@eb23282 S17’s district was NJ too but they do them in school. I wonder maybe higher performing districts don’t do them in school? I think taking them in 7th grade would have done more harm than good for my son, who was not a great student. Just would have made him hate the test!
@NJWrestlingmom - at my D’s school, the PSAT is optional and given on a Saturday too. I think we paid $20 for it; so the school must subsidize it somewhat. The school’s official standardized test is PSAT 8/9 for Frosh, PSAT 10 for Soph, SAT for Juniors and I don’t even know if Seniors take one. Those three tests are paid for by the district and happen in the Spring.
There’s no way my daughter will hit the cut off either - not based on her PSAT 10 score anyway, and while she’s been studying for the ACT, which may help, I doubt it will help as much as targeted studying would have helped.
She wants to take it, so I signed her up as practice for March.
@JESmom , I went to NC State many moons ago and my niece graduated from there this spring. Great school! When I was there, it seemed like everybody was in Engineering and if from out of state, from New Jersey! I have many fond memories of basketball games especially (Jim Valvano era) and walking to class through the Free Expression tunnel. My niece was in a sorority and had a ball. Raleigh is a nice area of North Carolina; something about knowing the beaches and mountains are just a few hours away is great even if you don’t go often. I have no idea about merit scholarships these days. I’m guessing they are hard to come by because they probably don’t need to recruit students. Best wishes on your son figuring out where he wants to go!
We have PSAT’s on a Saturday also (Long Island NY). I know the reason we have it on Saturday is a space issue. In order to administer them during the school day they would have to shut down school for the day.
D21 isn’t taking them this year, it’s homecoming day and she is too busy with the float. She took the SAT’s on 10/5 instead, waiting on her scores.
My daughter’s PSAT is tomorrow at school. No cost…given to all juniors.
She’s freaking out a little…texted me from school yesterday that they did part of a sample test in math class yesterday and she coudn’t answer a lot of the questions (even though she’s making a high “A” in honors pre-calc and has done well in all her math classes). She admitted (without my prodding) that she should have prepped (hope this sinks in for SAT prep!)
My husband’s coming home from work early to help her review the prep test she did in school etc. I’m worried that it’s not a good idea…not much you can do in one evening and I’m afraid the enormity will keep her awake. A good night’s sleep is the most important thing now. Just trying to soothe her and tell her that this is just a practice test…and hope her current panic will be instrumental for her to self-motivate to prep solidly in the next months! I refuse to nag and pressure her. Now that she has seen a few colleges (and likes the more selective ones that she’s seen far and above the two potential safeties) she will have to let her own preferences for the future nag her!
Now that ACT will release single sections of their test, does anyone know if test-optional college will accept a single section? One of the schools my daughter likes (probably a match/low reach) is test optional. I’m anticipating that she’s likely do quite well in reading/english sections of SAT/ACT and would like to be able to send those, even if she can’t get her math scores high enough…
@TXRunningMom Thanks for the feedback on NC State! They are going to be at our college fair tonight so I’ll encourage S21 to talk with them. Since we have a very strong in-state option, he’ll need to find merit aid to make it worthwhile to go OOS.
Put me in the “I hate standardized tests” column too! If colleges think they are an apples-to-apples comparison of students, they are dead wrong.
Our high school pays for all sophomores and juniors to take the PSAT, but I am disappointed that they do absolutely nothing to prepare the kids. All students have a once per week advisement period where my kids say they do nothing unless it’s time to register for classes or sign administrative forms, etc. It’s really a study hall, but they could at least provide some test-prep materials or go over test strategies or something. I mean if they are going to pay for the tests, why not invest a little in the outcome?
PSAT tomorrow here too. Good luck to all of our kiddos!
Regarding the PSAT tomorrow, in the famous words of Allen Iverson, “we’re talkin’ about practice.” 
Good luck for all the kiddos taking tomm, mine are taking this Saturday!
PSAT day at school tomorrow…All 3 of mine…S21 and S23 Twins are taking it.
The principal at the freshman campus offers it to a select number of students who sign up first come first served
Daughter has been prepping like mad. I just gave her a B-vitamin with milk and ordered her to bed early, lol !
ha! D21 won’t be NMF and hasn’t looked at the test at all. Kids take it at our school tomorrow and all grades take the equivalent tests (PSAT9, PSAT10) so she’s taken it each year since ninth grade. It’s not her test. She’s much more comfortable with the ACT.
That being said, S19 got a 1350 as a soph and studied his butt off for the Aug SAT junior year and got a 1490 on the PSAT so increases can happen if a student studies. D21 was no where close to 1350 so I didn’t push it. NMF in our state requires kids to only get two or three questions wrong max.
Had our first college fair tonight. I got abandoned by S21 because he ran into his best friend and they wanted to go around the fair on their own. No big revelations – some of the big state schools that were maybes are still on his list, he talked to a few small schools and still not interested. Afterward we talked a bit about budget and he asked if he doesn’t spend all his college fund on undergrad can he use what’s left for grad school (definitely!). So, he seems focused on making a practical choice for a big state school that’s strong in math/stats, likely in-state if no OOS makes it worth his while. Hopefully, that will make this a low-drama process.
My S21 won’t be NMF either but since he’s taking both AP & a dual credit course this semester, he’s automatically signed up for PSAT by the school.
My D21 is taking it tomorrow at school too. She took it last year as a sophomore and had already scored high enough for NMF cut off so hoping for repeat performance.
Official PSAT day here. Last year S21 was one point off of NMSF, so hoping to make it this year. But he woke up semi-grumpy, and he is so affected by his mood…
Best wishes to everyone today and Saturday. And it’s just a number! S19 was 2 points away from NMF 2 years ago, and yet his SAT scores were ultimately good enough to get much merit aid, and he’s now doing well in a tough program in an honors college.
PSAT day here as well. All of the juniors take it (small, Catholic school). S21 had to be at school at 6am for XC practice this morning. Counties were yesterday and the team did well. Hopefully the runner’s high will carry him through the slog of testing. 
PSAT going down right now! Putting “All the marbles in one basket” as they say. NMF is worth much more than D’s 1590 SAT. As this single mom can’t afford my EFC . She certainly prepped hard for it. Best of luck to all our kiddos taking it today.