What you are about to read is the true account of what Meagan, a senior at South Pasadena high school, had to go through to achieve her target score in the midst of the pandemic.
Following is a video interview I conducted with Meagan.
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Picture this.
You are an ambitious student. You aspire to be admitted into a selective college but your SAT score of 1190 holds you back. You decide to buckle down in your sophomore year and begin receiving guidance from experienced test prep coaches and college planning coaches you like and respect.
You prep hard. You take your first official in December 2019 and score 1410 on the SAT. You tell yourself: “A great gain but I still have a little bit of way to go before I hit my target score. I know that once you are in the 1400 range it is hard to even gain 10 extra points but I gotta continue prepping”.
You share your new score with your coaches. They praise you for your gains and progress and confidently declare: “You can do even better! Prep, keep your eyes on your target and take the test one last time”.
You have not lost sight of your target score. Like a heat-seeking missile, you tell yourself: “Am locked in! I am going to do one last test prep sprint. I will prepare one last time, take the test and get this over with by the end of spring of my junior year”.
Then, like millions of other students, you are completely blindsided by a once in a lifetime act of nature: a pandemic. Daily life and reality as you know it are completely altered.
Your test prep coaches pivot their coaching methodology and start providing online coaching to help you prep for the next official SAT test.
You are resilient and readily adjust to the new learning format and to your surprise realize there is little difference between receiving live or online coaching. The transition is not bumpy as your test prep coaches have years of online coaching experience.
You prep, register for the March 2020 SAT in your junior year. You are ready to finally hit your target SAT score.
Then the dreaded notification: College Board announces the March test is canceled.
Disappointed? Shhhh… That does not begin to even express how you really feel.
But…you are resilient.
You have learned that as a skill, test prep is not like learning a bike. Prepping for a major test and targeting an uber-competitive SAT or ACT is more like being a pianist preparing for a performance at Carnegie Hall. You have to keep practicing.
When it comes to skill building, here is rule you have learned: “Quit practicing for a few weeks – or worse a few months – and you lose your edge.”
So, even though so many of your friends have stopped prepping due to the pandemic and canceled tests, you keep your eyes on your target score. You don’t want all of your hard work to go to waste.
You decide to keep going. You register for the next SAT and subject tests in May and June.
CANCELED. CANCELED. CANCELED.
DISAPPOINTED? NO! FRUSTRATED? YES!!!!!!
But you are NOT a quitter. You decide to aim for August 2.
Boy, you like your practice test score results. You are ready for the August 29th SAT test.
CANCELED.
You go online to see if there is an opening for the September test date.
COMPLETELY BOOKED.
Your mind is racing. The clock is running out….
You need to submit your SAT score for your college applications due November 1st yet you still do not have locked in your targeted score you want to submit.
Out of precaution, you register for both the October and November 2020 tests.
Just a few weeks before the official SAT in October, your world comes crumbling down. Just a few weeks before the October test, the College Board notifies you that the test has been canceled. AGAIN ???!!!!!!
But this time, you think fast on your feet. You realize that all the canceled tests you had registered for were at testing centers located in Southern California. You learn that a peer successfully and safely took the August SAT in Arizona. His gamble paid off as he achieved a much higher score.
Your mum and you go online, notice that the test has not been canceled at a test center in Arizona. You both make what could be perceived as a controversial, yet understandable decision.
You mutually decide to drive to Arizona to take the test. You are now a senior. Hell or high water, you are gonna achieve that target SAT score elusive to the vast majority of high school students.
The clock is running out and the stakes are high. You have worked too hard.
On the day of the official test, you drive and park your car in the parking lot of the test center in Prescott, Arizona. As you walk towards the testing center, you cannot help grinning as you notice that a number of cars in the parking lots have California license plates.
You walk into the testing room and you sigh with relief. Students are spread out in the testing center so as to practice social distancing. Proctors and students are wearing masks.
The test goes well. Pleased with your effort, you and your mother drive back to South Pasadena in California. You both stayed healthy.
With deep anticipation, you await your scores.
Two weeks later in October, you log into your College Board account.
Oh no!!!! 1460…. So close, yet so far aware.
After everything you went through, most students would quit. You know that a 1460 is a solid SAT score but you know you can achieve your target score of 1500+, a score you know will put you in the range of applicants that are considered competitive, score-wise, at the most selective colleges on your list.
Then you remember. You had registered for both the October and the November tests. The November test is scheduled at a test center in La Cañada near your home.
You are sure it has been canceled. You tell yourself: “Meagan, don’t waste your time by calling. You are going to be disappointed again…”
But your warrior spirit – we all have it – takes over and utters: “Meagan, the call. You have nothing to lose.”
You call the test center. A lady picks up and you ask: “Hi. Is the November SAT test still scheduled?”
“It is”.
A week or so later, you take your third and final official SAT test in La Cañada. You walk into the test center and gasp. Only three students – including you and a proctor – are in the room.
Two weeks later, you log in to your College Board account and…
YES!!!! YES!!!! Woohoo!!!! You finally achieved your target score of 1510.
Mission accomplished! Not even a pandemic could keep you from achieving your dream score. It’s been a long long road and battle since that initial score of 1190.
This one moment of victory makes all the hours you invested in training worth it. The setbacks, frustrations, and disappointments you experienced pale in comparison to the jubilation of having achieved this milestone.
With all the excitement you are feeling, you remember the words of your test prep coach: “Meagan, we can’t control the outcome, but we can always control our performance”. Whether or not you get admitted into your dream school, as long as you know you gave it your best, you are a WINNER”.
As you look at your score on the screen, you utter those same words: “I AM A WINNER!”
Watch Meagan’s Video Interview
Would you like for your teen to receive free SAT or ACT diagnostic tests so you can assess which test is best suited for your teen? Would you like for an expert test prep coach to go over the test(s) with your student and teach your student effective test prep strategies during a free 1 on 1 audit?
If you answered yes to one or to both of these questions, call Melody at 626-786-5662. She will take care of you and your teen will thank you.
