<p>Junior D received her testing room assignment for this Saturday’s PSAT. I was surprised to see that 9th graders are also taking it. Here I thought the fact that the school offers it to sophomores was sufficiently proactive. Is having younger kids take it just part of the college admissions mania, or is there something I’m missing? G&T programs for middle schoolers, like JHU, used to administer either a modified SAT or the regular SAT to younger kids. Has there been a change?</p>
<p>Students at my kids school take the PSAT and the PLAN (ACT), during school, every year or alternating years, starting in 9th grade. Not sure why, and the schools average is still pretty average.</p>
<p>All 9th and 10th graders at our local high school take the PSAT, paid for by someone else. The goal of the non-profit group is to up college attendance in this high school that is 60% non-white by introducing the idea of college early and often (not just test taking).</p>
<p>Juniors take the test on their own buck (or with fee waivers).</p>
<p>I’m at a loss as to why 9th graders benefit from taking the PSAT. Guess that makes me an old fogey.</p>
<p>My daughter was required to take it as a freshman.</p>
<p>NH, it’s just for practice. Or I suppose it could help with admissions into summer programs. Up until this year, kids at S1’s HS took it as practice as freshmen; this year, the school is paying to take the real thing. The district pays for sophs to take it.</p>
<p>Based on my sons attitude about it today, I’m guessing it might reduce any test anxiety. He’s in 10th grade and it doesn’t seem to mean a thing to him. But then, neither does school.</p>
<p>Our district used to pay for all sophomores and juniors to take it, and so it used to be administered in school. Now, it’s only offered on a Sat. and parents have to pay. So I did wonder if there was some monetary incentive to open the testing up to a greater audience.</p>
<p>I think it’s also a logistics thing. It’s at school and so easier to just make three grades do it and keep everyone busy. The seniors go into computer labs and work on college essays. Or skip. :)</p>
<p>My freshman son took the test today. It was optional for Freshman and Juniors (guess the school figures that the kids know if they are National Merit contenders or not) and it was mandatory/paid for Sophomores. My son paid $13 for the test and all the kids were encouraged to take it for practice. My son refused to look at the booklet that his was given when he prepaid for the test saying “who cares, it dosen’t count for anything” and “I already know how to take it since I have taken the FCAT’s for the past three years”. Oh, well. You can lead a kid to opportunity but you can’t make them learn anything.
FYI- he came home saying that the critical reading section was really hard but the math was pathetically easy.</p>
<p>Same here…freshmen are encouraged to take it, juniors are strongly encouraged to take it; this year for the first time, sophomores were required to take it, at district expense. Daughter didn’t mind…she got to sleep an hour later.</p>
<p>My son, 9th grade, wanted to take it today. He took it in 7th and 8th grade. The first time was to qualify for the JHU talent search. The second was because he wanted to - probably to get out of class. He also wanted to today because he is interested in tracking his own scores. I think it was also a way to get out of P.E. I let him choose. I certainly didn’t think it was necessary but if he wanted to, I’m not going to stop him. I think the one purpose it serves is to desensitize kids to the test itself. I think it actually makes it a lower-stakes experience if it’s old hat. But I think he just likes to see the gains he makes in these areas and since he didn’t seem obsessive or weird about it, I let him do it.</p>
<p>Our HS only tests on Saturday. Frosh are able to take it, but only after all the Juniors and Sophs register. And, yes, it can be used for summer programs which require a test.</p>
<p>Do you guys think I should inquire about this for my 9th grader? She scored a 32 on the ACT last year and likes taking tests. As I recall, when her older sister was in 9th at this hs some sort of "chosen ones’ took the PSAT in ninth grade - but not her. She would have if invited. Should I make waves over this? Hmmm.</p>
<p>Mammall, if your school offers it on Saturday, might not hurt to ask. It’s only offered today and Sat. We know someone who had to bang down doors to take it as a soph. Just wasn’t done in her rural school district.</p>
<p>I really don’t see a big advantage for 9th graders who are high achieving to take it unless they specifically need a PSAT score to qualify for a program. I can’t imagine there are many programs which would require that of younger students. JHU and Stanford use the SAT, and I think most other GT programs accept whatever standardized test the school district administers.</p>
<p>If a freshman is interested, why not just have him take a practice test at home with a prep book? Cheaper. The only benefit I can see would be for a bright but underperforming kid who may need a wake-up call that if he doesn’t start studying, he’ll pay for it with low scores and limited college admissions. I know that my D’s lower-than-desired PSAT math score did motivate her.</p>
<p>My kid’s school is a poor, overwhelmingly minority, inner-city school. The principal is an incredible go-getter. They make the freshmen take the test so the teachers and principal can set up Saturday tutoring schedules to improve areas of weakness. This is done most Saturdays of the year and it works very well. The principal has obtained several large grants to do this, and she needs to show interest and results in order to keep moving forward. She is a black woman, herself, who’s worked her way up and she believes with all her heart that getting her kids educated will get them better lives. I’ve seen her, literally, jump up and down in the hall when one of her kids has been successful. She shows up at everything her kids do outside of school, and when there was a problem with gang violence outside the building last year, she was the first to put herself in the way. I think having 9th graders take the test is a great thing if it’s followed up with targeted prep.</p>
<p>I concur ^. I believe that when my freshman son sees his critical reading score, he will realize that he will need an extensive prep class before the SAT. He would never take that sort of advice from me unless he had seen his difficiencies for himself. He needs a documented “wake up call”.</p>
<p>From all that I have read, the main point in taking the PSAT is to prep for the SAT and to qualify for the National Merit. You can only be considered for the National merit if you are a junior or you will be leaving high school within 2 year of taking it. My sons took it last year as soph’s because the school wanted them to have practice prior to taking it as juniors “for real”. So, your 9th grader could do the same by taking the practice test they distribute…and not worry about trying to get into the Sat. testing.</p>
<p>All students in grades 9-11 at our h.s take the PSAT (always on a sch. day). It is not mandatory though.</p>