1. Penncrest High School Junior Parent Night 2014
2016

2. AGENDA Class of 2016 review Junior year calendar PSAT Discussion
SAT / ACT
AP Testing
Important Dates

3. Class of 2016

4. Penncrest Class of 2016 SAT Scores
Penncrest High School Junior Parent Night 2014
Penncrest Class of 2016 SAT Scores
Penncrest Class of 2016
Critical Reading – 525
Math
Writing – 517
Pennsylvania average SAT scores
Critical Reading – 500
Math – 506
Writing - 481
National – Critical reading Math Writing +4

5. Penncrest High School Junior Parent Night 2014
Setting a Target
School
Critical Reading
Mathematics
Writing
Grade Point Average
PSU
575
615
590
3.56
Temple
555
565
545
3.41
WCU
530
525
3.09
Pitt
630
645
610
3.51
Penn
720
735
3.91
This data is gleaned directly from the schools and represents average score and gpa ranges. Students are urged to carefully research college choices and to understand the importance of grade point average and test scores.
*** Junior year final grades are the last to appear on the transcript before applying to college the following fall.***

6. Junior Year Calendar PSAT / NMSQT October 19, 2016
Initiate college search: College fairs, Career Center, College Reps, Naviance, Collegeboard.com, etc.
Utilize POWR Days
Financial Aid Night: Took place September 20, 2016
Junior College and Career Planning Sessions: Conducted in September
Plan Junior Year Testing Schedule: SAT, ACT , AP
Prepare for the PSAT, Practice ACT, SAT, ACT, AP

7. PSAT
PSAT/NMSQT stands for Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
Approximately 3.3 million students took the PSAT/NMSQT: 46% were eleventh graders, 53% were tenth graders or younger students.

8. Benefits of taking the PSAT
Penncrest High School Junior Parent Night 2014
Benefits of taking the PSAT
The best preparation for the SAT
The entry point to compete for National Merit Scholarships
The opportunity to receive information from colleges and scholarship services.
Personalized feedback on critical reading, mathematics and writing skills to pinpoint areas for improvement and provide an early picture of college readiness.

9. PSAT/NMSQT
Approximately 16,000 high school seniors qualify for Semifinalist status based on their performance on the PSAT
Semifinalist status is selected from the top 1% of Selection Index Scores.
The Selection Index is the cumulative total of the three sub tests.

10. What does the PSAT assess?
Penncrest High School Junior Parent Night 2014
What does the PSAT assess?
Reading skills– Using content from: humanities, social studies, natural sciences and literature. All questions are multiple choice. Some passages are paired with other passages. Prior topic-specific questions are not tested.
Students will read contemporary literature
A U.S. founding document and a piece from global conversation. For example, the U.S. constitution or a speech by Nelson Mandela.
When you take the Reading Test, you’ll read passages and interpret informational graphics. Then you’ll use what you’ve read to answer questions.
Some questions ask you to locate a piece of information or an idea stated directly. But you’ll also need to understand what the author’s words imply. In other words, you have to read between the lines.

11. What does the PSAT Reading Test Measure?
Command of Evidence
Find evidence in a passage (or pair of passages) that best supports the answer to a previous question or serves as the basis for a reasonable conclusion.
Identify how authors use evidence to support their claims.
Find a relationship between an informational graphic and the passage it’s paired with.

12. What does the PSAT Reading Test Measure?
Words in Context
Many questions focus on important, widely used words and phrases that you’ll find in texts in many different subjects. The words are ones that you’ll use in college and the workplace long after test day.
The PSAT/NMSQT focus on the student’s ability to:
Use context clues in a passage to figure out which meaning of a word or phrase is being used.
Decide how an author’s word choice shapes meaning, style, and tone.

13. What does the PSAT Reading Test Measure?
Analysis in History/Social Studies and in Science
The Reading Test includes passages in the fields of history, social studies, and science. You’ll be asked questions that require you to draw on the reading skills needed most to succeed in those subjects. Students will be called on to:
Examine hypotheses.
Interpret data.
Answers are based only on the content stated in or implied by the passage.

