<p>Interesting article-debate explores the pros and cons of when to take the PSAT - and I can easily see the same arguments for the SAT - to improve students' chances of getting into the college of their choice.</p>
<p>Based on our D's experiences I'd say it's imperative to take the PSAT in 10th grade. Cost - essentially zero. Having the experience of a "dry run" - priceless.</p>
<p>Our HS encourages all students to take it starting in 9th grade. In fact they pay for it in the 9th and 10th grades. Families pay for the "real" test in 11th.</p>
<p>The school where the PSAT is required in the 10th grade has a minority population of well over 50% and they cite preparing those students for standardized testing (and one imagines getting them thinking in terms of college at all) as a reason to require the PSAT. The school where they'd like to make 10th-grade PSAT optional is 85% white, and there the concern is undue pressure on 10th grade students. It seems like both schools are being thoughtful about the aims of their policy. </p>
<p>What it got me thinking about was whether there's any research that shows that you can close the SAT-gap between minority and white students by subsidizing multiple sittings of standardized tests for minority students. Intuitively, you'd think, of course. </p>
<p>That would have some public policy implications, and might send school districts toward requiring 10th-grade PSAT or 11th-grade SAT (as Maine recently did).</p>
<p>My D's school and the local urban school district where we live has all 10th graders take the PSAT as a practice test for the 11th grade PSAT which counts for scholarships and merit recognition.</p>
<p>Our school does practice PSATs in 9th and 10th grade as well.</p>
<p>"Opponents counter that many 10th-grade students are not academically prepared for the PSAT, or Preliminary SAT, which could lead to lower scores on that test and greater stress on the students." </p>
<p>If kids aren't prepared for the PSAT by the beginning of tenth grade they need a stronger high school academic program. Note, I'm not expecting all tenth graders to ACE the PSAT, just to have a basic idea of what to do and the background to work through quite a few questions in each section of the test. If that is too much of a stress, the school is not offering a genuinely college-preparatory curriculum. </p>
<p>In all cases, the way to react to a low score is to figure out how to do better next time. It is not helpful for a student's intellectual growth to avoid challenges.</p>
<p>In our district, 10th graders take the PSAT and the school system pays for it.</p>
<p>I don't see any problem with it as long as somebody makes a point of cautioning the kids who are taking geometry in 10th grade that their math test scores will be lower than they would be in the future because they are still learning some of the topics on the test.</p>
<p>Our district pays for all PSAT tests beginning in 9th grade. A few weeks ago at my D's H.S., they assembled all the 10th grade students who'd done well on the PSAT, essentially around "commended" and up (if they'd been 11th graders) and began talking to them about the importance of the test, what it could mean to them in terms of scholarship opportunities, etc. So many of the kids didn't realize the importance of these tests. I was grateful they did this as it reinforced what I'd been telling my daughter about the test. A few more points and she'd have been in the ballpark of semi-finalist based on last year's results. She's now going to study over the summer, which she probably wouldn't have done before. She's too used to taking standardized tests like FCAT (in Florida) and acing them ... so she's never studied for anything before.</p>
<p>Zebes</p>
<p>Ninth grade PSAT scores alerted us that nobody had ever taught our child grammar systematically. He got half! of the sentence correction questions wrong. Coupled with his high score in critical reading (80) this showed us a educational deficit. We were happy for the chance to correct his understanding of grammar, and not just for the sake of his standardized test scores.</p>
<p>Zebes I agree that 10th grade psat for certain students is a great heads up for the 11th NMS. Although, I don't think I would like it in 9th.</p>
<p>Just to correct a possible misinformation in the article:</p>
<p>It is possible for a 10th grader to be eligible for NM status and scholarships. The student must intend to graduate early (after 11th grade) and clearly note the expected date of graduation on the PSAT form. Obviously, the student must also take the SAT in 10th grade (perhaps early 11th grade?) to fulfill the requirements for eligibility for NM status.</p>
<p>Our kids' schools, like many other posters', subsidizes the PSAT for 9th and 10th graders. </p>
