Couple of questions, Test related

[Vida Winter]

I need to know a couple of simple things. I have a student going into 9th in the fall. I think I've been in denial about high school. I think this would be simpler if we lived in a city, but we moved to a very rural area a few years ago and things are different.

 

1) Do I need to arrange with the local high school to get my student to take the PSAT/SAT/ACT? Way back when I took the SAT, once, on a college campus. We live about 1.5 hours away from the closest college, although there is a "satellite" community college that has an office nearby (not a campus).

 

2) What year is the PSAT/SAT/ACT taken in?

 

PSAT - 9th?

SAT/ACT - 11th? (and possibly earlier?)

[Susan A.]

I'm wading through this myself, and we too, live in the sticks! I can only speak to the ACT, but we registered online and were able to pick our local high school as a test site without a problem. My dd is in 10th and taking it for practice (today!). She will take it at least once more as she has not had Algebra 2 and will do much better on the math portion after that.

 

She will take the PSAT this fall, but we have not registered for that yet. She should be able to take it at the local school as well. I did not think about it in time, but she could have taken the PSAT last fall for practice.

[Quiver0f10]

Your student can take the psat, SAT and ACT anytime, but the PSAT counts for the merit scholarship in 11th ( I think lol)

 

You will need to call your local high school to register for the PSAT, but for the ACT and SAT you register online and they will give you a list of available schools that are offering the test.

 

If your town has private schools, they might be test sites and you can register via act/sat web site for those sites.

 

If you are thinking of AP, you will need to call the collegeboard(where you register for SAT) and get your local AP cooridinators contact information.

[Vida Winter]

Thank you!

 

I forgot about private schools. D-oh! That is where we are doing our standardized testing this summer. Of course they probably are a test site for the other tests, and they are only about a half hour away.

 

(I'm a little wary about doing anything at all with the PS here.)

[Halftime Hope]

I need to know a couple of simple things. I have a student going into 9th in the fall. I think I've been in denial about high school. I think this would be simpler if we lived in a city, but we moved to a very rural area a few years ago and things are different.

 

1) Do I need to arrange with the local high school to get my student to take the PSAT/SAT/ACT? Way back when I took the SAT, once, on a college campus. We live about 1.5 hours away from the closest college, although there is a "satellite" community college that has an office nearby (not a campus).

 

2) What year is the PSAT/SAT/ACT taken in?

 

PSAT - 9th?

SAT/ACT - 11th? (and possibly earlier?)

 

You mentioned having a nearby private school. That will work well for the PSAT and any APs that you might end up taking, but you must take the SAT at one of the national testing centers. (The CollegeBoard has the list on their website.) Even if the private school is administering the SAT to their students, your student will not be able to take it with them, unless they are registered as a national test center. (I found this out the hard way. :glare: ) I can't remember what the ACT rules are.

 

I'd find out on one of the early tests, like the PSAT, which doesn't count for anything before 11th grade, whether the local high school is 1) easy to work with and glad to have you, and 2) administers the tests in such a way that is beneficial to the students. (Test day horror stories abound.)

 

If the situation on the local test options is not good, then by all means, register at the university or college that is 1.5 hours away, and if you can, make an "outing" of it. We've found the local colleges to be a wonderful place to take the tests, because no one who is taking it there is on "home turf" so there is no "Us vs. Them," just people getting about their business.

[Vida Winter]

You mentioned having a nearby private school. That will work well for the PSAT and any APs that you might end up taking, but you must take the SAT at one of the national testing centers. (The CollegeBoard has the list on their website.) Even if the private school is administering the SAT to their students, your student will not be able to take it with them, unless they are registered as a national test center. (I found this out the hard way. :glare: ) I can't remember what the ACT rules are.

 

I'd find out on one of the early tests, like the PSAT, which doesn't count for anything before 11th grade, whether the local high school is 1) easy to work with and glad to have you, and 2) administers the tests in such a way that is beneficial to the students. (Test day horror stories abound.)

 

If the situation on the local test options is not good, then by all means, register at the university or college that is 1.5 hours away, and if you can, make an "outing" of it. We've found the local colleges to be a wonderful place to take the tests, because no one who is taking it there is on "home turf" so there is no "Us vs. Them," just people getting about their business.

 

Thank you so much. This is valuable information.

[Kareni]

Bear in mind, too, that the PSAT is offered only once each year in the fall.

 

Regards,

Kareni