I have been hearing that some “experts” are saying 2017 grads should take the old SAT in the fall of 2015 to avoid be guinea pigs for the new SAT. However, the PSAT offered in October 2015 will be redesigned. So, 2017 grads following this advice would have to prep for both the old SAT and the new PSAT over the summer. This does not sound ideal.
My child’s sophomore PSAT score was 185 without doing any studying ahead of time. The NMS semifinalist cutoff in our state was 215 this year. I wouldn’t say he’s a shoe-in, but if he buckled down, he might make the cutoff next year, so I’d like him to give it a good try. This has me wondering if he should just resign himself to being one of the “guinea pigs” for the new SAT, so he won’t be studying for two different high stakes tests at the same time.
Any thoughts? Others in a similar situation?
I’m not in your son’s position, so I haven’t done a lot of research on this. However, something to keep in mind: for NM, your son will need to take the SAT, but will NM accept the old SAT after the PSAT?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/1732744-will-the-current-sat-stay-valid.html#latest
I just posted a thread like this above. Here’s my take on it:
Real SAT scores are a LOT more important than PSAT scores. SAT scores count for a huge part of college admissions, whereas NMS is just a small part of your application and a chance at a scholarship. I’m personally going to take the “old” SAT in 2015 because I know my scores will be better on the old one than on the redesign or on the ACT. For the PSAT:
As of now, no one can really prep for the PSAT. Because of this, the semifinalist cutoff for the 2016 PSAT will likely be much lower than in previous years. Therefore, the people who score well on the redesigned PSAT will be those who are naturally good at the redesigned test. If your son is good at the redesign, he has a good chance of making semifinalist. If he isn’t good at it, then that means he probably wouldn’t do well on the redesigned SAT, since it tests a very different set of skills and is very hard to prep for.
My take on this issue is that everyone who feels reasonably prepared should take the current SAT at least once. You always have a chance at today’s SAT, but if you wait till 2016 and realize you’re bad at the redesigned one, you can’t go back and take the current test.
I had a similar query that I just bumped. Practice PSAT tests on College Board come out in April this year, and prep companies are gearing up for the new test. If your son is going to prep for the PSAT, he’s already on his way to study for the new SAT.