@payn4ward But they have to do all that for the SAT (except the NMSQT part), and that is scored within 3 weeks. And, if anything, the SAT is more important than the PSAT because colleges actually look at those scores and they don’t look at PSAT scores.
Ugh, so mad at the school district. There was supposed to be a college fair today. It’s still on the school district’s website. I was wondering why they never updated it with a list of colleges attending. Or why it never showed up on the individual school’s website. But it was still on the district website, so I assumed it was going to be held.
Nope. I got to the building and was wondering why no one was there. So I did another google search. Turns out that the college fair was canceled. But instead of advertising that fact on the website, there’s a site that’s not linked to from the district website, only far down on Google. It lists a bunch of other college fairs that happened last week. I was wondering why that page is there when I read the fine print, “because the college fair was canceled due to Hurricane Harvey, here’s a list of neighboring college fairs.”
Thanks for not linking to that on the main page.
@gusmahler, a large percentage of juniors and sophomores take the PSAT–and those same students spread their other tests over eight test administrations for the SAT and seven for the ACT each year (along with some seniors)–so the numbers of PSAT test takers have got to be significantly higher than any other single test. Not that I want to provide College Board (or ACT) with any excuses…
Too bad about the college fair. 
Is the curve for the PSAT determined after the test? I thought I read that the curve for the SAT is determined before the actual administration, based on prior “studies” of the questions involved.
I have a S19 and he said the test was easy but after reading all this I now wonder… He was in the mid 90% maybe 94% last year but I don’t remember the raw score. He didn’t finish the test last year so he took a hit toward the end of each section except math.
The curve for SAT is predetermined.
PSAT curve may be predetermined from prior studies as well. The cutoff scores for NM change each year.
@evergreen5 The way I understand it isn’t that each state gets a certain number of NMFs. So, let’s say a state is allowed 300 NMF, they would take the top 300 scorers. The cut off would be the lowest score of that group. That’s why it changes each year. Kids are competing directly with the other kids in the state for spots.
For the SAT, I believe you are correct. College Board decides ahead of time on the difficulty of the test so it’s not really curved in a true sense. Just means that, if they deem one test more difficult, you could get more wrong on that test than an easier test and still get the same score.
@MAandMEmom our S19 was in the 95th percentile for the PSAT last year and that would not have been even close to NMF. I don’t think it’s even commended. To hit 222 in our state, he would have to get 37s across the board and that means missing only 1-2 questions per section. 95th percentile sounds great but this test doesn’t really mean a whole lot unless the student is at 99th percentile. For those who have not taken the SAT yet, though, it can certainly help determine if the SAT is the way to go or if that student might want to try the ACT.
I definitely know that there’s a long way between a 95 and a 99. And I’m in MA where I think it will be a 222 as well so pretty much no shot. My kid might very well be headed down the ACT route as well.
Call me naive but I thought all of that SAT prep in the summer and the good score in Aug meant today’s PSAT feel pretty easy for S19 today. I thought the “Pre” SAT would be easier than the SAT! Who knows until the scores come…
Yup, no need to dwell on this PSAT. Getting on with life till mid December.
Now onto missing homework and midterms :-w
DS19 was invited into the NHS today. He was very excited and has learned a lot since his mishap in Freshman year when he was invited into BETA club , but declined because he thought he may be “too busy” We had a long discussion about not turning anything down without discussing it with us first . He was invited again as a sophomore . He accepted that time .
@carolinamom2boys Congratuations on NHS! I don’t think our high school invites kids until the end of junior year…
On the PSAT note, I just emailed our principal and the guidance counselor administrator a copy of the official PSAT rules. The packet is 30 pages long but I found the two rules I was looking for-
(1) Kids are supposed to be four feet apart left to right and (2) kids are allowed to put their bags with water and snacks under their seats so they can get to them during breaks. Neither of those things happened yesterday. S19 had no water for the whole test and, even though he had a big breakfast, he said his stomach was growling at 10:00. He definitely ate his snacks during the Aug SAT. Felt like he needed them.
I have no idea how they will respond but I can’t wait to find out.
