Preparation for the SATs

by Ann Svensen

Too much confusion exists among students and parents about the role of standardized tests in the college admission process. Whether it's the SAT or the ACT, admissions tests have similar objectives: Each attempts to provide an indication of a student's potential for academic success.

What if your beleaguered test taker brings home less-than-dazzling scores? How will that affect his or her chances of getting into a good school? What do low scores "say" about your child's abilities?

A note of sanity

If you remember nothing else about the SAT, remember this: It is only one of several ways to predict academic success in college. Your child should be reminded -- over and over, if necessary -- that there is no substitute for an individual's motivation, interest, enthusiasm, drive, or desire in predicting academic success. Examples abound of students who did not show strength on the SAT or other admission tests, yet were able to demonstrate strong performance when they found an appropriate college environment.

Contributing factors

Research suggests that the best academic predictor for most college admission offices is the high-school record. In other words, courses taken and grades achieved at the high-school level usually represent the most accurate and complete information about a student's academic potential. Not surprisingly, students who have developed strong reading habits are the same students who demonstrate higher verbal SAT scores. There seems to be no substitute for reading in this regard. As for math, higher scores might be more directly linked to the science and math classes a student encounters in school. However, what happens outside the classroom also has an impact. Students who have been provided with additional opportunities to engage in problem-solving and critical thinking in math demonstrate an advantage.

So what can you do in the short term?

Let's face it: By the time most students and parents begin to worry about these dreaded tests, it's often too late to have much influence on the results. Effective preparation begins well before the letters S-A-T are even mentioned. Nevertheless, you can help your student prepare for this experience, by encouraging her to read newspapers, magazines, novels, textbooks, and anything else within reach. Obviously, the best possible support for your child in this regard is having parents who also see reading as an enjoyable pastime.

Talk about what your child has read. Quizzing her on who the main character was or where that person lived won't do it. Instead, engaging in a thoughtful discussion of the implications of what was read is far more helpful. Provide a dictionary and encourage your child to use it every time an unfamiliar word crops up.

Test prep courses

There's a lot of them out there, and they range in cost from a few hundred to more than a thousand dollars. Can they help your child develop the skills being measured? No. This can only be accomplished over time. What they can do is help him demonstrate the skills he's already acquired.

Prep courses help many students keep the test in perspective and thereby reduce their anxiety. Practice tests are usually part of the menu, so that students can become more familiar with the test format and the types of questions they might encounter. Finally, prep courses help students develop more effective test-taking strategies. If you feel your child has needs in some or all of these areas, then consider this route. It's a legitimate way to help raise scores to a level that more accurately reflects his abilities.

Less costly options

The irony is that students ordinarily have many opportunities to accomplish the same objectives without spending the additional time and money associated with prep programs. A well-motivated student can take a practice test (bookstores are filled with them) and use it to get a better sense of both strengths and weaknesses. At the same time, students can take advantage of the free guides and additional practice tests provided by the test sponsors and available in any high-school guidance office. It's a good way to become more familiar with the format and help improve test-taking skills. Counselors and teachers are usually happy to assist here.

Still unhappy with test scores?

The problem with trying to beat the SAT at its own game is that not all students have scores which are lower than they should be. Some students simply have more modest abilities in the areas being tested and aren't good candidates for special preparation, since they put themselves in a "no win" situation. If your child fits this description, test results simply may not change to any appreciable degree. In fact, they could even go down. In this case, your student can better compensate for any lack of skills through a more disciplined approach to school work and by putting in extra effort. And keep in mind: this country has a huge variety of competitive colleges filled with happy, capable, and successful kids who didn't knock 'em dead with SAT scores. Pass the message on!

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