Yes they did. We encouraged all our kids to practice for the PSAT - as a matter of fact - we had each of them practice and then take an actual SAT right before the SAT to be sure that they had skin in the game. (It worked.)
PSAT/SAT is Tuesday in our district too. Daughter took PSAT 8/9 Last year. It’s free (in theory). She didn’t study. She may study this weekend for PSAT 10 although the more important 10 is in the Fall
@gallentjill We had our younger child study because he was 1 off the NMF state cutoff as a sophomore. Easily made it as a junior. Sounds like your kid is in a similar situation heading into junior year. He just did some self study and a few practice tests. Should have had kid #1 study for it too because he rocked the SAT once he did a little self-study.
S studied like heck. NMF was make or break for us. Technically, he was prepping for the SAT based on the materials he was using. His plan was to take the two back to back and have his testing done for the year.
No
@youcee My D is a Jr. She took the PSAT and was just a little shy of the cutoff.
Nope
@VickiSoCal, I would love to learn your verbal (grammar and CR) prep for your daughter this summer and how it goes. D21 is also strong in math (780 real SAT) the summer before ninth grade, but needs help in verbal. NMF is very important as she would go to a school like UTD that gives great merit for it.
I think she’s just going to do books and maybe Khan.
All my children ran through the prep test booklet that comes with the sign-up. That’s was pretty much it.
My pups did not prep for the PSAT nor the SAT, and did just fine getting perfect scores and NMF. They spent their HS time on their EC’s, their volunteer work, or their homework for all their AP classes. Even though we live in a state with a very high cutoff, their G&T advisor told them that it’d be a waste of their time for them to bother studying - and she was right. The only standardized test studying they did was for their AP exams.
I am sure it makes a lot of sense for most kids to study and prep for the PSAT/SAT and ACT tests. One of D’s friends studied very hard and raised her score from PSAT 10 (a 94th percentile) to the 99th percentile as a junior.
We sent our D to a well known test prep course before her Junior year to help prep her for the SAT. Crushing the PSAT was an unexpected bonus. She scored a SI of 225, made NMF, and has a good scholarship lined up for next year.
@kcheves is it allowed to say which test prep?
I had son review the pamphlet and do the practice test. His HS did not allow testing in 9th or 10th grade- a battle we chose not to fight. I believe he did well because he was familiar with the test format and instructions. He was a National Hispanic Scholar and chose not to take any of the full tuition offered to him. His merit aid to his final choice was well within our budget and all ended well.
If we had another child I would have recommended more prep with practice tests and the Ziggy? method.
@lamom what is the Ziggy method?
Sorry it’s Xiggi. Do a search here or google the Xiggi method, he used the SAT practice tests. I believe he was HS class of 2004, he was extremely helpful to many.
Both my kids had already taken the SAT before the Junior year PSAT. By the time the PSAT came around, they basically knew what they were doing. Both were NMF. D18, however, who took the old SAT as a freshmen and scored very well had to retake the new SAT junior year as a confirmation score for NM because NM wouldn’t accept the old SAT.
My older D was NMF but the school she decided to attend does not offer anything to NMF as the cut off is just slight higher than the SAT equivalent admission average there. Instead, she received a scholarship that is roughly half tuition mainly because of her ACT score. So at the end, the PSAT score or NMF is not a big deal at all.
Nope.
@VickiSoCal Our S19 was ahead in math as well. He just needed to review a bit using practice SAT tests and it all came back. It’s not a disadvantage to be so good at math that you are taking advanced classes. Those kids can review quickly and usually do very well.