Stressful night and morning here. S19 came home from PSAT and had to work on a painting due today. Went back to XC practice and then had a peer leadership meeting right after that so didn’t get home until 8:00. Dinner and shower and didn’t start work until 8:45. Big calc test tomorrow and the review sheet which was just given out yesterday was confusing and kids were texting each other like crazy trying to figure it out. Come 11:00, S19 still not super clear on the calc but needed to read an article for APUSH and prepare for a Socratic seminar. Ugh. I stayed up with him until midnight and told him he had to go to bed. I heard his alarm go off at 5:30 so he could continue to work. The thing is that there was no way around this. He wasn’t given the calc review sheet or the article until yesterday. Pretty sure the French homework (which is always at the bottom of the homework barrel) did not get done last night. I feel so bad for him. All I could say as he left this morning is that the Socratic and calc test will be over by 9:00 then it’s time to just move on.
@Homerdog I’m surprised no one has complained about the PSAT before if it’s typically given in room full of 750 people! In S19’s school, they just assigned everyone taking the test to a regular classroom. (I don’t know why I thought they might take it in the cafeteria. That’s probably where I took it in 1988!)
S19 is in for a rough night tonight but it definitely could have been avoided. He says he did homework between the PSAT and orchestra rehearsal, but when he got home at 9:30, he seemed to think he had until midnight to do an entire history project. It turned out that it’s actually due tonight, which is good because he fell asleep while working on it. He has to do that tonight along with pre-cal test corrections, 6 chapters of English reading, two sections of Physics reading and note taking and who knows what else. Hopefully there aren’t any tests or quizzes thrown in there. It’s good that he spent his day off Monday learning songs on the ukulele and making a dumb “homecoming proposal” poster. Poor planning strikes again!
Congrats @carolinamom2boys! I don’t think my son even knew what NHS was or thought it was a scam or something! (because he’s gotten offers in the mail for “fake” honor societies).
@eh1234 Commiserating feels good! Both of our kids in for long nights tonight!
My guess about the PSAT is that parents do not complain because the test doesn’t mean anything to the vast majority of the kids. It’s just a practice SAT. Plus, weirdly enough, I only know of one student last year who used his NMF status for a tuition scholarship. If we had more kids who were focused on getting high scores in order to qualify for scholarships, I bet more people would complain.
That’s a good point about kids not really “needing” the NM scholarship in certain school districts. However, I know there is a contingent of kids (and their parents) at S19’s school who at least want the distinction of being a finalist. There are 10-16 most years, with about 40-60 kids “commended.”
I don’t know if my son will submit the paperwork needed for NHS.
My older son filled out all of the stuff, got letters of recommendation, wrote an essay and then was told he wasn’t accepted because he had too few community service hours. Meanwhile, a bunch of kids completely lied and made crap up and got accepted. That was a good life lesson for my son. He could’ve lied on his app to boost his number of hours, but he didn’t. He at least had done a decent bit of volunteering, tutoring etc. In the end the NHS didn’t matter one way or other, and he continued to tutor and volunteer on his own without having to deal with NHS commitment. I don’t know a school would go out of it’s way to not accept a student to NHS, obviously the any kid that submits all of the paperwork wants to help out and be a positive student at school. It was kind of a slap in the face to him and I know he carried a little chip on his shoulder for the remainder of his high school time.
So I don’t really care if son19 does it or not. He can volunteer on his own if he wants. NHS is not going to sway too many schools to admit/deny. It’s just another activity.
@RightCoaster I’ve heard nightmare stories about kids trying to get enough volunteering hours to make NHS. They need a lot and NHS insists they have five (or six?) different kinds of volunteering. All of your hours can’t be with one thing. I’ve also heard parents of older kids saying it’s not worth jumping through the hoops to where the special cord at graduation. I hope our guidance counselor will have good advice on whether it really matters to colleges because, right now, I’m thinking S19 had no available time on his plate if he’s invited to join.
My older D didn’t bother with NHS. She was invited twice but never applied. The application was just too much work and we didn’t see the point in it. She was also invited to a science honor society (can’t remember the name) but didn’t do that one either. It didn’t affect college outcomes at all.
Mine will likely join. She will want to because I imagine most of her friends will likely also be invited. It will be an activity she can do with them. I don’t think ours is very complicated or onerous, probably partly because they don’t invite kids until spring of junior year and most are so busy with college processes, classes and other ECs senior year that they aren’t going to have the time to do too many additional NHS activities anyway.