Quick Question- is the PSAT required?

Parents Forum
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<p>Am hoping someone might be able to answer this for me tonight, before I call guidance in the morning. </p>

<p>S2 took a practice PSAT last year at the end of sophmore year, and scored abysmally. Guidance said he might be a better candidate for the ACT, and encouraged him to focus on that. Now the "real" PSAT is looming on Oct. 18. We have two conflicts for that date. The PSAT is ALSO being offered the previous Wed., the 15th, but not at our school. College Board says arrangements can be made by the school only, not the student or parents. His GC said they don't know of any other schools offering the exam on the 15th, and even if they did, they probably wouldn't be able to gain permission for him anyhow (why, I don't know).</p>

<p>S. has had no prep since the practice one last year, and expects to do poorly on this one as well. I never thought I'd be considering this, but-- does he really need to take the PSAT? He has taken one SATII (mediocre score) and will probably take another this year. Other than that he will take the ACT with writing. Any advice?
Sorry for the long (and late) post.</p>

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<p>The PSAT is not required by any college. Colleges don't even get the results of the PSAT. The only reason to take the PSAT as a junior is as practice for the SAT and/or if one is likely to score high enough to win National Merit, National Achievement or National Hispanic scholarships.</p>

<p>If he's not a high scorer on tests, there probably is no reason to take the SAT IIs either as only a relatively few colleges require those tests, and those are among the most difficult colleges in the country to gain admission to.</p>

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<p>Nope. No need to take PSAT.</p>

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<p>Thanks. We didn't want to be completely uninformed when speaking with guidance tomorrow. He feels there's not much point to it, and I have to admit I agree.</p>

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<p>My daughter didn't take it. She did take the SAT subsequently, but skipped the PSAT. It doesn't matter unless it would be helpful for the kid in some way or, like Northstarmom says, they are a potential NMS. Fuggetaboutit.</p>

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<p>Don't think NMS is on the agenda this time around...!</p>

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<p>I think the real question to ask Guidance is whether the high school requires the students to take the PSAT. </p>

<p>Some high schools consider it an important piece of data, so they might require it.</p>

<p>But in terms of college admissions, there is no requirement to take it, ever, and PSAT scores are not reported to colleges.</p>

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<p>My S2 skipped it in 11th grade. He had already taken it twice (9th and 10th grade). The only consequence was getting marked absent for the class period.</p>

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<p>My son's school does not require anyone to take the PSAT. The kids sign up in the 10th and 11th grades. So I agree. Check with your guidance people. At our school, it's free for any student, so our guidance counselor does encourage kids to take it. After all, it is free to a student.</p>

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<p>Thanks all. Heard from his GC, who said she wouldn't often recommend it, but in this case has no problem with him passing on the exam. He will concentrate on prep for the ACT instead.</p>

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<p>Many kids in our HS do skip it. We just got a notice, though, that this year our school district is making it mandatory for freshmen and sophomores (in fact, the school is even going to pay for them to take it, and they're giving the test on a weekday to ensure that everyone participates). It will be elective for Jrs., so they have to pay the $13 if they want to take it. </p>

<p>I'm not quite sure why they're making it mandatory. I see some pluses and minuses both ways. Some kids may become discouraged by poor results, or teachers may lose interest in kids who don't score well (we're in one of those Newsweek competitively ranked public high schools, about 300 kids in each class). On the other hand, identifying weaknesses may help the school district "teach to the exam" or let students work on problem areas.</p>

<p>What do you think of this? Has anyone else heard of a school making the PSAT mandatory?</p>

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<p>I THINK it's mandatory at our school for sophs and juniors, and it's during the school day. No one's ever questioned it; everyone just does it. The district pays, so why not is the thinking, I guess. Even the freshman take a practice one. I think that's cause it would be a scheduling nightmare to not have them do something. Seniors get to come in late that day.</p>

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<p>Neonzeus -</p>

<p>Montgomery County Maryland has tried very hard to get all of the 9th and 10th graders to take the PSAT for the last few years. The School district paid for them, but made the 11th graders pay for it if they wanted to take it (kids eligible for Free or Reduced Meals got to take it for free in 11th grade). 11th graders who didn't take it were expected to come to school during the exam time and take a mock version of the PSAT or SAT (this varied by school), and the 12 graders got the morning off (they were officially encouraged to use the time working on their college applications). All of the classes met on an abbreviated schedule after the exam ended.</p>

