son19 took the psat last Saturday at school. Sophomores can take it if they want to, juniors are recommended to take it. Many kids take it both years as good practice for the SAT. Son19 said he didn’t think it was too hard of a test. Ha, let’s see the results!
My D19 took the PSAT last year, because I (no, really) had the idea in my head she was a sophomore and the practice for the following year would be good—and apparently the guidance counselor thought so too, because she signed the paperwork necessary for a non-junior to take the test as well, and didn’t correct my error on what grade she was in. *Not necessarily surprising we’d both mess up this way, since my daughter’s been taking high-school-student-only literature and writing classes at her K–12 school since 7th grade. But still.) This year she isn’t taking it because schedules, so I figure it’s good she got an idea of what it’s like early on, but we don’t have to worry about Yet Another Test in her actual sophomore year, which the collected wisdom of parents of kids at the school pegs as the most pressure=packed for the kids who go there.
S19 wanted to take the PSAT last year and could have (if I paid). However I deliberately stalled and S forgot to ask for the check in time to take in and get registered. I have enough issues with S17 and S19 comparing themselves already and really didn’t need it over the PSAT. Which S17 did not study for (nor did he for the SAT) as the ACT was mildly better. Though based on this actual PSAT results…probably pretty equal.
It will be in everyone’s best interests for S17 to have his acceptances in hand before S17 gets his results and likely a slew of mail from colleges that never contacted S17. Not that it really matters all that much, they have wildly different interests and target school types/geographical locations but…it’s still in my best interest to have little overlap.
The entire school district here gives the PSAT for 10th and 11th graders. 9th and 12th graders get a special bell schedule so they don’t disturb the PSAT takers.
D19 took the PSAT last year and did terrible (180 selection index). But I kind of fooled her into taking it. She was in before school sports practice and “all the older kids” were signing up for the PSAT. There were no other freshmen there, so she called me to find out if she should be taking it. I immediately said yes. After she realized she wasn’t actually supposed to take it, she didn’t prepare for it at all. She didn’t even have a calculator.
My DS19 took the PSAT today. We call the expect the worst philosophy the Eeyore effect at our house @eandesmom . In terms of mail from schools, I commit mail theft and toss brochures that son has no interest or chance to be accepted to before he sees them.
@eandesmom Thank you! It helps to know that there are others in the same boat. I haven’t been on the 3.0-3.4 thread lately…I will check it out again.
My daughter took the PSAT today and she just told me “I haven’t learned any of that stuff!” It’s going to be a loooong couple of years.
D19 went to the local college fair Monday as part of a school field trip (she got brought along because all but three students in her classes that afternoon are juniors and seniors, so the three sophomores got brought along for the ride). She’s got longstanding interests in some very niche stuff, and found five schools that had something that might could possibly work for her to the extent that she signed up for information.
Two of those schools, information arrived in the mail from them on Tuesday in response to her requests for more information.
Given the fact that we live in Alaska and these schools are both in the lower 48, the only way that could have happened is if the college rep printed stuff out and put it in the mail here Monday afternoon/evening, which is kind of crazy, really.
All I can say is that some schools, their admissions office is a well-oiled machine.
Odd how quick the college fairs are getting back to you in Alaska. D19’s school had a college fair 2 weeks ago. She had her barcode scanned at dozens of colleges. She hasn’t received a single email or mailing. But she’s getting a ton of emails based on the PSAT info she submitted last year
(I know because I made sure she signed up for the college fair under a new, college specific, email address and not my email address, like she signed up for the PSAT last year).
DS took the PSAT yesterday. He is in AP Stats this year. He said he that he didn’t finish all the math. I asked him why and he said it’s been a while since hes done that kind of math… So looks like he may need to review the math before he takes the SAT in May.
Many kids don’t learn a lot of the math until their junior year at our school unless you are a math whiz. My son took Honors alg 1 as a freshman, then honors geometry, then honors alg 2 as a junior, and honors precalc as a senior.
He said that he still didn’t know everything for the sat/act until end of junior year. His best standardized test score happened when he took the act test this fall.
Son19 is doubling up on math this year as a sophomore, taking honors geometry and honors alg 2. He might do better on the psat than son17 did because he will have learned more material.
The PSAT/SAT/ACT are all supposed to test through Algebra 2. This unfortunately puts kids who don’t take algebra 2 until junior year at a disadvantage. Both school districts D19 has been in for HS have tried to put her on the Algebra 2 in junior year track and we had to specifically request getting put on the Algebra 2 in sophomore year track.
There is a little bit of trigonometry in SAT/ACT, so the kids who haven’t taken Precalc are at a disadvantage but it can be overcome by brushing up on basic geometry/trigonometry and taking practice tests. More important is ** strong Algebra 1 foundation. **
DS’s took old SAT in 7th grade for talent search and both scored around 650 in math without prep. They were in Algebra 1B then. Proof Geometry in 8th and Algebra 2 in 9th, Precalc in 10th.
