Parents of the HS class of 2010 - Original

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
701

<p>S is taking the PSAT as I write this. It's mandatory and free for all sophs and juniors at his HS, and they take it on a regular school morning. S did badly last year, but had paid no attention to what it involved. This year he's done some practice, so we're hoping for some better results. I don't think he has a prayer of even being a Commended student, but at least if his scores go up he'll have more confidence when it's time for the SATs in the spring.</p>

702

<p>^Booklady, we're also in PA, and D2's taking her PSAT now, as well. </p>

<p>Her results from last year were okay, but kind of middling. This year she has been practicing for it since mid-summer, especially the math section, which seems to have been the Achilles' heel for both D1 and D2. She's hoping that her extra efforts will pay off on the test. We're also not even hoping for NMSF or commended status, but just for good enough scores that will bolster her college apps. next year. One nice side benefit of her test prep is that, so far, she's been doing better than she thought she would in her Pre-Calc class. At one point, she was considering not taking math during her senior year, but now she's regained enough confidence that she's at least considering taking AP Stats next year. Now that she's getting the PSATs behind her, we're going to embark on a mini-college tour this coming weekend. </p>

<p>Is it just me, or does everyone feel a bit funny seeing that "Class of 2013 Acceptances" thread up, and knowing that beginning next fall, we'll be the ones posting on a similar thread? Even though I've been through this before with my older daughter, this college search and admissions timeline feels like it's coming too fast (and, at other times, too slow)</p>

703

<p>
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Is it just me, or does everyone feel a bit funny seeing that "Class of 2013 Acceptances" thread up, and knowing that beginning next fall, we'll be the ones posting on a similar thread?

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<p>It DOES feel funny to me to realize that my class of 2010 oldest son is looking at an admission cycle at our state flagship university such that he should have his news for next year's acceptance thread by about exactly one year from now. </p>

<p>I'm happy to read that preparing for the math section on the PSAT emboldened a student to keep taking math courses. That is as it should be--the tests should lead to succeeding better in challenging courses. </p>

<p>Good luck to all. I guess the students are in the testing room in most time zones right now, if they are taking the Wednesday PSAT.</p>

704

<p>Reality kicked in for me when I took DD on her college trip last week - she is going off to school and while she may be ready, my wife and I are not :)</p>

705

<p>D took the PSAT "for real" this morning. She felt like she nailed it, said she found it easier than her practice tests but thought maybe that's because she's more focused during the actual test than during practices---a good skill to have. She did very well on the PSAT last year as a sophomore, with a score above the National Merit cut-off in our state (though of course it didn't count). We're keeping our fingers crossed that she does as well or better this year because there could be money in it, or at least a nice honor to list on her college apps. But come what may, I'm proud of her for working hard to prep for it and giving it her best shot. That's all you can ask as a parent.</p>

706

<p>Great news, bclintonk. </p>

<p>Now we wait.</p>

707

<p>bclintonk- good luck to your D that her studying paid off hopefully. Yes that is all you can hope for that they try their best.</p>

708

<p>My son reported that the math part was easy but that the critical reading and writing was harder than he had expected. I hope his hard work pays off too, but I told him, at least it's over. NOW, onto the SAT and ACT!!</p>

709

<p>My D sent a text msg saying the PSAT was OK but that it would not be a perfect score. I texted back saying that I was ashamed of her :-)</p>

710

<p>OK, I'm clearly in the minority here, but to me the PSAT is just exactly that - the PRACTICE SAT. The odds of a kid scoring an NMSQT Scholarship are astronomically low. If you're up for that, great, but for the overwhelming majority of kids the PSAT is nothing more than practice for the SAT. When you apply to college, they see your SAT scores, not your PSAT score. State school scholarships in our state are awarded based on the mandatory state-wide achievement test scores, not PSATs. </p>

<p>Why take it as a sophomore - so you can practice for the practice test? </p>

<p>And wow - a school district that can afford to pay for everyone to take the PSAT??? Are you guys talking about private schools - or how high are your property/school taxes? Our public high school sends 90+% of our kids on to college, but we laid off teachers last year - there's no money to pay for every kid to take the PSAT or the SAT or anything else that isn't mandated by the state.</p>

711

<p>S goes to public school. We do live in an affluent area, but it also has a good commercial tax base, so our property taxes aren't bad, at least compared to similar suburbs of northeastern cities.</p>

712

<p>Every kid in our district takes the PLAN sophomore year and the PSAT junior year and we are not considered a "wealthy" district.</p>

713

<p>@Lafalum84</p>

<p>I'm right there in the minority with you. We had 17 out of 105 juniors take the PSAT today. About 85% go to college. No sophomores. We are a small rural school. I have not pushed DD to do PSAT prep as I'm going to be lucky enough to get her to prep for the SAT for real. (She has taken it a couple of times already in 6th and 8th grade for gifted stuff through Northwestern).</p>

