<p>Currently my kid's school does not give the PLAN. We are rural and isolated geographically from major population centers and though there are other schools in the county they don't offer it either. I would like to get our County Offfice of Education to offer the test. I have visited the website but I would like to know a bit more background before proposing that they offer the test. my questions are:</p>
<p>How long does it take?</p>
<p>May Freshman take it?</p>
<p>Can it be broken down into more than one session?</p>
<p>Is there a national day where everyone is taking it like the PSAT? (the website didn't seem to indicate one way or another)</p>
<p>Any experiences you can share would be great. Thank you!</p>
<p>I would like my kid, who will be a sophomore next year, to have the chance to take a somewhat predictive assessment that may give him an idea of strengths and weaknesses on the ACT. I wish I had known about it before when my daughters were still in testing mode</p>
<p>The PLAN is mandatory in our school for all 10th graders. It is done in one morning session. It happens in October for us, but I don’t know if that is a national testing date. Beyond that I don’t know much more. Good luck!</p>
<p>My son is a sophomore and took the test this past September. If I have it written down correctly it was on the 23rd. I know the other public high school in town took it the same day but I’m not sure if they had to do it on the same day or not.</p>
<p>Our school had the kids meet one afternoon to talk about the test and fill out the paperwork associated with it. The type of forms where they write their interests and basic information on. Then they took the actual test the next day. I don’t remember how long it took. I do know the kids coming out of the test room were wiped out. They had regular classes in the morning and then the test in the afternoon.</p>
<p>The school then had an evening meeting with both parents and kids to go over the results. It was an eye opener to my son who scored higher than he thought he would and I believe it will help him with ACT. When we received the results back we also were given the question book so he could see exactly what he missed. The result report provides a lot of information.</p>
<p>If you aren’t able to have him take the PLAN just sign him up for a “regular” ACT. My kids took the ACT in junior high as part of a program…yup right into the classroom with all the 17 and 18 year olds. I’ll never forget dropping my oldest off that Saturday morning years ago…12 year old boys look very different from 17 year old boys!</p>
<p>OP - we give the PLAN at our private school - cost is $13 per student. The test is about 2.5 hours in length. We can pick the date - we gave it on a Saturday in January this year, but your school can choose the date. I suggest doing it in one sitting - to get an expereince closer to a real ACT. It is only for 10th graders. I find many students, my son included, do better on the PLAN than the PSAT and better on the ACT than the SAT.</p>
<p>momofthree that is not a bad idea at all, thanks.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your input. I will approach the County office with this information. 13.00 a pop is reasonable. I wonder if that your school assumes some of the cost. I am thinking we may not have too many students who bite since our area:</p>
<p>a) favors the SAT
b) hasn’t got a huge number of students pursuing 4 year degrees out of high school</p>
<p>I think we can make it work though so thanks to all who provided information.</p>
<p>Best luck with your school. PLAN is great because you see the students areas of strength or weakness in tenth grade, does a pretty good job of predicting scores on the regular ACT and is a great and not lengthly test to get kids some practice in this kind of test.</p>
<p>Our school picks up the cost of the mandatory PSAT - given in 10th and 11th - but not the cost of the optional PLAN. But $13 is not a lot - compared with AP exams at $86 each, for example.</p>
<p>Rockville tell me about it! Ours are 76. I have twins and as junior both were in 3 APS for a total of six and it was one of those last minute, “Oh by the way mom I need a check for 228.00 for my AP tests.” OH Yeah me too." things.</p>
<p>I am sure that someone has a kid with 7 APs all on their own who thinks I am silly for complaining ;)</p>