Sign up for PSAT

[charlotteb]

Do we need to be signing up our kids for the October PSAT now?? Or when? My daughter has taken the SAT a few times already but will be in 11th grade next year so needs her PSAT. I'm pretty confident she will qualify for National Merit Scholarship so I wanna make sure we do it right. Also, we have to contact a school to sign up, right? Can't sign up online?

[regentrude]

Ask the school. Most schools will be closed now for the summer, so there would be no way to sign up.

 

Our school starts sign up a month before.

Edited June 21, 2016 by regentrude

[Pistachio mom]

You might be able to sign up with a private school that does a secretary still answering the phone. I signed my dd up in March to be added to this school's list. I was on a webinar today from Lee Binz. She said May or Sept to sign up for this year. You might be able to check the college board website.

[Lori D.]

You can only sign up for the PSAT with a local school -- no online set-up. If no one is in the offices of the high schools near you right now, call the week before the high school starts (as staff is back in the office at that time). Make sure you go down and pay AND get a receipt to guarantee your student's spot. And call again in mid-September, to verify.

 

Here's the College Board info on PSAT, and practice tests (last year the PSAT was revised to match the new SAT).

Here is the PSAT info specifically for homeschoolers.

Here are the PSAT homeschool codes -- have your student use your state's code so that your test results are sent directly to YOU and NOT to the school at which you test.

Here is the PSAT test day info checklist.

 

Having your student take the PSAT in 11th grade is THE year to do it, to count towards possible NM scholarship $$. Good luck! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

[creekland]

Our school doesn't do PSAT sign ups until Sept.  If you're unsure about your school, I'd be calling to see what their policy is.  Guidance people should still be working through the summer (kids still transfer in/out and need things), but in our school they're not open on Fridays in the summer, so I'd recommend trying M-Th.

 

Some schools don't allow homeschoolers, so that would be good to know early.  If you run into that problem, try private schools.  My guy had to take AP tests at a nearby Catholic high school.

 

It'd be really nice if there were online sign ups!

[4arrows]

I called the local ps guidance counselor, and he told me to contact him in August for the sign up.  I don't know if that is normal, or just how this school district does it.

[Shelly in the Country]

I called our local high school in May just before they let out for the year.  The guidance counselor told me she would put my dd's name on a list of students taking it in October.  She told me she would get a study guide to me a few weeks prior to the test and to call back if I don't hear from her about it.  This is the second time I've signed my dd up for the PSAT at this school.