<p>Bengalmom - Yay for the great score! Glad you had a nice break, and that you returned to such happy news.</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay - you deserve an award for having to wait so long! It’s so silly to hold off on the scores this way!</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay - we are in a race for last… my DD’s school counselor told me “there wasn’t a good time to distribute them before the holidays” Hope they find a good time before she graduates…</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay, yes, definitely an award for you. We are all waiting here with you, so be sure to let us know! </p>
<p>Thanks for the congrats. I am so relieved (as well as stunned) 
S has had to grow up in D’s shadow, and she cast a big one. Valedictorian, voted “most likely to win a Nobel Prize” in the yearbook, etc. She is a very hard worker, whereas S has been able to get along very well so far on mostly smarts, without wanting to work nearly a hard. He often reminded me that he was not D. That was his excuse if he didn’t do well on a test, not the fact that he didn’t study enough.
I am so happy for him to have this validation of his own smarts, but now he has no more excuses! :D</p>
<p>Bengalmom … did you steal my kids? Same D = Val S=slacker profiles. And her school (no longer S’s school) won the award for last place for her PSAT scores… she got it in APRIL. I kid you not. The counselors would not talk to the Jr.s until after the college app season closed (mostly) in Jan. Then they went by some random selection and told each person individually. D’s counselor was the head of the department and thus, while she had fewer kids, she also had more stuff to do. So D had her meeting in April. And I don’t remember what her scores were after all that angst (NMF tho’). Now S is at a different school, but we have heard no inkling of when the scores will be distributed. At least now I know really it doesn’t matter when you get the PSAT scores in general. Easier to let go this second time around.</p>
<p>^^
BengalMom:</p>
<p>What a great way to start the new year, with scores to bring a smile of relief and excitement to all.</p>
<p>My DH was driving DS and friends to the beach (sorry folks, SoCal folks can do this in January although DS went without a sweatshirt that I suggested and told me later that he froze his -ss off) and one of DS’s friends said he took the SAT but was too scared to look at the scores! (He wants to go to UC Santa Cruz.)</p>
<p>Meanwhile, I read on another thread that Berkeley got 86,000 applications. I don’t intend to believe that one until I get info from a more reputable source. Last year, UCLA had on the order of 55,000 applications.</p>
<p>April?? Good grief. Jan. 12 is when the kids are supposed to get their scores, with a parent meetng that I’ll skip (unless his scores are close to NMSF) later in the week.</p>
<p>Since Bengal Mom screamed and cried with joy (that’s how I celebrate joyous occasions as well!), I’m going to assume that 34 is a great score. So, congrats to your kiddo!</p>
<p>I have two questions for those of you a little further along in the process. First, how did our kids practice ACT/SAT scores compare to their scores on the real test? His practice test PSAT was right on. </p>
<p>Second, what do the scores mean? I know with the PSAT that the whole thing is under the scholarship competition but it also opens up the door for other scholarships both private and through colleges. Are there scholarships attached to ACT or SAT? Or is just considered part of an overall application in terms of merit fa?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Edited to add one last question; as I understand it, if a Junior likes their SAT scores they do not have to take the SAT again Senior year. Is the same true with the ACT?</p>
<p>esobay – weren’t there a lot of parents up in arms about the April notification?? That is terrible to make the kids (and parents!) wait that long. I hope you don’t have to wait that long to get your S’s scores. I was getting anxious for my S’s PSAT scores, but he was even more so.</p>
<p>FindAPlace – the beach in January sounds great. S has looked at a couple of schools in SoCal, and I wouldn’t mind “having” to go there for Parents Weekend, etc.
