Our school is still on schedule to give the October Saturday PSAT. We’re currently on a staggered school schedule - A-L in class Mon/Wed, M-Z in class Tues/Thurs and the rest virtual.
They’ve restricted the PSAT to only Juniors, and the school has tons of space, so it should go forward. My D is prepping for that and the November SAT together, so hopefully they stay on schedule.
As I understand it, and as National Merit documents it, semi-finalist selection is based on a number (based on population) not a percentage. So the fact the the test population may be top weighted and the average score may go up shouldn’t make a difference in selection. In fact, if even a small number of potential top scorers cant’t take the test, others will be at an advantage as it opens up slots.
I didn’t see anything in the announcement - are students prevented from taking both the October and January PSAT? If not, that could certainly change the chance of those with the opportunity to take both vs. only once.
I suspect a given school will only give one - I wonder if schools in the same area might split.
Our school usually does not give it to all juniors and gives in on a Saturday. This year it is the Oct. 14 day and for all. It is better for us, for sure. Hopefully there are no issues, but I’m glad there are other options later in case S22 can’t take it. No positive cases at the school yet, but a few more weeks and who knows. Being excluded from school on the test date would be problematic for sure!
My understanding the College board has already decided how many semifinalists there will be per state. It’s based on how many high school students there are - not on how many take the test. This could change, because if something like 10% of kids take the test it’s gonna be a lot easier to be a semifinalist unless they reduce the numbers. Unless you actually end up winning money, I’m not sure any of this really matters.
It matters quite a lot if you are considering a school with automatic NMF scholarships, such as the Florida public universities. My oldest child was able to got to USC due to the NMF half-tuition scholarship, my second has a full ride NMF Benacquisto to FSU, and it would be nice for my S22 to have those same type of options available. But you are correct that for most schools it does not matter much.
S22’s younger sister (D25 , I guess) took the SSAT at home yesterday. It’s a scheduled 3-hour test. They put together a solid plan for the integrity of the test. She had to download a special secure browser that only functions to administer the test. The browser automatically shut down all other apps (so no messaging, etc.). Her webcam was on during the entire test as a proctor observed the test takers.
She had to use her webcam to scan her person (e.g. ears so no ear buds), her room and her work area to verify no cheating aids were around (e.g. cell phone, calculator, smart watch, etc.). She was allowed two blank sheets of paper, a #2 pencil, and a bottle of water on her desk during the test.
We shut down all other devices in the house during the test to give her maximum wifi. She completed her test without a hitch.
My question: why can’t the SAT implement something like this? If it can work for a bunch of 8th graders, couldn’t it work for high schoolers?
Haven’t chimed in in a while. This board is quieter than some of the other class of 20xx ones.
DS found a job in May and appears to like it. He took the ACT on September 12 (after his July test got cancelled) and scored a 35. I’m pleased we don’t have to worry about standardized tests any more in this environment.
School is operating in hybrid mode, and he seems to like it so far. He is still unclear as to what he wants to do, so the college search process is likely to be prolonged. Because we have already visited a number of colleges, including many LACs, he is at least familiar with the possible surroundings.
S22 Was able to get an SAT in last Saturday. We signed up for August, Sep, and Oct knowing they wouldn’t all work out. Aug and Oct got canceled. The original Sep test site was Canceled as well, but we were able to get him in to a different one.
He got the experimental SAT with the extra 20 minute section. It was an extra no calculator math section. They told him some questions in the test may be canceled and those added in. He was pretty annoyed.
My son finally took the ACT on September 19th. His test locations had been cancelled twice over the summer at the last minute. The location he tested at closed for COVID on September 21st. So, close call. He earned a composite 34 (32M/34E/34S/36R). Our deal was that if he scored above a 33 then he was done and didn’t have to worry about the SAT. He is pretty happy. It was a nice belated birthday present, as he turned 17 over the weekend.
Congrats @Peruna1998 and @13street to your kiddos for banking such great scores already!!
What a relief for you!
My D22 just got her score back and she’s hoping to improve it. 33C but 30 on math. She didn’t do much prep at all, just took a couple timed practice tests back in May/June before that test got cancelled.
Any advice? Her initial thought was to focus on math because she could see the most improvement there. She’s in Honors precalc right now, gets As in math. She doesn’t want to pursue a STEM major in college so I’m not that worried about the imbalance as far as that goes.
I don’t know whether it makes more sense for her to try to focus on math to get her score up or try to eek out a couple more points on the other sections - 34R 33E 33S.
