How you can help your student Boost Their SAT/ACT test prep success: Proven Strategies for Parent support
Sep 15, 2024
As a parent, how you can support your student in their SAT/ACT test preparation?
If you’re a parent who has a high school student, you are likely looking for ways to help your student be successful on their standardized tests.
For sophomores, this may mean finding a class to learn the basic foundations of the SAT.
For juniors, this could mean doing a deeper dive into the test to help them be setup for success on their first “real test” later this year.
For seniors, you are likely helping them plan to maximize their SAT or ACT test score ahead of their college application deadlines.
You may be worried that you are doing too little. You might considered that you are doing too much or doing something wrong in supporting your student.
No matter where you are in the process with your student, once you register them for a class or get them started with an SAT or ACT tutor, it can be challenging to know what you can do to be helpful. The parent role in this process can be a critical support to students in their test prep journey beyond paying for books or classes or monitoring the test date calendar.
Here are 6 things you can do to boost your student’s success in their SAT or ACT preparation.
- Limit negative self talk ✋🏼- A lot of students get frustrated that their progress in test prep isn’t as fast as they would like, or they simply know they are making mistakes that they think they label as ‘dumb’. This can lead students calling themselves “dumb” or “stupid”, or they tell themselves, “I’ve always been a bad test taker.” Anytime your student uses negative self talk about themselves or about the test, make a point to call it out. Negative thought and negative emotions can put filters on a student’s thinking and hinder their test performance progress.
- Encourage a growth mindset 🧠 - Instead you can encourage a growth mindset. A growth mindset allows for mistakes but attempts to frame them as waypoints on a path of growth and improvement. I may not be good at something, but I’m not good at it yet. Remind your student that anything can be improved and changed with repetition and thoughtful practice.
- 😏I realize that you may get some eye rolls and some scoffing from your teenager when you remind them that practice makes things better. Despite any sarcasm or side-eye your teenager may throw your way, I promise that they do hear you. Keep telling them. It will sink in, and it is crucially important that they hear it - even if it seems like they are pushing it away.
- Setting time and space to practice 🤫 - Parents and other adults can help set up the environment for high quality practicing. Households can be noisy and chaotic places. Work with your teen to help them set aside a time and a place that is free from distractions and noice while they are working practice sections or practice tests. This might mean coraling younger siblings or limiting visitors or offering to store their phone to help them avoid distractions. It’s also ok to ask them what other thing you might be able to do to help them focus.
- Help them maximize the effectiveness of their practice time 🤔 - Speaking of focus, there are often logistics that students ignore or simply don’t think about. For example, a student may be eager to finish up a test section in preparation for a tutor session but decide to do it at 11pm after a Friday football game. A student who is on ADHD medication may do a test on a day that they don’t take their medication or at a time when the medication has worn off. Helping students think through external factors that might have a big impact on their practice performance helps them have a positive practice experience that helps avoid a lot of negative self- talk or motivation issues.
- Encourage self reflection 💭 - Of course parents want to know how their student is performing. Often the question that comes rolling out is, “How is your score improving?” This question can be difficult for students to answer because that may not be the emphasis of the class or the tutor. Further, this puts the focus on something that students cannot directly control - the score is based not only on their performance, but also on how other students perform on test day. Rather, frame your questions in ways that help students reflect on their progress.
- 📈Here are some questions you can ask that help student’s be self reflective:
- What has surprised you most about practicing the SAT?
- What kind of questions have been the most challenging? Why?
- Is there something you’ve tried that has helped you improve the most?
- Is there something you tried that didn’t work?
- What are the most important things you want to do on your next practice?
- What are some problems you’re having on the SAT that you haven’t solved yet?
- Test day logistics 🎒 - For students, getting ready for test day can involve a lot of loose ends. They have to manage their classes, projects, homework and extracurricular and social obligations. And because the SAT and ACT are often on a Saturday, this can also impact other family plans and activities. Helping students navigate all the particulars can give them a leg up on their performance because the less they have to plan and decide on test day, the more that they can concentrate on what they need to do to succeed on the actual doing of the test. In particular, the following is a short list of items you might want to consider together: test registration, wake time, test attire, address/directions, personal travel to and from test site, test ticket/confirmation, Driver’s License/ID, fully-charged calculator and laptop, test week sleeping schedule, limiting other test-day events or activities.
High stakes tests like the SAT and ACT engage not only the student taking them but also other family members. Many parents can worry that they are doing too little, too much or something wrong in supporting their student.
However, parents can be confident that any of the ideas above will help their students in meaningful ways as well as positively impacting their students test performance.
If you found this article helpful, please send it to friends or other parents who might find it valuable as well!
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