<p>In our high school, all sophomores take the PSAT as an introduction to that kind of standardized test format. My older d scored very high on the PSAT as a sophomore -she had also taken the SAT in middle school as a gifted student for the Johns Hopkins summer programs. It sort of freaked her out a bit when she began receiving mailings from colleges and Wash U in particular sent so much mail early on she did not put on her list even though it would have been a good fit for her interests.</p>
<p>And don’t worry if the sophomore scores come back “disappointing”. S’s sophomore PSAT scores were 150 to 200 points under his best SAT scores (in each section). The point is to find the areas that require preparation and address only those (kids get tuned out when reviewing stuff they already know). Also, don’t forget, they will learn more as they go through the rest of sophomore and junior year. Spend the money for the detailed score report. It was well worth it for S.</p>
<p>My D’s school district has forced the ACT Plan test on the sophomore class last year and this year as well. Fortunately D took the PSAT as a freshman and received a good enough score to feel confident but one where she could also strive to improve and possibly make the NMSF cut off for our state, Florida. I feel sorry for the Freshmen who did not want to try the PSAT then as they won’t have a chance to try the PSAT as Sophomores. We even tried to find a Saturday test date for this year and none will be offered in our district. The school will not pay for the Junior year PSAT but is paying for the ACT Plan for ALL sophomores. When asked why the district insisted on this test, we were told the ACT Plan would garner very valuable data about the students. Somehow, I think a monetary incentive is there somewhere…</p>
<p>When is the PSAT given and can she sign up on her own? My D’s school is doing the ACT plan this year and I heard that PSAT will be next year. If she can do the PSAT sophomore year on her own, I am all for it.</p>
<p>Yes, ur S should take the PSAT as a soph if he is a strong student. If the student is ave or below ave and is testing averse, then I would say “no, don’t take the test” but it sounds like S is a strong student.
I’m guessing, but maybe ur GC is not recommending testing because the HS must pay for the testing fee? </p>
<p>Why test if ur S is strong academically?
He can take it “cold” without studying
- See if has chance at NMSF next yr as a jr
- Practice and experience
- Baseline evaluation to guide studying for the real pSAt next yr</p>
<p>Our kiddos’ private school requires all sophs and jrs to take it. I know very competitive public schools will offer it as optional to sophs. While other publics don’t give sophs the option of taking it so u have to fight against the system. </p>
<p>Btw, our school has 20% of class as nmsf</p>
<p>Liab,PSAT is on 2 testing days, wed 10/17/12 and a sat 10/20/12. Double check these…
Maybe there is more info abouits here u can take it as a soph on collage board website or ask ur GC.</p>
<p>Take it (especially if he wants to)! Only takes about an hour and its great practice, with no risk. My s’s sschool did practice PSATs in 9th and 10th. It let you see the trajectory of their scores and whether they were likely to be in the ballpark for the NMSF/NMF scores in their junior year.</p>
<p>BTW the info about being nominated for the summer programs like Duke TIP, CTY etc is not correct. Those are based on taking the SAT in grade 7. PErhaps something has changed, but it was the 7th grade SAT as far as I recall, not the 10th grade PSAT.</p>
<p>Hello again everyone,</p>
<p>Got a message Monday from GC (very brief!) telling me whom to contact at school. The teacher who is in charge of administering the test, is the opposite of GC: extremely supportive of the idea! She gave him a booklet and S is signed up and did his first practice test last night. Not so good in CR, which we expected, but it was actually even lower than I had expected :(</p>
<p>Thank goodness his score was higher in M than expected 
</p>
<p>He will do writing today or tomorrow.</p>
<p>So, yes, everyone was right on. It is already showing us a more objective picture of where he needs to improve – and where he needs to not get overconfident.</p>
<p>Thanks again everyone for your advice, I learned a lot.</p>
<p>By the way, another nice outcome of this thread: S has seen me on CC for his older sister but I don’t think he realized until now the level of expertise --and the very personalized advice – which are possible to find here. </p>
<p>Knowing him, his college search will be a very interesting one.</p>
<p>Allow me to say one final thank you.</p>
<p>My D’s school setup Oct 20 for the ACT plan and we already paid. I was hoping there was another date in the spring. Will double check on college board</p>
<p>Liab, PSAT is only offered during those 2 dates in the fall. You could try wed 10/17/12 and take some time out of school.</p>
<p>Good idea is to prepare for any standardized test
Bad ides is to take without any prep.
Timing is of secondary consideration.
Keep in mind that math section is primarily middle school material, so re-fresh is a key. Many advanced students simply do not remember it any more and then they are surprized by lower than anticipated score in section that they could have excelled.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Oct 17 is too soon and I would have to find a school that is offering it that day. Most are doing it on Oct 20. </p>
<p>As MiamiDap points out some prep is important. I don’t think there will be enough time for that and I would want her to get a good score. I will have to go along with having her take it next October when she is in 11th grade. My younger D took it in 10th grade but she was in another school and for some reason, I thought it was in the spring but I guess that was probably SATs or subject tests. If I had not seen this thread, I would not have realized it.</p>
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<p>Don’t get discouraged by the lower than expected score. The PSAT can be more brutal than the regular SAT in this regard, and kids have a lot less experience with the format of the questions. It so happens that many do overthink and end up guessing. </p>
<p>Here’s something that could be helpful, especially when considering the short time. Since there is no time to really practice, go through any old official test you might still have (the old red and blue books are optimal for this) and have your child READ through the tests with the … answer sheet available. The focus should be to find out why some answers are visibly wrong and why there is ONLY one answer that works. After a while, the student will pick up patterns and avoid the easy mistakes (usually thinking too hard and looking outside the four corners of the text.) Remember that the correct answer usually comes from a direct and precise source in the text. Answers that add concepts or are too vague are typically wrong, and fortunately quite easy to spot.</p>
<p>The long and the short of the above is that one gets much better by reviewing the tests critically. The shorter version is to read with the answers to get comfortable with the format and pick a few words of vocabulary along the way. </p>
<p>You might consider doing this in tandem with your child. It is not boring!</p>
<p>Thank you for the pointers, xiggi.</p>
<p>Strategies and familiarity with the format…practice, practice, practice.</p>
<p>Since S’s godfather is his former English teacher who does SAT private prep on the side, we have called on him for help in the CR. For Math it’s basically what youa re pointing out, sitting down with some of the real material and just going at it.</p>
<p>Thanks as always!</p>