<p>Our family's take has been that one doesn't study for the 9th and 10th grade PSATs -- take them cold, we'll see where any holes are. Make sure academics throughout the year reinforce any holes (i.e., if grammar is a weakness, work with student on same, not via test prep, but through normal homework/essays). Junior year DS1 did some very minor prep -- a few practice sections here and there, then took the practice test that came home with the registration info. His soph English teacher clearly knocked some analytical skills into his head, because his RC shot way up junior year. Other two scores also went up, and DS cleared our state's expected NM cutoff.</p>
<p>DS2's (a freshman) starting point indicates he'll need some practice with math (not a big surprise, but a good score is quite do-able), and I expect that his school's strenuous language arts program will continue to whip his verbal scores into fine shape. </p>
<p>I like the schools offering the PSAT early, not because it helps my kids, but because it helps schools identify kids from families where college is not the norm and can get them thinking and making good choices for the rest of their high school careers. It's a wake-up call for kids to see how they stand on a nationally normed test vs. the state-mandated testing, which, IMHO, tends to be far too watered down and self-congratulatory (i.e., the bar is lowered so only minimal competency is required) for my tastes.</p>
<p>Our school system has found that PSAT scores have increased even as more kids take the test (their goal is to have 90%+ take the PSAT), and we have a diverse socioeconomic and ethnic community.</p>
<p>My daughter's private, day school had all 10th graders take PSAT. My son's private day/boarding school does not have 10th graders take it -- although I think it would have been good practice for him.</p>
<p>
[quote]
LoCascio also said that taking the test early could hurt a student's chance of winning a National Merit Scholarship.</p>
<p>"If the student foolishly takes it in the sophomore year, and they score really well, but doesn't take it in the junior year, then they don't go into the pool of National Merit Scholarship winners," he said.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>One of the stupidest things I've heard an educator ever say. </p>
<p>Of course if they don't take the PSAT Jr year, they are ineligible for NMF. But, that is totally independent on whether they do any testing prior to Jr year. Kinda like saying if a Frosh "foolishly" scores a 2400 SAT, but yet doesn't take the PSAT Jr year, they will be ineligible for NM. Well, duh!</p>
<p>Interpretting the scores in the 9th and 10th grades can be tricky, though. </p>
<p>In my S's case, he had reasonably good scores in 9th grade, improved greatly to almost NMSF cutoff in 10th, then bombed the test in 11th when it counted (commended, not NMSF). Fortunately, he rebounded for the SAT a week or two later with an SAT score that would have been way over the cutoff on the PSAT. </p>
<p>D took PSAT this year in the 9th. At first I didn't think her scores were all that good, but I looked back and they were close to my S's scores in the 9th, so we will have to see how she does next year....</p>
<p>BTW, in my S's case, I don't think the PSAT mattered at all. NMSF would have gotten him a couple of thousand a year at our state school, but that wouldn't have been enough to convince him to go there. Maybe his merit award where he is going would have been higher with the NMSF deignation, but I doubt it. I really don't think that any of his rejections would have changed to acceptances. Certainly if he were interested in any of the colleges that give big NMSF scholarships it would be a different story, but I looked at the list and didn't see any that would float his boat.</p>
<p>I don't think it hurts them to take the PSAT or any standardized tests. My S took ACTs in 6th, 7th and 8th grade as a qualifier for special programs and all it did was get him much more relaxed when he took it in high school. He took the PSAT two times before he took the SAT. Taking those kinds of tests once a year doesn't make the kids "burn out".</p>
<p>My daughter is in an IB program in a mostly minority NYC public school and all students are required to take the PSAT in freshman, sophomore and junior years. The school has a partnership with a corporation that pays for free SAT prep for all students (the College Board online prep) and subject-specific tutoring, so they use the PSAT to figure out a plan of attack for each individual student. I think it's a great program.</p>
<p>Same at our large suburban public, all 9th,10th 11th graders take the PSAT.
My S1 also took it in middle school the same year he did the SAT for Duke TIP.</p>
<p>take it. practice.
it doesn' count until jr. year for the scholarships.</p>