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What if you skip the PSAT? Will it hurt you in anyway?


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I don't know if I should take the PSAT, I have taken practice tests and I am not doing well at all, I won't be able to make the NMF, and I am really disappointed in myself. It's just the PSAT and SAT are just so hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:angry:

 

I broke down crying last week because I failed yet again on another practice test. I have been prepping and prepping and time after time I just can't do it. Flash foward to yesterday, I took an ACT pracitice test and I passed with flying colors!!!:001_smile::D I was so happy and so relieved to find out that I was good at one test and knew if I studied some more I could get a good score and possibly qualify for some good scholarships. But I am not sure if skipping the PSAT is such a good idea, while some people tell me it's okay, just focus on the ACT because of how well I do on it.

 

I was feeling really stupid until yesterday after my good grade on the ACT, I felt like I wasn't stupid anymore! My close friend didn't take the PSAT or SAT, she skipped them both. She put all her time and energy into the ACT and came out with a score of 32, and qualified for excellent scholarhips and grants and got a full ride to college. (She also had a good GPA too, so that helped.)

 

Is it okay if I skip it? Just thinking about the PSAT makes me want to cry and I shut down under too much pressure...:gnorsi:

 

I am really worried about this!

Edited by LuvingLife
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The PSAT is good practice for the SAT, but if you are not likely to qualify as a merit scholar, there is no disadvantge long term to not taking it. Some people do better on one test (SAT vs. ACT) than the other. If you are not taking the PSAT, I would definitely sign up for the ACT instead this fall. It's good to take any of the tests a few times unless you nail it the first time with a score you want.

 

With the SAT, many schools will take the best of your scores in each of the three subtests (your best math score, reading score, and writing score) and count that as your "score." This is called superscoring. I don't know if schools do that with the ACT or not.

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I was feeling really stupid until yesterday after my good grade on the ACT, I felt like I wasn't stupid anymore!

 

You are not stupid just because you can't do well on the PSAT. Many brilliant students do not necessarily do well on said test.

 

Do not allow that to get you down. Especially, if you are doing well on the ACT. :grouphug: You will persevere!

 

If you really think you won't have a chance at National Merit, your time may be better spent elsewhere. The only advantage of PSAT is prep for SAT (for that you can just take the SAT itself) and for the purpose of National Merit. Your disadvantage is if you think you might have a chance and you don't take it.

 

Blessings.

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:grouphug: Sweetie, dd didn't take the PSAT and she's pretty doggone successful here and she received big scholarships!

 

The closest PSAT testing location was two hours away and the line was so long it was recommended that you not be there any later than 1.5 hrs. in advance of the testing start time. She would have been up at 4:00 in the morning, the long drive, etc. it didn't bode well for getting a high score so we didn't bother. Also, the colleges dd was looking at were pretty SAT hating - there had been another scoring scandal recently and nearly every school she was going to apply to was Mid-west which means they prefer the ACT anyway. So, it all added up to just taking the ACT a couple of times.

 

Don't stress out. It's the stress approaching those practice tests that's derailing you and you don't need the PSAT if studying for it is doing this to you. If you are doing well with the ACT, focus on that. There are big scholarships for good scores on the ACT and then apply mostly to colleges that accept either equally or prefer the ACT!

 

Cheer up, okay!

 

Faith

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Nope.

 

Take the ACT. Plan to only take it once. But do it early in case your score isn't as high as you think you can get. If the score's not high enough to get the top scholarships, and if you're close to that mark, then study and take it again. Most schools don't care one way or the other whether you did ACT or SAT. They just look at the percentiles and compare that way.

 

My younger kid is in the same predicament as you right now -- probably won't score in the 99th percentile on the PSAT and does much better on the ACT practice tests. She'll probably skip the PSAT.

 

Even if you were scoring high enough to qualify for the NM scholarship program, I kind of have my doubts that it's all it's cracked up to be. Yes, a lot of colleges give out special NM scholarships, but if you really look at what they give to a lot of different kids (with and without NM status) it seems that it's pretty much what they'll give to a kid with a high ACT or SAT score.

