<p>At our HS, the sophs take the PLAN, our state requires the ACT for juniors so it makes some sense. But my friend's sophomore kid in a neighboring town/district took the PSAT today which struck me as odd. </p>
<p>PS She's NOT in NMF contention or anything like that. It was open to any sophomore. Is this common?</p>
<p>At our HS, all freshmen, sophomores and juniors take it.</p>
<p>At my HS, it’s optional for Sophomores, and required for Juniors. But the PLAN is required for all Sophomores.</p>
<p>Senior son had today off because freshmen, sophomores, and juniors were all taking the PSAT. I think this is a common policy for prep schools around here.</p>
<p>Here, required for sophomores and juniors. No PLAN. Very useful in our case, as we knew DS was within range after 10th grade, and made him do some prep before 11th grade in hopes of making NMSF.</p>
<p>Very common here for sophomores to take the PSAT. Basically, universal at all private schools, and public schools with a strong college prep culture encourage or require it. It’s a good way for kids to become familiar with this type of test, and for the school to see what needs work.</p>
<p>I SO wish our HS had made us aware of the option to take it early as a practice, my D did fine on ACT but if I had realized the NMF connection, I would absolutely have wanted to predictor. </p>
<p>99% of our HS class of 2011 is in college (incl community colleges) so it’s not like we’re not college-prep oriented. Weird. But thanks for the info!</p>
<p>Not as common for sophomores at local high school, but many are starting it earlier. Makes sense to see if you are going to be a contender for National Merit consideration as a junior. </p>
<p>If you aren’t a great tester, maybe skip the junior PSAT altogether.</p>
<p>In terms of seeing the results for the PSAT, schools vary on getting the results to the students - it can be almost 2-3 months after the test administration to find out how well they do! It used to be stressed to students that they can plan ahead on how to prepare for spring SAT tests. </p>
<p>I bet those test prep services love when the test scores come out around the holidays. They must book a lot of SAT prep!</p>
<p>My junior son is taking it today. The test is open for other grades after the juniors are given the first opportunity to sign up. It is not mandatory for anyone.</p>
<p>Our school is like ready2010. All sophomores take the PLAN and sophomore can sign up for the PSAT after the juniors have signed up…if there are empty seats (and tests that the school paid for) – it’s first come first serve for the sophomores. The PLAN is mandatory because the ACT is mandatory. The PSAT is optional and our school does not offer the SAT, if kids pass the threshold for the award component they can take the SAT at one of a couple schools within an hour’s drive.</p>
<p>The sophomore PSAT is a good idea. It is a identifier for high scoring kids for some great summer programs prior to senior year. My DS took it sophomore year and I barely noted it but am very glad she did.</p>
<p>At our California public school the PTA or foundation or something like that pays for all sophomores (as practice) and selected juniors. Freshmen or other juniors may pay to take it. I think they even offer it to kids at the junior high (for practice). Our school district is quite diverse so I think it is more to expose kids to this sort of thing that anything.</p>
<p>Never heard of PLAN - most kids here don’t take ACT either. PSAT is mandatory for all sophs and juniors. District pays for all sophs and state pays for all juniors (at least they did this year - thanks Rick Perry!)</p>
<p>"At our HS, all freshmen, sophomores and juniors take it. "</p>
<p>same at our HS. They take last years PSAT. it gives them the opportunity to learn where they need to work over the next year.</p>
<p>In our high school they encourage sophomores to take it. I think it gives a good ballpark first view of where they are headed. S1 got a score well above the NMF cutoff and knew he didn’t need to worry much. It also got him the notice of his brand new to the school GC which was useful. 
Younger son scored around the cutoff for commended so we encouraged a little more studying junior year. He ended up scoring quite a bit better as a junior though not quite good enough for NMF in NYS which was fine. I think only one school he applied to would have cared.</p>
<p>At our HS, the school registers and pays for all freshmen in pre-AP classes to take it. It pays for and requires all sophomores to take it. It is optional for juniors and at their expense.</p>
<p>The district is really trying to up the number of NMSF by attempting to identify talent. It is showing some pretty good results.</p>
<p>When my son took the PSAT as a sophomore, we got a letter from the district saying he was in the top whatever percentage of sophomore scores in the distict and offering a district sponsored prep class at a very low price. (Or it might have been free…don’t remember.)</p>
<p>All my kids improved from PSAT in sophomore year to PSAT in junior year. It’s not exactly real conditions of an SAT, but showed them what to expect and what they would need to focus on for the SAT!</p>
<p>When my S took PSAT as soph he was also “identified” as a potential NMF and was offered low cost SAT tutoring and free in-school prep classes for junior year test. Our school hasn’t had a semi-finalist in a couple years so they are really trying to help push kids over the PSAT hurdle.</p>
<p>At our public high school all sophmores and juniors are required to take it. The freshmen go on a field trip, and seniors are encouraged to use the PSAT test day to visit a college or work on applications.</p>
<p>Just wondering if anyone else pays for it, or if your schools pick up the cost. Here we have to pay for our kids to take it. They only notify juniors, but I think some sophs with proactive parents register and pay. It’s not common though. It’s administered on Saturday, not during the school day, very early in the morning (they have to be there at 7:15AM) so it’s not like it’s real convenient. Between the cost and the time, only the most motivated students/parents take it as sophomores.</p>