I would be very surprised if Cal received that many apps, but things are getting pretty crazy. Can you imagine the team that had to go thru 55,000 apps at UCLA??</p>
<p>Congrats on the great scores everyone, and sympathy to those still waiting for psats!</p>
<p>Here’s my stab at answering pugmadkate, and my first try using the quote feature!</p>
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<p>I don’t remember how closely D was on PSAT practice, except that the one she did from Kaplan’s was very innacurate compared to the college board one which was much closer. For ACT I think she was close or maybe a bit higher on the real test, except for the science section. Science she didn’t finish and guessed on the last half dozen (and probably guessed wrong judging by her score) but comments say the science was not indicative of past act tests. She did 1.5 practice tests from the red book before taking the real test in timed conditions. She did not do a practice essay. </p>
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<p>The latter is probably the more accurate. While the test scores can be considered by some scholarship committees, there isn’t a national scholarship program whose eligibility is tied to this one test. Also keep in mind that to advance to NMF you need to provide an SAT score also.</p>
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<p>yes. In fact most people agree that getting the tests out of the way by the end of Jr year is the best choice to leave Sr year for applications and visits if still needed. There is no requirement that the tests need to happen Sr year.</p>
<p>Thank you so much. I had no idea that he’ll have to enter his SATs at some point in the PSAT process. I read and read but I keep missing details. Thank goodness for cc!</p>
<p>I’m not sure how one would do a practice essay unless someone who has scored them read it. So, I think we’ll skip it.</p>
<p>Hi esobay! Nice seeing you here! Crazy that you had to wait until April to receive your D’s PSAT score! Hopefully, that won’t be the case with your S and you’ll get them soon. Parents around here would probably storm the school if they guidance office kept them waiting that way…lol.</p>
<p>pugmadkate -I think jackief did a great job of answering your questions. My D’s PSAT practices were all over the place between the low 200s and 219 or so (can’t remember the exact numbers, but she never went lower than 204 or 207 and never higher than 219) - and she ended up somewhat in the middle. She took one ACT practice test which was one point higher than her real test - but really, her practice was a 33.75 and her real test was a 33.25, so it was only half a point difference. And I agree, no point in writing the essay - though it might help to look at the essay questions in the Real ACT book, and to read the advice they give - just to see the types of questions they ask, and to find out how the essays are scored. Her practice SAT wasn’t complete - no writing section - but her math was 10 points higher on the practice, and her CR was either 90 or 110 points higher (it was over the summer, and I don’t exactly remember what it was) - that’s why she’s so eager to retake.</p>
<p>Oh, and some schools offer scholarships to all students with SAT/GPA combinations above a certain level - that’s something you’d have to research by individual schools.</p>
<p>Actually, I would recommend doing at least one practice essay (strictly timed conditions a must) even if you can’t get it graded. It seems that many people go in, have no idea how to approach an essay in 25 minutes, and end up not finishing or some other issue that is easily resolved by practice.</p>
<p>Thank you, limomof2. Good tip with having him read the essays and the advice. </p>
<p>Here’s another question (I’m full of them today!) How do students generally pick which two schools to send their PSAT score too? One of my son’s “dream” schools offers no merit aid while I noticed that a few of the others do offer one or two thousand if the student had selected them. Yet I would imagine that selected a school shows interest. </p>
<p>How do you narrow it down to two?</p>
<p>keliexandra, I would do that but my son has entered several essay contests and got a lot of practice/guidance from two great English teachers. Plus he’s being prickly about these practice tests so I gave him the “win” of skipping the essay.</p>
<p>S skipped the essay part of his practice SATs but will spend a couple of hours reading about the essay portion and doing a couple before his real test.</p>
<p>Oh, and not that I’m competitive or anything, but I noticed our thread is catching up quickly to the class of 2009 thread. We are a chatty bunch!</p>
<p>Well, I’ve certainly done my share of popping in and asking a ton of questions! I look forward to the day that I can start answering some questions and helping other parents.</p>
<p>Well, for the PSAT scores in April, it was just MY D (and maybe a few other kids) who got their scores so late. They trickled out one by one. And I suppose those parents “in the know” were able to get their scores sooner. That was another one of the things you learn with the first. Now as soon as school is back, I’ll be bugging the new school for S’s scores.</p>
<p>And neither of my kids thought that the practice tests did much for them. They skimmed them, but never graded anything so that they didn’t know if they did better or worse on the actual tests. </p>
<p>S did a “practice” Psat at the old school and got the exact same grade x 10 as he did on the actual SAT (both taken soph. year … needed the SAT’s to try for better summer programs, then didn’t get to go to a worthwhile summer program as he had to retake English sigh…)</p>
<p>We just got back into town after being gone (and basically offline) for a week, so I just checked my son’s score.</p>
<p>35!!!</p>
<p>I can hardly believe it. He did brilliantly in math & science, as expected, and very good in the English areas. 8 on the essay, and he said he didn’t have time to write a good conclusion. I don’t think it’s worth a retake.</p>
<p>Happy Dance!</p>
<p>keilexandra - I think it’s great that you’re willing to do the practice essay - and I agree that it’s a good idea. Unfortunately, most kids your age are barely willing to practice the multiple choice, but will do it because they come up with a concrete answer about how they’re doing. I think you’re right and many students would benefit by doing the practice timed essay. Other students are more accustomed to those types of tests and don’t need the practice.</p>
<p>esobay - I don’t think the PSAT practices did much to help my D either - her highest score was on the first practice test that she took - which ended up being close to what her first SAT was X 10 (probably a completely different breakdown though).</p>