So here is my question - do kids need perfect scores to get National Merit recognition? DD13, while a DYS'er, just isn't wired to jump through the hoops to get to perfection on a test. DD14, our overachieving girl, does not need the pressure to get that perfect score.[/quote]
This is why I’d think very carefully about planning any intensive prep for the PSAT. It does come down to whether the kids makes a couple mistakes, jIMHO. Of course, there are a lot of variables. If you live in a high cutoff state or are international, there is even less margin for error.
And then it also depends on the college board- this recent sitting of the PSAT had some controversy. There is an alternate test date, so there are actually two forms of the exam given. Apparently the alternate test was ridiculously easy, so the resulting curve was brutal, meaning that missing one or two questions was enough to really tank the total score; you can read more about it on the compass prep site (there is an informative blog there by someone named Art Sawyer)-
Compassprep.com
Personally, our kids would not have tolerated prep for this, and I would not have pushed it at all, but that is easy for me to say, when we were not looking at schools which provide NMF scholarships. As far as college admissions, I truly believe that they care more about actual SAT scores- perhaps they agree that placing so much weight on one exam, and not a particularly challenging one, is kind of silly. I guess the main benefit we saw was lots of targeted college junk mail, if you consider that a benefit.
