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Is it better to use the homeschool or school code for the PSAT?


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I seem to remember some discussion on this last year, but can't find the thread.

 

I remember some people saying that homeschoolers' scores are compared to each other (in the region), whereas using the public school's score would compare my ds to others in that school. (Meaning, colleges might look more favorably upon a good score among the psers vs. a good score amongst homeschoolers.)

 

Is that true? It may be beneficial to do this, because our local public schools aren't...great. Has anyone spoken to college admissions officers about this? Or maybe have some personal experience?

 

Thanks!

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PSAT scores are not reported to colleges. They are used for the National Merit program and all students in a state are compared. They don't distinguish between homeschool and public school kids. They look at the scores in each state and figure out the selection index (sum of reading, writing, and math scores) they need to get the right percentage of semifinalists.

 

If your child participates in the student search service, colleges get something about their performance, but it's for marketing purposes. Even students with mediocre scores get tons of junkmail this way, so I don't think it really means anything.

 

You need to use the homeschool code so the scores will come to you and not to the school. The public school kids don't get their scores in the mail -- they are handed out at school.

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PSAT scores are not reported to colleges. They are used for the National Merit program and all students in a state are compared. They don't distinguish between homeschool and public school kids. They look at the scores in each state and figure out the selection index (sum of reading, writing, and math scores) they need to get the right percentage of semifinalists.

 

If your child participates in the student search service, colleges get something about their performance, but it's for marketing purposes. Even students with mediocre scores get tons of junkmail this way, so I don't think it really means anything.

 

You need to use the homeschool code so the scores will come to you and not to the school. The public school kids don't get their scores in the mail -- they are handed out at school.

 

I understand about how National Merit works, and the method of receipt of the results.

 

DS took the PSAT as a freshman last year (homeschool code) and we've been getting a LOT of mail from colleges. He'd scored pretty well, so I assumed that his scores was high enough that colleges were interested enough to send mail. (Though they're probably ALWAYS interested enough to send mail. LOL! :lol:)

 

But if colleges aren't given an indication of how well the students do, then there's no worries about which code to use.

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But if colleges aren't given an indication of how well the students do, then there's no worries about which code to use.

 

Not true. If you use the school's code, the results will go to the school and then you may never see them again. This happened to my oldest. She knew to use the homeschool code, but whoever double checked the forms noticed and erased it, adding the school code in its place. I'm sure the person thought she made a mistake because the homeschool code sort of looks like a made-up code, but it caused us much hassle. It took weeks to get the school to return a call. Then it took a few more weeks to find the score report. Then even longer to finally have it sent to us. Results usually come out around the first week of December and she didn't get her score report until the end of March. What a pain!

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Not true. If you use the school's code, the results will go to the school and then you may never see them again. This happened to my oldest. She knew to use the homeschool code, but whoever double checked the forms noticed and erased it, adding the school code in its place. I'm sure the person thought she made a mistake because the homeschool code sort of looks like a made-up code, but it caused us much hassle. It took weeks to get the school to return a call. Then it took a few more weeks to find the score report. Then even longer to finally have it sent to us. Results usually come out around the first week of December and she didn't get her score report until the end of March. What a pain!

 

I'm sorry. I was unclear. I meant that it didn't matter which code I used for the sake of the comparison of scores. (My original question.)

 

We used the homeschool code last year and scores were sent directly to us. We're on very good terms with the ps registar (small town), and if it was necessary to use the ps code I'm not worried about him losing our score or not returning calls.

 

I'm comfortable with either option. I did want to know if the student scores were compared to each other, though.

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I'm sorry. I was unclear. I meant that it didn't matter which code I used for the sake of the comparison of scores. (My original question.)

 

We used the homeschool code last year and scores were sent directly to us. We're on very good terms with the ps registar (small town), and if it was necessary to use the ps code I'm not worried about him losing our score or not returning calls.

 

I'm comfortable with either option. I did want to know if the student scores were compared to each other, though.

 

Duh-oh :D

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