Hi. My D will be a Sophmore this fall and she will be taking the PSAT in October at her school. Just wondering if I should have her prep for it over the summer and, if so, how much time per week would you recommend? She’s not too excited about doing it but said she’d give me 3 hours a week (I want 5, lol). Just thought I’d ask other parents/students what they thought. Thanks for any advice you can offer.
Mine both took it cold in 10th. It does not count for anything in 10th, so they had a baseline score to decide how to prep afterwards. Mine both test well.
PSAT/SAT/ACT Math covers Algebra 1, 2 and Geometry, so there may be topics she hasn’t covered in 10th that she will have by 11th.
I don’t think there’s any point in studying for it for 10th grade. Maybe take one practice just to see the format and length, but that’s it. Even for 11th, it’s only really worth studying for that one if you are close to National Merit Qualifying, although prepping for SAT which should probably be taken soon after 11th grade PSAT will help with PSAT and vice versa.
I don’t see the point. My D took it cold (I think she did look at the little leaflet they handed out at school the day before the test). You get a good score sheet back which shows strengths and weaknesses (basically which type of questions were incorrect) and if you want to prep for the 11th grade PSAT it gives you a good idea where to start. I see value in getting a baseline in 10th with no prep.
Thank you for your advice MA2012, washugrad and MamaBear16! D had the opportunity to take the SAT in 6th and 7th grade through NUMATS and did ok with what knowledge she had at the time. She was in high school level Algebra I and high school level Geometry at the time. She didn’t want to take it again in 8th grade, which would’ve been the new test, and I was good with that. She’s in Pre-Calc now as a Freshman and sometimes I wish she weren’t on this fast track b/c I think they have to do some refreshing of skills for when the SAT really matters. She’ll be in AP Calculus AB Sophmore year and I hope she’ll be ok with it. Had a solid A in Pre Calc first semester and waiting to see her last semester grade as she was teetering on an A-/B+.
She might want to do the sat math II on 8/25/2018 if she is finishing up pre-cal. And that could be her “prep” for the PSAT in the fall?
S20’s school has all the kids to do psat starting in their freshman year, he did cold psat 8/9 and for the psat the summer before his sophomore year, he just used the official practice tests and saw huge improvements. So I think 3 hrs/wk is sufficient if she wants to do it.
Good luck.
Thank you for that tip makemesmart! The timing would be good, like you said, since she just finished pre calc. Was looking on Amazon and saw a few prep books for Math SAT II. I was a little concerned that a few people were posting some errors they found in the Barron’s book. Either way, I think about 3-4 hours per week would be ok without too much push back from D, lol.