Looking for advice and perspective. DS18 is planning to take the PSAT in the fall, and this time it will count (junior year attempt). He took it last year as a sophomore. His score was 720 Reading/Writing and 710 Math, total 1430. Selection index was 215. We are in Kentucky, so based on predictions of the cut-off he would have been right on the line for NMSF.
He always seems to do well on standardized tests without prep (34 ACT as a sophomore without prep for example). Part of me wants to just take the hands off route. I don’t want him to feel a lot of pressure. If he doesn’t get the score, life will go on. At the same time, he is motivated and wants to do well. It would be terrific, especially since our state flagship (UK) is one of his top choices (and likely safety), and UK gives a very generous full ride to NMFs. So I can’t say I don’t care - I do!
So here we are, four months away. School is out for the summer as of last week. Planning to work part-time this summer but still looking for a job. Time on his hands. Another helpful thing as far as this goes, he has made a choice not to run cross country this fall. Once again, more time on his hands.
What should he be doing to prepare? How much time, effort, money etc. would you devote to it? Or would you take the hands off approach, and just hope for the best? I may ask the school counselor for her thoughts. We live in a place there isn’t much of a frenzy going on for anything academic, which is both a blessing and a curse I guess. Good that there is no pressure, but bad that there is no one to go to that has been through it and can give advice.