I’m having my kids work through Khan’s SAT prep. I thought they had completed it before the PSAT but it turns out they had worked up to the forth level but not THROUGH the forth level <ugh!> My older son will be taking the new SAT in March and had planned to prep for the SAT during Christmas break based on his PSAT scores - now that’s out the widow I guess I’ll have him complete the forth level of Khan and he’ll also be taking a one day new SAT writing class some time before the March SAT. </ugh!>
@3scoutsmom, who offers a one day new SAT writing class? Is this a local or a nationwide company?
Sorry it’s local to central TX. www.morethanateacher.com has a great program, if you sign up for their PSAT classes you can take any or all of their SAT classes free and they offer free classes geared to NM and unlimited free proctored practice testing. S took their PSAT classes and will take their essay class some time before March.
I really like this program because they use the current College Board materials and don’t make up their own tests and materials.
My D’s IB Physics teacher said they don’t finish the material needed for SAT II Physics until the middle of the second year. Too late to help with college applications. Good that your son learned the material elsewhere.
@Studious99 Many of my students thought the CR on the revised official practice tests was very easy. Students who are good in comprehension but not great in vocabulary had large score increases over the old SAT. CB may have adjusted the CR difficulty level upwards on the Oct. 14 PSAT. If you are scoring 800 on the old SAT and found the Oct. 14 CR challenging, it could be that it really was harder or it could be that the passages and/or questions were different in style and required a different approach.
Given how my students are scoring on the revised practice tests, I am not surprised that the real PSAT was different and I expect the real SAT to be different again because it looks to me as though College Board is using the first real administrations to finish its (as yet incomplete) testing of the new materials. For this reason, I think students should expect surprises and should not expect the real test to be completely similar to the existing official practice materials. The only consolation for the class of 2017 is that some of the ups and downs in difficulty levels should be smoothed out by the grading curves.
@nw2this - Whether it’s IB or AP, I think kids needs to study extra material to get 800 in SAT II science tests.
My son thought the reading on the PSAT was about the same or slightly harder than the practice tests. But he always Aces verbal and reading. Math, no calculator, was the hardest in both practice and real. He knows he got a couple wrong. Please note, do the 4th SAT practice test from Khan… It’s the hardest. I wish we had spent more time on that one. He only did it the night before.
All in all, he liked the SAT and PSAT. He’s taking a proctored practice ACT this week. I was going to use that plus results of final PSAT to determine if he’d be doing prep through a prep company for ACT. Now I don’t know what to do. He prefers new SAT (at least what we’ve seen so far, which COULD change). I prefer ACT because of all this nonsense. Who knows when March SAT results will come out. I bet they won’t even be out before June tests. He needs to take subject tests in June. Ugh. So ticked off about this delay!
@suzyQ7 I find it interesting that you say the 4th SAT from Khan was the hardest. I actually got my best practice score on that test. Maybe it was just because I had gotten used to the SAT by that point.
@Plotinus my son did not think the real PSAT was very different than the practice PSAT and practice SAT (new). That’s one of the reasons we are speculating for the delay… That the PSAT was too easy for the top test takers, especially ones strong in verbal and/lots of prep, and too hard for the kids who were forced to take it because it was administered during school and not on a Saturday. What will NMS do with a bell curve that has a large % at the bottom half but substantially more than normal at the very tippy top?
Personally, I think the issue will be resolved. I think there might be a marginally larger gap between the highest group and the lowest group, but the curve will smooth it out. After all, College Board’s original release date for the PSAT was never fixed- they always said “late December, early January,” so perhaps they anticipated a rocky rollout of the new test.
@suzyQ7 Did your son take the Oct. 14 PSAT? Have you heard anything from kids who were at the other sitting?
He took oct 14. We don’t know anyone who took it any other date.
My son took it on Oct. 28. He said it was pretty much like the practice PSAT, but he is not really a reliable reporter when it comes to difficulty differences between tests. He generally knows all the material, but his weakness is overthinking CR and W questions and not fully reading M questions.
Out of curiosity, is it confirmed that the reason why NM delayed scores is because they needed to create a new curve, or it this just speculation?
@ayraify read post #289. Per @3scoutsmom said that CB told her “NM needed more time to score the test”. CB is a separate organization but it looks like NM is involved in some capacity (should be no surprise there).
I’m a junior, and I scored a 214 (76M, 70E, 68CR) on the PSAT last year, which would’ve qualified me for NMS in Arkansas. This year, I feel like the math and English were very easy, but I’m not confident about the reading. Everyone has been saying how easy the test was, so now I’m really nervous about making NMS. I definitely wish they would’ve kept using the old format. I have a 36 on the ACT and have always tested well, and this delay in scores is only stressing me out more.
@maryt2017 Why stress if you already have a perfect ACT? If it’s for merit money from NMS, shouldn’t the ACT be able to get you some money?
@class0f2017 It can for some schools, but others give more for NMS. I want to go out of state for college, so I’m going to need as much scholarship money as possible, and it helps make an application even more competitive.
@maryt2017 I second what @classof2027 is saying. A 36 ACT will get you places and get you scholarship money even if you didn’t qualify for NMS and you wouldn’t even know if you qualified till next September anyway. Proceed with your planning as if you did extremely well (at least commended) and update as necessary (or get confirmation) once your scores are available. Good luck to you!
I am a current junior who took the PSAT test on October 14. As I need to have my PSAT scores before application deadlines for summer internship programs, I was concerned about the new information released about the delay of the scores. I am also interested in National Merit and was worried when I heard qualifying scores were the cause of the delay. So, I visited the testing center at my school, which ,in the past, I have found to provide very accurate information. THEY RECEIVED AN OFFICIAL EMAIL FROM THE COLLEGE BOARD that day explaining the delay in scores and outlining the process of the new score release. THE EMAIL SAID:
- Administrators will be able to access the scores a day before students -The student will be able to access their scores online on Jan. 6 -The schools will receive and distribute the full paper score report around Jan. 26 or 27 -AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, the College Board wanted to emphasize and specifically stated in the email that the DELAY WAS NOT CAUSED BY NATIONAL MERIT. There is in fact no problem with the percentiles and the delay is solely due to the fact of ensuring that the new online release goes smoothly.
I hope you found that information helpful 