<p>just want to bump the question again so it doesn’t get buried, Queen’s Mom asked and I seconded looking for where to get the answers to the old PSAT tests bought off collegeboard referenced by xiggi. Thanks anyone who can point us in the right direction.</p>
<p>Just bumping one last time to see if anyone knows where to get answers to the college board’s PSAT booklets.</p>
<p>How do you know the answers aren’t in there? </p>
<p>I’ve been holding off on ordering until you get your answer!</p>
<p>Did you call CB? PM xiggi? (It was his suggestion, right?)</p>
<p>^^ I wouldn’t worry too much about practice PSAT tests. If your child takes practice SAT tests, they will be in good shape. The tests are very similar. Just no essay on the PSAT and the math is a bit less advanced. If your child gets familiar with the SAT, they will do well on the PSAT.</p>
<p>mammall, the math is less advanced on the PSAT? Woohoo!</p>
<p>I seem to remember a discussion about which is more difficult, the PSAT or SAT. Anyone know?</p>
<p>Oh, and apparently the Princeton Review is doing some kind of free PSAT test next month in my town. Anyone’s kid do one of these?</p>
<p>^ Yes, I’m pretty sure the math is easier on the PSAT. And I didn’t make a study of it, but the curve seemed fairly gentle. D1 and her friends were pleasantly surprised on how they did on the math section. What seemed hard though was the writing - that was my D1’s lowest score even though she is very strong in critical reading. Remember, it’s the composite that matters. If you have a student who is lopsided, that can be okay. Just focus on that total score - which is what matters for NMF. </p>
<p>Regarding curves, maybe the PSAT curve is a bit gentler than the SAT because so many states make it compulsory for every hs junior to take the PSAT whereas the SAT is usually just taken by college bound kids. Just speculating here.</p>
<p>The answers are not in those booklets. I have 4 of them sitting in my kitchen, so I know.</p>
<p>You can call CB after you order the past PSATs and they will send you the answers. I just did this a few days ago and have not yet received the answers, so I don’t know if the scaling will be included, as well.</p>
<p>Thank you GCmom.</p>
<p>mammal and youdontsay,</p>
<p>The PSAT has no Algebra II on it. The SAT does.</p>
<p>QM, LOL! That would have been my first clue! Didn’t realize you’d already gotten them.</p>
<p>I guess I’m sticking with the SAT Blue Book S1 is working out of now. All along we were thinking that studying for the SAT would be close enough to what he’d need for PSAT. No use mucking things up more …</p>
<p>It looks like everybody is different. The Critical Reading section has always been the hardest on all tests in my D’s life including PSAT, SAT, ACT. She did not prepare at all for English section and had her highest score. Math seems to be easiest of them all on all tests. She had to study for it to re-fresh some very old material from lower grades and familiarize yourself with format. In regard to taking prep. classes, she took the one for SAT and said that it was waste of time. She was much better off doing it with books on her own (for SAT, ACT). She did not study for PSAT, and as I mentioned before, it was a big mistake.</p>
<p>CR is definitely my son’s weakness, but it’s getting better. He’d be very happy if schools looked at M+W.</p>
<p>While this attached quote is from one of our local college test prep companies, so is obviously a bit biased towards prepping, it has some good points to consider in deciding who should prep for the PSAT, including a point I’d not considered… that some schools use the PSAT scores to decide about placement in AP classes. (note- the PSAT scores referenced here are specific to our state):
</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay, I have to laugh. My D also said, “why don’t they just count math and writing?” :D</p>
<p>Sorry to take this thread in a slightly different direction but does anyone know of actual ACT practice tests besides those in the Red Book? There are only three tests in that and they don’t seem to have changed since 2005.</p>
<p>I know there are some in the book “The ACT for Dummies.” We bought it to see if S1 would fare better on the ACT. He got a resounding “no!”</p>
<p>My D. prepared for ACT just using books that you can by in book store. She practiced for a week about 1 hour/day right before test. She practice only math. She did not know how to improve her Reading, and English seemed to have questions that were just common sence for native speakers. It worked. Sorry, it is off subject on this thread. However, if she had decided to prepare for PSAT, she probably would have followed the same strategy.</p>
<p>Just in case there is still a lingering question about this, if you are ordering past PSAT booklets for your students, they do not come with the answer key. However, all you need to do is call the Collegeboard, and they will email you the answer key.</p>