That doesn’t work for the PSAT though @rightcoaster. It must be taken as a junior to qualify for national merit.
I too was also surprised at how little NMF is at most schools. The ones where it is a large award, also have very high merit awards in general and seem to primarily be in the South.
Terrible at the 91st percentile as a freshman seems a bit harsh and a lot of pressure to me…while I am sure my S19 would not be thrilled with that result I don’t know that I, personally, would consider that terrible. He would also see that as areas for improvement.
I elected to have him not take it as a freshman. He could have but quite frankly he is a strong standard test taker where his brother, S17 is not. Though S17 has focused his efforts on the ACT I didn’t feel it was healthy for there to be comparison on the PSAT results at it was possible/probable S19 would do better. S19 likes taking tests and he may take some practice PSAT’s over the summer for fun but that is completely up to him. The entire sophomore class takes it for free and then you choose to take it or not as a junior for a small fee.
As for taking SAT and ACT sophomore year I don’t see the point but I do feel strongly they should start in fall of junior year. That allows the entire junior year for retesting as needed with the goal of being done with them by the end of that same year and no fall senior year tests.
Unfortunately that strategy doesn’t work when your kid fractures his wrist 2 weeks before a June ACT but at least S17 has back up scores.
^^^^^^
I meant that kids should take the psat and if they master the SAT just be done with the whole thing and move on.
If they are really into it and want to try for the tippy top best score, go for it. It seems most of the kids I’ve met take the psat 10/11th grade, and then SAT. If they don’t like SAT they try the ACT. In our state of MA the score is crazy high to be considered for national merit, I don’t think too many of the kids at our school qualify. They might be close, but they need a 223 or something like that. They don’t really even talk about it much at school.
^^^ we are in the same boat, looks like 218 here. I use a test prep center that will do a free diagnostic on each so we will go that route for S19. I have to say though, after all the drama with the new SAT and the score delays…I like the ACT a lot better! It will be interesting to see what S19 does better on and I am glad he is a year away while hopefully all the drama around it settles.
My DS16 did much better on the ACT and his merit awards were much higher than what he would’ve received from NMF had he qualified.
The SAT is adding an August 26th date for 2017. And the ACT is in early Sept 2017. We will have our S19 study next summer and take those tests. If he does well enough, he will be done before junior year barely starts. That would be huge and give him more time to focus on what will be a rough junior year schedule in terms of APs. At the very least, he will be able to pick one of those tests depending on his scores and retake in the winter.
I don’t see the reason to wait. He will have finished pre-Calc Honors sophomore year and he’s always scored high on English portions of these types of tests. He will have the time in the summer to focus on studying and freeing up spring 2018 for AP tests (Calc BC, English Lang, Physics) would be ideal.
@homerdog I agree, S19 will be in a similar boat and will likely take both as well. I am thrilled they added the August date although I don’t love the idea of them trying to study for both tests at the same time…
My D17 took the ACT and SAT spring of her sophomore year. It was entirely her idea, and we figured that it wouldn’t hurt her to have the practice for when she took it the next year—but she ended up getting a good enough score on the ACT that we figured we were done with those tests, so hurrah! (Though she actually improved on her score slightly when she took the districtwide sitting of the ACT spring of her junior year, but we didn’t have to pay for that one—double win!)
TL;DR: If your kid’s ready (as my D17 was, but I’m pretty sure my D19 won’t be), taking standardized tests early can be useful.
DS16 began his testing fall of his Jr year and took his ACT one last time the Fall of his Senior year which made him eligible for higher merit awards. DS 19 will be taking SAT prep as an elective at school next year if he gets the schedule he signed up for. He’s does not do as well on standardized tests, so the practice and strategies should help.
D19 has planned Aug’17 PSAT and Sep ACT. She just wants to be done with her testing early on. The cut offs are very high here in CA.
Do test prep center outside the school help improve standardized test scores? I came across one claiming to improve the scores by 200 points on SAT.
My older son took his SAT prep class was taken outside of school, and he found the strategies that he learned very helpful. His friend and classmate who was a NMF actually took the class with him. He took his class from a local company. Kaplan was 200.00 more for their class.
@collegeandi Do you mean the Oct 17 PSAT? I thought the PSAT was always given in October. If your child has a low chance at getting national merit, it might even make sense to skip the PSAT and just concentrate on the ACT.
