PSAT and SAT have similar prep and many take them in the same month or SAT within a month or two. In my view, prepping for ACT in the same week might distract one from doing well on PSAT which one can take only once.
Paid our $15 fee for the PSAT this week. I too am not sure why it is free for sophomores and costs $ for juniors. One would think it would be the other way around.
@3scoutsmom I wonder if another reason that the psych teacher is requesting hand written is due to cheating/copying issues?
D’s APUSH teacher last year required everything to be hand-written. He said it was to take away the temptation for students to just copy/paste.
I kind of see the reason for handwriting the answers, it’s the copying the questions that bugs me.
As a student taking APUSH, having to hand write everything would be counterproductive. Kids in AP classes usually care enough not to just copy and paste and also if you lose a chapter outline its gone forever. If you did it in drive you always have a back up and also our teacher has a lot of stuff to grade and some times takes a long time. If the teacher can not get the outlines back by the test it would be hard to study.
I have found it true that when you write something, you remember it quite well. Maybe that’s just me though.
@soccer1235 That is true for a lot of people but not everyone. A Psychology teacher ought to know that. The teachers my kids have who required this were either set that it was the on,y way to learn or were trying to circumvent cheating by electronically sharing answers.
Taking the SAT right before the PSAT is a good strategy for getting the student in good test-taking shape before the PSAT. We did that with our first two. Our 3rd, DD’18 - is a Fall varsity athlete. Her Saturdays are consumed with long practices and competitions. We had her take an SAT in June. She will take it a second time in January. she has practiced the test a little this weekend. We know she would be practicing it a lot more if she had that SAT headed her way on Oct.1.
I do see your point and thought about that while I was deciding on the best option. S took the PSAT last year and did decently considering his lack of prep. But even with prep that includes an early Oct SAT I don’t think he’ll make the NMF cut-off. I guess my two main reasons for doing both tests: 1) We can see if one or the other test is significantly better suited to him. 2) As a class of '17 parent (app season is here…) I’m still a bit leery of the new SAT.
Just registered for my DD’18 to take PSAT exam on 10/19, costs $30, or $5 if you currently receiving free meals. Any tips on how to prepare for this test? Or how to motivate my DD’18 to prepare for the test? She knows this PSAT is important for her chance of getting to USC (1/2 tuition discount if admitted) but Since many of her friends are not taking it and told her it’s optional and not helping with college, she was confused.
@jjkmom there are PSAT practice tests online. Just google it. I think Kahn has practice as well. And there are plenty of books. Just make sure the book is updated to be the latest version. That’s sad that the school doesn’t offer it. Our school offers it for all juniors and for sophomores who want to practice and almost everyone takes them up on the offer. And we have 700 per class! Good luck!
I think I read somewhere that Kaplan has a free PSAT prep online?
Or any SAT prep through Khanacademy should also help.
Collegeboard teamed up with Khanacademy. I think you can register and if you took PSAT before they can customize the prep by what you need to work on based on your scores on PSAT.
I think I will try that for S. He probably will take SAT in Jan so he can prep during Xmas break.
And then take ACT maybe in June.
Spring is too busy with sport and musical.
Make sure she asks her GC for the PSAT study guide. It’s free and has a practice test that is not available on line. Have her sign up for Khan SAT prep there’s one practice PSAT on Khan on line and also doing any SAT prep will help with the PSAT.
If she makes National Merit or Commended it may help with getting accepted to some colleges even those that don’t offer huge National Merit Scholarships, it certainly won’t hurt! You might also show her this list http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/
to show her that National Merit is Big $$ to some schools. Maybe she’d like to go to school in FL at UCF on a full ride? My DD16 ended up with a $130K NM scholarship to OU she was also able to put her national merit status on her outside scholarships application which I think helped her get even more money for college ($10K+).Some schools also offer intangible benefits to NM kids like early registration and auto admission to their honors program or classes.
My DS18 takes the SAT for the second time Oct 1 for in preparation for the PSAT and the PSAT on 10/19. He is looking at UT Dallas and National Merit would mean a full ride there. He’s seen the doors that opened for his sister with National Merit and so that’s really motivated him. Based on his past SAT score and practice test he has a very good shot at it. He’s also doing some SAT math tutoring for other students and I think that is reinforcing his own math skills.
Thank you @homerdog @mommdc and @3scoutsmom !! I got the practice booklet and give it to her, now just need to motivate her and find time to actually prepare and practice them! I will also ask her to check out Khan academy online as well… However, with 4 AP classes and 1 honor class plus it’s her sport session, she seems no time at all and no concern whatsoever about the national exams (PSAT, SAT or SAT II or even AP exam)… She just wants to do well in school and it’s already difficult with couple very strict teachers.
@jjkmom I would stress to your DC that the PSAT is only 20 days away and it’s a one shot deal. Any studying she does for the PSAT will also help for the SAT so even if she doesn’t make NM it’s not time wasted. I’m currently working with a friends D17 she did took the PSAT last year and did not do well, her parents signed her up for prep classes and she went through the motions but I don’t think she applied herself, ended up with an ok SAT but nothing great. Now this student is a senior and applying to colleges and is finding out that she really needs better scores and to make some of her schools doable she needs merit money which she won’t get with her current SAT score. After spending only a few days prepping she has increased her scores by 60 points on practice tests.
