Should my child take the PSAT?
Each October, students from grades 8-11 have the opportunity to take a version of the PSAT (or Preliminary SAT) that corresponds to their grade level. Students in 8th and 9th grade take the PSAT 8/9; students in 10th grade take the PSAT 10; students in 11th grade take the PSAT/NMSQT (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test). This year, the tests will be administered on either Wednesday, October 13 or Saturday, October 16. Students who have conflicts with these dates can take advantage of the alternate test date on Tuesday, October 26.
Most students’ schools or school districts purchase and administer one or more of these tests, so it’s a fairly safe assumption that students are automatically registered. That being said, be sure to confirm which tests are being offered at your child’s school, the date they are being administered, and whether there are any additional steps necessary to register your child for the test.
In short, the PSAT is intended to be used as an introduction to what students will see on the SAT. As such, it contains all of the same types of questions as the SAT but is shorter and has age-appropriate differences in difficulty to reflect the types of classes most commonly taken at each grade level. Scores from these tests cannot be used for college admissions purposes and cannot be seen by colleges themselves. With very limited exception, only the very highest scoring students who take the PSAT during the fall of their 11th grade year are eligible to use those scores as part of the qualification process for National Merit Scholarships. Stay tuned for more from us on qualifying for National Merit, but more information is also available at the National Merit Scholarship Corporation website.
Since most students’ PSAT scores have no practical application, it’s quite natural to question taking PSAT itself. However, we believe the tests ARE worth taking, because they help set the stage when it comes time to start preparing for the SAT and ACT.
Assessing each of our SAT/ACT student’s strengths and weaknesses is the first step in the process of preparing for these tests, and score reports from previous tests can provide a baseline from which to grow as well as specific guidance for achieving that improvement. Score reports break down the number of questions a student answers correctly in each section and categorize each question on the test. Identifying weaker areas in a student’s previous performance allows us to clarify the student’s understanding of the question at hand and strategize for each type of question when it reemerges on future tests. Having a wealth of information to focus and direct our earliest stages of SAT/ACT prep is the most efficient way to begin, and this can be accomplished without any additional effort in the normal order of tests that are offered as early as 8th grade.
So if scores from previous tests provide specific feedback and are a useful baseline to measure improvement, should students prepare for the next PSAT they will take? Much of the answer to this question depends on the timing of that next test: we would really only recommend preparing for the PSAT given in the fall of a student’s 11th grade year. It’s the only time when the scores from one of these tests could serve a useful purpose (and even those who do qualify for National Merit Scholarships are a small percentage of all test takers). Instead, we see the 11th grade fall PSAT as a first “official” test for our SAT/ACT students - a no-risk, hopefully low-stress springboard into preparing for and taking the SAT and ACT in the coming months. Up until that point, use scores from the PSAT as one more data point gathered about a student - one that certainly provides valuable information but isn’t a complete depiction of academic potential.
If you’d like to better understand your child’s previous test scores or learn more about options to prepare for the PSAT, contact us. We’d love to hear from you!
