PSAT: Talk me down please

[Anonymous]

I need some perspective and kindness please.

I just received sophomore DD’s scores and they are very low (as in “not on track for college” according to the College Board low). She doesn’t know yet and I’m wondering if I should break the news or let her find out on her own. She has extreme test anxiety and despite her accommodations, the school messed up and she didn’t receive them. She panicked on the test and left whole sections blank. I had the option to throw out the results, but I didn’t and now I regret it. My husband says to forget about it, but I’m pretty anxious too.

Where do we go from here? How can I help her prepare without freaking her out more? She’s a good student (mostly As in honors/AP) but a terrible test taker, obviously. We had her tested for learning disabilities years ago but received a diagnosis of anxiety instead. I’m at a loss.

[Anonymous]

It's a practice for a practice.

You make sure she gets accommodations next time, and see if that helps.

You research test optional schools because you might discover that she doesn't need test scores at all.ou take a

And then you take a year to work on the anxiety in general, because that's likely to impact college more than any test score.

[Anonymous]

Too soon to panic, especially if she’s otherwise a good student. There is still test optional. Accommodations might make all the difference. Accommodations on the ACT might make a big difference. No college will ever see psat results. Get her accommodations lined up now for both tests. Take a mock of each test in the spring with the accommodations in place. Then figure out whether it’s worth pursuing prep or going test optional.

[Anonymous]

Did she do any prep for the PSAT? Schools do not know the PSAT score unless the student is NMSF. I think it's possible to prepare for the SAT and increase your score significantly. My daughter had a mediocre score on the PSAT but her SAT was 180 points higher.

[Anonymous]

OP here and thank you! I needed to hear this. There’s just such a disconnect between her test performance and her work in school. And it’s not grade inflation - I see her work and she’s understanding the material. She will be crushed and I don’t want to let this disaster cause her to spin. I’m spinning now, so I can get get it out of my system and help her move forward calmly. But it’s hard not to panic.

Should we get a book, register for Khan Academy or another test prep program? I agree we need to address the anxiety, but she’s incredibly resistant to therapy, having had a few bad experiences. Is there a program that specifically deals with test performance anxiety?

Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here and thank you! I needed to hear this. There’s just such a disconnect between her test performance and her work in school. And it’s not grade inflation - I see her work and she’s understanding the material. She will be crushed and I don’t want to let this disaster cause her to spin. I’m spinning now, so I can get get it out of my system and help her move forward calmly. But it’s hard not to panic.

Should we get a book, register for Khan Academy or another test prep program? I agree we need to address the anxiety, but she’s incredibly resistant to therapy, having had a few bad experiences. Is there a program that specifically deals with test performance anxiety?

Thanks again.

I mean this kindly but you sound very anxious. I wouldn’t worry about prep yet. That’s for next summer at the earliest. If she really wants to do something, I’d suggest reading for pleasure and doing Khan Academy math. The math will be useful for school anyway. Next summer if you decide to prep, I’d do private tutoring with someone who specializes in test anxiety. But really, all I’d do now is get the accommodations lined up and work on stress relief.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did she do any prep for the PSAT? Schools do not know the PSAT score unless the student is NMSF. I think it's possible to prepare for the SAT and increase your score significantly. My daughter had a mediocre score on the PSAT but her SAT was 180 points higher.

No she didn’t do any prep. For us, practice test was intended to see how she did with her accommodations. The school offered not to have the test scored, but I opted to score anyway since she’d already suffered through the test. That was a mistake. I guess those accommodations do matter for an anxious kid like mine. She just froze.

[Anonymous]

Op, there are still going to be plenty of school in two years that are test optional. Some schools may revert, but many will not. She knows she left entire sections blank, how well could she possibly be thinking she did?

Please try to hide your anxiety from her. That will only make her anxiety worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, there are still going to be plenty of school in two years that are test optional. Some schools may revert, but many will not. She knows she left entire sections blank, how well could she possibly be thinking she did?

Please try to hide your anxiety from her. That will only make her anxiety worse.

I know you’re right. I’m processing here so I can relax with her. She can’t even remember taking most of the test. I think she’s blocked it out.

[Anonymous]

I hope DD’s experience will help provide some reassurance. She also scored very low on the PSAT after the school didn’t provide her accommodations. I don’t remember the exact score but I do know it was below 1000. Like your daughter, she simply couldn’t finish the test. She scored 1300 when she took the SAT for the 1st time with her accommodations. No real prep between administrations. She is now a junior at UMD. Don’t give up hope!

[Anonymous]

Ok, what is up with MoCo not getting the accommodations in place for kids for the psat??

This happened to BOTH of my stop kids. I told his parent it’s the second kid to email the counselor and make sure he would get the accommodations since the first kid didn’t. And he didn’t, and the second kid also didn’t get accommodations.

It’s so annoying. It should be automatic.

MCPS parents, email the counselors months in advance to make sure their kid has the accommodations in place for the psat, act, sat, and ap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here and thank you! I needed to hear this. There’s just such a disconnect between her test performance and her work in school. And it’s not grade inflation - I see her work and she’s understanding the material. She will be crushed and I don’t want to let this disaster cause her to spin. I’m spinning now, so I can get get it out of my system and help her move forward calmly. But it’s hard not to panic.

Should we get a book, register for Khan Academy or another test prep program? I agree we need to address the anxiety, but she’s incredibly resistant to therapy, having had a few bad experiences. Is there a program that specifically deals with test performance anxiety?

Thanks again.

I mean this kindly but you sound very anxious. I wouldn’t worry about prep yet. That’s for next summer at the earliest. If she really wants to do something, I’d suggest reading for pleasure and doing Khan Academy math. The math will be useful for school anyway. Next summer if you decide to prep, I’d do private tutoring with someone who specializes in test anxiety. But really, all I’d do now is get the accommodations lined up and work on stress relief.

The most important thing you can do right now is reframe your own thinking. This was not a disaster, but a practice you learned from. You are glad you did it, and now you know you want to be sure she understands her an accommodations and how to ask for them. There are opportunities during the school year to do this- they should not be solely for the psat/Sat. She can come up with strategies to handle the test anxiety. Don’t focus on the score, focus on what you learned. I also wouldn’t focus on test prep, it sounds like it was the anxiety not the material that made it difficult.

Lynn Lyons is a therapist with a podcast and some books that focus on anxiety that you might find useful. Try to take a deep breadth and move on.

[Anonymous]

My 10th grade DD didn't score well either. One thing to keep in mind is that much of the math on the real SAT covers what the kids are just learning now (at least mine - currently in Algebra 2).

[Anonymous]

Prep classes and tutors are so expensive. My daughter (the one who pulled her score up 180 points) used Kahn Academy only. She did a number of practice tests over about a month period. Just taking the test more than once helps with the anxiety I think.

[Anonymous]

My 12th grader got math SAT scores that showed he isn’t on track for college. He won’t be majoring in anything math or science related. It hadn’t hurt him. He’s 5 for 5 with EA accceptances so far. There are 4,000 colleges in the US. Don’t sweat this.