What came first? The School or the Score? The MYTH of goal scores.

Myth: You should match your goal scores to the schools you want to go to

Truth: You should match your schools to your scores.

TESTING WEEK 2013 CONTINUES! Short post today as I have a lot going on in my real life (Life outside of my blog? Who knew?)

The idea of “Goal Scores” on your tests is a really excellent benchmark. It gives you something to strive for, and a quantitative goal to reach.

The issue with goal scores is when people match the scores to the schools they are dreaming about. If you see you need a 2300/33 on your tests to get into your “dream school” you might say that you’ll keep taking the tests until you hit that point. But what if your capabilities plateau you on a 2100/30 score, or a 1800/25? The truth is that these unrealistic goals can be very damaging to a high school student.

I’m all for goals. But a realistic goal is going to be more valuable than shooting for the stars in this case.

This isn’t saying that you shouldn’t aim to improve your scores, you absolutely should. But there’s a big difference between aiming to improve your scores 50-200 points and aiming to improve them 500 points.

With hard work and determination you can pull off huge jumps in score, I know I did. But people have their breaking points, and having unrealistic goals to match unrealistic schools is just going to be a frustrating and disappointing experience.

Here is my suggested Time-Line for score improvement.

PSAT Sophomore Year-PSAT Junior year: Expect around a 100 to 200 point increase just from what you’re learning naturally. That extra year in school helps a TON, especially with math and vocabulary.

Taking the PSAT sophomore year is rough because you probably haven’t covered all of the material you’ll need to know yet. But you can use that as a spring board to see where your strengths and weaknesses are. If you’re scoring a hundred points higher in the critical reading than the math, start working on those math skills now. Keep the reading up (and learn that vocab), but know where you’re stronger and where you’ll need more work. But don’t make goals just yet in sophomore year.

PSAT Junior year will probably be closer to where you want to be. THIS is the point where you should start looking at goal scores. A reasonable amount to try to raise it from this point is 100-200 points. Once again, see where your strengths and weaknesses are and start practicing. Are you doing really well on the critical reading sections, but not the vocab? Devote time to memorizing 20 words a week. Are you scoring 800s in Writing but 500s in math? Get some specific books on the math sections and work your fingers to the bone learning how to do the questions.

This is the time to start figuring out what schools you can really get in to. If you need to raise your scores 100 points to be in range, keep them on as a reach. If you’re already in range, maybe start looking at some similar schools. Its okay to use your dream schools as a goal point, but be flexible with that. Don’t make those scores the end all be all because they might not work out. You can make huge jumps that you’re going to be really proud of, and should be really proud of, unless you’re setting unrealistic goals.

Your first SAT junior year try for a reasonable jump. You’ve practiced, you’ve focused, but you’ve never had to do the stamina part of the test before, and that will hurt you.
This test is where you can start figuring out your final goal scores. If you only have a little more to raise, great! Just keep practicing. If you are still 200 points short of your goal? Maybe adjust those expectations a little bit for the time being.

Your second SAT junior year might be your final test if you do well enough to make you happy. If you hit your goal you have a choice- stop or raise.

MYTH: If you hit your scores before spring of junior year, you should raise your goals!

TRUTH: Stopping is absolutely fine! I stopped after my second ACT because I knew, just personally, that I was never going to score higher in the math section than I did that day. I was done in February! It was glorious!

BUT: You can also, if there’s enough time left, raise your goals. If you can still take the September tests, maybe aim for another 50 points or so on the test. This probably won’t change the range of schools you’re looking at, but it will make you a stronger applicant.

If you never hit your goals? That is perfectly fine. It is disappointing, yes, but sometimes you just have a bad day or you might be overselling yourself. You can only do so much, you’re only human.

But by matching your schools to your scores, instead of the other way around, you will have much more realistic expectations and have a much stronger chance of hitting your goals!

Any improvement at all is something to be very proud of. You are so much more than a board score, and don’t let anyone tell you any different.