My youngest child, of 3, is currently a high school sophomore. She gets time and a half on tests because of auditory processing issues, and tends to use just about all of the extra time. She works hard in school, and typically has an average in the ballpark of 90.
As of now, she’s planning to major in Elementary Education, though of course that could certainly change.(if it did change, it would probably be to Photgraphy or something like Graphic Arts.) As a result, she’s pretty sure she wants to stay in-state and attend a SUNY, hoping to graduate with NY State certification to teach.
My older 2 kids took the PSAT in the fall of their Junior years, providing us with a baseline score we could use as we researched colleges. But I’m thinking of having her skip that step.
I already have a pretty decent idea of her abilities. Since she’s narrowed down the list to SUNYs with El Ed programs and hopefully photography/ graphic arts, the school hunt is already fairly narrow.
She’s not going to be a National Merit Finalist or Semifinalist; she just isn’t that strong a test taker.
I’m starting to think that she could skip that step. Taking the PSAT would take the best part of an entire Saturday, and I’m not sure it would provide us with any info we don’t already have or need.
FWIW my kids’ high school (large, public, high achieving) announced that next year the PSAT will be optional, but still be given during a regular day of school. Now kids will have to miss classes for the PSAT where it previously was given on a weekday ‘testing’ day and kids went home after the test. Technically, the test was always optional, but nearly everyone took it. Will be interesting to see what happens this fall.
Is there value in her using it as a “real” practice test for the SAT? It is possible that with ADP, she may be pleasantly surprised at the environment it provides.
At our school, they had the kids take the PSAT during the school day so the "giving up Saturday " concern wasn’t there. I don’t think anyone was thinking about NMS, but it did give kids a sense of what their SAT score would be and whether to prep and how. And it was a score they’d never have to report.
You are pretty savvy, @bjkmom , so if the reasons here don’t resonate, you are probably fine following your gut on this.
I’m in a similar situation but I see it more of another practice test before D21 takes her official SATs. Her dream school (not top tier) requires an SAT score that I’m not sure she will hit so she will need all the practice she can get.
Does your dau’s school have all the kids take the test during the school day Wednesday, or do the accommodated students have to take it on Saturday? I am also of the camp that its a good opportunity to practice for the SAT.
My older 2 took it on a Saturday, so I imagine that’s when the kids with accomodations take it as well. My school does the Wednesday exam; if her school did that it would be a no-brainer.
I just wanted to be sure I wasn’t missing something glaring.
I’ve just looked at the list of SUNYs and CUNYs that have what she wants. They include Buffalo State,Fredonia, New Paltz, Oneonta and Plattsburgh for starters, with a number of other schools that seem to tick most of her boxes. The list has quite a range of admissions requirements, so she ought to be able to find something. We may get to one or two of the further ones this summer to take a look.
And as far as testing environment goes, she’s taken any number of Regents exams in that quiet, controlled environment. I’m not sure that this would be all that different.
I’ll give it some more thought over the coming months, but right now I’m thinking she can skip.
Nope, it looks like she’ll need to take either the SAT or ACT. Potsdam is the only possiblity, and they don’t have photography or graphic arts majors.
She’s a good student, and will walk in prepared, so I don’t think she would want to skip that part of the process. But the PSAT is looking like one she can do without.
My kids’ school doesn’t do the weekday test either. I wish they did. If we weren’t giving National Merit a shot, it wouldn’t be worth taking for us either. We do enough practice on our own, and also are NYers with lots of testing experience.