14. PSAT Writing and Language Test
Penncrest High School Junior Parent Night 2014
PSAT Writing and Language Test
It’s About the Everyday
When you take the Writing and Language Test, you’ll do three things that people do all the time when they write and edit:
Read.
Find mistakes and weaknesses.
Fix them.
The good news: You do these things every time you proofread your own schoolwork or workshop essays with a friend.
It’s the practical skills you use to spot and correct problems — the stuff you’ve been learning in high school and the stuff you’ll need to succeed in college — that the test measures.
All questions are multiple choice and based on passages.
Some passages are accompanied by informational graphics, such as tables, graphs, and charts — but no math is required.
Prior topic knowledge is never tested.
The Writing and Language Test is part of the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section.

15. What is the Writing and Language Test Like?
Penncrest High School Junior Parent Night 2014
What is the Writing and Language Test Like?
What the Writing and Language Test Is Like
To answer some questions, you’ll need to look closely at a single sentence. Others require reading the entire piece and interpreting a graphic. For instance, you might be asked to choose a sentence that corrects a misinterpretation of a scientific chart or that better explains the importance of the data.
The passages you improve will range from arguments to nonfiction narratives and will be about careers, history, social studies, the humanities, and science.
What the Writing and Language Test Measures
Command of Evidence
Questions that test command of evidence ask you to improve the way passages develop information and ideas. For instance, you might choose an answer that sharpens an argumentative claim or adds a relevant supporting detail.
Words in Context
Some questions ask you to improve word choice. You’ll need to choose the best words to use based on the text surrounding them. Your goal will be to make a passage more precise or concise, or to improve syntax, style, or tone.
Analysis in History/Social Studies and in Science
You’ll be asked to read passages about topics in history, social studies, and science with a critical eye and make editorial decisions that improve them.
Expression of Ideas
Some questions ask about a passage’s organization and its impact. For instance, you will be asked which words or structural changes improve how well it makes its point and how well its sentences and paragraphs work together. 

16. Penncrest High School Junior Parent Night 2014
PSAT Math Test
The Math Test covers a range of math practices, with an emphasis on problem solving, modeling, using tools strategically, and using algebraic structure.
The PSAT/NMSQT will ask students to use the math that you’ll rely on most in all sorts of situations. Questions on the Math Test are designed to mirror the problem solving and modeling you’ll do in:
College math, science, and social science courses
The jobs that you hold
Your personal life
Quick Facts
Most math questions will be multiple choice, but some — called grid-ins — ask you to come up with the answer rather than select the answer.
The Math Test is divided into two portions: Math Test – Calculator and Math Test – No Calculator.
Some parts of the test include several questions about a single scenario.

17. The Focus of the Math Test
Penncrest High School Junior Parent Night 2014
The Focus of the Math Test
The Math Test will focus in depth on the three areas of math that play the biggest role in a wide range of college majors and careers:
Heart of Algebra, which focuses on the mastery of linear equations and systems.
Problem Solving and Data Analysis, which is about being quantitatively literate.
Passport to Advanced Math, which features questions that require the manipulation of complex equations.
The Math Test also draws on Additional Topics in Math, including the geometry and trigonometry most relevant to college and career readiness.
Calculators are important tools, and to succeed after high school, you’ll need to know how — and when — to use them. In the Math Test – Calculator portion of the test, you’ll be able to focus on complex modeling and reasoning because your calculator can save you time.
The Math Test – No Calculator portion of the test makes it easier to assess your fluency in math and your understanding of some math concepts. It also tests well-learned technique and number sense.

18. A New PSAT = A New Scoring Scale
The new PSAT implemented in October, 2015 is scored on a different range than prior years, with a minimum possible score of 320 and a maximum of Both the low and high end of this range are shifted about 80 points lower than the scoring scale of the new SAT, to account for the fact that the PSAT is a somewhat easier test

19. The New PSAT Scoring Scale
Math is scored from 160 to 760, and Reading and Writing is scored together from 160 to 760. This means that all three sections no longer have equal weight in the overall composite score. Instead, Math will make up half the total score while the Reading and Writing sections will make up the other half together. Your score report will also give you a more detailed breakdown by section, scoring each one from 8 to 38.

20. When PSAT scores are returned
The College Board will you an access code to view your online score report about two months after you take the test. Teachers and counselors will see scores about a day before you do and can give you the access code if you didn’t provide an address when you took the test. However, students are highly encouraged to provide an in order to create and access their scores via their collegeboard account.
Teachers and counselors will also give you your paper score report.

21. Who doesn’t see PSAT scores?
Colleges Don’t Receive Scores
The College Board does not send PSAT/NMSQT or PSAT 10 scores to colleges.
These scores are not intended to be part of college admission decisions. They should not be included on student transcripts that will be reproduced and sent to colleges unless the student (if 18 or older) or parent/guardian has granted permission.
You are allowed to withhold scores from college admission and athletic offices, even when colleges ask for them.