@dfbdfb The downside to taking the test early (before Junior year) is that some of the test material is Algebra 2, which many sophomores will not have completed. So if the kid applies to a school that requires all test scores (increasingly rare, but they do exist), they’ll see a possibly poor sophomore score as well as a better junior score.
@eandesmom I never told my daughter that 91st percentile is bad. That’s her own expectation. She got 99th percentile on the 8th grade version of the ACT and I guess she expected higher. The funny thing is how we discovered how she felt. One of our good friends has a S19, but also a D17. We were talking about D17’s PSAT score and my daughter overheard and said, “don’t tell anyone my score, it’s embarrassing.” I had to tell her that 91st percentile isn’t bad for someone who didn’t prepare and didn’t bring a calculator.
My son17 took an SAT prep class thru the school. They have a teacher who worked for a test prep firm for a while and runs a weeklong prep class. The kids usually take it right before their first SAT. I think it helped. My son didn’t do great on the psat, but with the prep class did better on 1st SAT, and that helped him do better on his first ACT. He had a good amount of time for those tests to prep/study and the results showed. I think if as a senior he could study as much as he did back then, he might do well on the fall ACT test. I hope he studies a bit this summer, we’ll see.
@gusmahler: Right—like I said, if your kid is ready for it. I suspect that any school that requires all scores isn’t going to be terribly put off by a poor sophomore score, though.
Thank you, @carolinamom2boys, @RightCoaster!
@gusmahler, oops, I meant Oct17!
@gusmahler I would say that a 91 is better than “not bad” under any circumstance. But that’s me. I worry so many of these kids have such high expectations, especially early on, that if they aren’t at the tippy top they have reactions like that which isn’t healthy. It is important to strive for goals and nothing wrong with being disappointed in a result and working forwards a better one but when “embarrasing” is assigned to an A- result, as a parent that concerns me.
I agree that few schools will be put off by a sophomore year score. If the student really wants to take the test and they are driving it, I see no reason not to personally unless you know for a fact that “all” scores schools are on the list and it is a concern. But, with practice tests you should have a good idea where the test will end up prior to making the decision to test or not.
@collegeandi I think test prep places can help quite a bit, depending on the child. If a student is self motivated, they may be able to do enough via Kahn and some of the test prep booklets. Ours have all benefitted from a test prep though we have used different ones for each child. One was online as he refused to go in, one was part of a larger group session and one in a very small group session a few times and primarily 1:1. For that last one, he is not a strong test taker and the 1:1 has meant a 4 point difference since his initial diagnostic test. We are hoping to still improve that more, as a student he has come a long way since then and we will do a combo of Kahn and fewer 1:1 sessions for the next retake.
For S19, the group session will likely be fine, I don’t expect him to need the 1:1. Which of course, costs more. In his case, though he arguably could do ok on the June ACT at the end of his sophomore year, I do not want to add any kind of test prep until the school year is over as it will be a rigorous schedule. We will likely do diagnostic testing in February just to see where he stands.
I’m of the opinion that Khan Academy is a good practice tool.
I’m not familiar with online practice tests or programs . Do they teach test taking strategies?
@carolinamom2boys I am not sure. We will be looking at it for ACT over the summer and I will let you know. It is a newer option and it will be our first time using it but I have heard relatively good things. I think S used it for practice tests or sections in the past but not heavily. For my S17, the 1:1 was critical for strategy as it needed to be personalized to his needs (ADHD).
Strategy is super important, especially on the ACT where timing can be tough. You have to move super quick. We haven’t hired anyone for our son yet - obviously too soon. But the Kaplan book has some great suggestions. I have heard some tutor’s suggestions as well.
For instance, on the science section, students should not read the passages first. Go to the questions and go into the material to find the answers. Also, if you practice ACT Reading sections, you can see which ones are easiest for you and it’s best to do those first (some are literature based, some of social science based, etc). If you’re trying to get as many questions right as you can, then you do those sections first and give yourself the best chance of gaining points. If you run out of time, then at least you will be left with the sections that are the most difficult for you and questions that you were least likely to get correct.
Once you’re past the point of being able to answer the questions correctly, you have to figure out how you are going to do so with the time constraints so many kids need tips. Of course, I’m sure the very best and brightest read and comprehend quickly and can whiz through the math questions at a fast clip as well.