College planning — it’s what keeps high school  juniors and seniors (and their parents) up at night. But although college planning efforts reach their height in eleventh and twelfth grades, the buildup begins much earlier. Below is a guide to begin your college planning efforts at 7th grade and continue through senior year so that your child can enjoy a smooth and successful application process.

7th Grade

Maybe your child attends a school that ends after 8th grade, so you know that they will need to apply to high schools. Maybe your child attends a school that goes through 12th grade, but you think another school might be a better fit. Either way, 7th grade is the year to start thinking about high-school applications. You can draft a preliminary school list and help your child begin preparing to take the ISEE or other similar tests. Because the ISEE and SSAT are both designed as significantly above grade level measures, a longer runway for preparation is best. Therefore, we encourage families to organize ISEE diagnostic work in January of the 7th grade year. This 7th grade school year is also a really important one to organize a comprehensive evaluation if there are any concerns about inattention or learning challenges. Both ACT and College Board look for a documented history of challenges and accessing accommodations at school as part of their approval process. ADHD, for example, is best documented by age 12. High school planning and accommodations planning are both critical components of your college planning efforts.

8th Grade

Fall of 8th grade is high school application season. After open houses and other school visits, you and your child can narrow down the application list. As you help your child choose schools, the foremost guiding principle should be this: a happy student is a successful student — and vice-versa. Beyond core academics, does a given school offer electives that will engage your child? Are your child’s interests reflected in the extracurricular offerings? If your child has an exceptionality, what sorts of supports does the school have in place? If your child is already interested in certain colleges, has the school sent any graduates to that college recently? Fall of 8th grade is also admissions testing season, and you’ll want to schedule your child’s test dates strategically. For instance, students can take the ISEE up to three times a year, once in each of three four-month windows; most of our families have their child test once in November and once in December. This ISEE or SSAT preparation always serves to bolster high school readiness and is prerequisite content for the ACT or SAT.

9th Grade

Ninth grade is a crucial year; research has shown success in 9th grade to be a strong predictor of success in future grades. Your child’s grades should indicate that they are mastering the foundational skills necessary to thrive in higher level courses — especially in math and foreign language, which are heavily sequenced. Speaking of foreign language, many selective colleges require three years of a foreign language and prefer four, so it’s important that the language your child chooses in 9th grade is one that they will want to stick with. At the same time, 9th grade, which frequently offers a student’s first experience with electives, is a time for the student to explore which subjects and extracurriculars they find most exciting. Because of all of the standardized testing that’s underway beginning in high school, it’s an important school year to review any previous evaluations from elementary or middle school to determine if updated testing is needed. Psychologists often have wait lists, and it’s best to avoid an evaluation scramble.

10th Grade

10th grade should find your child building further on the skills from 9th grade. It’s also the first year that most students take the PSAT, which schools typically organize. Significant preparation for the PSAT is not necessary unless a student is trying to qualify for a National Merit Scholarship. January to March of 10th grade is a good time to choose whether the ACT or SAT is right for your child (colleges accept either) and to start preparing for that test. For students taking Advanced Placement classes, May of 10th grade is their first encounter with a heavy testing schedule that simulates college exams; students should start preparing for AP tests months ahead of time. The summer after 10th grade is a great time for at least one “practice” college visit, or a few preliminary college visits as part of your college planning efforts. It’s also worth considering possible tours for the fall of junior year. Moreover, January of 10th grade is the time to be seriously considering and beginning to apply for pre-college summer programs.

11th Grade

Many students will begin taking the ACT or SAT in fall of junior year; the goal should be to finish SAT and ACT testing by the end of 11th grade. Most of our students test officially two to three times. 11th grade is also the second PSAT year. Again, significant preparation for the PSAT is not necessary unless there’s a goal to qualify for a National Merit Scholarship. Midway through 11th grade is a good time to formulate a preliminary college list and to schedule visits over school breaks if not already underway. Your child will want to put particular effort into studying for AP tests in the winter and spring terms, if applicable. Spring term of 11th grade is the time to start the main Common Application essay, which typically undergoes several drafts (essay prompts are typically released in February or March for the following year). Summer is also the time to finish up college visits and finalize your child’s school list, which should include a few “very likely” schools, several “just-right” schools, and a few reach schools. The Common App opens in early August, and your child can start filling in forms and writing responses to the supplemental essay prompts listed under individual schools’ pages in the application. All of this hard work over the summer allows your child to enjoy a senior year that is not entirely consumed by college applications. Moreover, January of 11th grade is the time to be seriously considering and beginning to apply for pre-college summer programs.

12th Grade

Early September is the point to make any last decisions about Early Action or Early Decision schools, as some colleges’ deadline is as early as November 1. After that, with deadlines for each of your child’s schools written down, you and your child should sit down with a calendar and work out a schedule for doing the rest of their application work. If your child is interested in applying to arts or conservatory programs — for instance, in theater or visual art — they also must look up those application requirements early in September, as those programs sometimes have earlier deadlines than the rest of the college. Early September also is the time to recruit teachers to write recommendations; many teachers get multiple requests, and it’s best to give them as much time as possible to compose their letters. Later in September, as applications progress, can be a time to interview with representatives from each college that offers them. Application deadlines will stretch from November to February; after that, the waiting is the hardest part. By May, your child will have some difficult but happy decisions to make as a result of your college planning efforts.

