<p>@cruisinfamily. My apologies. Didn’t mean to make you feel stupid at all.</p>
<p>My daughter is a sophomere and is taking PSAT as well. Any suggestions on how to prepare for PSAT exams?</p>
<p>best way to prep for the PSAT is to grab a PSAT prep book - it will show your student exactly the topics covered and also the types of questions that are used. </p>
<p>My “strategy” though is to let them take it cold in sophomore year, then prep for junior year (which is when it counts for national merit)</p>
<p>Taking it cold gives them an idea of where they stand and where they need to improve, and may give them motivation to improve.</p>
<p>Agreed, keeping in mind they will naturally improve having an additional year of instruction, specifically math under their belt. Most sophomores have not completed alg2 when they take the PSATs. Their score reflects this. </p>
<p>Look at the soph test as a diagnostic of where their weak spots are. Pay particular attention to what they missed. Try to establish if it was content or context. This makes a big difference. Is your student going to be studying specific skills or test taking skills…specifically sat taking skills? You will be able to tell. S2011 did beautifully on two sections, bombing a third. We were able to determine he knew the material, just not the presentation. He had to learn how to take that part of the test. </p>
<p>Breaking it down was well worth our effort, and really gave him direction to go in preparing. It took the overwhelming feeling out of it. </p>
<p>Best of luck!!</p>
<p>If anyone’s kid is going to be checking off the box that says “yes, please release my name to colleges”, then now is a good time to set up a shiny new just-for-college-apps email address. One of the best things I’ve ever learned here on CC. </p>
<p>Or, consider having your kid not check the box. There are upsides and downsides to getting the college snail mailings. They can give your child ideas of different schools they might not have considered otherwise, and/or prove inspirational in terms of working harder at school or test prep. On the other hand, they can be too much of a good thing, and they can make a non-worldly-wise student (and/or parent) feel that they are being recruited by every school in the universe.</p>
<p>Agree with mathmomvt’s advice about prepping and seeing where your kid stands for National Merit. I’d add one caution: many kids won’t be in contention for National Merit. Be aware of your own kid’s strengths and abilities when telling them what the junior year PSAT counts for. Even for a student who won’t be anywhere near a NM cutoff score, the PSAT is excellent real-world practice for the SAT.</p>
<p>Thanks Mathmomvt and Blueiguana. Are ur kids taking PLAN as well. It is a compulsory exam for my D ( School requirement)</p>
<p>No oncmom. I know a couple of the privates locally that give the PLAN, however here in the mid-Atlantic our school routinely gives the PSAT only. Our S2011 did give the ACT a try just to see if the format was better for him personally. His initial scores with minimal prep were equivalent to his SATs, he liked the SAT format better despite being a math and science kid, and decided to stick with the SAT format. He didn’t rock it by CC standards, but his 2130 did what he needed to meet his goals, and he and felt it fairly showed his ability in each section.</p>
<p>
Yes, the email from jr high that reads sexygal1995@hotmail, or imbtrthnu@gmail probably aren’t too good for college. 
Yes, I’ve seen both of these working with kids at the school. :eek: All our boys got firstnamelastname@gmail when they started 8th grade. It made it very simple.</p>
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I agree! No prep at all (other than the SAT question of the day which has been arriving in his inbox daily for about 6 months)</p>
<p>
Thank you so much! This is exactly the type of info I was looking for when I asked my question about listing a potential major on the form.</p>
<p>So I was planning to have my son check the “yes, please release my name to colleges” but not give an email address, just get the snail mail only stuff. Never considered having him start a new email address just for this purpose. I’ll ask him tonight what he thinks about that. </p>
<p>How much email do folks generally receive? More or less than the snail mail stuff?</p>
<p>cruisn, can’t help you with the question about how much email versus snail (my D1 didn’t check the box), but one other thing about the college stuff email addy: it’s a nice thing to make it checkable by both the student and the parent. I read stories here of students ignoring emails they thought were junk, but were actually scholarship due date reminders :eek:. That sort of thing.</p>
<p>@cruisn, our D’11 didn’t check the box until the Jr. Year PSAT, so I don’t know how much info the colleges send in Sophomore year. I do know that once junior year starts, it is overwhelming. I could have papered a room with the mailings from one school, and definitely had to buy a couple of nice looking milk crate type storage boxes to keep the rest from overwhelming our house. D was pretty good about tossing information from schools she knew she had no interest in, but there is a heady period in the first few months when students love everyone who seems to love them, and they hold on to the glossy brochures to prove it.</p>