<p>She gets horrible test anxiety and the best we can do is make sure she takes her medicine, gets a good night sleep, has a positive attitude and uses good test taking strategies that she has learned over the years.</p>

<p>All told, she said she thought the math was easy, may have gotten a perfect and the language parts were harder than she thought. </p>

<p>I'm worried about what people are saying about the short response because she said she didn't write anything, she just bubbled her answers. Is that bad? I won't even mention it to her because it will do nothing but make pointless anxiety.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, she is getting a solid A in her dual enrollment Biology class at the local flagship which she absolutely loves.</p>

<p>If she nailed the test, yea, if not lessons learned and move on. It's all about forward progress. She doesn't need to prove anything to me, only to herself.</p>

714

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<p>In a word, yes. Our theory was that taking the SAT is a skill in its own right; it tests in part for "aptitude" and in part for standardized-test-taking-ability of a certain distinctive kind. That makes the whole thing a bit silly, and I wish it didn't count for as much as it does in the college admissions process, but it does; and as long as it does, we'll play the game. [We did not and will not pay for commercial prep courses, however]. </p>

<p>Taking the PSAT as a sophomore was a low-pressure, no-consequences practice for taking it as a junior, when there is some consequence, namely qualifying for National Merit. D's sophomore score also gave us a benchmark to determine whether, with proper prep, she could be in the running for National Merit. It also gave is an early, albeit imperfect, read on the kinds of colleges she could realistically be looking at. Having taken the PSAT twice, she should now be better prepared now to take the SAT--better prepared than she would have been if this year's PSAT was her first real exposure to this peculiar little world that the College Board has created. </p>

<p>I don't say that approach is for everyone. I will say that for my D, having taken the PSAT as a sophomore and doing well on it gave her a lot of confidence and an extra shot of motivation coming into her junior year that with hard work, discipline, focus, and a good night's sleep, she could do well on her junior year PSAT-as-NMSQT and on the SAT to follow shortly. I acknowledge, however, that for those who don't do as well on the PSAT as sophomores (and sophomore year scores are generally lower than junior year scores), this approach could backfire and prove somewhat demoralizing.</p>

715

<p>I think when people say short response they may be talking about the portion of math where you bubble in the actual numbers for the answers and not just A, B, C or D. It's the part that my youngest always gets the most mistakes on.</p>

716

<p>
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The odds of a kid scoring an NMSQT Scholarship are astronomically low.

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<p>Well, for an unselected student who just shows up for the PSAT/NMSQT test, the odds are 1 in 200 to be a National Merit semifinalist. But of course a kid who reads a lot and takes challenging math courses (and WHY NOT do those things?) will be ahead of about 160 out of those 200 students anyway. Then if the kid is familiar with the test format, the kid has a very decent chance of being a National Merit commended student, and some reasonable chance of being a National Merit semifinalist. It shouldn't be the school's job to discourage young people from trying to do their personal best.</p>

717

<p>MamaDrama, mathmom, those 'grid-ins' are usually the hardest part of the test. I'm not sure but according to D the only thing that counts is the bubbles you fill in...you don't have to write the numbers above.</p>

718

<p>I'm not sure but according to D the only thing that counts is the bubbles you fill in...you don't have to write the numbers above.</p>

<p>Cool, she should be good then.</p>

719

<p>Both my kids attended impacted public schools, so they were able to get dedicated funds (don't know if they are federal, state or just a piece of the local school budget) to offer the test free of charge. </p>

<p>Tokenadult, what I understood about DC is that NMC uses the cutoff score of the highest state for DC, just like they do for US schools overseas. </p>

<p>The deal with the Maryland Distinguished Scholar awards is that they pretty much replace school-sponsored NMF awards. (We know people who have piggybacked MDS awards and a corporate NMF award or one-time $2500 NMC award.) It's a sweeter deal than NMF, but are also subject to state funding considerations. There are also MDS awards offered for fine arts, subject to nomination by teachers, I believe. I haven't heard of any cutbacks, but one has to assume that most everything will be on the chopping (or trimming) block these days.</p>

<p>Just to clarify on the PSAT-- if they bubble the short-answer math, that is fine. If they write the answer and don't bubble, THAT is the problem. Just remind folks to bubble and write in (but the bubble answer is the one that is actually graded).</p>

<p>S2 was very happy with his performance today. He is not normally one to be bursting with overconfidence about standardized tests, so I hope this bodes well. I told him if he gave it his best effort, that is fine by me. The preparation he made for today will continue to help him for the SAT (and possibly the ACT) down the road.</p>

720

<p>I just checked the Collegeboard website about the grid-ins and the relevant part is below:</p>

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<p>SAT</a> Student-Produced Responses</p>