Earning a good score on the SAT, or Scholastic Assessment Test, is a great way for your child to start their college life. Taking this exam is a requirement for incoming college freshmen before they can gain entry to colleges and universities in the US.
Aside from being a requirement, the scores your child can earn from the SAT can indicate how prepared they are for college and help universities assess their academic performance. Higher SAT scores can also increase your child’s chances of qualifying for scholarships.
To ensure that your high schooler earns a good SAT score, and becomes ready for college, follow the tips listed below:
1. Start Early
The SAT exam is given nationally every year during March, May, June, July, October, November, and December. Your child can register online for the SAT at least five weeks before the testing date. Once they’ve decided when they’re going to take the SAT, let them register through the College Board website. Registering early allows your child to start studying early, as well.
Regardless of how excellent your child’s grades are in high school, this doesn’t warrant that they will ace the SAT. If they usually study their lessons in high school two days before an exam, the SAT should motivate them to change their ways. The SAT can make or break their entire college life, so it’s essential that they spend time studying for it.
Ideally, your high schooler should study at least two months before the SAT. Studying with time on their hands will make it easy for them to grasp important lessons, avoid burnout, and have some remaining time to de-stress by going on a family road trip.
2. Utilize Study Materials
The SAT was founded in 1926 to assess students’ preparedness for college. The test is divided into several sections to test the students’ numeracy, literacy, and writing skills. Since the SAT had a long history, your child can make use of study guides that are solely intended to help them prepare better for the test.
Although there are plenty of options to choose from, it’s best if your child sticks to two study materials only. Using too many study materials at a time will only pressure your child, decreasing their chances of getting a good score from the SAT.
Investing in study materials that they can truly understand and use is always a better option rather than buying books that are too complex or basic for their skills.
3. Point Weakness
As mentioned, the SAT is divided into several sections. The scores your child earns from each of these sections will be added, and the total will become their score.
While most of these sections are relatively easy, especially for high schoolers who just graduated, excelling in all of these sections can still become a challenge. More often than not, your child will have a favorite and disliked section in the test.
Since all of the sections of the SAT contribute to your child’s overall score, it’s important that they know what their weak points are. Knowing this information early on will allow your child to improve and perform better during the actual SAT.
Let your high schoolers take a diagnostic test to determine what their weak areas are. After pinpointing this information, encourage your child to invest in additional study materials and lengthen their study schedule. If your child plans to study for two hours every day for all of the sections covered in the SAT, talk them into adding an hour more to study for their weak areas.
The more time and resources they have, the easier it’ll be for them to improve on their weak areas and eventually love the topic.
4. Improve Grammar
It’ll be challenging for a high schooler to get a good score on the SAT if they don’t understand the questions. Having poor grammar will make simple questions seem hard. To ensure that your child doesn’t experience this problem, let them improve on their grammar.
Aside from being able to fully understand the questions of the exam, improving grammar will also increase your child’s chances of getting a good score. Plus, almost half of the SAT is composed of questions pertaining to grammar, so learning about the basic and complex areas of this lesson will surely help.
Don’t let your child skip on reviewing their lessons on grammar because mastering this area will make the entire SAT easy for them.
Start Early
Your role as a parent, or guardian, can affect your child’s success in college. However, it’s also important to remember that the amount of effort your child puts into college creates greater impact on their own success. They should understand this concept early. Helping them prepare for the SAT is an excellent way of carrying out this goal.
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