Welcome @MotherOfDragons - your knowledge/experience will be most welcome over here! That parents’ 2017 thread is the best thing out there right now. You must be BUSY with two kids in the mix right now! Good luck to your D18 - PSAT results come out Dec 12th? I think? My D18 is awaiting the results as well.
I had a S15 go through this whole process a couple of years ago & it all seems like a blur. I was just getting advice on CC posts and then doing what I learned - it was all very last-minute for us. Son did make NMS though and is now a college sophomore. I feel a whole lot calmer this time around and we’re getting on top of things much earlier in the process!
A quick public service announcement. I have an older son who will be graduating college this year. We booked hotel rooms in early summer for next May. I have seen some posts on Facebook of parents just thinking about it now and they are finding it really tough sledding finding a room a) within an easy drive of campus and/or b) within a reasonable price range. So, while I know this is years off for many (probably most) of you, keep it in mind as an important safety tip. And for any of you with college Juniors, don’t fall asleep at the wheel next summer or you’ll be sleeping in the next state for your child’s graduation the following spring.
D18 also said PSAT went well, she thought writing was hard, which was unusual as writing is her strength. she said scrambled eggs I made for breakfast kept her really happy through out…
Hotels in DS’s college town are not yet set up to take reservations for May 2018. Some have started a waiting list and they will migrate people from there once reservations open up. Yes, we are on a waiting list, as are several of DS’s friends parents.
Hi all I have D18 and D19. I have so many questions but I’ll start with just one. My kids took the PSAT this week. In order to score in the NMF range (our state was 219 cutoff) Approx. how many questions can you get wrong in math and or r/w? Can anyone give any personal stats? Thanks!
@fashionella – Here’s the equation for the Selection Index based on the individual scores: EBRW / 5 + Math / 10. It’s a combination of the two scores so you have to figure out how many you can get wrong both sections. A quick calculation shows that if both scores are 730 then you reach the magical SI of 219. Of course, that doesn’t really answer the question. It looks like the conversion from # of correct answers to score is test-dependent. Here’s a link to the CB report for the 2015 PSAT:
From pg. 13 on that, to get the magical 730 on EBRW you only miss 3 or 4 answers and to get a 730 on Math you could miss up to 6 answers. Maybe someone who knows more about this can chime in.
The whole scoring business is voodoo, especially since on a multiple-choice test you can easily get the wrong answer by forgetting about an extra “-” sign or by forgetting to multiply/divide by a constant when solving an equation (they put those answers as choices). It’s a good thing that tens of thousands of $$$ aren’t riding on simple arithmetic errors … oops!
@fashionella The CB scales every test differently so there is no exact number of how many you can miss to equal any given score. The important thing to remember is that National Merit doesn’t use the total score, they use the selection index. Each of the three sections has a maximum score of 38 for a maximum total selection index of 228. Depending on the scale sometimes you can miss one problem and still get a 38 on a section and other times if you miss one you lose a point. Here’s a real life example of my son’s past tests to give you a general idea.
Official OCT PSAT 2015 test he missed:
reading 2 (SI 37)
writing 1 (SI 37)
math 1 (SI 38)
total SI 224
Official 2016 PSAT10 he missed:
reading 2 (SI 37)
writing 2 (SI 37)
math 2 (SI 37)
total SI 222
DD’18 took the PSAT as well. She practiced over the weekend and had a good breakfast Wednesday morning, so we’ll see how she did December 12th. Not looking at NMSF, but hopeful her score rises above her earlier SAT. She is registered to take the SAT again Jan. 21. Best of luck to all!
I survived homecoming and all the pre and post-dance planning, including hosting the after party at our house. I’m exhausted! And then DD announced at dinner last night that everything went so smoothly and people had so much fun that she’s 99.99% sure they’re going to have the prom after party at our house too. Goodness.
@2014novamom I have to say I had this really strong New Yorker cartoon-esque visual reaction to your post. Our kids are wonderful aren’t they?
First post on this thread. We are looking at the finish line for the application season for our class of '17 kid and are now starting to really focus in on his class of '18 sister. It’s going to be a different process this time around as our boy was a recruited athlete, but I do think (hope?) I am much better prepared this go around. Looking forward to chatting with you all!
Gotta chime in on my S18’s PSAT assessment. Keep in mind that he did no prep and is not a very good standardized test taker. His assessment: it was so easy and it was stupid because on some of the reading questions none of the answer choices were right. I asked if any of them had a “none-of-the-above” choice, he said “no.” In my experience, this kind of assessment doesn’t bode well for score-back day. X_X
When my son heard that NMSF get automatic $$ at many of his top choice colleges, he wanted to be a NMSF. Then he heard you basically have to be perfect on the PSAT to make NMSF. So he put alot of pressure on himself last week.
He’s scheduled for the Dec 3 SAT so hopefully if Dec 12th results are disappointing he can get better news the following week.
@JerseyParents, making NMSF is such a crap shoot. There’s one chance to be really on, and there’s little margin for error in states with a high cutoff. Our S16 made it, but his grades kept him from advancing to NMF and really taking advantage. Our younger son just took the PSAT; he’ll need to avoid using his brother’s score as a benchmark. We’re thinking he’ll probably take the SAT in March.
I looked at his grades for the first time this year yesterday, and they looked pretty good. He had two rough semesters due to anxiety (second semester Freshman year and first semester Sophomore), but has been consistently around 3.5 the rest of the time. We’ve told him that overcoming challenges will look good when he applies to colleges.
I think the GC’s have to upload the info from the CB to Naviance. The GC’s have had access to the scores for a few days already. I sent a major thank you letter to the GC’s at our school for putting the scores up before I expected them:-)
Thanks for the congrats, I am so sorry if I’m being that “braggy mom” I’m just so over the moon about his score. He really prepped hard for this and the PSAT. Based on his practice tests I wasn’t expecting this score AT ALL. When you already have a very good score it’s really much harder to increase it. We were hoping for 10-20 point increase from the March SAT not a 100 point increase!
In addition to KhanAcademy and SAT practice test, I highly recommend these three books: PWN the SAT, The Critical Reader, and the Ultimate Guide to Sat Grammar
No, he took a local prep class too but it’s an unusual situation. He had to take the PSAT in 8th grade in order to apply to his out of district high school. Since he was homeschooled k-8, he had zero testing experience, seriously, he needed to learn how to fill in the stupid bubbles! - he couldn’t believe he wasn’t allowed to just circle the answers since it was easier than ‘coloring’. So he took the local class the summer before 8th grade which allowed him to retake the class as needed and unlimited proctored practice tests. He did take some proctored practice tests through them (3 total between summer before 8th grade and now) and went to an 1.5 hour seminar (free because he had taken to class before) on scoring well for National Merit. I made him retake the class the summer before 10th grade because his younger brother needed to take the class for his PSAT for his application to high school. DS18 regarded it a ‘babysitting’ assignment and said he didn’t get anything more out of the class. He did take other practice tests on his own. I think the class helped him in general test taking skills but he said the books and practice tests helped the most and that what gave him the 100 point increase between March 10th grade and Oct 11th grade SATs.