 

The only exception that I've seen in this regard may be the big state universities. Some of them do seem more impressed with the NM status and will hand out money just for that purpose that don't seem matched for high scores on ACT or SAT otherwise.

 

There are some scholarships that the NM corporation gives out, but they really aren't all that much money, in the big picture, and a lot of colleges will (surreptitiously or otherwise) adjust the merit award for various students based on that scholarship money. So if you apply with a high ACT score, you'll get just as much money as a NM scholar.

 

My daughter missed the cut off for NM in our state by a point (if only I'd advised her to go take it in another state!). But she still got the top scholarship awards at the 2 colleges she bothered to apply to -- the same scholarships the schools were advertising for their NM applicants. And both schools have an accounting policy where they "adjust" the college aid to account for any outside scholarships the student may have won otherwise. So it was not as if she would have had that extra spending money for books or the dorm if she had managed to get a NM scholarship.

 

The only free ride scholarships at these colleges required more interviews and tests. Those were not automatic for NM scholars.

 

I do recall (as an NM scholar myself) getting full ride offers from several colleges -- but none of them were colleges I ever wanted to go to. And I wasn't really all that picky. It was obvious they were just trying to increase their SAT average by pulling people like me in.

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I say skip it!! It's not worth the stress. If you were aiming for the NM Scholarship then that would be different. If not, then why stress out? You should be proud of yourself for all the work you're doing. I think it's amazing that you are so in charge of your own homeschooling and really focused on your future. I am super impressed with you already!!

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Oops misread your post... so I'm editing...

 

If your scores are really far off the PSAT mark then yes, I think you can skip it. However, if you haven't taken group standardized tests in a school yet, it may be a helpful experience. It is low cost and you don't need to show the scores to anyone. Some homeschool students find it is quite a transition to take a standardized test in a school classroom - so much stuff on the walls, so many other students close by, etc. If you think it would be good for that experience it would be an easy way to get that done.

 

It is great that the ACT looks to be a better test for you!

Edited by Barbara H
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You are not stupid just because you can't do well on the PSAT. Many brilliant students do not necessarily do well on said test.

 

Do not allow that to get you down. Especially, if you are doing well on the ACT. :grouphug: You will persevere!

 

If you really think you won't have a chance at National Merit, your time may be better spent elsewhere. The only advantage of PSAT is prep for SAT (for that you can just take the SAT itself) and for the purpose of National Merit. Your disadvantage is if you think you might have a chance and you don't take it.

 

Blessings.

 

:iagree:Not everyone is a good test taker. Also, some people aren't good with PSAT or SAT. Honestly, if you do well with the ACT, use that test score. Many use the test score that they do better with.

 

My eldest one is a good PSAT taker (in most states she'd have been NMF based on her sophomore score), but my middle one doesn't do nearly as well with standardized tests in general, and my middle one isn't stupid or less smart. My eldest one has always tended to test well as she seems to be a natural at it, yet she doesn't write better than her sister when it comes to essays & you compare ages (but she does spell a lot better--not related to smart/stupid, either, just different types of learners.)

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Thank you all for your encouragement, I feel better now and I am not nearly so worried about it. I just always thought I had to take the PSAT and get score to get to college. The stress of test taking, getting into a good college/university, moving, getting good grades in high school, and the normal teenage stuff has really taken a toll on me. And the PSAT just put me over the edge and everything else just came crashing down.

 

I am very glad that I don't have to take the PSAT, I don't EVER want to see it again;). The ACT fits me very well, and I feel like I will be able to score very high. I also have a lot of test anxiety (can you tell?:D), I just get myself worked up over nothing and come out with a good score.

 

Your encouragement has really helped me out, and I am so thankful for it!

 

Cheyenne:)

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Never took the PSAT or the SAT. I took the ACT and did well enough to get scholarships. I think there is enough to worry about in life already, don't you?;)

Hang in there!:grouphug:

 

:iagree: with you 100%!!!!! Thank you so much for your encouragement, and I will now be focusing only on the ACT. Thank you all again!

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