What score does my child need to gain admissions to a “good” school?
Again, each student is different. What may be a safety for one student could be a reach for another. A better approach is to evaluate the student’s current score, based on a diagnostic SAT and/or PSAT, add 200-250 pts to the score (assuming the child has not already undergone test preparation), and look for colleges that seem reasonably well-suited for admissions taking into account a student’s GPA, extra-curricular activities, and academic interests. For example, if your child has a diagnostic score of 1650, even with tutoring she may find it difficult to achieve more than 1850-1900 on the SAT. Admission to schools who regularly take students with scores of 2100 or above may not be attainable. And to put unreasonable pressure on the student to achieve such scores may hurt self-esteem and/or strain the parent/child relationship. I advise setting high, yet achievable, goals for my students. Setting unreasonable SAT or ACT goals can damage a student’s self-confidence, contribute to test
