This is my first post here. My son was class of 2021 and he did a year abroad as a gap year, so he is now class of 2022 (a blessing in these crazy times, I think!)
How did kids feel about the PSAT today? Both my kiddo and another at his school reported that math was easy and reading was hard.
Itās been a while since I last posted. My DS22 took the SAT for the first time earlier this month; the scores will be released this Friday. Crossing fingers!! He also took the PSAT today at school. He feels confident that he did a good job in both tests, but mentioned that the PSAT was harder than the SAT.
He is doing school from home although at his school he has the option of doing virtual or in person.
Luanne, weāre you able to get the late fee refunded? We are in the same bind. I assumed college board could avoid charging it if they wanted
@christinelin My son agrees. He feels he did well in math and writing, but thinks maybe a couple wrong on reading. He had started out on practice tests missing quite a few reading (10-12) and with study guides had worked up to only 1-2. The other areas were pretty good with just review. But he thought todayās was pretty tough in reading.
@Beyou2022 - good luck!
@nancytn - I keep forgetting to call, but the email said if I call before Oct 27 I can get the late fee refunded. Itās too bad itās not automatic.
D felt good about both math and reading. Finished ahead of time on every section. Reading is her strong suit, though.
Weāve done some shuffling of schedules and DD22 is taking her PSAT Saturday and first SAT on Dec 5thā¦before weāll have her PSAT scores back. Kinda thinking that was poor planning but I guess the practice will be good even if we donāt know her strengths/weaknesses at that time? Glad to see a forum for this class. Iām such a planner and glad to know there are more like me lol.
Same here. S22 took a bunch of PSAT practice tests and said the reading section of the test was harder (at least one question was). Thinks he did well enough.
My S22 agrees with the consensus that the PSAT math and writing were pretty easy - I was a bit alarmed by how fast he said he finished the math. He said the reading was not as easy, but thought it was similar to the reading section on his Aug SAT. Our S19 was a National Merit Finalist, but based on practice tests (and first SAT scores) we arenāt guessing S22 will be in the tippy top of PSAT. These easier tests will require close-to perfect scores to make NM Semifinalist cutoffs in many states. But good practice for sure, and Iām happy for the kids who had the chance to take PSAT, or will get to take it in Jan.
Regarding getting a refund for SAT registration late fee because test center closed- I called today, and they gave me a case # and the promise that someone would call me within 5 to 7 days about the refund. When I thanked the call center rep and expressed hope we would see the refund soon, she kind of laughed.
I had initially re-registered at her home high school as the testing site, but her guidance counselor said they werenāt offering the SAT test on Nov 7th. The College Board is still showing that site as being available.
@Luanne Thanks!!
Well, scores are out! My DS22 got 1520! I think itās a great score for a first try; the best part is that he got 800 on the math section! He wants to take it again and improve on the R&W.
@Beyou2022 - thatās a great score, first try or not! Really, be happy :).
I havenāt called SAT yet. Well, I tried yesterday and gave up 30 min in. Iāll try one morning next week. Our school schedule this week was weird and I was driving kids too many places in the mornings.
@Beyou2022 , Congratulations to your D22!
D22 here took September and October SATs, did well and is done. Both of her test centers were cancelled, last one several times. Glad she got to test and now itās behind her!
Thanks @Luanne ! I know; I was caught in CCās reality distortion field for a little while, where the bar is so high! ?
Thanks, @SilverGrass ! Glad your daughter did well and now she has one less thing to worry about 
Tests are not over for us yet. My son wants to give the SAT a second try, plus he will also have to take the Math & Physics subject tests ?
For those of you with older kids who didnāt know what they wanted to study by junior year, how did you come up with an initial school list? I am believer in choosing schools based on strength in areas in which the student is interested, but clearly that approach doesnāt work when the kid doesnāt know what he or she wants to study.
My daughter echoed the sentiments of others in this thread about the difficulty of the October 14th, PSAT reading section. Going in, she was more worried about the math section but seemed to feel good about it.
She normally is a fast test taker but said she barely finished the reading section on time.
@13street , my older kids were no help since they were studying theatre and vocal performance, so had a very specific idea of the type of program they wanted and could choose schools with strength in the arts. But I am in the same boat as you with my third. He could end up studying anything from psychology to neuroscience. With this initial list, we are trying to introduce him to schools which are good enough across the board (which we can still afford). That means mostly medium to large schools. Hopefully he will end up with a more focused interest in an area of study by end of next summer, and we can narrow the list down.
@13street There is really no right answer - it really depends on your childās personal preference and what you can afford. As long as your kid isnāt interested in engineering or business, it is worth considering small, good, liberal arts colleges as well. Big universities tend to have ātracksā, and switching among them can take a lot of momentum, or additional years of study to meet all the prerequisites. The liberal arts environment is focussed on the undergrad and designed for breadth and exploration.
This is how D made her initial list : Started with what she envisions for an overall experience (big/small school, vibrant greek life/no greek life, city/rural setting, academically intense/lower pressure, close/far to home ā¦) and see which schools fit the overall profile (think Venn diagram). After this exercise, she sorted them into reach, sweet spot, safety. She crossed off a few at this point so she had no more than 4-5 in each bin. She hopes to pare it down to 2 safeties, 3 sweet spots, and a reach or two (one of which may be ED). This will happen over the course of the year since she applies next fall and it is likely that her academic interest will codify a little more by then. But for now, she has a list of 15 to explore further.
My S22 was dragged along to college visits when my D19 was applying, so he has definite opinions of what he does NOT like 
and he knows he wants to
have his own unicorn. (His unicorn is BA Computer Science combined with music minor in strings performance.) We started building his list with a very wide net and have culled the list down to where he might be accepted AND where we can afford it. Weāre down to 15 schools at the moment.