<p>my PSAT scores were a decent amount lower than my SAT scores. DO NOT be frazzled by PSAT scores. While they are somewhat indicative of how one performs under testing conditions, they are by no means fortune tellers. In fact, look at PSAT scores as a starting point. It’s only Sophomore year and your son has plenty of time to study. Don’t hold PSAT scores as the gospel–they’re far from it.</p>
<p>I got like a 160 PSAT (i think?), no prep or anything. I then took the ACT without prep and got a 32.</p>
<p>Smallcolleges that’s awesome! There is hope! 
Campbellmom, your S sounds like a clone of mine, at least academically. I’d be interested to know where your S is applying, if you can share (or PM me).</p>
<p>I had the same problem - 130 freshman year, 160 sophomore year, 186 junior year but a 2110 on the SATs first time. </p>
<p>I think you should remind your son that the (P)SATs are more like a game than a test that measures one’s academic ability. </p>
<p>Those who score high are mostly familiar with the game and the types of questions, not necessarily highly intelligent. </p>
<p>I was discouraged all three years of PSAT taking too. My friends got national merit while I had a mere 186 my junior year. I bought the blue book, rocket review, and grubers for math and read it over and over and took practice tests until I felt comfortable with the SAT. The best times to do this, in my opinion, are during winter and spring breaks.</p>
<p>The good news is, there is a lot of room for improvement. People who generally get above a 1800 don’t see much difference with subsequent sittings, but for your son, an intially low score means more room for improvement which can then boost his confidence and actually help him to get a good score in the long run.</p>
<p>BfloGal, S has applied to Sonoma State, San Jose State, St. Mary’s College of CA, and might apply to Santa Clara Univ. He applied EA to St. Mary’s and got an acceptance earlier this week. Our concern was that he only had three colleges he really liked (SSU, SMC, SCU) and applied to SJSU as a safety but not much interest to attend.</p>
<p>When you have a child that is a B student and limits his college applications, it causes some anxiety as to whether he’d be able to get into any of them. SSU is impacted and SCU is a reach with his profile. </p>
<p>He wanted small and in Northern Calif, also somewhere he could play soccer either for the school or club/intramural. I mentioned Humbolt, Chico St., Monterey Bay, USF, SFSU, but to all these suggestions he said he wasn’t interested. He also didn’t want to go out-of-state or SoCal so he really limited his options.</p>
<p>He’s very happy with the Saint Mary’s acceptance and what a relief to me and H to know he got into a college that he would actually want to attend! He was also anti-community college as he really wants to live away from home. SJSU is in our backyard and is big, so that didn’t really work for him either. </p>
<p>Your S and mine do sound similar and congrats on your S’s good PSAT scores! Hopefully your S will cast his net a little wider than ours did and he will have many options to choose from resulting in less stress for you!</p>
<p>I figured a ballpark 10% rise in PSAT scores every year, just based on kids’ maturing and just knowing more. That’s what my kids experienced.</p>
<p>campbellmom, I’d love to hear what you’ve found out so far, and how things go with the soccer “fit”! My son is a junior, and has a similar profile. Only he’s looking for Div I soccer, while I’m rooting for a very good club/intramural team. So far he has mostly CSU Div II’s on his list (specifically Sonoma,Chico, and I’m hinting at Monterey). Isn’t St. Mary’s Div I?</p>
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<p>Sure, my kid whose score went up 60 points from soph to senior year had about 3-4 sessions with a tutor before the PSAT. (I was hoping to bring her up to NM range but I stopped the tutoring sessions because she got stressed and her scores started going down. Still, she said those sessions were helpful.) Before the SAT, she took a local prep class and had another 2-3 additional sessions with a tutor that focused just on math. She is now at a top LAC. </p>
<p>The kid who went up over 40 points in one year actually did more. (He started with low scores and still has one subscore which is particularly low.) He took a 70-hour local class on SAT reading and writing over the summer. (He did other things in the summer so this wasn’t his whole summer.) I do think he got more of an effect because he was starting lower but, honestly, he did work at it and continues to work at it.</p>
<p>Hi Shrinkwrap, S went to a Sonoma State soccer camp over the summer and a weekend camp at Saint Mary’s. He said the SMC camp was much more relaxed even though it is Div. 1. He was invited back to a SSU clinic in October and told afterwards that all participants would hear back in November, either we want to recruit you, you can walk-on, or it will be very difficult for you to make the team. S did not hear anything and has sent the coach an e-mail but no reply yet. </p>
<p>He is more of a Division II caliber but he could always try and walk-on at Saint Mary’s. No matter whether he plays for the school team, playing soccer at a club/intramural level is a must for him and all three schools that are his top choices have this option. S is not an aggressive/assertive person although he’s not shy either, I think playing at the college level, he should have been pursuing opportunities a little more aggressively than he has. But his behavior matches his overall temperament. </p>
<p>For your S, I’d recommend he attend as many soccer camps as he can at colleges where he might be interested. This will give him exposure and also give him a feel of the college while he’s at the camp. Sonoma State and Saint Mary’s were not even on my S’s radar until he went to the soccer camps. Then they became two of his top three choices, not just because of the soccer, but the overall feel and fit of the schools for him.</p>
<p>As far as college applications/acceptances, he’s applied to three: SJSU, SSU, and Saint Mary’s. He has only heard back from Saint Mary’s (acceptance) as that was the early action application. He hasn’t applied to Santa Clara Univ yet but regular decision is Jan 7th so he better get moving soon on that one. I wonder if, because it is a reach, he will decide not to apply, but it is up to him.</p>
<p>That was great! Thanks! I hope you will keep me updated.</p>
<p>Thank you all!</p>
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<p>Both kids took soph PSAT without any prep or practice. First kid’s scores were high 90th percentiles and looked like might be NMSF with a little improvement. Second kid’s were low 90th percentiles, and could be in the commended range with some improvement. Both kids did 10 or so prep sessions with a private tutor and did do practice questions for homework. They never would have bothered without the tutor. First kid became a Scholar. Second kid is a Semifinalist. Both scored 99+/99th percentile nationally. Results far exceeded expectations. Well worth the cost for us. We timed the prep to lead up to the Oct PSATs, and then took Dec. and January SATs in quick succession. I recommend a tutor who will work at the right level of question difficulty and pace instruction according to the progress your kid is making.</p>
<p>I know several students who posted subpar scores or what they think are subpar scores the first time they take the PSAT or SAT. One student had just over 1000 as a sophomore. She admitted she was nervous and had done no prep work for the SAT – didn’t even look at the questions in the booklet she got from guidance. Two years later, she had wonderful scores and got into one of the top 10 schools in the nation. Sometimes kids do not do well the first time because of nerves or just that they have never seen questions like the ones on the SAT. In the end, many do very well.</p>