Top 5 Five Things All Parents Should Know About the SAT

As we approach the Back-To-School season, one thing looms large for many parents of high school students – the SAT. The SAT is a standardized test many universities and college use to determine if an applicant is qualified for their institution.

Most high school students will take the test at least once, no matter what school they are considering. Josh Anish, Senior Editor at Knewton, a company specializing in test preparation for the SAT, GMAT and LSAT tests, offers five things all parents should know about the SAT test for their children.

 1) The SAT is not an intelligence test. Scores improve with practice. The more hours your student spends preparing, the more she will improve. Would you run a marathon without training?

 2) The parent-child relationship vis-a-vis the SAT is almost always rocky. Students are under a lot of pressure, and as a result can be very sensitive about issues surrounding the SAT and college admissions. As a result, it’s important to locate outside resources: In other words, monitor your student’s SAT prep progress, but don’t tutor her yourself (even if you’re a professor or a former SAT tutor!). 

 3) If you haven’t already, you should probably pony up for a nice calculator. Every student should use a calculator on the SAT. Even if the calculations don’t seem too difficult, a calculator can speed up the process and lessen the chance of careless errors. Imagine if you were running a marathon (there’s that analogy again!) and were suddenly allowed to ride a scooter for two miles! 

4) The SATs still matter. We’ve all read the articles about how the influence of standardized tests is waning. Don’t believe all the hype! The SATs are still a huge part of your student’s admission’s profile, right up there with high school grades. For top schools, the SAT is still the test of choice. Even if your student’s target schools are SAT-optional, a good score can always help tip the scales. 

5) Your student will almost certainly take the SAT more than once. Most students do. So if she falls short of her goal on the first try and wants to take it again—or, if she rocks the test but still thinks she can do better—don’t be surprised. 

Anish tells Family First he recommends taking the test at least 2 to 3 times – once is not enough (unless you get a perfect 2,400) but over 3 times is just too much. Usually, a student will take the test once in the spring of their junior year and then again in the fall of their senior year.

 In order for teens to adequately prepare, Knewton is now offering a FREE boot camp to the first 300 families who sign up for their virtual study sessions. Registration is now open through July 31^st. Classes begin August 1 and run throughout the month of August. For additional information about the boot camp, please check out their link.

Anish says much of the preparation is really learning the way the test asks questions, because it can be a bit tricky. Once students have been exposed to many, many test questions, they will begin to understand what the test is really asking and be more likely to answer correctly and in less time.

The test itself lasts about 3 hours and 45 minutes so, including short breaks , the test is about a 5-hour process. As he said above, most people wouldn’t run a marathon without training. Taking the SAT after several hours of preparation will make for better performance and less stress for both parents and students.

 About Josh Anish

 Josh Anish is the Senior Editor at Knewton, responsible for tracking and editing all content seen by students. He also manages the Knewton blog (blog.knewton.com), and the company’s social media campaigns.

Josh has also analyzed writing samples for the RAND Corporation, lectured in the English Department at Brooklyn College, and tutored more than 200 students on the SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT.

He earned his BA from Amherst College, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Brooklyn College.