<p>DougBetsy - I'm really surprised at how few students are taking the PSAT at your S's school. Our school sends home no information like that - no instructions or statistics about the number of students taking the exam. I'm pretty sure that the majority of the students will be taking the test though (Sarurday, not Wednesday). </p>
<p>I'm wondering if making the test mandatory for sophs possibly has a negative effect on the number of kids taking the exam junior year. As you know from your son's practice tests, it's possible to have a big jump from soph to junior year. Maybe some of the kids got scared off by their sophomore-year test results? At D's school, the test is optional for sophs. D and most of her friends did take the exam. D's results were similar to your son's last year and on the practices - so a year can make a big difference.</p>
<p>Oh, and at D's school, both sophs and juniors pay $13 to take the exam - optional in both grades.</p>
<p>Good luck to your S tomorrow, and to the other test-takers as well.</p>
<p>My daughter's school sent home a mailing and did an automated phone message for the PSAT. Testing is mandatory for freshman, sophomores and juniors. The school also has a grant for free online prep that they require X hours use per year. The teachers also hold classes on Saturday for the PSAT.</p>
<p>I think the reason goes back to the way Guidance promoted the test. I don't remember the exact words, but it was something like...</p>
<p>"PSATs will be administred to all sophomores free of charge on October 15. Motivated juniors are encouraged to take the test in order to be considered for certain college scholarships."</p>
<p>Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it looked like they were saying "we don't want average or below-average juniors to bother with this test." </p>
<p>Not many sophs take the PSAT here, so this will be the first time for the majority of the kids. DD took the SAT as an 8th grader but doesn't recall much about it. We'll see how it goes.</p>
<p>At D's school the PSAT is mandatory and free for sophomores, optional and free for freshmen taking Algebra II or higher math, and optional and $13 for juniors. The school mails letters to parents of juniors (IMHO better than sending letters home with the kids) in mid-September. The school doesn't give out statistics on how many juniors take it, but I imagine it's about the same as DougBetsy's school. Sad, isn't it?</p>
<p>The school does offer them free access to an online prep course and offers SAT prep as a one-semester elective (my D does not want to take it). I wonder why schools are pushing the PSAT on sophomores but not juniors?</p>
<p>We have the same issue here - all sophomores take the test - juniors have to sign up. My daughter said that perhaps 15 juniors will take the test out of a class of probably 180. Really sad - and a direct result of the GC pushing PSAT on the sophomores and downplaying it for the Juniors. </p>
<p>This is a new policy over the last two years - and yet the school wonders why our National Merit numbers are down... </p>
<p>Note that the school pays for the tests so expense is not an issue.</p>
<p>WOW - our school recommends that all Juniors take the test, and it's $22. They don't mention it for sophomores at all, and if asked they discourage sophomores from taking it. Sophomores who want to take the PSAT are allowed to sign up AFTER the Juniors sign up, since the school says it is only allowed a certain number of exams. The thinking here is that the kids will do better as Juniors, so why take it as sophomores and discourage them? There's still plenty of time for SAT prep after PSAT results come back Junior year, if the results seem to warrant a prep class.</p>
<p>The Juniors & Seniors were given a handout with SAT & PSAT dates, SAT sign-up deadlines, and the College Board web address a few weeks ago. Then last week the Juniors were given the PSAT prep booklet, and told that sign-ups were this week in the cafeteria. No notices were mailed home to parents.</p>
<p>Looks like other schools have a totally different mindset regarding sophs vs juniors, and notifying parents vs letting the kids take responsibility for the info.</p>
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The thinking here is that the kids will do better as Juniors, so why take it as sophomores and discourage them?
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</p>
<p>It cuts both ways. Juniors generally do better than sophomores, but second-time test-takers also do better than first-time test-takers. So the strongest group will probably be juniors who are taking the PSAT for the second time. I can understand not wanting to discourage sophomores who might scale back their expectations based on low sophomore-year test scores. But it seems your school's policy holds kids back from getting the highest PSAT scores they can as juniors, and that's the one that counts "for real" in the National Merit competition, and sets the stage for SATs typically taken later in junior year.</p>
<p>Just to stay ahead of things, I checked on the CB web site to know when to expect the PSAT exam. About three weeks prior to the exam (this Saturday) we received a notice (dual language) in the mail annoucing the exam. The notice was aimed at the juniors but noted sophomores could also take the exam if space was available (250 exams and there are roughly 570 juniors and I know some sophomores did make it in.)</p>
<p>I don't know how many signed up by the deadline last week. I had my son take in the payment the first available day and he came home with the official booklet that has some test questions. Luckily I read the instruction that said he needed to bring the receipt of payment on test day, which for some reason wasn't given to him with the booklet. So, back to the GC to get the receipt.</p>
<p>
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The thinking here is that the kids will do better as Juniors, so why take it as sophomores and discourage them?