DS17 scored 76 out of 80 in math in old PSAT in 9th grade and 750 out of 760 in 11th grade PSAT.
I think they were ready for PSAT/SAT math since 9th grade. (English/Reading is another story 
)
I must add that they did middle school math club. MathCounts and AMC8 (American Math Competitions) problem sets prepare kids well for ACT/SAT math.
And then there are kids like my D16 who took the SAT three times and the best math score she got was 570 which she got early senior year. She took Algebra 2 her junior year, which is the norm at out school. I think she got a 4 something on the PSAT. Oh and she got accepted to every school she applied to including one in the top 50, so really these tests are not as important as everyone seems to think they are. People need to relax.
S19 did not take the PSAT this year. We will just have him take it next year. I don’t like all the emphasis on testing.
But…but…but…but if that happened, what would everyone on College Confidential ever do??
←in case it wasn’t obvious
@me29034 Ha! Yes, maybe people need to relax a little but each student is different. I don’t think a student who takes an advanced math sequence needs to relax necessarily. Hopefully, they’ve been placed where they belong according to their ability. Our S19 took honors Geometry in eighth grade, the same exact class taught at the high school. So, his sequence will be Algebra II/Trig H freshman year, Pre Calc H sophomore year, BC Calc junior year, and an advanced math topics honors class that goes farther into Calc in his senior year. It’s where he belongs. About 75 of the 700 kids in his grade fall into this sequence. A pretty good number of kids.
After that, most kids take Geometry, Algebra II/Trig, Pre-Calc, and finally Calc. And they can choose regular or honors for that series.
Only a small percentage take Algebra freshman year and don’t make it to Calc.
These decisions are made early, upon entering middle school, but can be changed if the student shows they can handle more. Usually, that change happens sometime during seventh grade. Wherever there are for eighth grade math determines their high school placement.
Believe it or not, there’s a little bit of a downside to an advanced series. Our S19 certainly needs to brush up on geometry - and there’s a lot of it on these tests. Geometry topics (unlike algebra ones) don’t repeat when you take Algebra II and Pre-Calc so kids just don’t usually remember how to do those problems from three years ago. And our S19 tends to overthink the algebra problems since they are mostly from algebra I.
DS took PSAT last Saturday, and he and his cohort were quite put out that they had to give up a Saturday rather than getting out of class on a Wednesday as is more typical. LOL. I like the idea of sophomore year testing, which both S13 and D16 did. It’s a great gauge of whether they need any test prep over junior summer. One really liked the scores and did no additional test prep and one did a little focused prep for the ACT at the beginning of junior year. I also agree with the comment about how it is really important to have your scores nailed down by the end of junior year in order to narrow your college list. My children’s friends who had a hard time with apps and narrowing their lists were vying for higher scores their senior year. Of course, this is necessary in some cases, but it’s really great to have them in your back pocket by the time you finish eleventh grade.
Our district has <50% free-and-reduced-lunch population, and each of our high schools have free sponsored test prep after school for anyone who wants to take it. The data shows that this prep makes a big difference to kids who are able to access scholarships and opportunities at our local publics and community colleges due to their higher scores. An individual who is a local public sports figure sponsors this as his way to give back.
I think it’s smart to avail yourself of every opportunity for your child, @carolinamom2boys. Love the idea of doing this inside the school day so it doesn’t interfere with extracurriculars.
Our school requires PSAT testing in the sophomore year , and of course in the junior year. We framed the test as practice for next year. No pressure at all or concern regarding scores. DS19 came home and actually said that he was glad he had a “practice” test so he’d know what to expect next year. No stress to him at all.
No stress here either, it’s a practice test and a baseline evaluation. I think seeing where they are at cold is a fabulous thing…especially it is free. To be fair, S loves tests…the other kids not so much so he’s got a different perspective on it. He’s excited to take it, odd child.
I would agree that both Alg 2 and Geometry are important and those that haven’t had either or both will be at a disadvantage. SD14 was not on the advanced track and “jumped” by doubling up. Unfortunately her original plan didn’t pan out, which was to do Geometry online over the summer between sophomore and junior year. So she went Alg1, Alg2, PreCalc and then in her Sr year took Geometry and AP Calc AB. Not having the geometry did hurt her test scores a bit. Even for the advanced kids I agree, they will be rusty on some of it so either not having had it is a bit of a disadvantage, or not remembering, can be as well.
@carolinamom2boys @eandsmom Are the sophs taking PSAT 10? Sorry, you probably already said that somewhere but I don’t remember reading it…
@homerdog I think October PSAT are the regular junior ones and Spring PSAT is PSAT10, PSAT8, etc