Is there any benefit to taking the PSAT early?

[Dmmetler]

My cover school is offering the PSAT for 9th-11th graders locally, and apparently is having much less response than they expected, since I'm getting an e-mail almost daily encouraging high school students to sign up, people to tell their friends who aren't enrolled in that specific cover school, etc. I'm guessing they paid for X copies of the test and are now worried about paying for them.

 

I'm wondering-would there be any real benefit to having DD8 take the PSAT this year? She did the EXPLORE last year, and is qualified for anything she'd want to do for this year, so while I'd planned to have her take it again instead of a grade level test so we had one on file, she doesn't need to. I'm guessing that if I called them and asked to register her, they'd be willing to let her do it.

 

[regentrude]

I can't see any benefit for your 8 y/o to take the PSAT now.

I see a benefit for high schoolers taking it in 9th and 10th as practice for the "real" thing, but since it does not count for anything, I would not bother.

 

[momma2three]

I would wonder if an 8 year old has the attention span to sit that long reading dull, vocabulary-rich questions and filling in bubbles.  Isn't it like 4 sections of 30 minutes each?  I know it's a 2 year difference, but I can't imagine my 6yo being able to do that in 2 years, and she has a pretty good attention span.  I don't think that there's any value in her taking it, and I think that it could be really distracting for other students if she gets bored and starts fidgeting around, asking to get up, and so on.

[Dmmetler]

She did exactly that for the EXPLORE last year, and some of her math competitions are that long as well (and do NOT have subsections and breaks in between), so I'm not worried about attention span. In general, if the content is hard enough, she's not going to be fidgeting around. It's when material is too easy that she has trouble concentrating and starts acting up. I'd be a lot more worried about her being a distraction if we gave her a 4th grade test than on a high school one.

 

But if it's not going to give us useful information, or be helpful for programs, I don't think it's worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

I'm for only doing the PSAT junior year, just to go for the Nat. Merit $$. I don't even prep kids for it any more, since it makes more sense to prep for the SAT and use that same training for the PSAT.

[merylvdm]

The format of the SAT is changing next year - don't think I have heard how it will affect the PSAT but regardless of whether or not it will change, taking the PSAT this year won't even show you what areas to work on. And it is such a long way off before she would write it for real I would rather spend the money on a good brain teaser book (or whatever she enjoys doing).

[Dana]

I'm for only doing the PSAT junior year, just to go for the Nat. Merit $$. I don't even prep kids for it any more, since it makes more sense to prep for the SAT and use that same training for the PSAT.

 

I'll probably have ds do the PSAT in sophomore year as well - mainly to be sure that I'm comfortable with the school administering the test correctly for a homeschooler!!