Nick's position
Should my child prep just their weak section before an SAT or ACT retake?
“Prepare for the whole test every sitting, never just the weak section, so the score a college sees never looks lopsided.”
Nick Standlea
It is tempting. Your child scored low in one section, so you aim all the prep there. I get why. It is the wrong plan.
A lopsided sitting looks strange on the score report a college sees. And a great score in one section means little if the others slip the same day. So we prepare our students for the whole test every sitting, not just the parts they like.
That plan works at every college on the list, whether it superscores or not.
The facts behind it
- At the colleges that say no to a superscore, each test date has to stand on its own, so a strong Math score means little if Reading and Writing drop the same day.
- At the 154 colleges that superscore the SAT, a weak section on the second date does not erase a strong one from the first.
- Our students prepare for the whole test every sitting, not only the math.
Is it really a waste to study only the weak section?
It is a risk, not a shortcut: the whole-test plan holds up at every college, and the weak-section plan only works at some.