Should my high-performing ninth grader take the PSAT 10 instead of PSAT 8/9?
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Anonymous
| My kid's school is offering every ninth grader the option of either the PSAT 8/9 or PSAT 10 next month. I have a kid in a magnet now, who is potentially a National Merit Semi-Finalist type, but could also easily score a few percentage points lower than that, given the kid's past history of standardized testing (just a prediction, I know). I skimmed a sample PSAT, and at least for the math (kid is now in Alg 2), kid wouldn't understand all the questions. The kid will take a prep course in 11th grade to get ready for the SAT/ACT. Any advice on which test to take now? What did you have your high-performing kid take and why? Will we get more information about what kid doesn't know by taking the harder test, or will it be too demoralizing to take a test the kid's not really ready for yet? |
Anonymous
My daughter took the PSAT (not the PSAT 8/9) last October in 8th grade. She was about a month into Geometry so basically only Algebra I and still scored in the 600's on the math section. If the kid is good in math I think it's fine to take the real PSAT. It's better preparation for the real thing. |
Anonymous
|
If your child is ready for a longer test and you think it would build confidence, then take the PSAT 10. If not don't. If your DC is a 99th percentiler, I'd say go for it. Lots of kids take the even longer/harder SAT in 7th for CTY and do fine without any trauma. There are a few trig related questions, but there's no reason not to tell your child to just randomly choose an answer and move on. Otherwise, its all geometry and algebra. EBRW is straight forward for good English students.
Don't sweat the choice. It's just another bubble test and it doesn't make a real difference, since there are no stakes involved and no one really cares how they do. PSAT 8/9 is a practice for a practice (PSAT 10 and PSAT/NMSQT are the same) and PSATs only matter for merit scholarships to 3rd tier colleges. DC took the SAT in 7th grade and gained lots of confidence, didn't take PSAT 8/9. School required taking PSAT 10 and PSAT/NMSQT and DC did not put in any effort. Ended up with 1550+ on SATs. |
Anonymous
| Our school gives the PSAT 8/9 to 9th graders and the regular PSAT to 10th. My very average kid who was in Algebra 2 honors in 10th got a 99th percentile score on it (although not very close to NMSF). A really bright kid in a magnet school should probably take the more challenging test. But, like PP noted, it doesn't really matter. |
Anonymous
| Teacher here - I don't think you have a choice but I could be wrong. |
Anonymous
|
The problem with either PSAT for magnet kids in 9th grade is that they compare scores with the other magnet kids.
No matter where your DC stands in the pecking order, those comparisons create problems FOR ABSOLUTELY NO GAIN. They don't need the practice and could better use the time for their magnet work. By 10th grade, they need to narrow down if/whether/how they should prep or not. If we had to do it again, we would have held our magnet out of the 9th grade testing. |