Jen the RD Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 My 9th grade dd took the test today, and thought it was easier than she expected. She said she finished one section completely, and almost all of the others. She thought the vocab section was the toughest. Thanks to all of the previous posts, I'd obtained the homeschool code for our state and had her memorize it. Good thing....she was the only homeschooler in her room and the proctor didn't have any idea what the code was. No problem for dd, she just told the proctor she knew it, and the lady seemed relieved. Overall, this was a really positive experience for dd. Even she was glad we used this year as a "trial run" for these types of standardized tests. Plus, she can't wait to start getting mail from colleges! Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalypso Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 My dd took it this morning and felt like it was easier then she thought it would be. I have no idea what to expect score wise. She finished all the sections. I guess we'll see. I don't expect her to be a NMSF. I guess even more college info will begin rolling in because she put her address and email on the score sheet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Thanks to all of the previous posts, I'd obtained the homeschool code for our state and had her memorize it. Good thing....she was the only homeschooler in her room and the proctor didn't have any idea what the code was. No problem for dd, she just told the proctor she knew it, and the lady seemed relieved. My son was one of two homeschoolers in his room, and the proctor wrote the code on the board. (Since he has a paranoid mother, my son had committed it to memory anyway :) ) I helped check kids in (the career-center lady who organizes the PSAT at our local ps is wonderful, very welcoming to homeschoolers, and always needs helpers, so I like to help out when I can). They tested something like 294 kids (the capacity for the building); 6 kids had to test at a nearby high school. Not bad for a school with about 500 kids per grade, but I'm sure the high schools in nearby towns (higher academic level) tested many more than that ... I barely saw my son afterward (a well-earned sleepover this evening! and a birthday party during the afternoon), but he did say it didn't seem that hard. He asked when we'll get the scores, and was bummed to hear it won't be until December! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugs Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 He said it took a long time for the other students to write the sentence in cursive. The proctor asked and the students said that they never had to write in cursive. Both my kids (each took the test on a different day at different school districts) commented that most of the students couldn't write in cursive. They were appalled - and grateful their mom taught them ;). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 He's a man of few words so I didn't get much out of him: Me - Do you think you did well in some parts and not others? Him - Yup. Me- Which parts did you do well in? Him - I don't know? ...sigh. Yeah, thats about what i got. boys. :lol: OK, I feel better :) 15yo boy here, also a man of few words ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted October 21, 2012 Author Share Posted October 21, 2012 Both my kids (each took the test on a different day at different school districts) commented that most of the students couldn't write in cursive. They were appalled - and grateful their mom taught them ;). I wrote it on the board in my room. Many of the kids copied it as if they were copying a work of art. It definitely took a while for some of them to complete it. I had been warned ahead of time that this would happen by some of the proctors who also have recently done the SAT. On another note - glad to hear the Saturday testers generally fared well! Hopefully there will be a gathering of nice scores in Dec! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4wildberrys Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Both my kids (each took the test on a different day at different school districts) commented that most of the students couldn't write in cursive. They were appalled - and grateful their mom taught them ;). I asked my son about the cursive yesterday, and he said the same thing----he is appalled that most of the kids could not write in cursive either!! He writes in cursive every day of school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 I asked my son about the cursive yesterday, and he said the same thing----he is appalled that most of the kids could not write in cursive either!! He writes in cursive every day of school. When my kids took the SAT last spring, I had to sit them down for practice on cursive. They were taught, but since I require essays and paragraphs to be typed, they don't have much practice. (So it wasn't just the ps students who looked at this as something beyond the norm.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in MA Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 When my kids took the SAT last spring, I had to sit them down for practice on cursive. They were taught, but since I require essays and paragraphs to be typed, they don't have much practice. (So it wasn't just the ps students who looked at this as something beyond the norm.) This was my son as well. He learned cursive, but he just doesn't use it often, so he was a bit rusty. He said that the PSAT on Saturday seemed harder than the practice test in the booklet and also the Oct 6th SAT, which he also took. At least this round of testing is over. Now we wait for the scores... Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbmamaz Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 I asked my son about the cursive - he went to public school through 7th grade, but did not remember his cursive. we did some review over the summer at his request. But for the PSAT, he didnt realize it was supposed to be in cursive. :confused: this doesnt bode well for the results, does it :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 I asked my son about the cursive - he went to public school through 7th grade, but did not remember his cursive. we did some review over the summer at his request. But for the PSAT, he didnt realize it was supposed to be in cursive. :confused: this doesnt bode well for the results, does it :tongue_smilie: I asked my sons about the cursive thing. Imagine that! I had no idea that they had to write a statement in cursive :001_huh: Anyway, ds#4 said his proctor said it didn't matter how they wrote it :glare: He informed me that he had NEVER written in cursive and he always got his scores without issue. Since the statement isn't really a test part, I don't see that it will affect the results. Apparently it hasn't affected my very self-assured youngest son. My third son informed his brother that he, indeed, writes the statement in cursive :tongue_smilie: Oh, and Ds#4 also does not write the essay for the SAT in cursive - I've never seen him lose points for that. Makes one wonder???? I can guarantee that both boys have problems with cursive since they do all compositions and communication via computer/email. The only things they write anymore are thank-you notes and class notes. It's a different era. I wonder why CollegeBoard requires them to re-write a statement...that just seems silly (but they probably have a good reason). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted October 22, 2012 Author Share Posted October 22, 2012 I asked my sons about the cursive thing. Imagine that! I had no idea that they had to write a statement in cursive :001_huh: Anyway, ds#4 said his proctor said it didn't matter how they wrote it :glare: He informed me that he had NEVER written in cursive and he always got his scores without issue. Since the statement isn't really a test part, I don't see that it will affect the results. Apparently it hasn't affected my very self-assured youngest son. My third son informed his brother that he, indeed, writes the statement in cursive :tongue_smilie: Oh, and Ds#4 also does not write the essay for the SAT in cursive - I've never seen him lose points for that. Makes one wonder???? I can guarantee that both boys have problems with cursive since they do all compositions and communication via computer/email. The only things they write anymore are thank-you notes and class notes. It's a different era. I wonder why CollegeBoard requires them to re-write a statement...that just seems silly (but they probably have a good reason). This is the first year they've had to write the statement for the PSAT and it's because too many kids were sharing problems online even though their directions told them they couldn't. CB couldn't argue against ignorance ("we didn't know/weren't told...). Now that they need to write the statement themselves, and sign it, they are without excuse if caught. Their scores can be disallowed. They also require it for the SAT now, but it wasn't that way before. Before they just needed to sign their name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I think it has two purposes it gives them a sample To compare across tests for possible cheating. And it makes the student take a good long look at the pledge they are signing if they have to copy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 My dd was testing with homeschoolers only and she said a number of kids had problems with the cursive. She didn't because she is dyslexic and actually finds cursive easier to use than printing. All her papers are typed and have been for years but she still uses cursive in church while listening to the sermon. She also uses it in math when she needs to write something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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