Ugh! DS says he has so much hw tonight. It’s also his music lesson night so he has less time. I told him his school doesn’t make the PSAT a priority. He says that he was told that they do, but actions speak otherwise. Hopefully he studied enough for August’s SAT and that’ll help him. Not sure the PSAT scores will be that helpful for him anyway. He asked which I’d prefer he’d do and I said do your homework if you can’t fit them both in and have a good night’s rest. Crazy stress these kids are under. I’ll make fish tacos for dinner; that’s still brain food, right?
@bgbg4us Congrats on the XC All Academic Team! Quite an honor.
Good luck to all the Juniors on the test tomorrow.
@SoccaMomma my DS said the same thing! he has tons of home work tonight! He said it’s because all the classes will be cut short due to the PSAT:-( He’s stressed and says everyone at school is stressed and depressed. Three students have died already this year, one this Saturday, I’m not sure but suspect suicide. It’s been rainy and gloomy for several days which is unusual here and really hasn’t helped. He’s very glad he took the Oct SAT instead of the Nov SAT so that’s (hopefully) over with.
@3scoutsmom That is so sad! Hope things get better at your DS’ school!
Best of luck to everyone taking PSAT tomorrow.
DS did SAT/ACT back in June. Hope he still remembers some of the stuff. He is light on homework today but there is no plan to prep. I’d rather him do some study on his math class. He has a low 70 test to recover from. However he is enjoying his phone right now.
That is truly terrible @3scoutsmom. I’m so sorry to hear about the kids. My heart goes out to the parents and school community. DS just joined a mental Health support club at school. Surprisingly there are no school psychologists, even shared. I remember the grade school counselor was more akin to LSW. Why not in our high schools? The counselors are purely academic. The club is lobbying for a meditation room and speakers to help teens deal with stress.
speaking of bad things at schools, S20 had a Bad Thing happen today in his large urban school. It went on lock-down, its all over the local news, and they’ve cancelled the PSAT test for tomorrow and postponing 2 weeks. Sort of in shock here tonight. I agree completely with this decision because it was a traumatic day.
But I’m also curious if this PSAT will be legit as it isnt hosted an official date. Any ideas about that??
Sorry to hear that @bgbg4us I know there is an alternate date that schools can use for unavoidable conflicts - I would think this would meet the criteria, but you might look into it.
@bgbg4us That’s frieghtening! Yes the alternate date is legit.The college board has 3 official dates:
Primary test day: Wednesday, October 10
Saturday test day: October 13
Alternate test day: Wednesday, October 24
D’s school is having the test this Saturday. It’s not an academically competitive school, and the majority of juniors won’t be taking the PSAT, anyway, so the school wouldn’t close early today for it.
My D20 took the test today too. Thought the reading was harder than the practice tests she took and thought the math was suspiciously easier. Hope all of our kiddos do well!
@janiemiranda my daughter said the same thing! Ugh now the long wait… Do we know when scores will be released? I seem to remember knowing mid December with D18– I think?
S20 thought PSAT was much easier than the practice PSAT tests specifically the math. It is a long wait - scores will be released in about 2 months, commended cut-off sometime in March I believe and then state cut-offs will trickle out at the very end of August. S19 is a NMSF and it is still a long haul with finalists not notified till February. Going into PSAT with no expectations just as we did for S19. Whatever happens, happens. We transitioned from an ACT to an SAT mandated state a couple of years ago so I anticipate the CO state cutoffs will still show an upward trend. 218 in 2016, 220 in 2017 and 221 this year.
@makemesmart I could be wrong but I though the PSAT was supposed to be easier. The SAT is meant to be an end of junior/beginning of senior year test. The PSAT is supposed to be a preliminary test in early junior year. I think the math questions are geared towards kids with two years of math under their belt rather than three years.
My DS took the in school PSAT today as well. He also thought the math was extremely easy. Just like others here, he thought the Reading/Grammar was much more difficult to Saturday’s SAT or his practice tests. He felt there were some types of questions that were new, unlike any from practice tests or anything he has seen (maybe 9 -10 questions that he felt were a different format). We will have to see. Like others, he is eagerly waiting to see how he did on the Oct. SAT.