My who attends NE boarding school just sent me his score report. 10th grade PSAT scores. My son just sent me his score report of 1290, 640 verbal and 650 math. He did not prep. I know he plans to prep for either SAT or ACT which he hopes to take fall of junior year. Based on his score do you think he should try a sample ACT or just stick with SAT. He is legacy at a non HYP Ivy and highly selective small liberal arts college, he is interested in both.
Your message prompted me to call my son’s high school. He goes to public school and learned one week prior that they would be taking the test. He received a 1220.
@MAandMEmom is your son 10th grade as well?
Yes, and they gave us all of about three days’ notice that all 10th graders would be taking it. Not sure what it all means but I guess I’ll know better when I get the report. He’s not taken any other high stakes test before except our statewide test called MCAS. We do not do PARCC in Massachusetts.
My 10th grader can’t login her account to see her results. I looked up my sons last year 10th grade results and he got a 1380.
@karen0 I would suggest he do practice tests for both. My older kids took both for college admissions. They scored slightly higher in different subjects on each test.
A friend posted the same question recently and most of the replies were to take both to see. Math/science kids tend to do a little better on ACT. One friend had her kids take both them prep more for better scoring one. Mine was one (of each) and done.
Local test prep center gives free mock tests so DS did practice one before actual test. He had also taken SAT in 7th grade so had those scores for reference.
I would suggest letting him take practice tests and see which one he does better on. Then ask him which one he feels more comfortable with and prep accordingly.
Interesting. I was sort of upset by the score but it does fall in the 98th percentile. Are typical tenth graders just limited by what they haven’t had yet?
My son had never completed a practice test and was told to guess if he ran out of time. And that he did! Beyond math (he’s great in that), his ABACADABA guesses were wrong most often. I guess the 94% it equates to isn’t bad considering that and he’ll know how to better pace himself next year when it actually counts.
^^ In hindsight, I probably should have had him try the SSAT just for practice.
^^ For guessing, just straight BBBBB or CCCCC or AAAAA results in better results than Abracadabra. 
My plan for my sophomore DS2 is to do the new August SAT and then the September ACT after probably a summer prep class for one or both.
I hope this would give an indication of which one to focus on, but DS1 was smack in the middle, his PSAT and ACT scores were equivalent, so DS2 might be the same way.
Rather than having DS2 take the real tests several times, I am planning to have him take practice tests in real setting (3+ hours at a sitting) at a test prep company (MindFish, Huntington, etc) or in the library with me as a proctor (save $) during this summer.
If his practice scores are not good, I will delay his first test to winter.
It was soooo nice to have all the tests done by June before senior year with DS1.
I hope to do the same with DS2. That means his last ACT will be either April or June 2018. His last SAT will be March 2018 as he may want to do more SAT Subject tests in May/June.
DS2 just got 99% across board PSAT with 1460 so early finish could be possible.
Just noticed your legacy comment - each school deals with legacy differently - in general many consider it more for early decision and some don’t consider it at all.
@payn4ward Our public school told them to guess but didn’t suggest a straight AAAAA strategy etc. They decided to require all 10th graders take it for the first time ever and told them three days prior! No prep at all and I bet about 1% have taken a comparable test. Most all the questions he got wrong were at the end of the sections where he guessed. I believe his score would have likely been in the high 90s if he knew the format better and maybe prepped even just a tad. First kid to go through this so I had not a clue!
On this same topic, any 2017 test prep book publisher suggestions?
The PSAT score reporting page provides a link to Khan academy. It says this will provide a free personal plan designed around missed questions- seenms like the best way to spend his time.
The school may give 10th graders a practice ACT at some point (at my kids’ school it was done unannounced to see how they did without prep), and then it will be easier to decide…or the college counselors may decide for you.
My school has us try both unless we blow the ACT out of the park the first time (we all take it in September).
So happy to have found this thread. We are looking at a 92% percentile overall–very lopsided, however, with a 99% in verbal and only a 76% in math. No prep, and in fact told me he “Almost forgot about it.”
!!!
In spite of above-stated motivation level, I am OK with these scores. I know his math scores will rise; his lowest sub-section was on advanced math (assuming this is the Alg II/Trig component) and he is just taking Alg II now. DS earned a 96% on the SSAT (I know, different test) after four private tutoring sessions, so hoping to hire the same tutor and move math scores up from there.
@vegas1 --my DC could not log into the College Board portal either (and was not concerned, lol). We back-doored our way in on Saturday when he came home for break.
@payn4ward – we have the exact same plan. We will prep in August for the new August SAT date. Hopefully, finishing Albegra II this year will assist in math score as well. However, since such DC is such a verbal kid, I am thinking that we will stick with the SAT. Any thoughts here are appreciated re: ACT vs. SAT for his type of profile.
I just can’t see him faring well taking the SAT or ACT whilst at BS in Junior year with honors/AP classes. It would be wonderful to be one and done by the end of Summer after taking the SAT in August. Naive? Yes. Hopeful? Yes. Realistic? Probably not.
Given all of the above and the angsty teen-age “Dudish” behavior I am seeing, I think I will be waiting on attending the College Information Weekend until Junior year
Also, is there some sort of conversion calculator out there for PSAT to SAT scores?
@itcannotbetrue if you look at the score report you will see the projected range for 11th grade (that’s at least what my son’s has). You can click on that link to see the actual projected range. It does say that the PSAT and SAT are on the same scale.
My 10th grader in public school got a 90% in verbal and 95% in Math with a 94% overall. He unfortunately guessed on 25% of the reading and the writing and language sections. He did amazing well on the advanced math but no so well on the no calculator section. We know how to work a calculator in my house:). I plan to buy a few books soon and get him going with prep and especially with better time management.
@MAandMEmom --that is a pretty darn good job guessing on that quarter of the verbal section! Please enlighten me as to what your DS’s method is for our hoped-for increase in Advanced Math!