What do Recent Drops in SAT and ACT Scores Mean for Your Teen?
The recent decline in ACT and SAT scores carries with it bad news, of course. But as an ACT tutor and SAT tutor, I see a silver lining for students “in the know.”
First, the bad news. If your child was among half of those students nationally who failed to earn above a 20 on the ACT (36 is the max), they formed part of the lowest composite median scoring group since 1991. (That’s so long ago that it’s the same year I started as an SAT tutor to high school students during my summer breaks home from Harvard.) As ACT CEO Janet Godwin announced: “The magnitude of the declines this year is particularly alarming, as we see rapidly growing numbers of seniors leaving high school without meeting the college-readiness benchmark in any of the subjects we measure.”
For those students, succeeding in college courses like statistics, often necessary even for social science fields like psychology, will be difficult. Acing calculus, the gateway to STEM fields, will be even more challenging. As a longtime algebra tutor and geometry tutor, I can attest that my current SAT and ACT students who needed to learn these subjects through a computer screen have significant gaps in their understanding of these subjects that later impede their ability to reach their potential on standardized tests.
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ACT / SAT Tutor Reminds Us, “Knowledge is Power”
By now you’re probably wondering, “And there’s a silver lining in this?” Perhaps it’s my fundamentally optimistic nature, but I believe that knowledge is power. Taking a diagnostic PSAT or P-ACT as an eighth through tenth grader can highlight where a child is missing basic building blocks of math, reading, grammar, and scientific reasoning. Getting extra help from an experienced SAT tutor or ACT tutor to remediate weak spots even through the eleventh grade can make a world of difference in a student’s ultimate test scores.
SAT Tutor and Student’s Remarkable Increase
“L.,” one of my recent students from the North Shore of Long Island, came to me before entering his senior year. He hoped to pull his SAT score up from a 960 to at least 1100 – and had very little time in which to do so. After only nine, 50-minute sessions spread across four weeks, “L.” scored a 1240 on his October SAT! That’s a 29% jump with just 450 minutes of private SAT coaching. Super-scoring inched that up to a 31.25% increase! Though “L.”’s gains are extraordinary, other students have experienced gains of 15-25% after their work with me as an SAT tutor or ACT tutor.
The Benefit of Higher Scores
The scores in and of themselves are useless, of course. But higher scores do provide students access to a greater range of choice when they apply to college. (If you missed my recent piece on why most students should still take the SAT or ACT despite the recent trend toward test-optional admissions policies, click here.) Scoring at or above a university’s median SAT or ACT score for incoming freshmen lends intellectual gravitas to a candidacy that applications without scores lack.
So, while the dips in American students’ SAT and ACT scores are disheartening in the abstract, there’s one more reason to be hopeful. Since knowledge is power, knowing this fact and getting your child the right help now can place them on the track to be one of the stand-outs. When everyone else is going low(er), to paraphrase Michelle Obama, they’ll go high(er).
Crimson Coaching’s SAT and ACT Prep Options
Crimson Coaching’s got a variety of options if you’re interested in assessing your child’s needs and getting them help. First, you and your child can sign up for a complimentary half-hour consultation here. Second, one-on-one SAT and ACT coaching (like general academic tutoring) can be booked immediately; email me here to inquire about pricing and availability. Students always work directly with me, Dr. P., a quadruply-certified NYS teacher with almost 40 years tutoring experience. (I started at age 13!) Lastly, Crimson Coaching’s second annual small group Winter SAT Prep course starts in late January. To get on the waiting list or receive more information, email me here.
In the meantime, wishing you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving. I’m grateful for you, dear reader, and all the work you put into parenting a generation whose start has been so rocky!