Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment New SAT preparation

Folks,

I am looking at getting my DD11 to take SAT next year when she is 12. I am led to believe that it requires 'more' Maths now. I think it only required basic trig, algebra I and some intuitive geometry before but now requires more advanced knowledge, Is this so?

I am sure that others have trodden this path before so, can anyone point me to a decent SAT prep book, please? I want my DD to learn the patterns and gotchas to improve her chances of doing well on her first marathon/high stakes timed test. Also, I woukd like to see the breadth of questions and areas covered so that I don't lead my DD into the lion's den unarmed.

All help appreciated!

I assume you've seen the official SAT practice test page,

https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/practice/full-length-practice-tests

which has four actual SATs, with answer explanations, scored using a mobile app,

https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/practice/daily-practice-app

and links to targeted Khan Academy practice,

https://www.khanacademy.org/sat

All free.

"I think it only required basic trig, algebra I and some intuitive geometry before but now requires more advanced knowledge, Is this so"

Yes, this is true.

Geometry is WAY deemphasized in favor of algebra, including higher level algebra (as compared with the SAT test that phased out in January 2016).

There are also way more picky, time-consuming calculations.

And more reading in math questions and multi-step calculations.

Continues to move away from the IQish test it originally was and toward an achievement test that favors those who have had good solid methodical education in the topics it covers and are good at methodical arithmetic calculations.

Probably makes sense to get the College Board's book to see what they cover. It's not expensive. It has the same 4 tests that Khan Academy gives you for free, but with printer costs may not be much difference in price, and the CB also shows you explicitly the concepts covered.

My DD2 is also 11 and going into 6th grade and will probably take the SAT through Duke TIP in 7th grade. The summer after 4th grade, she took Woodcock-Johnson III achievement test and scored in top 1/1000 on the untimed written math section and top 1/100 on the oral math section. She was only 1, possibly 2 years ahead of a standard math curriculum, so most of her high score was figuring things out as she took the test, deducing and guessing from the math she already knew. I can tell you that there would be no way she could cover the math needed for the new SAT (nor the old one) by the middle of 7th grade. In fact, we had very bright kids at our eh public school, who were then taking AP Calculus, who did not know all of the math that was on the new PSAT - found out when they went to a very good prep class. (My DD1 did, but she had studied math outside of school, doing all of the Khan Academy regular math curriculum through precalculus and stat.) At better schools, this is probably not the case, but you see what I mean versus a 12-year-old's typical math achievement.

In order to get a good score - high enough for Duke TIP Center or CTY or whatever - I think that the key is for a kid to know enough math - be a little bit accelerated, a year or two, not necessarily 4-5 years - AND know how to relatively quickly find the questions she can answer, without getting anxious about the ones she can't. My DD1 excelled at this - she was only officially accelerated by 1-1.5 years by the time she took the "old" SAT for the first time in middle of 7th grade, but she did not panic at all on the questions she didn't know how to do, just kept moving steadily. (I would have to go find the test in my archived files to give more detail, but I promise you she skipped a LOT of math questions on the SAT at age 12.) I didn't prep her for the SAT math at that age, other than (1) making sure she knew how to fill in the bubbles on the math grid-ins (it's not intuitive) and (2) giving her two complete SATs (one broken up, section-by-section, over a number of months, the other all at once like the real one) so she could get used to the timing and learn how to skip math problems she didn't know. I did not attempt to teach her any math content for the SAT at that age, none.

Her lowest section score on the SAT at age 12 was in math, but she got a 590, which was enough to take Duke TIP Center courses in science/math if she'd wanted to.

DD2 is more anxious and more rattled by time pressure, but she also wants to go to Duke TIP, probably science classes, so I will have to figure out what she can do to practice to get used to the grid-ins and get ready to skip a LOT of math problems. Because she is easily made anxious, I will have to find a balance between getting her used to the timing and the many hard questions that she won't be able to answer and many more hard questions that she will be able to figure out and the few easy questions that she will already know how to do, versus making her nervous by over-prep. Most likely, I will have her do the same thing as DD1 - taking one test divided up into sections over a number of months, and one complete test. And call it a day.

YMMV. If you're aiming for a higher score, like 700 on math, then your daughter will of course need to know more math. But again, if you're aiming at something like a 590 or lower qualifying score, she doesn't need to know any of the harder math that's on the new SAT, because the vast, vast, vast, vast majority of 12-year-old won't be anywhere near that level of achievement.

