When do kids take the PSAT/SAT?

[Anonymous]

In normal times, when do kids typically take the PSAT, SAT, and ACT? I feel like I didn’t take any if these till late junior year, (and never took ACT), but I get the sense it’s different now. Just wondering as I have a sophomore but college stuff still seems very remote.

[Anonymous]

MCPS offered the official PSAT for 11th graders Oct 16 of last fall. (At our school, the 10th graders take it in school that day as well, it's mandatory. I think the 9th graders took a practice PSAT that a private firm scores/evaluates.) The MCPS in-school SAT was set for March 22/23. I know kids take things sooner these days--maybe some 11th graders took SATs last fall too, or in lieu of the PSAT. As it stands, we don't have SAT scores since the March testing was canceled and DS hasn't gotten in another local testing site.

[Anonymous]

Mostly during junior year.

[Anonymous]

11th grade PSAT is when it counts for national merit.
SAT would be 11th or 12th. Now it is easier to get it done end of 11th and only retake in fall if you want to bring scores up.

[Anonymous]

The fall junior year PSAT is the one that counts for the National Merit Scholarship program. So summer before junior year is a good time to prep (we liked Khan Academy online), then register for SAT and/or ACT for fall junior year. Depending on the results, your child can either be done with testing junior year or prep some more and take one of the tests again.

Under normal circumstances, our HS administers the practice PSAT for freshmen and regular PSAT for sophomores, and the PTSA offers practice SAT and ACT opportunities, too.

[Anonymous]

Look at the SAT schedule 9n the College Board website. Basically, you want to give your child time to take 2 separate tests (you can hope for a 1 and done, but doesn’t always go that way). I preferred my kids do be done with SAT testing their junior year, once 8n the fall and once in the spring. This way, you have solid scores to determine your college options. Senior fall year is very busy with applications.

[Anonymous]

Our goal was fall and spring of junior year. Unfortunately, that didn't happen due to COVID, so DC took it again last week. It gets the job done in terms of allowing for two tries, but it wasn't ideal. Spring of junior year would have allowed for a decent amount of prep time over winter break without any added stress from the start of the school year and college applications, which were factors with a September of senior year administration.

One plus to taking the SAT fall of junior year is that you can kill two birds with one stone, as any time spent prepping will hopefully benefit not only the SAT score, but the PSAT/NMSQT score as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our goal was fall and spring of junior year. Unfortunately, that didn't happen due to COVID, so DC took it again last week. It gets the job done in terms of allowing for two tries, but it wasn't ideal. Spring of junior year would have allowed for a decent amount of prep time over winter break without any added stress from the start of the school year and college applications, which were factors with a September of senior year administration.

One plus to taking the SAT fall of junior year is that you can kill two birds with one stone, as any time spent prepping will hopefully benefit not only the SAT score, but the PSAT/NMSQT score as well.

This is our experience as well. My son took SAT fall of junior year, his second was planned for spring, right after his prep class finished. With COVID cancellations, he just took it last week for the second time.

ACT he was going to take just once, and that was in the spring of 11th grade. Three cancellations later, he's scheduled for Oct. 10.

PSATs he took early fall of 10th and 11th grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In normal times, when do kids typically take the PSAT, SAT, and ACT? I feel like I didn’t take any if these till late junior year, (and never took ACT), but I get the sense it’s different now. Just wondering as I have a sophomore but college stuff still seems very remote.

Early fall in 10th for psat as practice (and colleges scouting the student).
October in 11th for psat for National Merit (and fewer colleges scouting the student).
Sat/act anytime between end 10th and end 11th, for a first score. The lower you expect the first score to be, the sooner to take it. The student’s recollection and score reports should be able to pinpoint what to study for successive tries. The last test date should be early enough to get scores before the student’s first application deadline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In normal times, when do kids typically take the PSAT, SAT, and ACT? I feel like I didn’t take any if these till late junior year, (and never took ACT), but I get the sense it’s different now. Just wondering as I have a sophomore but college stuff still seems very remote.

You and your teen need to get in gear. Sophomore and junior year are the big AP years. Both are test prep years (you can skip junior year prep if testing fall junior year goes well). Junior year should be all of your college visits, so your teen should be researching now, and planning several groups of schools based on different ranges of scores.

[Anonymous]

My kids were only able to take one AP sophomore year.

The big AP years are 11th and 12th grade.
The goal is for your kid to take as challenging a courseload as they can handle. But don't overdo it if your kid is not up to the challenge.

Also, don't stress about college visits. As one who has two kids who've been through it or are going through it, there are different schools of thought. Some think you must.visit.every.college on the list starting in 10th grade. Another might think visit a few, look at the college website and visit them after your kid gets accepted and then decide.
There is value in the in-person visits. Go to at least 2.