<p>The letter sent home from Happykid's school made it look like the kid would have an unexcused absence on her permanent record if she didn't take the test. I am from ACT territory and the whole thing made me absolutely furious. I pulled her out of school for the whole day in 9th grade, and in 10th grade I used advanced investigative skills (no blood was actually shed I promise), and found out that:</p>

<p>1) The school district wants the scores to find kids who they think should be in AP classes but who they haven't found yet by other means.</p>

<p>2) The threat of an unexcused absences is to keep kids who think it is stupid to take an early PSAT from skipping off the bus when it gets to school and going to the mall for the morning.</p>

<p>3) Any parent who thinks the exam is wrong for their kid can get an excused absence by calling the principal and telling him that their kid isn't coming.</p>

<p>I also suspect, but have no hard evidence to prove:</p>

<p>1) The school district and individual principals are in some game where they think that being able to say "We have X% of 9th and 10th graders taking early PSAT exams" is actually meaningful.</p>

<p>2) Everyone has to take the exam because it is too hard to re-organize the school day around students who are and aren't taking it.</p>

<p>3) Everyone has to come to school because if enough parents and/or independent minded kids decide it isn't important, school attendance will be down for the day and the district will lose money.</p>

<p>Happykid, while quite wonderful, does not have talents that are measurable by the PSAT/NMSQT. She gets the morning off again this year in 11th grade. Just for the sake of form I will email the principal in advance, but to be honest, I don't think it's his business.</p>

<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>

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<p>OP -- I'd skip it.</p>

<p>On the broader subject of whether 9th and 10th grade students should take it -- I say yes. It gives a parent oftentimes the very first objective data on their child's standardized test taking ability. How can that information not be very helpful? It can shape a parent's ability to advise their child begin considering colleges appropriate to their standardized testing results as early as the middle of 9th grade... </p>

<p>Further, the more times a child sits for three hours, under time pressure, to complete a standardized exam, the better. Standardized Test taking is an acquired skill.</p>

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<p>Your call. Needed for National Merit only as far as I know.</p>

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<p>HappyMom - Thanks for the info. I think your suspicions are on-target. </p>

<p>It will be interesting to see what they do with the freshmen and sophomore results. I'll be sending a check with my JR for the PSAT. She wants to take the test to extrapolate her Spring SAT scores, in order to narrow down her college list.</p>

<p>One of my kids took the ACT and did signficantly better on it than the SATs. He took the ACT on a whim, and didn't even study - but his results were so good we quickly forwarded them to his school list. All of his merit scholarship offers were increased based on the ACT score. D will probably take both the SAT and the ACT. Many of the public universities that she's looking at say that they'll take the highest score of whichever test(s) is/are submitted.</p>

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<p>D's friend had to attend a funeral (sudden death of a close family member) on the PSAT date junior year. She still made NMF, I was told they just used her SAT scores, because there was no opportunity to take the PSAT later.</p>

<p>Our school does not pay for the test, and encourages sophs to take it for practice and then juniors to take it when it counts. It is on a Saturday, so no problems with absences.</p>

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<p>If anyone reading this thread has a child at a school where they are pushed to take the PSAT and their kid is a bad test taker, show them where on the form the "high school" field is bubbled in and tell them to be sure and leave it blank.<br>
PSAT scores are not supposed to be on official high school transcripts, but most high schools happily stick on whatever stickers come their way. If your kid scores horribly low on the PSAT, be sure to request (in writing and follow up) that the score not be on the transcript. Just in case they later decide to go for a rolling admissions /score optional school you don't want that ugly thing out there....</p>

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<p>Interesting. Now if only they could leave of AP scores as well! I'm going to inquire about that actually. In addition to the practice PSAT, he took two APs last spring. Did OK in one, but terrible on the other. Unfortunately he didn't know that cancelling scores was an option. He's a B+/A- student, and not usually one to obsess over grades, but to say he was disappointed would be a big understatement. All he can do is try to prepare and do better this year.</p>

<p>I also agree with DunninLA's statement that the more times they sit through these exams, the better (within reason :)). The first time S1 took the SAT he panicked and ran out of time on the math. He was so frustrated that he signed up again immediately to take it again the next month. His score went up 200 points without any additional preparation, simply because he knew better how to budget his time.</p>

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<p>I strongly advise to practice with the books before taking any tests. This will cure panic attacks since your S will be familiar with the format. Taking timed practice tests at home will prove to him that he can do it in allowed time period, and he will not worry too much. D. did not practice for PSAT and did not do well. She practiced for SAT and ACT. She did OK on SAT, the best was ACT. Also, what worked for her was that she concentrated mostly one section that she felt she had a chance to improve.</p>