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Taking The SAT: Crafting A Long-Range Plan
by Owen Pittet
For juniors, now is a good time to start shaping a long-term
plan for taking the SAT. While there aren't so much right and wrong choices
with this issue, there are necessary tradeoffs with each test date. You'll need
to balance your desire to do as well as possible on the SAT against the need to
manage competing demands on your time. Ideally, you'll want to be fully
prepared the first time you take the test, and if you retake the test, you'll
want to have the results from the first test in time to know where you need to
improve.
Analyze Your PSAT
Results
Results from the October PSAT will soon be arriving, and your performance
here can be used to start shaping your plan. If your PSAT results are very
strong, it might make sense to get the SAT out of the way on January 23rd.
There's still time to do a quick review before the test if that's all that's
necessary, and meeting your goals for the January SAT means that you can focus
your energy in the spring on AP classes, school projects, extracurricular
activities or other interests. For the January test, please note that the
regular registration deadline is December 16th, and the late registration
deadline is December 30th.
However, the major drawback with the January test date is that it typically
falls near semester exams in school. Most students will probably be better off
planning for the March 13th test date. Academic demands will be lighter for
most students that time of year, and there's more time to prepare for this test date. If you can
get the core of your preparation done in time for the March test, you'll have
that much less to worry about later in the spring.
Start as Early as Possible
Some students will wait until May 1st or June 5th to take the SAT for the first
time. If you're in this situation, one important thing to keep in mind is that,
while you could potentially take the test on both of these dates, you won't get
the results from May until you have less than two weeks before the June
test. With end of the semester projects, papers, and exams starting to
peak, it will be difficult to work on areas you need to improve in time for the
June test. Furthermore, it's quite likely that you'll only be able to use
one of these test dates for the SAT, devoting the other to subject tests.
The earlier you get started on this process, the sooner you can potentially be
done with the SAT. If you're trying to improve your PSAT results, a good rule
of thumb is to allow two months to get ready for your first crack at the SAT.
For subsequent test dates, leave enough time for results to come in from your
previous test so you know what you need to improve. Your particular situation
may require fine tuning this plan, but as long as you can keep your plans
organized, focused and realistic, you'll give yourself the best opportunity to
do well on the SAT.
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Planned Test Date
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Begin your preparation
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Approximate date of score release
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Remaining window before next test date
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January
23, 2010
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ASAP
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February
11
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Four
weeks
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March
13, 2010
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by
January 2010
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April 1
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Four
weeks
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May 1,
2010
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by
March 2010
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May 20
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Two
weeks
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June 5,
2010
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by
April 2010
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June 24
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Summer
vacation
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Owen Pittet is an independent private tutor providing in-home test
preparation and academic support for students in Boston, Brookline, Cambridge
and Newton. For more information,
contact him at opittet@hotmail.com.
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A View from Above: One College Student's Reflections on Her First Year
by Alana Eichner, Smith College Last summer, Alana, who had just completed her freshman year at Smith College, shared some of her reflections on her first year in college and offered advice to future college freshmen. Here is an excerpt from her article:
Any there any lessons or pieces of advice that you want to pass on to future freshman? -
If you're homesick when you arrive, and even a while after that, it's
okay. More often than not people are pretending that they don't miss
home and feel out of place. Find a small group to make your base right
off the bat (a club, your house/floor, a group of classmates); it can
make a daunting new environment feel smaller and homier right away.
-
Don't take more than the required number of courses - you may think you
can handle it because you took 6 or 7 classes in high school but it is
not the same.
To get more advice and to read the rest of Alana's article on her first year at Smith, please visit the Educational Advocates blog.
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Happy Holidays from Educational Advocates!
Thank
you for reading our newsletter. Please let us know if there are particular topics
you would like Educational Advocates to cover in 2010. You are welcome to email us or to leave us a comment on our blog. We wish you and your
family a joyous holiday season and all the best in the New Year.
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Juniors: It's Time to Start Planning for College
Educational Advocates offers a range of services to support you through the college admission and application process. Call us at
617-734-3700 for more details. |
