)

Thanks again for the advice and encouragement!

As suspected, they did not get DYS qualifying scores. My son was VERY interested in benchmarking his results, so I dug up the 9th grade cutoffs for CTY, TIP, and DYS eligibility and put them on a post-it. I explained that some of the numbers on the post-it were about getting access to high-level classes, so getting those scores meant that you have the background knowledge and ability to benefit from the classes. He blew those out of the water, so I told him that was a good clue that he got a relatively good score for a 9th grader. And I explained that the DYS number was about identifying students that are so far different in their learning style that they have extra challenges with school and need extra supports and resources for navigating. So he's pretty much okay that he didn't quite hit that level. I do have a little bit of a what-if in the back of my head, given that he is in a low-rigor school system and didn't study at all. But it is what it is.

Anyway, he's already researched how/whether scores improve on a second sitting, and he figures that if there are tutoring programs that GUARANTEE a 150-point score increase, then between studying and already being familiar with the test format, it's not unreasonable for him to shoot for a 1600 when he takes it next. LOL. I've already tried to temper his expectations and remind him that he's going to have a heavier course load when he's a junior and might not have the time and energy to commit to single-minded pursuit of the SAT. But we'll see.

(My daughter, who was slightly in a grump for the test day but still put in decent effort, also blew the CTY and TIP benchmarks out of the water and also came in a bit shy of DYS. Unfortunately she's disappointed in her score for reasons I'm not sure of, since I think I told her that anything above 800 would be pretty decent for a 7th grader. But she's also already put it out of her mind, so eh.)

Well said!


Your children sound awesome, sunnyday.
AND they may be lucky enough to have that level of high IQ which is considered "optimal".

Yes, I'm hopeful that's the case -- more hopeful than I've been in years. Still though, the optimum band of IQ is relative, IMO. For example in a big urban area, a 1 in 1000 child might find at least a few peers. But in a small rural area, a 1 in 250 child could be just as much of an outlier. And could have just as much of a challenge finding appropriate support. I'm grateful we're not dealing with the more extreme divergence, but it's still...a lot. Anyway, we've muddled through this far, and our kids aren't broken yet, so I guess we've got that going for us.

I completely agree with you on this point. The specific environment is as important, if not more so, then the IQ score itself. This is why I believe that some tests should include "local norms".

Looks like age <13 SATs are back, with a new parental consent form and a few extra logistical hoops. But also a possibly a digital option, which may address some of the questions regarding testing in a roomful of big teens. (I think it's probably still at a testing center, which might be with adults, which may or may not be an improvement for certain children.)

https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/sat/registration/additional-registration-options/students-under-13

Thanks for the update. I assume this would be good news for certain talent search programs, such as CTY SET.