Tag Archives: PSAT
Making the Most of Winter Break
While sleeping in, video games and Facebook maybe calling over the Winter Break, there is still plenty of time for college bound students to do something productive toward their college goals. FRESHMAN Have you put together a resume? If not, start now! It doesn’t have to be something fancy or even well formatted. Simply start a list of activities, honors and community service along with dates. This is something to build on throughout high school and will save you time three years from now when you’re completing college applications. Pulling your resume together will also help you see any holes … Continue reading
5 Questions to PSAT Prep Success
Coming from LEAP, where we pride ourselves on increased ACT and SAT scores of students in our program, it may sound counterintuitive that we advise most rising juniors not to prep for the PSAT. (This is not the advice we give for ACT and SAT prep!) See, most families who are questioning whether or not to prep for the PSAT are doing so with the National Merit Scholarship program in mind. The bar is high to qualify as a finalist, as we talked about in an earlier post on PSAT and National Merit basics. Essentially, finalists are the top 15,000 scorers from … Continue reading
How to Schedule “rigorous” High School Classes Colleges Want
Colleges will look closely at the level of rigor a student has in their schedule. What does ”rigor” really mean? Honestly, something different for each student. Rigorous courses are meant to challenge the student; colleges want to see that a student has appropriately challenged herself. Choosing rigor can start as early as eighth grade when many students have the opportunity to jump start high school by taking high school courses for credit. If a student is ready for that level of work, go for it! Keep in mind, grades earned in these courses will in most cases impact the high school GPA … Continue reading
How to use PSAT Results
Students took the test in October and finally, as we approach winter break, they’ll receive their PSAT scores. So now what? Juniors If you are a junior, learn from your score report. Analyze your results. What is your area of strength and weakness? Hone in on these as you enter ACT and/or SAT testing. Concentrate not only on improving areas of weakness, but highlighting your strengths. Compare to PLAN results. The PLAN is the little sister to the ACT; hopefully your school administered this valuable tool. Comparing PLAN and PSAT results by examining national percentile scores can give you an early … Continue reading
PSAT & National Merit Basics
Stephanie Meyer Twilight author, M. Night Shyamalan movie director, Jeffrey Bezos CEO of Amazon.com, JohnRoberts Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, Bill Gates former Microsoft Chairman, Ben Bernanke Chairman of the US Federal Reserve have one thing incommon. They were each National MeritScholarship winners chosen from a pool of 15,000 National Merit Finalists. How did they get there? Each October more than 1.5 million high school juniors enter the National Merit Scholarship race by taking the PSAT test through Collegeboard at their local high school. The PSAT doubles only in the junior year asthe National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test … Continue reading
