Both of my twins took the PSAT this year as high school juniors, so I was doubly confused about the delay in seeing their scores and the challenges in accessing them once they were finally online last week. And apparently so were other parents whose teens took the revamped PSAT on Oct. 14.
Credit: Maureen Downey
Credit: Maureen Downey
The scores were supposed to be out in December,
While some students could see their scores last week at the College Board site, some high school counselors experienced problems, including at my local high school.
The Washington Post reports: Sandra Riley, vice president for communications at the College Board, said a new online scoring system created to accommodate scoring reports for the newly designed SAT, which is launching this coming spring, is to blame. She said that initial testing did not reveal "large-scale issues" but a series of "small issues" that are being fixed as they present themselves.
Given nationwide in October to high school juniors during the school day, the PSAT is a practice for the SAT and also the qualifying exam for National Merit Scholarships. The test scores help counselors advise 11th graders on whether to focus on SAT or ACT prep. And some kids use the PSAT score report to figure out their weaknesses.
High school juniors this year took a new PSAT, which reflects the overhauled SAT making its debut in March. Along with format changes, the PSAT also had new scoring. The top score on the PSAT is not 800, as it is on the SAT, but 760. That will lower the score needed to quality for National Merit, which is announced in September.
Online forums are buzzing with questions from high school juniors and their parents trying to make sense of the new scores. And the PSAT hotline at the College Board was swamped last week.
When I tried to call the College Board PSAT line Thursday and Friday, I kept getting messages there were too many calls and to try later. All told, it took me about three hours to get through between the repeated calls, the waits once I got through, the occasional disconnects and the callback when the fix did not work. My children had the problem of having more than one account with the College Board, in part because their school emails changed over the last year.
A counselor sent me this note:
Yes, some students may be able to log in and see, but the College Board is having issues on their end getting everything done. If a student logs in and sees nothing, they may need to wait. Here is additional info from the College Board.
The Post story quotes high school counselors upset with the delays in the PSAT score release. One said, "...it is frustrating our juniors who wanted to use their PSAT results for a more focused SAT prep over our winter break. The students lose out.”
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