<p>When I took the PSAT, I walked in basically entirely cold. I was a National Merit Semi-Finalist, but I was always sure I could have scored higher with prep -- as I did with the SAT.</p>
<p>Anyway, in order to wake him up to the PSAT, I suggested my nephew take the test as a sophomore. I didn't pressure him; I just suggested it would be a good idea.</p>
<p>Here are the scores he got this year, <strong><em>completely cold with the test</em></strong>, as a sophomore:</p>
<p>Reading: 69%ile, 48</p>
<p>Math: 77%ile, 52</p>
<p>Writing: 54%ile, 42</p>
<p>(do I even have the score format right?)</p>
<p>That works out to a 142.</p>
<p>I know my nephew's becoming a more and more avid reader, so I think his reading and perhaps writing scores would go up. I think he may have taken this test fairly lackadaisically and I know he has no idea what it's for.</p>
<p>Two questions:</p>
<p>1) For anybody who has a sense of these things, what sort of improvement would be reasonable to expect over the next year for the PSAT and year and a half or so for SATs? I would assume that he will do no direct preparation (which I think is most likely) or that he may begin to do some (I will suggest, but not push).</p>
<p>2) My nephew is unlike his younger brother. He doesn't have any real drive to think about college, though I know for a fact when the time comes he will want to go. His younger brother is already planning his college career (seriously) and he's only in 8th grade. Do you have any suggestions for how to plant seeds to get him more motivated? I've given up on lecturing him excessively (not that I ever did that too much), as I think most of the motivation will have to come from within. He's just not in a family that takes college prep all that seriously.</p>
<p>I think its a good idea that you are trying to get ur nephew to prepare for the SAT. The best time to start preparing for the SAT/PSAT is the summer before junior year. The thing about the SAT is that your nephew's score will probably increase with no preparation between now and the next time he takes it. Unless he is extremely motivated to do good on it, right now is not his critical time to start studying for it. Wait till junior year starts and then i would get worried if he hasnt started preparing for it.</p>
<p>I think I can kind of relate here. I took the PSAT sophmore year, with similar circumstances as your nephew. I had no idea what this was, how it was scored except for the brief 2 min directions. I had zero sense of how much time I was allotted so at the end of the first CR section I was maybe half done. Needless to say, looking back I did pretty bad, about a ~150.</p>
<p>Anyway I took it again junior year. My only prep work was my parents signed me up for the SAT question of the day. I answered them every so often, but definetly not everyday. Those are relatively helpful, you start to pick up on the writing section questions really fast, so this year my writing section improved 15(0) points. So anyway this year I concentrated on being able to finish the sections and I increased my total to 186. Granted that isn't terribly impressive considering what the PSAT scores on this forum are, but it was a 36(0) point improvement. My CR was still putrid (56) but I've refined my methods and I am pretty sure I could get a high 600/low 700 if I took it today (according to practice tests).</p>
<p>About not having a drive for college admissions as a sophomore, I wouldn't really worry too much. Even when the junior PSAT came around this past October I still had zero knowledge of the college admission process. I was always an 'A' student but my drive for doing well in school up until now was definetly not college admission motivated. My crazy idea of what the college admission process was that as long as you got A's you could get into MIT and Harvard (oh boy!). I found this forum and that's really when the college drive started. I don't think you can force someone to become really intensely interested in the college admissions process, otherwise the interest and determination just won't really be there. I largely initiated my interest on my own; I bought some SAT prep books and study on my own time when I want. My friend's parents figured out his neighbor was already studying for the SAT (he's taking it in May like I am) and they bought him a massive book and his parents are all over him about it to study while he is not doing HW. Studying takes a lot of work practicing tests and such so being forced to do stuff months (or even a year(s)) before the test is not a good formula to yield results.</p>
<p>Thanks for a truly awesome post, Green1. I don't think trying to force anything with my nephew's gonna work, so I hear everything you're saying.</p>
<p>I take it you'd recommend SAT question a day. Is that website? I'll just google it.</p>
<p>Your story was really inspiring. It doesn't sound like my nephew's going to do quite as well as you have the potential to do, but his mom just died (unexpectedly, of cancer) and it's not going to be the best thing in the world to try to force him to do stuff that doesn't come naturally. Or to expect too much right now. I was just glad he took the PSAT, at least just to get a flavor.</p>
<p>"I take it you'd recommend SAT question a day. Is that website? I'll just google it.</p>
<p>Your story was really inspiring. It doesn't sound like my nephew's going to do quite as well as you have the potential to do, but his mom just died (unexpectedly, of cancer) and it's not going to be the best thing in the world to try to force him to do stuff that doesn't come naturally. Or to expect too much right now. I was just glad he took the PSAT, at least just to get a flavor."</p>
<p>SAT question of the day is on collegeboard.com. You just sign up and they email you a new question everyday. Just to add on I think it's a good beginning study tool. It only takes like a minute a day as opposed to long study sessions and they mix it up each day with writing/math/CR questions. (though the one thing you won't really get is passage-based readings, but there are tools out there to help with those in study books).</p>
<p>That's really sad that his mother passed away so suddenly :(. Best to just try to get him back into the swing of things for now. And definetly agree that taking the PSAT sophomore year is a good experience to have. You don't really have to be a high scorer first time around (or any PSAT round, though NMS is a commendable achievement), the valuable experience comes in getting your first look at the types of questions, the time restraints, etc. that come with taking the PSAT/SAT.</p>
<p>I got a 168 freshman PSAT, 192 Sophomore, and I think I got around 2100 SAT i took January. What I did: Bought Barron's How to Prepare for the SAT and actually READ everything. make sure he doesn't look at the practice tests because they are nothing like the real ones. Practice with The Official Study Guide for the SAT (Blue Book). Make sure he reads the whole introduction of the Barron's Book (really has good stuff on what the SAT is like and how to get score he wants). I practiced about 1 full-length test every 2 weeks since december.. so I did about 4. Sorry four what happened also, I know I would not be able to concentrate AT ALL for anything school-related thing if that happened. Wish you guys luck.</p>
<p>Bedhead, your nephew's junior year PSAT will probably go up 11-12 points over his sophomore score according to College Board. If there is a chance that he will need financial aid to attend college, he should take a prep course before taking the SAT or ACT.</p>