They have specific PSAT prep classes in school that focus on preparation in the summer and fall, and then becomes AP Lang as soon as it’s over. So the kids share with each other and the teachers talk about how many of the students made commended or NMSF. Everybody encourages each other. It’s not competitive.
PSAT prep classes in school? Huh. Is this private school?
Our high school doesn’t have any sort of test prep classes (not for SAT or ACT either.) In fact, the school hardly even mentioned the PSAT, and I don’t know that most kids knew they would be taking it the day they arrived at school. The school registers & pays for everyone to take the PSAT.
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No, just a normal public high school. Lots of schools around here have PSAT/SAT prep as part of the curriculum.
I don’t want to oversell it, the classes in the summer are very informal. I think they have like 5 for R/W and 5 for math. They have Khan academy minutes they have to complete for a grade in class and they work on the grammar and other applicable parts of the test in 9th/10th/11th.
Texas is just really into the PSAT/SAT. We were always one of the biggest states that participated in Duke TIP. There are a ton of test prep companies around too for afternoon and weekend classes. I don’t know if that’s the norm or not.
Edited to add: I just looked at that 2015 NMSF report. Texas has the most entrants, with CA and NY following. Comes in 2nd to CA for number of commended and semifinalists.
Human nature being what it is, most kids who get perfect (or near-perfect) scores on a high-stakes test are quite happy to let others know.
My 1460 kid was convinced that that was a low score for precisely that reason—the only scores that had been mentioned in conversations with other kids started with 15.
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Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the number of entrants for NMSF is purely a function of population size for the graduating class in that state. And then cut offs are adjusted appropriately to capture the correct number of representatives for the size of the state.
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Precisely.
The NMSC’s process is:
- Take the total number of high school graduates in a state
- Allocate the 16,000 NMSF slots proportionally to each state by the number of high school graduates to get each state’s target number
- After receiving PSAT scores and any SAT/ACT scores used for alternate entry, find the selection index cutoff that results in a number of NMSFs closest to that target number in each state separately (so if the target number for Alaska was 25 and a SI of 215 resulted in 23 and 214 resulted in 26, their cutoff would be 214—but if California’s target was 2,000 and a SI of 220 resulted in 1,970 and 219 resulted in 2,100, their cutoff would be 220)
- However, no cutoff can be below the commended SI score (set to catch somewhere between 52k and 54k students), which is determined nationally rather than by state
- Insert somewhat different rules for determining the cutoffs for DC and US nationals studying abroad (set equal to the highest state cutoff score), US territories (set at the commended level, which may actually just be a side effect of the preceding bullet, not certain of that), plus boarding schools (set at the highest state cutoff in the region rather than the state they’re in)
And somewhere, Rube Goldberg smiles.
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Wow that is way more than I thought I would ever know about this stuff!
Just for another data point, our TX large public school doesn’t have most of that stuff. The district offers the PSAT to 9th/10th graders, and high scorers are offered the opportunity to participate in a short summer program of PSAT prep hosted by a local college at a reduced cost (subsidized by the district). That’s about it. I would actually say that, overall, resources are being pulled from programs for high-achievers and reallocated toward programs that serve low-income students. (Not complaining, just observing the way things seem to be.)
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I imagine it’s the same in my state…there’s probably a public high school somewhere that offers test prep. But ours does nothing, not even pushing Khan Academy nor suggesting kids take the bluebook practice test at home. Nada.
All extra supports are focused on students who are struggling; there’s nothing for high achievers beyond a wide variety of AP class offerings. But at the high school level, that’s probably enough!
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High achieving students do have very specific needs, but honestly, I’d rather see the bulk of the effort go to struggling students.
I keep seeing 760s in Math. Out of curiosity, are you guys open to sharing your breakdown?
EBRW/M
740/760
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S25’s breakdown:
EBRW/M
720/760
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D25’s breakdown:
EBRW/M
720/760
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In our area it is the Public magnet schools that have the free Psat prep courses (during the school day!), not the privates, but in other states private schools have them.
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EBRW/M/SI
750/740/224
and I don’t recall my older kid’s breakdown 5 years ago but her SI was 221 and she’s now at MIT fwiw!
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760 RW/700 M = 222 SI
(Humanities kids 4ever!!
)
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EBRW/M (SI) State
740/760 (224) NJ
720/760 (220) TN
720/760 (220) IL
750/740 (224) CT
760/700 (222) AK
Yeah, I’m in the half of people who don’t have results yet. So, I can’t add to your data collection for another 7 days. Hopefully the conversation won’t have completely moved away from the topic by then.
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Please bring it back when you have scores. I’m interested in seeing how it develops, particularly if the averages change. Of course, this is a skewed sample, but it’s still a fun exercise.
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My kids take ACT.
Looks like WI average SAT is 1252.
I think my s23 may have had the highest ACT in his class last year. We never asked.