<p>Time to sign-up my 11-year-old for a Princeton Review class? :mad: (Maybe time to move to Canada instead)</p>
<p>See College</a> Board to debut an 8th-grade PSAT exam - Los Angeles Times</p>
<p>what is the world coming to? will it be mandatory?</p>
<p>Nope. Optional.</p>
<p>Why not do it during kindergarten screening and be done with it all?</p>
<p>When will the college board implode? How can I help that happen?</p>
<p>This is insanity. It's a blatant money-making scheme for the College Board. These kids need their childhoods back.</p>
<p>wow, the madness!</p>
<p>
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Why not do it during kindergarten screening and be done with it all?
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</p>
<p>Clearly, it would be best to do the prenatal SAT (the real PSAT)... that should be the winner.</p>
<p>Is Collegeboard a publicly traded company? :o</p>
<p>That's unbelievable.</p>
<p>I am against this idea. And particularly for the rationale that was stated in the article having to do with helping students to decide on the courses they will take in order to succeed in getting into college. They don't need a PSAT in 8th grade to accomplish that goal at all. </p>
<p>For one thing, there already are standardized tests in place in most districts or states. I know at certain grade levels in our area and in our state, students are tested. I don't even think these tests are used to guide kids into which courses to take but in any case, there are test results already available. </p>
<p>Then, teachers can advise and guide students into which level classes are appropriate for their placement, like they already do. Middle school guidance counselors can advise students for the sequence of courses they should take to meet their needs, level, an eventual college goals, like presumably, they already do. You don't need a PSAT score to do that. Students should take the most challenging curriculum they can handle. They can be advised which sequence of courses can lead to which type of colleges, starting in 6th or 7th grade. </p>
<p>For the record, my kids took the SATs in seventh and eighth grades as part of the Johns Hopkins Talent Search but the reason had nothing to do with what to take in HS, etc. They just took the test and got recognition for their scores in an award ceremony. Several years later, due to having taken those SATs, they were able to take long distance college level classes through JHU-CTY. The only other thing we used the scores for, is that we were already advocating in middle school for accommodations and acceleration and the scores were just one more piece of documentation we had (which was after the fact and not a reason we ever had for them taking the test) to get their learning needs met since we have no gifted education in our state. So, the test scores were not used to select their HS curriculum but rather to enable them to take classes that normally our middle school would not make available to someone in their grades (they ended up taking several courses independent study or in the HS).</p>
<p>wow, that is totally unnecessary! all I can hope is that the idea does not sit well with enough people that there aren't many sign-ups! soozievt is right that everything the College Board is offering as justification can be accomplished (and currently IS being accomplished) a better way!</p>
<p>I also took the SATs in 7th and 8th grades through the talent search but I had no idea what good scores were at the time, and I wasn't feeling pressure to do well. it was just something interesting the school guidance counselors suggested. I had no college ambitions back then, and I found my way into advanced courses anyway!
if I had taken a test that was aimed at 8th graders, I am sure I would have been much more concerned about how I scored. I think the goal of the test is where the comparison breaks down.</p>
<p>I don't mind the existing PSAT because I like the NMSQT aspect of it. if national merit hadn't been a part of it I probably wouldn't have bothered.</p>
<p>faustarp, </p>
<p>Same here with my kids. When they took the SATs in seventh and eighth grades, they did NO prep and felt NO pressure and it was just something to do and receive some recognition for. It had no bearing on deciding which HS classes to take as they were going to take the most advanced classes anyhow as that met their learning needs and desires for challenge. They already knew they were going to go to college one day. </p>
<p>My kids also did NO prep for the PSATs and saw them simply as practice for the SATs and a way to get a baseline score to know where they stood and what sort of prep they might do for the SATs later on. One of my kids, never even took the PSATs though was signed up to take them in tenth grade (here they take them in 10th and 11th) but at the last minute had to miss the test to visit a dying grandparent. Then she decided to graduate HS a year early so took the SATs in spring of tenth grade. When 11th grade rolled around and she was applying to college, she felt no reason to take the PSAT since she was already done the SATs. :D</p>
<p>By the way, as an educator, one thing I have observed as a trend in recent years is that there is some rationale given that you must do X to prepare for Y and so then someone must do Z to prepare for X which was meant to prepare for Y and on and on. So, next thing we'll see, is SAT prep courses for kindergarten to "get ready", LOL.</p>
<p>This has dollars signs wriiten all over it. Madness, insanity...agreed.</p>
<p>Isn't there the HSPT already(High School Placement Test)? I had to take it for entrance into my private high school.</p>
<p>I hope they lose as much money as they lost administering the AP Italian course. </p>
<p>The last thing middle-schoolers want to sit through is another standardized test.</p>
<p>Goodness gracious. That's especially insane in my area because most people from my magnet middle school take the SAT in seventh grade to qualify for various summer programs. Public school kids are already tested at the end of the year in a list of subjects that grows every year, for the "Nation's Report Card," etc etc etc. Let's throw another test at them, because surely that's how to measure true intelligence.</p>
<p>Don't they already have the Secondary School Admissions Test (SSAT)?</p>
<p>This is beyond ridiculous. I thought students prepping for the PSAT was absurd, but this is truly something I would expect to see in a South Park television episode. And speaking of comedy central tv shows, someone ought send this to The Colbert Report; he would have a field day with this story.</p>
<p>Another thing that irks me with this type of thing is that if a kid doesn't score off the boards, it shouldn't mean that they can't take algebra in middle school, etc. Personally, I would like to rely on a child's teachers to see how the skills are progressing, and give a kid as much chance as possible to excel. If you don't teach the kids, for sure they won't excel.</p>
<p>I also don't like it when schools seeming "ration" classes like advanced math, etc. not necessarily because a child can't do it, but because they have only alloted so many seats for the class.</p>
<p>This is just another pathetic way for a well-fed monopoly to impose its will on people who the College Board knows will give up their money at the false prospect for a good future for their children by taking a test. Sadly this will throw a potentially huge responsibility on young students who should not be subject to standardized testing of this type and force parents to push their kids even earlier so they don't "fall behind."</p>
<p>I heard there's going to be AP Colors and Shapes and AP Farm Animals for kindergarteners this year.</p>