My DS17 took the new SAT this past spring. He is in H.S & took it at the regular time. The biggest problem with the SAT is the time pressure & the length of the test rather than material.

The new math section is both easier yet covers more material. The new test is supposed to cover anything through the Common Core Algebra II or Common Core Math 3 sequence. (Same thing) Keep in mind that by the end of Common Core II most of what used to be in a Trig class is supposed to be covered.

On the other hand the questions in the math section are less tricky than before. The questions are just more straight forward. On the old test a question might be 2 or 3 steps, or would be a more abstract question. On the old there might have been a grunt way to do it that would take a long time, but a clever way that would be fast. On the new test, the questions are just more what they seem at face value.

As to material.. Keep in mind that while Trig will be covered it will only be a few questions. If you are looking for a cutoff for DYS or other gifted program. Your time may be better spent on other aspects of taking this test. Like skipping over & coming back to problems you have no idea how to solve.

As to the reading & writing multiple choice section. The new test doesn't test for esoteric vocabulary. And the reading sections are more geared towards non-fiction. (There are social Studies & Sicence questions.) For most of us on the board the issue here is really speed.

I'd go over general tricks for taking this type of test. Guessing is no longer a penalty. But your child will do better on the SAT if they can answer the easy questions first, and come back to longer time consuming questions. Teach them to skim the reading sections, read the questions & then go back and read the section thoroughly before answering any question. There are often looking for the 'best' answer and not just the first one that fits.

The new test doesn't test for esoteric vocabulary.

I assume you don't need the essay section. I'd skip it and one of the nice parts is it's isn't the first part of the test anymore.

The College Board website actually list all the "advanced topics" as well as describe the types of questions covered in each of the three subscore categories. You can get detailed reviews on specific questions online for free as well as the four official tests at the college board website if you don't want to use the khan academy site. DS was only half-way through Algebra 2 and did not need anything more than that and a quick review of the advanced topic chapter. Doing two of the practice tests helped as well for timing purposes and to learn the advanced topics he didn't know.

Both of my kids took the new SAT this past June. DS14 8th grade scored in the low 600s V&M, DS12 scored in the low 700V, mid 700M. Both have taken Algebra I and Geometry but not Algebra II, both only prepped by taking the 4 practice tests on the college board website and nothing else. I took the practice tests with them and noticed a couple of things:
1) Barely 1 or 2 geometry questions, 1 or 2 Algebra II questions, the rest can be answered with just Algebra I.
2) Even though they've eliminated the obscure vocab, the reading passages are now really long and hard to stay focused and get through without some practice. The questions can also be very confusing, especially for the classics passage.

Reading comprehension is now much more important than memorizing obscure vocab.

Both kids said they barely had any time left for the V but more time left for the M, especially Section 4 that doesn't require calculator. Section 3 without calculator is much harder.

Per college board the national average for the new SAT is 510V, 510M.

CTY said they have to wait until Sept/Oct. to determine eligibility based on the new SAT, not enough data.

In prepping my DD12 for the new SAT, I spent 10 minutes explaining sin/cos/tan and the SOHCAHTOA acronym to remember how to calculate them. In all of the practice tests and the actual delivery, she hasn't run into anything trig-related she couldn't handle with these rules. Nothing else she saw hasn't been covered in her coursework through 1/4 of a year of Honors Geometry.

We're looking at Green or PrepScholar, depending on the results of the October test - she's intent on qualifying for CTY SET on the January test before turning 13.

My older daughter just took the practice tests, which everyone should, and used Kahn to do some diagnostics and brushing up (she's in her 2nd year of Calc, so Algebra I/Geometry/Trig was a bit rusty).

I can't speak to the new SAT, but was very surprised to read this - in general this shouldn't be true at all. My high school ds just took the regular PSAT this month, and I graded a practice test for him - none of the math was anywhere near the level of Calculus, but taking a practice test was helpful for ds because he realized he wasn't recalling a few things quickly that he'd studied years before and not used recently. I wonder if that's not more likely what happened with the AP Calc students mentioned here - they hadn't reviewed similar problems since pre-Algebra etc, or - if they *hadn't* ever been exposed to them, something is glaringly missing in their school district's math curriculum? Or maybe, if they are subject accelerated, they skipped over or had some pieces of curriculum left out that wasn't thought necessary for moving ahead in math?

polarbear