<p>I am from a very rural area, and I guess I have always stood out (easily) in my small class of 43 students. My school doesn't offer APs or acceleration of any kind. I guess I have done well within my own little bubble, and on the state standardized test (always have been in the "advanced" category). However, I don't really know if I'm anywhere close to where I should be. I kind of feel hopeless right now. I have always dreamed big, you know, going to school somewhere far away from home and actually being with people that are similiar to me, with a love for academics. I have always been the odd one out, even in elementary; I sat on the steps writing novel length stories while the other kids played during recess. I absolutely love science and everything about it; everyone at my school thinks I'm nuts, except my super nerdy science teacher from freshman year (and next year, for two different classes!! So excited!). I got my PSAT scores back today and I was very disappointed. 181 total: CR-64, M-67, W-50. I was expecting 210+. It really made me take a step back and say "woah, maybe I am just a regular kid and am not capable of getting into anything better than my state flagship". I have kind of been depressed about this; I know I shouldn't base my self worth off of one test, but still- it's hard not to. Maybe I'm not capable of anything. I have set of dreams to high. I almost thought I could get my PhD in Biochem and do research, maybe even be an prof/ asst prof. Now, I'm thinking that's a total pipe dream; I need to get my head out of the clouds. I should just go work at the factory that everyone else does in my area. Everyone in my family has suffered factory life, why am I so special? I don't know anymore. </p>
<p>So I guess what I'm wondering is "Is this freakout stage well justified or do I still have hope?". I have been asking myself that sooooooo much today. I feel absolutely terrible. I still scored incredibly well compared to the other students in my class (surprise, surprise), but not even close to NMSF. I was so looking forward to some reassuring thought to say, "you know what? I'm not worthless and I can go to college!", but that reassurance never came.</p>
<p>Sorry for my rant (which may or may not make any sense at all...). I promise I'm done for the day.</p>
<p>Did you study for the PSAT? Lots of kids who score high did… and you have plenty of time to study and score well on the SAT. Also take a shot at the ACT and see how that goes.</p>
<p>All is not lost just because your PSAT score wasn’t satisfying. What matters is how you respond – do you dig in and work your way to a good SAT score? That would be a good first step to achieving your dreams.</p>
<p>I’m a junior- which makes this situation even worse. I had plans to study for the test, but they never really materialized. I now know I need to work hard and study a lot, I guess?</p>
<ol>
<li>The PSAT isn’t even that big of a deal in the long run.</li>
<li>That isn’t even a terrible score.</li>
<li>Just because you didn’t do as well as you would have liked to doesn’t mean you’re destined for life like everyone else at your school. I live in a rural area too and know the feeling you describe. Worst case scenario, even if you go to your state flagship, that doesn’t mean you’ll end up working in a factory. Take a deep breath and relax. How you score on the PSAT doesn’t determine whether or not you’ll get your PhD.</li>
<li>A 183 with no studying really isn’t bad at all.</li>
</ol>
<p>I know it doesn’t determine if I’ll get my PhD, but right now I feel like a failure that may not be capable of the work required to get to that point. I’m probably just freaking out. I need sleep so badly right now…</p>
<p>No worries. I found that many people did worse on math in particular on this one than they thought. I personally got 202 on the test. Slightly disappointing, but completely understandable. Do not be discouraged by this one test. I highly recommend that you look over your mistakes and fully comprehend why you chose what you chose and why the right answer is actually correct. If you want to improve your scores you have to put a little work in(but it will be well worth it). Your math score is not too bad, but you should do a few practice tests and learning from your mistakes. Critical Reading was not terrible either. It depends on if you got vocabulary or reading wrong here, but whichever it is definitely look up common sat vocabulary words. Your writing was, however, not good. There are many other on the same boat as you in regards to writing. Writing is my worse subject as well. There are many common grammar rules that they enforce on the test that you may not realize are being tested because the sentence proposed seems to make sense with the diction already being used. You have to really focus on pronoun and subject agreement. i.e. Joe and Matt went to his house. You can’t use his because you can’t tell if it is Joe or Matt’s house. Well i went on a bit of a rant but my real advice is to not be overcritical based on this one PSAT. It may not be indicative of where you truly are academically. I also recommend that you wait until the March exam to take the SAT so you have more time to guarantee over 2000 and much more.</p>
<p>You’re not a failure. I got a 188, and while there are definitely people who did better than me, I’m not the worst one out there, and neither are you. You did better than the majority of juniors who took it in every category; that means you’re above average, not average, and not a failure. </p>
<p>I know the exact feeling you have, considering the majority of students from my school either end up at community college, no college, or small schools in state.</p>
<p>“I had plans to study for the test, but they never really materialized. I now know I need to work hard and study a lot, I guess?” </p>
<p>The PSAT is a poor test to compare yourself to others on. Studying for that test can raise scores dramatically, and some kids from that pool will have studied. Since you didn’t study, it’s almost certain you could have scored significantly higher but how much higher, we’ll never know.</p>
<p>If you are aiming for top colleges, yes, you need to work hard and study a lot. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to you. And once you get to such a college, you will have to continue to work hard. Your score puts you in the 88th percentile (and you can probably improve on that by studying for the SAT). That is hardly a reason to give up on going to college. But you have to understand that many of the kids you’ll be competing with for admission are working extremely hard and they probably have a better high school than yours. The colleges will be looking to see if you make the most of what’s available to you, so they will cut you some slack for the not-so-academic environment you are in, but that doesn’t mean you can just walk in to take these tests with no prep and that you don’t have to work hard.</p>
<p>I think that anyone with your PSAT scores who is willing to work hard for many years can earn the PhD you mentioned.</p>
<p>CE527M, I feel as though I’m kind of in the same situation as you peer-wise in school. The other people in my school that are “dreaming big” have community colleges as their top choice. The real ambitious ones have a state school on the list, gasp! A lot of people in my area don’t go to college at all and work at the factory I mentioned before.</p>
<p>As for the other posts, yes, I realize I need to study and work hard. I will actually need to develop study skills for I have never studied for anything in my life (I have an excellent memory, and a 4.0 UW GPA to back up my argument for WHY I don’t need to study). These tests will probably be better for me than any high school class in terms of preparation for college (I should probably study there…) for this reason. Let the studying begin!</p>
<p>And yes, I know my writing score was much worse than the other sections… I have no clue how that happened. Two of my English teachers have told me that my grammar is near impeccable and that I can proofread extraordinarily well, but that’s probably when compared to others in my class. I literally burst out laughing when reading some the terrible mistakes my classmates make on essays…</p>
<p>It’s late and no one is posting anything, so I’m probably going to write a novel…</p>
<p>Your scores will almost certainly improve if you take a bunch of practice tests. It’s not an intelligence test…if you got a lower score than you wanted, it’s because you didn’t know all the stuff you should have known, and that’s not terribly difficult to change. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You know you don’t have to go to an insanely selective school to do that, right? Most colleges, even selective ones, accept a relatively high percent of their applicants compared to the schools people talk about on here all the time. Have you looked at LACs?</p>
<p>(Also, private schools aren’t inherently better prestige-wise than state schools…there are a lot of mediocre private schools, and in many cases I’d rather go to a top state school.)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s a hard job to get, and you should have a backup plan, but your future career has nothing to do with standardized tests you took in high school (unless maybe it’s investment banking or something, but even then). If you want to hear pipe dreams, you ought to hear me ramble about majoring in math. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You’re not special, but you were born now rather than forty years ago, and I assume you have more opportunities than your parents did. Take advantage of them.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, here’s hoping your low score makes you more empathetic.</p>