<p>This evening D felt better about how she did, compared to her “I don’t even want to think about it” right after she got home. Big sigh of relief–I was afraid that she’d bombed it!</p>
<p>I picked up her Blue Book which she had left on the floor commenting “You don’t have to look at this for a little while”, thinking that she’d studied hard and deserved a break for a couple of weeks. She said that a friend of hers was upset because when she got home her mom told her “Now you can start reviewing for the SAT tomorrow.” Poor kid–it reminds me of an old line, “more than flesh and blood can bear.” </p>
<p>And a girl in D’s school just left her answer sheet blank and sat at her desk doodling on the cover of the test booklet for the whole 2 1/2 hours! </p>
<p>Why do PSAT results take so much longer than SAT results? Is it the sheer volume and number of tests?</p>
<p>OHMomof2, I’m thrilled to know that we don’t need to wait for the school to release the scores, thanks for the info!</p>
<p>I just looked at my older daughter’s PSAT test that the school sent home - I still have it in the envelope. The envelope is postmarked January 22. I am glad to hear that there may be a way to get the PSAT score on line. By the time she gets her score we will already have her December SAT and ACT results. The SAT takes 19 days and will be posted on the 26. The ACT takes about two and a half weeks ( it’s not exact like the SAT) and should be posted around Dec 31-Jan 1. The writing for the ACT typically takes longer to come back. </p>
<p>I am trying to decide if I should go ahead and sign her up for the January SAT and Feb ACT now, or if I should wait and see how she does. I don’t want to wait too long and get closed out. The Dec score is released on the 26 and the last day to register for the Jan test is the 27 ( if you register later there is a late fee). I seriously doubt she will get a perfect score on either test LOL so either way she will re-take, even if her scores are good enough. I think I will register her in November for both just so I know she gets the location that we want. One girl signed on late last year for a subject test and had to travel well over an hour. </p>
<p>I think studying for the SAT shows the fastest results if you are starting out with scores around 1500-1800. If you are starting out with a higher score then it is harder to progress quickly, as you are already answering so many questions correctly. The biggest improvement that I notice with my daughter is that at the beginning of this process she was leaving about 5 blank for the math test and 5 blank for the CR. Now she leaves about one blank for each test ( getting it right most of the time- not 100%). The issue is that one wrong answer can cost 40 points. </p>
<p>I think that doing well on the ACT is just a matter of getting the timing down. The questions are very straight forward and there are no " tricks." My kid appears to be doing better on the ACT practice tests than on the SAT ( based on conversion charts) but who knows…</p>
<p>D told me yesterday that she’s not going to do the SAT and subject test. Both of the reaches that she’s interested will take the ACT+W. She will take it in February.</p>
<p>D said that the PSAT was harder than the practice test that she studied. She felt that she was most prepared for the M. There were a few very hard questions. She didn’t feel like CR and W were really hard.</p>
<p>With ACT w/writing and PSAT out of the way and SAT not planned until next summer, the next wave of testing for D will be APs/IBs. I know some of the AP exams are being “updated” and our kids will be the first class to take those. </p>
<p>I have two questions – 1) do you know which exams are being updated for this year (AP bio and AP chem??) and next year? and 2) how do you plan to help your child study for the new ones to make sure kids know what to expect from the new tests??</p>
<p>D said the PSAT was “fine.” That’s all. I asked her if she thought it was harder than the practice tests and she said that yes, it was but she’d finished everything with time to spare and didn’t omit any answers. As is typical for her, she said she was unsure about a lot of her answers. I really can’t think of the last time she came out of any exam saying she’d done well. The best you can expect is “fine.” I’m happy to put this out of our heads for awhile.</p>
<p>The range of reaction to the test is really interesting. The Wednesday kids do all take the same test, right?</p>
<p>Bio debuted this past year, already had a disastrous first test with about 5% of students getting a ‘5.’ Chem is new this year. On CB website ‘AP Central’ there are detailed course description downloads that contain sample questions from the new tests and other resources there also. The teachers have access online to a free practice exam they can administer to their students. I will ask bio teacher about this at conferences to make sure teacher plans to use this as there aren’t any old released exams to study. They actually pulled the old ones from their store I see, I suppose since they aren’t good prep anymore. Though have to say, having used various old calc exams they sell, that the really old ones are nothing like test today, but they still sell those.</p>