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</p>
<p>That's seriously weird and a suboptimal way to get students ready for a test that can be significant for their futures. It looks like the staff needs to do some reading about education. </p>
<p>S2's school pays for sophs and juniors to take the exam -- they want 100% attendance tomorrow. Ninth graders take a free practice PSAT provided by one of the big test-prep providers, also for free. The catch is that the test-prep firm gets to give a presentation to parents when scores come in, so I guess they figure the free test is a loss-leader for test prep courses later.</p>
<p>DougBetsy -- your S is closer than you think -- the MD cutoff was 220 for 2008 seniors. S2 did very well on his last practice test (esp. after his dad found S had made a 3-point scoring error), so we have fingers and toes crossed. Remind your S that if he makes NMSF, he automatically qualifies for a Maryland Distinguished Scholar award -- $3k/year at any Maryland college/university, public or private.</p>
<p>Another reminder: tell your kids that on the Student-Produced Reponses, they need to WRITE in the answer <em>and</em> BUBBLE the grid. S1 learned this the hard way two years ago: he forgot to bubble in an answer, so he got everything right on the Math, but a 760 score. This message is provided as a public service to all the parents who don't have enough to worry about these days... ;)</p>
<p>Have a nice dinner, get a good night's rest, and no last-minute cramming! (and that goes for the juniors, too)</p>
<p>My D is one of the Wed test takers. At this point, she has done much better on recent practice, but who knows how she will do tomorrow. At least we can look at it as good prep for SAT and perhaps an unexpected bonus.</p>
<p>My sons' independent school does not permit sophs to take the PSAT, preferring to cut down on the general stress level at the school. ;) All juniors do take the test, though. Several weeks ago the school sent home the info about the exam including the practice booklets given out by the Collegeboard.</p>
<p>
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Remind your S that if he makes NMSF, he automatically qualifies for a Maryland Distinguished Scholar award -- $3k/year at any Maryland college/university, public or private.
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</p>
<p>Ah! Now I know one incentive that would tend to explain why Maryland's cut-off score is so high every year. I'm still not sure why DC's is so high--severe self-selection of the test-takers there? </p>
<p>
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Another reminder: tell your kids that on the Student-Produced Reponses, they need to WRITE in the answer <em>and</em> BUBBLE the grid.
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</p>
<p>Whoops. Too late. I didn't read this tip 'til now. S is at school and probably in his testing seat right now. Sure hope he follows the directions completely.</p>
<p>I didn't realize that the Wednesday test was given during school hours. All along, I've been thinking that they give it after school. Now I'm wishing D's school offered it on Wednesdays instead of Saturday - there would be no conflicts that way!</p>
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There's still plenty of time for SAT prep after PSAT results come back Junior year, if the results seem to warrant a prep class.
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</p>
<p>This misses the point. You want great results on the PSAT. It's not just practice for the SAT, but a competition for merit awards and scholarships.</p>
<p>DougBetsy: I actually went to my son's room just now to check on the practice score sheet. He both bubbled and wrote the answers! Whew. :)</p>
<p>^^ mommusic, that's the exact tactic my kids' private school takes also and I agree with your comment. They tend to start kids on the process way too late, so they are either only taking tests once or into their Sr year if they need a second time. They call the PSAT the PRACTICE SAT, I cringe every time I hear it, and really play it down. As for NMSQT, our school had been discounting that as an unusual outcome, yet the percentage of qualifiers+SF for the previous year jumped to 15% of the student body. Maybe that will cause more attention to be paid to this test.</p>
<p>re: MD scholarship. Wow, that's interesting, public or private! Would be nice if more states did that but not holding my breath in my tightwad neck of the woods (northeast)</p>