Her goal is 34 or 35.
We might pay for a tutor but I was thinking about getting a math prep book. It seems like she wants to work on math and everything always seems to work out better if it’s her idea…
My son S20 got a 35, zero prep so no help for him on what to do.
Anyway, any input from anyone would be very welcome
Good to hear good news from everyone- great scores! Not much to report on our side - all tests we signed up for got cancelled. School is remote until after winter break. They will take PSAT in Jan at school. We drafted list of schools for my daughter, subject to change based on her actual scores and GPA at the end of the school year. Going to tour three in the next couple of weeks, before they close campuses again. Studying remote is not my daughter’s strong side, as it turned out, but we will see how much damage will be done this quarter… Hoping college visits will ignite some fire in her. She is definitely missing going to school in person…
Congrats @Peruna1998 , @13street and @SCgirl1 on the strong scores! My S22 managed to finally take the SAT last weekend. Great to finally be able to take it, but I am not guessing he will be one-and-done as he was hoping. We shall see. If he scores like most of his practices, we will have to chat about the type of school he wants to attend. I think he has potential to do quite well, but it may require more effort than he’s put in, or changing to the ACT. His older brother took the SAT once with a 1540, so like @SCgirl1 we don’t have much experience yet on prepping.
@sfSTEM I have mixed feelings about having standardized tests at home. I am a college professor, and there are still loopholes even with the Lockdown browsers, and technical problems definitely occur and some are impossible to deal with in the moment. There were also a lot of stories after the AP tests in Spring about student cheating, and tech issues. I’m not sure what the answer is, and I feel terrible for all the students unable to take these tests.
33 is a good score. If a 33 places her in the 75th percentile of her targeted schools, I wouldn’t retake it. That being said, Math is probably the section most amenable to a score increase for someone strong in the subject. Two suggestions:
Crack ACT has a number of timed online math tests. I would suggest doing as many as possible.
DS told me towards the end (a few days before the actual test) that he was going to change his test strategy in math. Problems 1 to 40 are generally easy and can be done in 30 minutes. 41 to 60 are harder and require more steps/thought. So he said he was going to do 41 to 60 first and then attack 1 to 40. My only concern was that he could be off in bubbling the answers, but he promised to be careful. It seems to have worked since he got a 36 on Math.
S22’s HS is going forward with the PSAT in person on Oct 14 for sophomores and juniors. The school has been on a hybrid, one day in person one day remote, schedule with very few cases. In fact on Oct 12 they are going to full in person teaching. S22 broke his ankle pretty badly in a soccer tournament over the weekend and will have surgery today. He has 6 weeks on crutches then 6 more weeks in a walking boot in store for him. And of course, 1st quarter exams are next week. Hopefully won’t be uncomfortable during his studying and testing.
S22’s HS is going forward with the PSAT in person on Oct 14 for sophomores and juniors. The school has been on a hybrid, one day in person one day remote, schedule with very few cases. In fact on Oct 12 they are going to full in person teaching. S22 broke his ankle pretty badly in a soccer tournament over the weekend and will have surgery today. He has 6 weeks on crutches then 6 more weeks in a walking boot in store for him. And of course, 1st quarter exams are next week. Hopefully won’t be uncomfortable during his studying and testing.
@vistajay, so sorry to hear about your S’s injury! Wishing him a successful surgery today and a fast recovery. What an unfortunate complication to take PSAT and exams in this state. All the best to him to manage the discomfort.
All of our Ds test dates have been cancelled (SAT and pSAT). So, not sure what we can do - maybe next year. She has started soccer though and is noticeably happy about that. School is all remote at least until January.
@SilverGrass , thanks! He’s doing remarkably well, especially since he broke his foot playing in the spring and now has broken his ankle. Soccer may be trying to send him a message, or at least he might have to reconsider playing striker when he returns.
S22’s PSAT is moved to January. Watching the SAT closings web page like a hawk to see the status of his Nov. 7 SAT. So far they have not published info for that date (only through Oct).
Positive news locally (here in San Francisco) is that we’re doing better on COVID-19 case rates. High schools likely can begin in-person lessons starting in November. Hopefully that leads to putting on the SAT.
@vistajay sorry about the ankle! I’m glad he’s handling it well.
Our schools are finishing week #5 in person and so far so good. We have a few positive cases, but no in-school spread. Handfuls of kids are quarantined, but so far none of them have ended up positive. My kids are enjoying being back!
