<p>Thanks, xiggi.</p>
<p>The writing part of the PSAT (taken this year as a sophomore) lowered my son's overall score--he made some silly errors. I don't know how he'd do on the actual essay, since that's not included in the PSAT. I do know that many of the very brightest kids in our public high school bombed the writing portion of the state exam. Calmom's advice (which I read a long time ago now) recommended taking the ACT if the PSAT scores were not stellar--hence eliminating the need to take the SAT at all if the kid does well enough.</p>
<p>Based on what you have to say also it sounds like a plan.</p>
<p>Thanks for posting the writing instructions too. My guess is that for a certain level of kid the essay is valuable, but at a higher level it is meaningless (which is why more competitive colleges don't take it into account).</p>