
Parents Guide On Preparing Their Child For SAT
Your child is preparing to take the SAT.
You might be just as nervous or perhaps more nervous than they are about the test.
What can you do to support your child? Is there anything you should be aware of as they get themselves ready for their college entrance exam?
Here’s what you should be aware of as your child prepares for the SAT.
Don’t Overextend Your Child
Some parents – and even students – believe it is best to take both the SAT and the ACT exams since colleges and universities accept both scores.
What is often missed is that preparing for one test is stressful and time-intensive enough, never mind two.
If you want your child to do well on their SAT, then it would be best to get them to focus on that alone. Overextending your child can lead to burnout and illness, which isn’t going to help them do their best on the SAT.
Don’t Micromanage
You want your child to do well on their SAT. That’s natural.
But if you end up micromanaging their study time and continuously insert yourself into their preparation time, you could end up stressing them out more and even cause unnecessary distraction.
The best thing for you to do as a parent is to remain calm and offer emotional support to your child. Try to keep a positive attitude, and if it seems like they are discouraged or worried, see if you can cheer them up.
Make Yourself Available
The flip side of being too involved is too hands off. A lackadaisical attitude might cause your child to think you don’t care or aren’t interested in their success.
If your child needs to discuss anything with you, let them know you’re available. Share with them any techniques or strategies you learned that helped you through challenging or stressful situations.
Also, take a moment to reassure your child – getting into college isn’t everything. It’s possible to get a great career and even succeed without a degree. You want them to do well, especially if the field they’re looking into requires a college education. But you also want them to know this test need not be life-defining.
Keep Them Healthy
When preparing for an important test, it’s altogether too easy to lose sleep and rely on caffeine, sodas, fast foods, sugars, and other quick sources of energy. Unfortunately, these can wreak havoc on one’s health and encourage brain fog.
Help your child remain in a healthy routine by:
• Preparing healthy meals that won’t cause them to feel sick or bloated.
• Encouraging them to exercise; even a simple 20- to 30-minute walk can be helpful and refreshing.
• Encouraging them to meditate. The many health benefits of meditation are well worth the effort.
• Getting them to go to bed early. Sleep plays a critical role in one’s overall health, emotional state, and mental sharpness.
Enlist The Help Of A Qualified Tutor
A tutor can help identify your child’s strengths and weaknesses in their studies. This makes preparation a more orderly process.
If your child ends up studying alone, while they may improve their chances of scoring higher on the SAT, they may not be able to reach their full potential. People tend to shy away from improving their weaknesses and instead focus on their strengths.
A qualified tutor will put together a workable plan that will yield better results for the same amount of effort or less.
Final Thoughts
Don’t try to do too much, and don’t do too little. Finding that balance can be a challenge, but since you are not the one taking the test, the best thing for you to do as a parent is to play a supporting role. Take care of the little details while your child prepares for the test and set them up for success.
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