<p>No one is picking at you karyblue, we were all newbies once and most of us are nice people ;) Welcome to our little world.</p>
<p>I "prepped" for SAT during the summer before junior year - meaning checked out library books and take lots and lots of tests & harassed the 'smarter' friends. The idea was to get the studying out of the way, take the darn SATs in October, and then be done with it. But, as all you incredibly sharp parents know, the PSAT is also in October, so it was like I was prepping for both tests. </p>
<p>I made it to Finalist, but haven't gotten money from Merit. Of course, I didn't know that there were colleges that offered full Merit rides until after I'd gotten too lazy to fill out any more college apps. But, turns out, that hasn't harmed me anyway, not with the college acceptanes nor with the money.</p>
<p>Actually, I am learning so much! Didn't know you can get $$ for this NMS or NMF for PSAT. Maybe that will encourage my son to review... the booklet at least...... Thanks alot.</p>
<p>OK -- I'll agree that it's probably overkill and too much pressure to spend a great deal of time on prep for the PSAT -- however, given that my D missed Commended by a couple of points and she is now looking at two schools that offer a nice "reward" (one to the tune of $1500 per year) for Commended status, she and I wish she had done just a bit more than she did -- which was nothing... ;-)</p>
<p>Don't put pressure on her. I did almost no prep and will probably be a NMSF. Just have her do a few practice questions (go to the collegeboard website) and keep her calm.</p>
<p>please parents, let your kids make the decision. at this point we are motivated by our own selves, and having parents constantly intervene just makes us defiant. not that we dont love you and your help, esp on CC, but kids are already stressed out enough without having their parents add pressure for the PSATs!!
(by the way i am a NMSF, and the only prep i did was flip through the review packet the night before the test)</p>
<p>karyblue, please tell me you weren't offended by my post. We were all newbie's once. And I really am a nice person!</p>
<p>This College Board site explains a lot of the National Merit stuff, and the parents here will happily answer any questions. <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/psat/about.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/psat/about.html</a></p>
<p>Hilary, thank you for your post. Sometimes every parent needs a gentle reminder that in the end, it is up to our children, not us, to decide whether to do the work. And, I'm not just talking about the PSAT here.</p>
<p>over30, I am not offended ,... My son will have to decide if he wants to "prep" for PSAT....but if he knows about NMS or NSF whatever, and $$$ maybe that will motivate him to review a little this summer....He did take old SAT at age 12 (for CTY) did not review booklet, whining in the car, and scored 740M. But he was taking Algebra then, I think now maybe he forgot his Algebra, and geometry. So many other issues, sleep deprivation, time management, competition, ec's.... I will bring up on future posts, I am so excited. oh jeez, he has his very first AP exam tomorrow and is pounding on the piano............</p>
<p>I'm of the camp that thinks prepping for kids like your son and mine should involve doing a couple of practice tests just to get the feel for the test, the kinds of questions they ask, etc. They don't really need to learn the subject matter - just learn the test. Taking a practice test on Thursday before a Saturday test seems to work well. And my son's advice is to not "overthink" the math. It only requires Alg and Geometry, and if you're in pre-calc or calculus he thinks it's easy to think too much about the math problems. (I'm not a math person, so I can't explain it any better than to tell you what he said.)</p>
<p>Relaxing the night before an AP test sounds like a good idea!</p>
<p>I have two sons in college--neither studied for the PSAT. In fact, with #1, back in my pre CC days, I didn't even know they still had that test, so wasn't paying any attention to it at all. I also did not know at that time that there is some pretty big $$ given to finalists at some schools. Oh, the days before CC, I was the dark, I tell you, about all the college prep stuff! It's just as well. When the first son got a 1400 on his SAT, I was bursting with pride. Of course, here on CC, that is not a score that most crow about, and some even consider it disappointing! Well, anyway, I don't remember what the first S's score on the PSAT was, though at some point I remember seeing the report. Maybe I'll run across it again sometime--I'm sure it's in a pile here somewhere. . .</p>
