Is Your Child Taking the PSAT?

Some helpful hints from the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy:


Comments

https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/psat-nmsqt-psat-10/scholarships-and-recognition/recognition-programs

You can also find a pdf of the NMSC PSAT guide online. The 3 most important questions to answer for NMSF are: 1) Are you enrolled as a high school student? 2) When will you complete or leave high school and enroll full time in college? and 3) How many total years will you spend in 9-12?

For students taking the test this fall, they would need to plan on a 2021 graduation and 2021 college enrollment in order to qualify for NMSF (and get qualifying scores). If you find the personal info is incorrect on your student's test results page (should be handed out at school), you can call the NMSC and get it corrected.

Students outside of the US will be asked, "Are you a Citizen of the United States?" *Note that starting with last year's test administration, they removed the citizenship question for students taking the test in the US (pretty significant change).

HS parent

10/11/19, 8:37 AM
@HS Parent Thank you for your post. So that means that current 10th graders are not considered, but 11th graders would be for the scholarship? Do they usually take the test both years or one year? To be clear, it also sounds like if you opt out of sharing the personal information listed in the PSAT/SAT/ACT thread, a student who opts out of sharing personal information would still be considered?

Parent
@HS Parent- Thanks for the info. Regarding the main points you listed for the PSAT and NMS, do full-time RS students qualify? I assume so, since they're still officially high school students, but since they're taking all their courses at a college, I wanted to clarify.

Thanks,

-Seattle parent

10/11/19, 10:50 AM
Editor's note: the comments above are from the people at the end of the comment; I moved these from an Open Thread.
Anonymous said…
Taking the PSAT as a sophomore is good practice for both the SAT and the junior year PSAT (which is the one that counts for NMSF and other academic recognition). The exception might be a sophomore who intends to graduate at the end of 11th grade, such as an IBX student, in which case I think the sophomore year PSAT might count for NMSF consideration (I'd read the NMSC/College Board info for those on a different timeline). Students should be able to pick up a paper copy of the PSAT student handbook from the counselor's office. It includes some practice questions and explains more about the NMSC. Running Start students are considered enrolled at their home schools, and yes, they still qualify as far as I know.

If your child wants to be considered for NMSF, they need to answer the 3 questions about graduation year, etc. And from the link above, race and ethnicity for consideration of additional recognition and scholarships:

Starting in fall 2019, if you take the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) and you're African American, Hispanic American or Latinx, Indigenous, attend school in a rural area, or are from a small town, you may be invited to apply for academic recognition as part of the College Board National Recognition Programs.

The College Board National Recognition Programs are academic honors that can be included on college applications. They're not scholarships, but colleges use them to identify academically exceptional students.

We are working with four of our College Board strategic partners to distribute the honors. These partners are:

African American Recognition–Jackie Robinson Foundation
Hispanic Recognition–Hispanic Scholarship Fund
Indigenous Recognition–Indigenous Education, Inc.
Rural and Small Town Recognition–Jack Kent Cooke Foundation


You need to identify as African American, Hispanic American or Latinx, or Native American, Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian on the PSAT/NMSQT answer sheet where it asks for race and ethnicity.

It also helps to put a preferred major, if known, to get more targeted mail. I'd talk to your child about how much you want them to share regarding family info. In hindsight, one thing our child wished they had done - create an email address just for sharing with colleges.

HS parent
(who is not an authority by any means, trust but verify info above)

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