PSAT

[Anonymous]

My kid’s score went up roughly 200 points between spring and fall and I’m so proud of him. He had early learning challenges and really hated school/thought he was dumb, and it’s heartwarming to see him blossoming and believing in himself. We don’t put any emphasis on the PSAT and he seemed really pleased when a friend told him he might make the cutoff for commended.

Someone up thread asked about prep, he took an SAT prep class over the summer because he’s hoping to be finished with the test by December. He’s got a floor score he’d like to achieve and the psat score suggests he can do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Midwest apparently clueless mom here -- do kids study for the PSAT? My 10th grader didn't and I didn't really think this was a thing. Same as PP, 1330 and I feel like that is just fine.

People study if they really care about NMSF and they live in a state where the cut score is really high. If you live in a less competitive state or don’t care about NMSF there’s no reason to study. (And congratulations on making life choices that help you and your kid stay sane, I wish I’d done the same.)

Thank you for your reply, I just googled NMSF and see there is a whole world of competition for this out there I had no idea about! I recall being a NMS finalist back in the day but it seemed much simpler then! The guidance counselor just told me to write an essay and that was that, but I grew up in a less competitive state for sure. Good luck to all of you with your high achievers, it's impressive!

I was NMF in the 1980s. I don't even remember writing an essay. Maybe we had to fill out a form. I received a $2K-ish per year scholarship from my university through the National Merit program. That was partial tuition. Maybe 25%. It surprises me that the scholarships are still around that level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s score went up roughly 200 points between spring and fall and I’m so proud of him. He had early learning challenges and really hated school/thought he was dumb, and it’s heartwarming to see him blossoming and believing in himself. We don’t put any emphasis on the PSAT and he seemed really pleased when a friend told him he might make the cutoff for commended.

Someone up thread asked about prep, he took an SAT prep class over the summer because he’s hoping to be finished with the test by December. He’s got a floor score he’d like to achieve and the psat score suggests he can do it.

Midwest mom here -- so many congrats to your son, that is awesome! It's hope he gets in the college of his dreams!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Midwest apparently clueless mom here -- do kids study for the PSAT? My 10th grader didn't and I didn't really think this was a thing. Same as PP, 1330 and I feel like that is just fine.

People study if they really care about NMSF and they live in a state where the cut score is really high. If you live in a less competitive state or don’t care about NMSF there’s no reason to study. (And congratulations on making life choices that help you and your kid stay sane, I wish I’d done the same.)

Thank you for your reply, I just googled NMSF and see there is a whole world of competition for this out there I had no idea about! I recall being a NMS finalist back in the day but it seemed much simpler then! The guidance counselor just told me to write an essay and that was that, but I grew up in a less competitive state for sure. Good luck to all of you with your high achievers, it's impressive!

I was NMF in the 1980s. I don't even remember writing an essay. Maybe we had to fill out a form. I received a $2K-ish per year scholarship from my university through the National Merit program. That was partial tuition. Maybe 25%. It surprises me that the scholarships are still around that level.

It doesn't seem worth it just for the money, that's for sure! Mine was in the 90s so it makes sense things gradually ratcheted up with extra requirements.

[Anonymous]

My 10th grader got 1450. I am happy. How much can we expect in PSAT in 11th and SAT? Any forecast formula?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Midwest apparently clueless mom here -- do kids study for the PSAT? My 10th grader didn't and I didn't really think this was a thing. Same as PP, 1330 and I feel like that is just fine.

Hi from another corner of the Midwest. I keep telling DMV people that people in the Midwest don't prep much. They don't seem to believe me. The incentives just aren't there because we have less competition to get into our good schools. Then on here we get to hear people yarning on about how dumb local kids must be at our flagships because of the SAT distributions.

My 11th grader refused to take a prep class. He has no time for a sustained test prep classroom experience due to multiple ECs taking all the available evening and weekend slots. His total score was same as in 10th grade. Unfortunately his verbal score went down so he will not make National Merit Commended with a total score exactly the same as his big brother.

I really don't know how to feel about it. Whether excellence is important for the sake of excellence. Or not to care about it because this is just a sham hoop-jumping exercise invented by bureaucrats. The older I get the more I lean towards the latter. Great scores and grades are less important than career planning, networking, and EQ.

PP here -- I know! It's a totally different vibe for sure. I didn't even know the PSATs were happening until my kid told me I needed to pick him up early from school. I thought it was another teacher work day until he told me he had taken the PSATs. His school pays whatever fee there is apparently as I told him I didn't recall sending $$ in and asked if I should have.