@jjkmom if getting your DD to prep for the PSAT is important to you and your family I suggest you start by letting her know what you expect from her and stop making excuses, my son has just as rigorous a schedule, 4 AP classes, one honors and one pre AP and a DE evening class, plus sport, plus clubs, plus volunteer work and goes to school 45 minutes to an hour drive each way. Time is a very precious thing in all our kids lives and the junior year is the most stressful and most important year but part of that is the need to prepare for these tests. I don’t tell my kids how much or what to study for their regular classes, they have teachers for that but their teachers are not going to tell them to study for PSAT/SAT, if they aren’t self motivated to figure it own on their own and they need to prep (not all kids need to), then it’s the parent’s job to set the guidelines. If you think she needs to prep, personally I’d insist that she spend 30 minutes a day on Khan five days a week and do one timed practice test (either PSAT or SAT each weekend) and go over with you which questions she is missing so she understands why she is missing them. This is not much to ask for less than three weeks! After that based on the PSAT and her practice test you can decided how much, if any additional prep to do for the SAT.
I support 3scoutsmom’s comments. In our case, S’18 is in the middle of marching season, taking 5 APs, and so on. So he was struggling finding time to prep for PSAT. He knows it makes a difference in terms of merit and, frankly, NMF is a good thing to have on your college app., Motivation isn’t an issue. Time management is. So, we are paying for a once a week hour session, just for the last few weeks before the test. This is creating a block of time when test prep will happen and someone to help focus that time on any weaknesses (granted, they are relative weaknesses). It is working, And now he feels pretty ready and knows what types of questions he needs to take deep breaths on and focus for. That kind of prep could also be achieved by creating time for Khan and other at home practice and making scheduled time available for that purpose. It would certainly cost less and could be as effective, but only if the time is held open for that purpose.
Just my opinion.
@3scoutsmom – that was a great 20-day PSAT plan you outlined for @jjkmom. I don’t know what you do/did for a living, but you certainly have the teacher gene in you! Your posts are always filled with practical advice & I’ve learned a lot from reading them.
@jjkmom – Let’s be honest – 20 days (with a very limited amount of time each day due to her crazy junior year schedule) to prep for the PSAT is a tall order, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t pull it off. There are brilliant kids that I read about every time I look at these threads, so nothing really surprises me about the things they can accomplish if they are motivated. So how can you motivate your DD18 to study for the PSAT over the next 20 days? Well, you know her better than anyone – so what might work? Letting her know your expectations as @3scoutsmom suggested? A timely bribe/reward? I told my DD18 that if she beats her 10th grade PSAT practice score, lunch (all she cares to eat) at her favorite sushi restaurant is on me. That alone was enough to make it a little more fun for her. Maybe you could do something similar for your DD18? Something that makes it a bit more fun - as opposed to a more pressure-packed situation?
That’s how I’d frame it: here’s my bribe (that sounds so bad!) make that - “Here’s a fun reward – put some study-time in on this test and let’s see how well you can do.” “The weekend after the test, I’ll buy you lunch.”
If she winds-up making NMSF, that would be terrific; if not, the study time she put in will only help her for the SAT.
I hope these random thoughts might help in some way – best of luck to your DD18! I’ll send a separate post with a story about my S15 – maybe that will provide a little motivation as well.
For @jjkmom - and anyone else who might be interested
Here’s my other story to help motivate your DD18 to study for the PSAT:
My S15 (a very bright kid) was not as ambitious or involved as your DD18. He got mostly A’s and B’s, was in honor society, and took a few (4 or 5) AP classes. He was extremely talented in math as that just came naturally to him, but he didn’t participate on the math team or in any clubs. He took the 10th grade practice PSAT at his school, but never even told me about it – and I had no idea (at the time) that the PSAT even existed!
One September day (during his junior year) he came home with the PSAT practice book (his counselor gave it to him) and he told me that he needed some money to sign-up for the test. I went online to find out about the test, and that’s where I found the CC threads and all of this great advice from fellow parents. I told him that since I was paying money for him to take the test, he’d have to study over the next month to prepare for it. I basically followed a plan like 3scoutsmom suggested: he had the practice book from school, and I gave him (and timed him on) a bunch of practice tests & exercises that I found free online. He kind of astounded me by going along with it without giving me much push-back at all. I also threw-in a few rewards for his efforts during that month (dinner at his favorite burger joint – things like that).
As you might guess, he took the Oct PSAT and (what was it - 11 months later?) found out he made NMSF. We then sweated it out to see if he’d move on as he had a dreaded “C” grade on his transcript. About 4 months later, he found out he made NMF and a world of opportunity opened-up for him. Even with his light resume, he now had his choice of many, many schools that wanted to pay for his education and he got to go on VIP level college campus tours and to fancy dinners with many of his fellow NMF’s. He is currently a college sophomore on a full-scholarship and I mean full – tuition, room, meal plan, books, transportation, miscellaneous fees – even a stipend for personal expenses and a study abroad package!
If you asked him now, he’d say that those few weeks preparing for that PSAT were well worth his time. He even (totally against his HS persona) went back to his high school and told the different sophomore/junior classes his story as his way of paying back his counselor for encouraging him to take the test.
As I said above, S15 is a bright kid, but probably no brighter than yours. For whatever reason, he got motivated for that few weeks of studying and gave it a good, honest effort. In the end, it paid-off for him. I would encourage your DD18 to give it a shot if she can get some good quality studying done in the midst of her busy schedule. You never know……
@Soccer1235, writing things down does help me remember them much better.
Maybe we should move to a state with a lower cutoff so my DD has a better chance of getting those VIP perks ha ha ha! She did some prep over the summer but because the cutoff in our state is so high her chances of making it are not very good. I don’t know what the cutoff was last year and obviously the new format makes it difficult to predict this year’s but in the past the cutoff in our state hovers around 220-222 (on the old scale). There are some states with higher cutoffs but not many!