What if my school isn’t offering the PSAT for 9th and 10th graders?
We received a great question from a parent today, because their school district no longer offers the PSAT to 9th and 10th graders. Her question was essentially “is there another way for my child to take it this year, and is that a benefit?”
Ultimately this all comes down to a judgement call as to the potential tradeoffs for your kid - some would really benefit from a more real practice test at an actual high school; others would only mildly benefit, and it takes away real educational time (as many PSATs are now offered during the school day). Below I’ve laid out the primary benefits I see to taking the PSAT as a 9th or 10th grader, and what you can do to make up for those benefits if you’re in one of the impacted schools not offering the PSAT to 9th and 10th graders.
The primary benefits of taking it
"Real" practice with the test + an actual score to see where your child is is, especially when it comes to any potential timing issues (when there's still time to do something about it).
Getting onto the college marketing lists.
The options you have
Try to register as an "away" student for a school offering the PSAT10. You can find them here at Test Ordering Public Search, but then you also have to search by high school on their websites to see if they'd allow students to take it as a sophomore, because this list only shows if the PSAT is offered at all. One school I just looked up, Mt. Carmel, does allow 9th and 10th graders to take it.
Have your child take a mock test to see where he/she currently stands and separately register for the college search, if you are even interested in registering him/her for that before their AP's or official Junior Year PSAT/SAT.
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