If you’re starting to think about college planning for your family, our team can help to organize a customized plan.

Please contact Brad Hoffman or Faya Hoffman by using this contact form.

By Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and Educational Consultant, and Elizabeth Walters, Private Tutor and Writing Coach.

The College Board redesigned the SAT in March 2016. Below is the complete explanation from the College Board about the changes.

The Basics

• The redesigned SAT will first be given in spring 2016.
• The SAT will be offered in print and, at selected locations, on computer.
• There will be three sections: Evidence-Based Reading and Writing, Math, and the Essay.
• The length of the SAT will be about three hours, with an added 50 minutes for the essay. Precise timing will be finalized after further research.
• The exam will once again be scored on a 400- to 1600-point scale. The Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section and the Math section will each be scored on a 200- to 800-point scale. Scores for the Essay will be reported separately.

Eight Key Changes

The redesigned SAT will ask students to apply a deep understanding of the few things shown by current research to matter most for college readiness and success. They’ll find questions modeled on the work of the best classroom teachers and perform tasks practiced in rigorous course work. The SAT redesign is centered on eight key changes.

Relevant Words in Context

The redesigned SAT will focus on relevant words, the meanings of which depend on how they’re used. Students will be asked to interpret the meaning of words based on the context of the passage in which they appear. This is demanding but rewarding work. These are words that students will use throughout their lives — in high school, college, and beyond.

Requiring students to master relevant vocabulary will change the way they prepare for the exam. No longer will students use flashcards to memorize obscure words, only to forget them the minute they put their test pencils down. The redesigned SAT will engage students in close reading and honor the best work of the classroom.

Command of Evidence

When students take the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section of the redesigned SAT, they’ll be asked to demonstrate their ability to interpret, synthesize, and use evidence found in a wide range of sources. These include informational graphics and multiparagraph passages excerpted from literature and literary nonfiction; texts in the humanities, science, history, and social studies; and career-related sources.

For every passage students read, there will be at least one question asking them to select a quote from the text that best supports the answer they have chosen in response to the preceding question. Some passages will be paired with informational graphics, and students will be asked to integrate the information conveyed through each in order to find the best answer.

Questions that assess writing skills will also depend on a command of evidence. Students will be asked to analyze sequences of paragraphs to make sure they are correct, grammatically and substantively. In some questions, students will be asked to interpret graphics and edit the accompanying passages so that they accurately convey the information in the graphics.

The redesigned SAT will more closely reflect the real work of college and career, where a flexible command of evidence — whether found in text or graphic — is more important than ever.

Math Focused on Three Key Areas

The exam will focus in depth on three essential areas of math: Problem Solving and Data Analysis, the Heart of Algebra, and Passport to Advanced Math. Problem Solving and Data Analysis is about being quantitatively literate. It includes using ratios, percentages, and proportional reasoning to solve problems in science, social science, and career contexts. The Heart of Algebra focuses on the mastery of linear equations and systems, which helps students develop key powers of abstraction. Passport to Advanced Math focuses on the student’s familiarity with more complex equations and the manipulation they require.

Current research shows that these areas most contribute to readiness for college and career training. They’re used disproportionately in a wide range of majors and careers. The SAT will sample from additional topics in math, but keep a strong focus on these three.

Problems Grounded in Real-World Contexts

Throughout the redesigned SAT, students will engage with questions grounded in the real world, questions directly related to the work performed in college and career.

In the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section, reading questions will include literature and literary nonfiction, but also feature charts, graphs, and passages like the ones students are likely to encounter in science, social science, and other majors and careers. Students will be asked to do more than correct errors; they’ll edit and revise to improve texts from the humanities, history, social science, and career contexts.

The Math section will feature multistep applications to solve problems in science, social science, career scenarios, and other real-life contexts. Students will be presented with a scenario and then asked several questions about it. This allows students to dig into a situation and think about it, then model it mathematically.

Analysis in Science and in Social Studies

When students take the redesigned SAT, they will be asked to apply their reading, writing, language, and math skills to answer questions in science, history, and social studies contexts. They will use these skills — in college, in their jobs, and in their lives — to make sense of recent discoveries, political developments, global events, and health and environmental issues.

Students will encounter challenging texts and informational graphics that pertain to issues and topics like these in the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section and the Math section. Questions will require them to read and comprehend texts, revise texts to be consistent with data presented in graphics, synthesize information presented through texts and graphics, and solve problems based in science and social science.

Founding Documents and Great Global Conversation

America’s founding documents — such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights — are all rather short, but they have inspired a conversation that endures today. Every time students take the redesigned SAT, they will encounter an excerpt from one of the Founding Documents or a text from the ongoing Great Global Conversation about freedom, justice, and human dignity. In this way, we hope that the redesigned SAT will inspire deep engagement with texts that matter and reflect not only what is important for college and career, but what is important for citizenship here and around the world.

No Penalty for Wrong Answers

The redesigned SAT will remove the penalty for wrong answers. Students will earn points for the questions they answer correctly. This move to rights-only scoring encourages students to give the best answer they have to every problem.