Caitlin Blackmon | staff writer
The time of year where students anxiously await their PSAT scores has arrived. Students, parents, and counselors alike are anticipating the day test scores will be released. This is a time of stress and excitement for many; consuming a great deal of some individuals’ thoughts.
“College Board has told us that if they listed their email, they will be receiving an email directly from College Board in mid-December, and then they can access their score reports online. They say that they’ll be mailing the paper score reports to schools in January,” counselor Courtney Tarbox said.
There are many questions concerning these scores, especially since the PSAT was redesigned this year to correspond with the redesigned SAT. Despite confusion amongst many, College Board has come up with ways to put many common questions to rest.
“At our parent meeting, we will be reviewing the new, redesigned PSAT, and we will be going through College Board resources. So we will go step-by-step through a sample score report,” Tarbox said. “We’ll help to hopefully give parents and students a better understanding of what their scores will be like and what they mean.”
College Board has also collaborated with Khan Academy to introduce a new test review that allows students to utilize a personalized test prep based on their test scores.
“Something new is that [College Board has] a partnership with Khan Academy, so students, with their score report, if they link their College Board with Khan Academy, get personalized prep. And so they’ll have practice tests specifically targeting questions or areas that they may have been weak in.”
The PSAT is designed to help students prepare for the type of material they will see on the SAT, so it can be of some guidance when it comes to taking the exam.
“It’s one tool. That’s really what the PSAT is intended to do. It’s intended to be a practice and a tool to help students identify areas that maybe they were strong in, and then also areas that maybe they were strong in,” Tarbox said.
The National Merit Scholar is highly regarded by many and a student receiving that recognition is informed at the beginning of his senior year.
“We typically find out at the beginning of student’s senior year. So for this group it would be late September of 2016. Students who qualify for the National Merit Scholar Recognition would be notified,” Tarbox said.
*Collegeboard.org has since updated their site to say that PSAT scores would be available on January 7, 2016.
