<p>I am very disappointed in the decision of our school to "hold" PSAT results until every school in our school system receives them. Our whole school system took the test on the same day. Our school has had results for two weeks. D got an email that said the scores were on line, but when she logs on they require a code on the "paper" score sheet to unlock. I wanted to register D for the January SAT but I really want to see the results before I do. She did well on the 10th grade PSAT, but they had a very late event (band) the night before the PSAT and she got home and said it was an "epic failure." I guess I would just like to see how she defines that...lol.</p>
<p>Our school/district does this, too. But they don’t release until after the break. I think that’s nuts, as time could be spent over the break, when there’s time, to plan the college-visit strategy, etc.</p>
<p>No, they shouldn’t. IMO it is arrogant and wrong.</p>
<p>Ours hold until after break also. I believe the second week in January. And totally off topic, why is the world did the post get so weird with at 5:09 am response to 11:44 post???</p>
<p>and even weirder that this post says 5:44 am and it noon???</p>
<p>They absolutely should not. Why does the college board send the tests to the schools and not the students anyway? The scores belong to the students and they should get them directly.</p>
<p>Why would they do that? What purpose does it serve? I am years beyond the PSAT, but what in the world is the reason they give for interfering this way?</p>
<p>I believe, at our HS, that they reserve December for getting all of the senior application reports, etc., into the mail. This takes a great deal of time and must be completed before the staff can leave for the holidays. Yes, they do come in when school is out of session.</p>
<p>Handing out the PSATs to sophomores and juniors gets delayed, along with the many phonecalls from parents. Since the PSAT is the introduction to college testing for most kids, there are a lot of questions surrounding it, and it makes sense to allot a less stressful time to ansewr those questions and set up appointments.</p>
<p>at our school the GCs make a pretty big deal of explaining the results to the students. they go into every English class to make a presentation. my guess is that they wait until January because in December they are swamped with collage app processing, and the English teachers probably don’t want to give up class time right before final exams. that said, it seems to me they could distribute the scores when they arrive and still give an explanatory presentation in January.</p>
<p>Our school not only releases them to the juniors by December 3rd (I’ve heard the school receives them around the 1st), they follow up with a reminder to the college-bound juniors who have scored well (within commended range and up) that junior year is a biggie when the adcoms are looking at applicants. Kids are encouraged to sort of recommit themselves to their schoolwork and maybe take a second look at their upcoming second semester schedule to make sure they are challenging themselves.</p>
<p>Also, some of the competitive summer programs have a minimum PSAT requirement. These applications can be worked on over Christmas break if a student knows he is eligible.</p>
<p>There is a logic behind this as frustrating as it is to parents. The PSAT from the CB point of view is supposed to be a learning experience. They send the scores to the schools so the schools can explain the scores to the students. The schools are supposed to sit with the students and explain how the PSAT related to the SAT, what their weak points were etc. Supposedly then they’ll have the tools to understand SAT scores on their own. Unfortunately this tends to be a busy time of year for high school guidance counselors - the last thing they have time for is a sitting with a bunch of juniors.</p>
<p>I’d suggest that students who have summer programs requiring PSAT scores, cozy up to their guidance counselors and ask if they can at least have the numbers even if they don’t release the whole package.</p>
<p>Our school “holds” the scores until late January as well. Drove me nuts. Our school’s reasoning echos mathmom’s above, but I’ve also heard another reason. Students register for the SAT directly, so the scores are sent to them directly. But you register for the PSAT through the school, so the scores are sent to the schools. (So the student doesn’t “own” the scores, Septembr, the school "owns them… at least in theory). And again, Guidance holds them until they have time to sit with each students and discuss what they mean - which means after 95% of the seniors’ college apps are done.</p>
<p>In our case it was probably just as well. D’s scores were well below what I had hoped, and I kind of freaked out. Wasted $1000 on a Kaplan SAT prep course that D didn’t want and that didn’t help. In the end, what did help was switching to the ACT.</p>
<p>Our school “holds” them until March. I kid you not.</p>
<p>I had a show down with our GC five years ago and told him all his “reasons” (many of which are mentioned on this thread) for witholding scores was ‘crap, and he knew it’. Now our school sends them home on last day before break, when there is no time for parent follow-up parent calls. But at least we get them in Dec.</p>
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<p>Uh, perhaps in a small, private HS. Our school has a GC/student ratio of 600:1. There is no essplain’ about much of anything. Heck students are requested to NOT visit their GC until Junior year.</p>
<p>We get ours in February at the “College planning for Junior parent’s meeting” They are no individual sit downs with the kids. It is left up to the parents to communicate.</p>
<p>My kids’s school wouldn’t hand them out during Dec because they said that they would distract from mid-term exams - but now I realize it was probably because of college admission deadlines.</p>
<p>Their school did NOT individually go over anything. The GC just passed them out and said a few mundane things. **In actuality, there’s no reason why a typed message couldn’t be sent home with the scores as soon as they come in. **</p>
<p>bluebayou, we are a huge public school, but our GC ratio isn’t quite as bad as yours, more like 300 to 1. They do manage to find time to explain PSAT scores to the juniors, just not in early December. They do it in groups. (Using English class just like in PRJ’s school.)</p>
<p>Our school used to hold the grades until after the New Year and then pass them out on PSAT Night, when the scores would be explained. Now the counselor in charge of the PSAT passes them out before the Christmas break whenever they can get their act together and sends them home with no explanation at all.</p>
<p>Surely there should be a middle ground!</p>
<p>There is no one on one explanation at our school.</p>
<p>The scores are held until mid-January. When my current senior was in 9th grade, we went to the PSAT meeting and was surprised that very few parents and students showed up. Did not attend after he took the test in 10th grade. He simply got the score the day after the official meeting. We were more disappointed his junior year because for obvious reasons this was the key year. Again, we bypassed the meeting and got the great news the day after.</p>
<p>For some parents and students, it seems like “cruel and unusual punishment” having to wait knowing the scores are available before the Christmas break.</p>
<p>The reason I find it maddening is because at ds’s school kids are required to take them freshman, sophomore AND junior years. If parents/kids don’t understand the scores by December of junior year, then they simply haven’t been paying attention!!! I think they should release junior-year scores in December and hold the underclassmen’s scores until January, when they do the PSAT night.</p>
<p>why do they even go to the schools in the first place? Mail them to the homes…</p>