Some states have switched to using PSAT and SAT as their state achievement tests for public middle achool and high school. We are in Michigan. Our kids take the PSAT each year from 8th-11th then SAT in spring of 11th. All paid by the school district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 10th grader got 1450. I am happy. How much can we expect in PSAT in 11th and SAT? Any forecast formula?

Google. There is no official formula. That is a 99th-ile score. They are likely to stay in that percentile range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Midwest apparently clueless mom here -- do kids study for the PSAT? My 10th grader didn't and I didn't really think this was a thing. Same as PP, 1330 and I feel like that is just fine.

Hi from another corner of the Midwest. I keep telling DMV people that people in the Midwest don't prep much. They don't seem to believe me. The incentives just aren't there because we have less competition to get into our good schools. Then on here we get to hear people yarning on about how dumb local kids must be at our flagships because of the SAT distributions.

My 11th grader refused to take a prep class. He has no time for a sustained test prep classroom experience due to multiple ECs taking all the available evening and weekend slots. His total score was same as in 10th grade. Unfortunately his verbal score went down so he will not make National Merit Commended with a total score exactly the same as his big brother.

I really don't know how to feel about it. Whether excellence is important for the sake of excellence. Or not to care about it because this is just a sham hoop-jumping exercise invented by bureaucrats. The older I get the more I lean towards the latter. Great scores and grades are less important than career planning, networking, and EQ.

PP here -- I know! It's a totally different vibe for sure. I didn't even know the PSATs were happening until my kid told me I needed to pick him up early from school. I thought it was another teacher work day until he told me he had taken the PSATs. His school pays whatever fee there is apparently as I told him I didn't recall sending $$ in and asked if I should have.

Some states have switched to using PSAT and SAT as their state achievement tests for public middle achool and high school. We are in Michigan. Our kids take the PSAT each year from 8th-11th then SAT in spring of 11th. All paid by the school district.

Interesting, our state doesn't do that. But I just looked at the NMS qualifying numbers and they are much, much lower here than Maryland and Virginia! Sorry DCUM moms. That must be a lot of additional stress!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thoughts on whether this year’s PSAT was harder than last year’s?

How do parents determine this?

They don’t, but human nature loves to speculate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thoughts on whether this year’s PSAT was harder than last year’s?

How do parents determine this?

Anecdotally

[Anonymous]

11th grader did better this year than last year. No prep. Will use the score breakdown to see where the weak spots are and prep over the winter for the spring SATs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, 226, it's early.

Those are great odds for merit. Selection index maxes out at 228. New Jersey was the highest state cutoff at 226 for class of 2026 and Maryland was 224 for class of 2026.

I heard a ‘theory’ that because the selection index jumped by 2-4 points in so many states between class of 2025 and 2026 that either College Board was going to make this year’s harder or that perhaps that the class of 2026 PSAT was uncharacteristically easier than past administrations of the test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Midwest apparently clueless mom here -- do kids study for the PSAT? My 10th grader didn't and I didn't really think this was a thing. Same as PP, 1330 and I feel like that is just fine.

People study if they really care about NMSF and they live in a state where the cut score is really high. If you live in a less competitive state or don’t care about NMSF there’s no reason to study. (And congratulations on making life choices that help you and your kid stay sane, I wish I’d done the same.)

I think kids in those high cutoff states just prep for a fall SAT of junior year and use that for their PSAT prep. Our daughter who is a NMSF in MD this year took the August and November SAT. She didn’t specifically prep for the PSAT but assumed her studying for the SAT would help since she expected to be close to the cutoff under any circumstances.

[Anonymous]

My DD’s math section score is good, but reading section is a bit low. Any suggestions about improving reading in SAT?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s score went up roughly 200 points between spring and fall and I’m so proud of him. He had early learning challenges and really hated school/thought he was dumb, and it’s heartwarming to see him blossoming and believing in himself. We don’t put any emphasis on the PSAT and he seemed really pleased when a friend told him he might make the cutoff for commended.

Someone up thread asked about prep, he took an SAT prep class over the summer because he’s hoping to be finished with the test by December. He’s got a floor score he’d like to achieve and the psat score suggests he can do it.

Midwest mom here -- so many congrats to your son, that is awesome! It's hope he gets in the college of his dreams!

Thank you! He doesn’t have lofty aspirations and we certainly won’t push him, we’re just so grateful his self esteem around his abilities is improving.