My son is taking the PSAT Oct. 14. I think the MATH 2 SAT is offered on Oct. 3. Do any of you think studying for the MATH 2 test would serve as good practice for the PSAT? Or should I have my son wait to take the Subject Area Test?
He has finished AB Calc and made a 5, and made a 35 on the math portion of the ACT this summer. From what I’m reading on other threads there won’t be anything on the test beyond very basic calculus. Is this correct? (Oddly enough, my son says he didn’t really master algebra until he took calculus).
I’m aware that he won’t get his score back before he takes the PSAT, but my experience is that he will do a few hours worth of prep before a test, but it’s hard to get him to devote any real time to it. This way it seems like I could get him to study twice for roughly the same thing. However, I don’t want him to get a lower score than he might get following a year of BC Calc.
Any thoughts?
@EarlVanDorn If he got a 35 on the ACT math, then scoring 80 on PSAT math shouldn’t be hard.
I honestly don’t think this is a good idea (speaking as someone who’s tutored math before and scored 80/800s).
Actually the the PSAT has a lot more basic math than the Math 2 SAT. My son just finished the KhanAcademy SAT Prep in preparation for the PSAT and he said the hardest part was the easy math because he hadn’t done it in so long! I think a quick review of Algebra and Geometry would be helpful for the PSAT. Have him take the diagnostic test on Khan SAT prep program just to make sure he hasn’t forgotten anything. My son’s other complaint was there are some things he is used to using a calculator for but on the new PSAT he has to do some of those things without a calculator. I think this new PSAT is going to catch some normally high scoring kids unaware!
If he is going for National Merit, I’d have him take the Diagnostic test on Khan, they really don’t take that long and see if he needs to refresh his memory on anything and take a the practice PSAT.