<p>Spanish Lang/Culture is also new this year.</p>
<p>In their news it says art hist and euro debut in fall 2015.</p>
<p>Re PSAT reactions, S can’t compare to how he felt a year ago, since he didn’t take that test and also wasn’t prepping then, just did his first practice tests the past couple weeks. All he can say is how they felt relative to yesterday’s test. Since the actual test is in the morning which suits his nature, while he insisted on doing practice at night when he is not at his best, I was not surprised to hear he felt better about the CR/W on actual test. Not necessarily an easier test, but he was awake. The math he insists had harder problems, but still doable. He went to bed at 9 last night and got up at 5 am to do HW. He does that all the time, especially when he has sports after school. </p>
<p>It’s good to hear that the kids who took the test a year ago feel more confident this year. It might be because they grew and matured in that time. All that schooling accomplishing something after all. It would have been interesting to have them retake the old test for practice and see if that seems easier now. Did anybody do that? They send the actual test home with the scores. At least our school does.</p>
<p>At go to school night someone was saying psych was new this year or next, but I can’t find any hard info to confirm that. Nobody taking that at our house. I don’t know that district offers it.</p>
<p>D. said they took the SAT in the cafeteria. “The cafeteria ladies were making so much noise.” What’s weird is that she told me that one of her friends didn’t know how to solve a problem. She asked D. what she should do. D. said you should leave it blank instead of guessing an answer. So that friend of hers went to erase the guessed choice she made. All these happened during the test. It shouldn’t happen.</p>
<p>We will need to find out about Psych bc D is taking that one. For all I know the teacher has already told them.</p>
<p>That’s a great idea taking last year’s PSAT over again as practice to compare the results. Why didn’t I think of that last weekend?</p>
<p>More PSAT feedback…it seems the most complained about part of the test is the statement they must write in cursive. The CB really needs to re-think this as most kids just don’t write that way anymore. Our elementary school barely teaches it, they cover it enough so the kids know the alphabet and can sign their names. When D took her subject test last June she said it took one kid 20 minutes to write it…for a test that was an hour long! Yesterday the kids were all joking about how that was the hardest part of the test. Time to let them print it!</p>
<p>D felt she did not do well on the PSAT yesterday and didn’t really want to talk about it but seemed to move on from it quickly.
I’m not surprised after her schedule this week between homecoming activities that she’s involved in plus her late very physical Varsity soccer game Tues night.</p>
<p>Aha now I finally know where the cursive talking comes from. D. vaguely joked about it. I thought I was no essay in PSAT! I wonder what happens if they don’t write in cursive. Will it not be graded? will the points be taken off? hmmmmmmm</p>
<p>D said the PSAT was easy but I didn’t read much into that other than relief that the test is done and over.</p>
<p>Her AP Bio teacher said that the new exam made its debut last year and it was very different from the previous versions. She discouraged anyone from getting the current AP Bio prep books.</p>
<p>I’m glad to see that AP Euro is debuting in the Fall of 2015. That means D will get the old version when she takes the class next year. Ditto for AP Psych - it seems like there is a new course description (but the exam is the same?)</p>
<p>D’s cursive is so much more readable than her printing that it’s good (for her) that cursive is allowed.</p>
<p>I know my nearly 18 year old S15 is very different from his 2016 sister (we are an adoptive family), however it was still amazing for me to hear one say, “Mom, the PSAT went really well! I think I did even better on it than the SAT last week.” and the other proudly say she answered more than half the questions but did not answer the others because she read the PSAT booklet and it said that there was a penalty for incorrect answers. I was proud of her efforts because her friends hadn’t even bothered to open the booklet before arriving at school for the PSAT. I don’t know if S15 can meet the magic number but I am proud of him, too.</p>
What’s weird is that she told me that one of her friends didn’t know how to solve a problem. She asked D. what she should do. D. said you should leave it blank instead of guessing an answer. So that friend of hers went to erase the guessed choice she made. All these happened during the test. It shouldn’t happen.</p>