<p>mommusic, congrats to your S!</p>
<p>Mrs Weasley, lol! Last year he had an 80 on the writing, which helped. I'm hoping this year he feels some love (or at least some marketing) in the form of college mailings; he checked the box to get them, but hasn't gotten anything, not even from WUSTL. (Oh, the shame!)</p>
<p>Wow, mommusic, congratulations to your son. </p>
<p>I thought that 230 was the highest score and was surprised to read your sons score!</p>
<p>Gee, Owlice, are you sure he checked the box? My soph S with a 171 got a letter from WashU.</p>
<p>mamabear, I told him to make sure to do whatever was needed to get mailings, and he said he did, and yet, nothing!</p>
<p>I wonder if this is something that can be changed on the College Board site. Will have to check.</p>
<p>Congrats to all the accomplished Ss and Ds! I have heard of kids' scores going down the second time around, but then the SAT scores are fabulous again. Some kids need a little dip to motivate them to "prove" themselves in the next round.</p>
<p>Happy belated birthday Youdon'tsay!</p>
<p>Son's PSAT was a bit of a letdown for all of us: 186. Dang. And his practice tests were sooo good (200+ every time). </p>
<p>65 CR (+0 from soph)
62 M (+8 from soph)
59 W (+0 from soph)
186 (91%)</p>
<p>Oh well. Moving on. Probably gonna re-evaluate his preliminary list of schools so some would-be matches are now reaches (Richmond, WFU, etc.) and some would-be safeties are now matches (Elon, St. Mary's of Md., etc)</p>
<p>Son consoled himself last night with a "boy version" of gossip. Apparently one of his academic super-star friends "only got a 211" and the "smartest girl in the class" got 219, below NMSF for Md. Oh, and another friend, who's ahead of Son in English progression, only got a 49 on CR. It made him feel a little better.</p>
<p>I have a whole new appreciation for the kids scoring high. Again, congratulations to all of you.</p>
<p>Bummer, DB.</p>
<p>When my son gets his scores in, uh, three weeks and three days, less than two weeks before he takes the SAT, I'll be curious to hear whether kids actually talk about their scores. My guess is no. People don't appear to be too competitive at his school, and he is not competitive at all academically.</p>
<p>I wouldn't change your college list using the scores of the PSAT, but wait for the SAT scores to make a final list. Colleges don't even look at the PSAT, and all that it will cost you is about $2500 in possible merit aid for not making semifinalist or finalist status. The SAT is the important scores for determining reaches, matches and safties.</p>
<p>Oh, yeah, rationally thinking, I know that PSATs aren't a factor for selection. </p>
<p>My reaction was based mainly on the anemic increase. +0 in CR and writing, Son's perennial "strengths." The flat trend is what concerns me. If his first SAT sticks with the trend and hovers around 600 for each part, then at least we'll be mentally prepared. </p>
<p>I believe he has it in him to improve. Just need to prepare for less, while hoping for more.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if their school does anything with the scores? Does it affect class assignments?</p>
<p>our school does not. In fact they downplay it, calling it a "practice sat"</p>
<p>Some schools use PSAT scores to suggest placement into AP courses. College Board has done research on expected AP scores for various combinations of PSAT section scores, and provides high school counselors with that information if they want it.</p>
<p>DougBetsy - sorry to hear you're disappointed, but I don't think you should start making those changes just yet - a lot can happen between now and the SAT.</p>
<p>DB, Before my son got his scores back, I kept reminding myself that this is a snapshot of one day, one test Even if your child felt fine, somedays are just not as good test days as others. </p>
<p>Of course, it's true that it's good to be prepared and realitistic but the PSAT is truly a one-shot test and so I view the score as less of an overall indication.</p>
<p>We're not getting scores until January. School was closed ALL WEEK this week due to snow & ice. And as of tomorrow, winter break begins.</p>
<p>Thank you tokenadult for providing that info, but...</p>
<p>GIMME A BREAK COLLEGEBOARD!! Really, using one day's data point, where the student may not even have done any kind of research into the test beforehand to predict AP scores? Really!</p>
<p>orgonianmom,
Yeah, we're waiting too. We had almost two days of school this week but no PSATs as everybody was trying to squeeze in the tests they had planned for this week before the kids forget everything ;).</p>
<p>First time posting on CC. S did not take PSAT last year. He had an existing CB account and was able to access his scores several weeks ago just putting in his user ID and password. School doesn't hand them out until end of January at a meeting for parents.</p>
<p>pugmadkate--240 is the highest score, just as 2400 is the highest possible SAT score. Supposedly you can add a zero and predict your SAT. Which in my son's case was pretty accurate (2300!)</p>
<p>My 2 oldest kids took the PSAT/SAT before the writing section was added. When I mentioned son's PSAT score to my D, she said, "But you can't get higher than 160!"</p>
<p>I'm glad our school doesn't hold the results until January.</p>
<p>DougBetsy, my S took the PSAT last year as a freshman and got a 231; took it this year, and got a 223! Not only did he NOT improve -- he went DOWN!! But he took the December SAT and did better on it than predicted from his PSATs. (So he is done with it, yahoo.)</p>
<p>I think the PSAT curves were pretty tough this year.</p>