<p>Calmom you took the words out of my mouth. Are these people nuts or am I missing something?</p>
<p>Give zoosermom a break. She never said the PSATs were her first, second, or third concern here. I'll bet she has spent plenty of time on the important stuff.</p>
<p>If my kid were involved in something that required hospitalization and a school suspension, I probably wouldn't be asking for advice about it, or sharing the details, on any web board. But maybe I would ask for advice about some trivial aspect of it that involved something like the PSATs.</p>
<p>forget paying for standardized tests. just take a practice one (or two) at home. Not perfect testing conditions, but no pressure, and you can self score (excepting essay) with immediate feedback.</p>
<p>An advantage of standardized testing is there's anonymity and often many different people in the room from other nearby schools; perhaps a stranger acting as the monitor, etc.</p>
<p>When the test time begins, everyone is totally engrossed in it; little of the usual side-talk or glances, as in a high school classroom test with same-old teacher.</p>
<p>I'm suggesting that she could have gone right into the "zone of isolation" and tuned out the rest of the world during that test, making her recent h.s. issues
irrelevant.</p>
<p>Best wishes (oops, that was supportive, sorry)</p>
<p>There was no "zone of isolation" because the PSATs are taken at you own h.s. with your classmates. ZG arrived back to school, it seems, & had to sit down & take the test as the school was buzzing about the hospitalization & suspension. I wouldn't give much weight to those scores. </p>
<p>Nobody is nuts, j'adoube. As JHS posted, no questions were asked about the serious situation, but about the relevance of the test scores. Zoosermom is no doubt handling that in private & doesn't need to seek advice here.</p>
<p>And, I'd like to add, ZM is one of our most grounded and concerned parent posters. I also have no doubt that she is handling, in private, whatever her D's situation is, and handling it well..</p>
<p>"If I was the parent of a kid who did or was involved in something serious enough to result in several days' hospitalization and school suspension, I wouldn't be worrying about the PSAT scores."</p>
<p>Thank you to those of you who offered words of support and provided information. For those of you who made assumptions, well, you know the old expression. The conclusions you appear to have drawn here are incorrect in this particular instance. I do understand where you're coming from, though, but it's not quite what you may be thinking.</p>
<p>Luckily sophomore PSAT is just a practice.</p>
<p>D's story. HS was too backward to even think of allowing freshmen to take the PSAT and they begrudingly let sophomores take it. Junior year, D was ready, she was psyched - then, test anxiety took over the night before and she didn't sleep. Not a wink!! She was devastated!! I will never forget her "deer in the headlights" look as she left the house that morning, her eyes brimming with tears. I was furious (not sure with what or who)!! I thought, why does this stuff always happen to her? </p>
<p>Couple months later I got a call from HS counselor (I think the only call I EVER got from them). D had "hit a homerun on the PSAT - in fact, she hit it out of the park. Usually we have to wait to see if a kid's score will qualify for NMSF, but we won't have to wait on this one!" D had scored a 230 - go figure!</p>
<p>Zmom:</p>
<p>As others have said, PSAT in sophomore year is only for practice. When the score comes back, the questions where mistakes were made will be clearly indicated. Zsister can look them over and find out whether she made mistakes out of ignorance or nerves. Remember that the SAT (on which the PSAT is based) is supposed to cover materials studied in sophomore year, so by next year, when it counts for real, she should have covered the materials. She may not have now.
She may want to use the PSAT to guide her during the course of the year, but she should not infer from it that she is no good at math or some other subject.
Hoping that her other problems are water under the bridge!</p>
<p>"She may want to use the PSAT to guide her during the course of the year, but she should not infer from it that she is no good at math or some other subject.
Hoping that her other problems are water under the bridge!"</p>
<p>That's very good advice Marite, as usual. The scores were still good, but so much less good than other scores she has received (like last year) that it threw her for a loop. I do think she will need to use those scores to move forward, though, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. She's doing great, thanks for asking. As some of you know, we've had a horrible year with deaths/illnesses in the immediate family, so it's nice that she is back on her feet, and that her sister is recovering from her second hospitalization since starting college.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, I'd minimize the pressure aspects around the PSAT as much as possible. I have to think my daughter just choked on it this year. She didn't want to look at the actual problems she got wrong yet, but it's really hard to explain how she went from getting 5 wrong on the much shorter PSAT Math, to one wrong on the SAT math two weeks later. The SAT math is supposed to be harder too, including some Algebra 2 concepts that aren't tested on the PSAT. This is a totally mathy girl too, she loves, loves, loves math. She usually carries a 100% average or close to it in math classes. I'm sure when, if, she ever looks at what she got wrong she'll be shocked.</p>
<p>She had taken the practice test that comes with the registration booklet and got a 230 on that the night before. As much as we did try to downplay things, I know she really wanted this and I think that the only one chance thing must have gotten to her. Thankfully her SAT scores were much better and she can laugh about it.</p>
<p>My sophomore D got her PSAT scores in the mail today. This was the first time she had ever taken them (not offered at her school to Freshmen), and I believe she got a very respectable score. She is a very hard worker and does well in school.</p>
<p>My freshman S got his scores a few days ago and his score was 25 points higher than his older sister's! He is a major slacker and I never see him studying or doing homework (although he also manages to do well)...Sigh!</p>
<p>Zoosermom, first, I hope Zoosersister is doing better now...</p>
<p>I'm a test-taking machine. So is WashDadJr. Fear and arrogance -- or is that ignorance? -- are a powerful combination. I wouldn't worry about her, it sounds like she was just having an off day. I found out the hard way that taking the SAT the morning after my senior prom wasn't that great an idea (a 1330! the horror!), but since I had already been admitted to my first and only choice, I wasn't too stressed.</p>
<p>Best wishes to you and your whole family.</p>