Question:
My daughter will be a high school junior next year, and will take the SAT’s. Some of her classmates are already taking test-prep courses. How important to college admissions are the SAT’s; and are these test-prep courses worth it?
M.G. Kansas City
Answer:
The SAT’s are important and so is the course work.
How’s that for a simple answer? OK, now some detail: Yes, the SAT’s are important, but less important than your daughter’s overall academic record; specifically the courses she takes and the grades she achieves. And the SAT scores themselves are becoming (slightly) less important at more and more colleges. In fact, some very good schools – such as Bates, Bard, Bowdoin, Holy Cross, Connecticut College; click here for a full list http://www.fairtest.org/university/optional — no longer require SAT scores.
The flip side, is that some good colleges—such as Arizona State – guarantee admission based on good SAT scores alone.
So know that you have options whether you do well or poorly on that dreaded exam.
Now, back to the test-prep courses. They work for three reasons:
- First, they expose your daughter to the type of questions that will be asked. Familiarization helps. And familiarization reduces anxiety or test panic
- Second, they enable a student to be a smarter test-taker: How to understand what the questions are really asking for.
- And third, they really do teach one how to “game” the system: when to guess and when not to.
Are they worth the money? The prices range from free – short courses often offered by high schools; small group sessions by national companies costing several hundred dollars; to thousands of dollars for private one-on-one tutoring. Some of the larger test-prep courses “guarantee” significant 100-point+ score improvements between PSAT and SAT. And they typically deliver.
We recently used a Princeton Review tutor for our son who has learning disability. He couldn’t keep up in the group session, and we opted for a private tutor who cost over $1000. But it was worth it. His SAT score was significantly higher than his PSAT score, higher than his teachers expected; and high enough to get him admitted to his first-choice college based on the score alone. Was it expensive? Yes, very. Was it worth it? Absolutely!
We hear some students complain about how important SAT scores are in the college admission process. The problem is that without a numerical score such as the SAT or ACT score, the rest of the college admission process is subjective. Then it becomes a gamble based on the college admission officer that happens to get your application and then how they present the application to the rest of the admission board. When you think of it from this perspective, then SAT and ACT scores suddenly seem a more objective way to get college acceptance.