<p>S#2 did well, and was a semi-finalist but did not advance to finalist standing, because of his grades, I guess. Finalist standing would not have gotten him much money anyway, at the schools on his list--$1,000 or $2,000. Now my D might be interested in some of the schools that offer the big bucks, so I wonder if it would be worth her trying some prep? On the other hand, if she spent much time at all prepping (and it wasn't HER idea) and did not make the cut off, I imagine she would be pretty ticked off that I pushed her to spend her time that way. However, I think I will probably suggest it, and leave it up to her, in which case, it probably will not happen . . .So, most likely PSAT test will just be a heads up for what to expect on the SAT in this household, once again.</p>
<p>Thanks over30, he'll take practise PSAT next saturday, at school, ($10), Hopefully, he won't want to sleep in....See how he does...Now to prep for NEW SATI next year, that's another post...</p>
<p>Xiggi has a post going for the 2006 and 2007 kids. His sister (any my son) are sophomores so will be taking the new SAT. Pay attention to his posts about the test as he knows a LOT.</p>
<p>My D doubled up studying for the PSAT along with her first take of the SAT just a couple of weeks later, so it was no biggie in terms of extra stress.</p>
<p>Her hs encourages students to take it for practice during 9th and 10th grade and her scores from those years indicated that it might be worthwhile...and in some senses it was, as she was NMF...but none of her final schools had any NMF-based awards and she didn't get one of NM's own awards...karma.</p>
<p>Hello All,
Our son prepared for the PSAT by taking it in the 8,9,and 10 grades. By the time he took it as a Junior he understood the test format and time requirements. He did not study using the PSAT book, nor did he have access to test preparation programs (we live overseas and the programs are not available). He did well on the PSAT (actually better scores his sophomore year than junior year). Kinda wonder how he would have done if he had actually studied.....hmmmmm</p>
<p>Daughter doesn't study for standardized tests despite moms best efforts- I did get her a book of essays to get idea of level of writing- she might have cracked it.....
Took 7th grade SAT
Took PSAT in 11th
Took SAT in 11th and 12th.</p>
<p>karyblue ~ contrary to many here, my S did some study. What he did was to get a study guide from the library (where the price is right!) and go through about 2-3 sample tests prior to taking the PSAT the first time (10th grade). The goal was to ensure that he was familiar with the type of questions asked, the format of the exam, and the way the questions were intended to be answered (don't overthink them, in other words). This was plenty of preparation. He did not prepare for the "real" one in 11th grade. We expect he'll be NMS next year since he scored 223.</p>
<p>My s. took the PSAT as a Sophomore and did well . We were advised that he take a course to make sure he did as well the following year "when it counted". So he took a prep. course over the summer before Jr. year. Jr. year PSAT score went down 100 points!!!! Still made NMF (barely). </p>
<p>I think self-study primarily to become familiar with the test format is the best advice. However, some students may need the discipline and structure of a regularly scheduled course.</p>
<p><em>If</em> you have a 9th- or 10th-grade score of 180 or above, it seems like it's worth it to the student to prep for the 11th-grade "real deal" test. The amount of money at stake--full rides at some state schools, significant scholarships at others--makes it prudent...there will be few times that a student can pick up $2,500 to $40,000 for just one day's good work.</p>
<p>hilary:</p>
<p>you raise a valid point, which would be spot-on if you, the child, are paying full freight for college. But, as a parent who IS paying the bill, I think I have a right to expect that a possibly high-scoring child will at least try, and try hard. A very good school such as USC offers an immediate 50% tuition discount for NMFs. So, a Calif score of 217 earns $60-80k of tax-free money, whereas a score of 216 earns absolutely nothing.... </p>
<p>Viewed another way, if you, the student, had to take out that $80k in loans to attend......hmmmm</p>
<p>In addition to 'SC, several state public U's provide up to full tuition discounts for NMF's (at least what I've read on cc). Again, the difference in one correct bubble is potentially huge.</p>
<p>Further, practicing for a few correct bubbles would seem to be a LOT easier than chasing down and completing all those local scholarships apps (for $250-500 per) during senior year, at least IMO. </p>
<p>For perspective, I would suggest that a NMF psat score is more important than a 4-5 on any ap test for some colleges.....</p>