Another Way PSAT Scores are Misleading
Not long ago, I wrote about how PSAT scores, contrary to College Board claims, may be predictive but are not perfectly aligned with future SAT scores. Specifically, PSAT scaled scores and percentiles don’t tell the full story of a student’s accomplishments and prospective SAT scores. Recently, another significant disconnect between a student’s PSAT and SAT scores came to light. The student in question scored 100 points lower on a practice SAT Math section than on his PSAT Math, which is unexpected now that PSAT math tests the same content as the SAT. Careful analysis revealed a problem that should have been obvious: time per question. This student, who happened to score exceptionally well on the PSAT Math section, ran out of time in SAT Math, particularly in the No Calculator section. How different is the pacing between these two tests? MATH – NO CALCULATOR PSAT: 17 questions in 25 minutes…
Pacing for SAT & ACT Passages
Your best scores on test day depend heavily on effective management of one of your most precious resources: TIME. As anyone who has ever been forced to leave the last ten or twenty questions on a test section blank, these exams are not designed for relaxed—or even comfortable—pacing. The designers of the SAT and ACT fully expect many test takers to run out of time. How can you make sure that you don’t suffer that fate on test day? The non-Math sections of both the SAT & ACT are passage-based, requiring students to grasp the essential elements of a block of text, tables, graphs, and/or figures. Those who spend too much time with a passage miss the opportunity to answer all the questions. On the other hand, those who skim too lightly risk a superficial or flawed understanding of what the passage was written to say. Your right-size time management…