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Questions
about young children and the SATs are answered by Donna Betancourt
At
what age should my child take the SATs?
A child MAY take the SATs at any age. You do not need
permission from anyone to sign your child up. The school doesn't even need
to know. Most kids who take the SATs early are in eighth grade, some
younger. Follow your instincts and don't be pushed around by people
who think you're pushing your kid too soon. You know your child
best. Do YOU think they should take the SAT early? I was glad
that Lauren took it early.
NOTE: Kids that take the SATs early need to have proper ID.
Your child can get an ID from your Department of Motor Vehicles for a
small fee. If you already have a passport, you're all set.
Should I have my child study for the
SATs?
I think that any time a child is going to take a test that is unfamiliar
to him or her, some studying is necessary. Young children have
probably never taken an intense standardized test before and may score
better if they have, at least, reviewed the format of the test. I
suggest going to our How to study for the SATs
page and find the books on that page.
Do you
recommend intensely studying for the SATs at a young age?
Children
Excited About Learning:
Yes, study intensely.
Slightly Reluctant Children: Some parental encouragement to
study is good.
Extremely Reluctant Children: Not a good idea. They may
benefit from studying, but will become over saturated by the time they
take the test. Let them take the test without studying.
In my opinion, there is a fine line between abusively forcing a kid to
study and being a persistent parent who has the job of teaching a child
discipline. Extremely reluctant children have probably run into a
lot of negative educational situations in their school career. They
will continue to resist because they find little reward from studying.
However, some kids WANT to study intensely and may find the studying
fascinating. Studying intensely will benefit those children who find
taking the practice tests challenging and fun. Lauren did study
intensely and went through about three books, completely, over the period
of about ten weeks.
If your child is very young, such as five or six years old. Check
out the Wordly Wise
series. This series teaches commonly used SAT words from a very
young age and up to the high school level.
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