<p>So is eligibility for PSAT NMSQT based on being in the 99%ile for your state? If my son is already hitting those numbers on the ACT will he need to study for the PSAT or will it be safe to assume that he will qualify for National Merit when the time comes?</p>
<p>Here’s a thread listing preliminary cut off scores for each state for CO2012:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1199607-national-merit-semifinalist-qualify-scores-class-2012-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/1199607-national-merit-semifinalist-qualify-scores-class-2012-a.html</a></p>
<p>Post #773 has the completed list with the change from the previous year.</p>
<p>@ Apollo6 - Your question regarding the percentage is addressed (in reverse, ie top 1%) starting at post #796. I won’t confirm that the answer is correct, but it will give you some information.</p>
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<p>Great advice, something I bet DS11 had learned before he embarked on this process.</p>
<p>I think I’d actually suggest <em>two</em> shiny new email addresses – one to hand out in situations like this and get inundated with “junk” email, and a separate one to use for any direct communication with a college of interest, on the actual application, etc. That one needs to be checked REGULARLY to make sure nothing important is missed, and that’s easier if it’s not buried under hundreds of solicitations for colleges you aren’t interested in.</p>
<p>My DS11 did and my DS14 will take the PLAN. We weren’t going to bother for DS11 as he had already taken an ACT in 8th grade for an enrichment program, and was familiar enough with the format. But our guidance counselor said that the career interest and aptitude part might be worthwhile. I’m not sure it was really of much help for DS11 and DS14 has a pretty clear idea what he wants to study/do when he grows up (engineering, possibly mechanical) but he hasn’t taken an ACT, so it might be worth it for him to experience the ACT format. Compared to the real SAT and ACT these are cheap, and they don’t go on your “permanent record” (colleges don’t see them in general, though I guess they indirectly get an idea of the range when they buy lists of students with scores in the ranges they are looking for) and they aren’t counted for college applications except insofar as the PSAT may qualify a student for NM semifinalist status. (But they can’t hurt you, is my point.)</p>
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<p>A freakin’ ton! (My S did pretty well for a sophomore, so that may have influenced how much mail he got.) I wasn’t as aware of the email, but he did complain about it from time to time.</p>
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<p>I resisted that temptation with DS11 (figuring it’s time for him to take responsibility for these things, even if it means missing something important) but every kid is different (and we may end up doing that with DS14). But those stories also underline the value of having separate email addresses for “generic” college mail and for “important” college email.</p>
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I also have a D’11 and she only took the PSAT in 10th(her score was like a 150, no reason to retake in 11th) and we did get a small amount of mail…maybe a couple of pieces a month, a very small amount which continued through graduation. I have a feeling it is directly related to the score the kids earn as to how much mail they get.</p>
<p>I’m assuming S’14 will get significantly more mail!</p>
<p>S’11 (who is already enrolled in and attending college) still gets 2-3 pieces of “college mail” per month even now! So many dead trees…</p>
<p>From mathmomvt:
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<p>That’s like after you die – your hair and fingernails keep growing :)</p>
<p>Seriously – is it too soon to start worrying that S’11 won’t get in anywhere? Yes, I exaggerate, but I just got a note from his Spanish teacher – he’s getting a D+ at best. He has a learning disability (which makes me wonder why he’s even taking a foreign language – English is tough enough). S wants to switch to Latin (which would help for SATs if he even takes them, which is an open question). Aaaargh! </p>
<p>There’s a school for everyone. There’s a school for everyone. There’s no place like home.</p>
<p>^ There is a school for everyone. Several schools, actually.</p>
<p>Re: college mailings - older child did very well on PSAT (just missed NMSF cutoff in our state)/SAT and ACT and did Not get a lot of mail. No idea why as she gave her info and checked that she was interested. The school she now attends sent her nothing (others have told me that they send a lot). I really don’t think the amount of mail means anything.</p>
<p>Oh, that was us, too. Older D had very respectable test scores and was in the top 5% of her graduating class. We got almost no college mail. 'Twas odd, as every single other family we knew was getting tons of it. I’m just hoping the schools weren’t saving it all so they could send D’14 double. We’re already getting stuff from NYU because of the kid’s USFencing membership. Really? Some kid from the middle of nowhere, where there’s almost NO competition. Makes no sense.</p>