22. Who will be able to see your scores?
Penncrest High School Junior Parent Night 2014
Who will be able to see your scores?
The College Board sends PSAT/NMSQT to:
Schools
Districts (in many cases)
States (in many cases)
Although you can access your scores online earlier, schools hand out and explain PSAT/NMSQT and a paper score reports to students.
National Merit Scholarship Corporation
The College Board sends PSAT/NMSQT scores to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), the test’s cosponsor. Learn about the National Merit® Scholarship Program, an academic competition for recognition and scholarships.
Other Programs
PSAT/NMSQT scores are automatically sent to these scholarship and recognition programs:
National Hispanic Recognition Program 
National Scholarship Service
Telluride Seminar Scholarships
Learn more about these programs. If you don’t want your scores released to these organizations, write to the PSAT/NMSQT program by Oct. 31 at this address:
P.O. Box 6720 Princeton, NJ

23. Standardized Tests
Colleges use standardized testing in the form of the SAT and ACT to evaluate students
Colleges also utilize grade point average and some consider class rank
Activities, letters of recommendation are important to many schools.

24. Penncrest High School Junior Parent Night 2014
SAT
The SAT is offered seven times during the school year:
October 1, May 6, 2017
November 5, June 3, 2017
December 3, 2016
January 21, 2017
March 11, 2017
Students must register at least four weeks prior to test date at 1

25. ACT Offered six times per year September 10, 2016 April 8, 2017
October 22, June 10, 2017
December 10, 2016
February 11, 2017
Students must register for the test at least four weeks before each test date at
Pre-ACT offered for the 1st time at Penncrest for $25 on Saturday, November 5th.

26. Practice ACT
The practice ACT will be offered at Penncrest High School on Saturday, November 5th at 7:45 A.M.
Cost: $25 check payable to RTMSD. Cash will also be accepted
Register and remit payment to Ms. Stokes in the guidance office no later than October 21, 2016.
Only 50 slots are available.

27. SAT/ACT Comparison
SAT – ten sections: three Critical Reading, three Math, three writing, and one Experimental; the Experimental section is masked to look like a regular section. The redesigned SAT begins with the March 5 test date.
ACT – five sections: English, Math, Reading, Science and Writing (optional)

28. SAT/ACT Comparison
SAT Writing: an essay and questions testing grammar, usage, and word choice
ACT Writing: essay English: stresses grammar Science: charts, experiments

29. Penncrest High School Junior Parent Night 2014
SAT/ACT Comparison
SAT Math: up to trigonometry Reading: words in context, evidence based reading, sentence completions, short & long passages, reading comprehension
ACT Math: up to trigonometry Reading: four passages, one each Prose Fiction, Social Science, Humanities, and Natural Science

30. SAT/ACT Comparison
SAT Scoring: per section, added together for a combined score- a 1600 is the highest possible combined score
ACT Scoring: 1-36 for each subject with a total of four subject areas, averaged together for a composite score- a 36 is the highest possible composite score

31. SAT Subject Tests
Subject Tests are designed to measure your knowledge and skills in particular subject areas, as well as your ability to apply that knowledge.
Colleges use the Subject Tests for admission, course placement, and to advise students about course selection.
Some colleges specify the Subject Tests that they require for admission; others allow applicants to choose which tests they take.

32. Subject Tests: Five Areas
English: Literature
History: U.S., World History
Mathematics: Level 1, Level 2
Science: Bio, Chem, Physics
Languages: Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Japanese, Korean

33. Which Subject Tests Do I Take?
Before deciding to take the tests, make a list of the colleges that you are considering. Then find out if the school requires the Subject Tests. This information is should be found under the Admissions section of the colleges’ website.
Many colleges that don’t require Subject Test scores review them to gain a better picture of the student.

34. When should students take the tests?
Most students take the Subject Tests toward the end of their junior year or at the beginning of the senior year.
Take tests such as World History, Biology, Chemistry or Physics as soon as possible after completing the course while the material is still fresh in your mind.
Questions? Speak to your guidance counselor.

35. AP Placement Program
College-level courses taught in high school by high school teachers
AP teachers use college-level materials and course descriptions developed by a committee of college faculty and AP teachers.

36. AP Examinations Administered in May (May 1 -12)
Approximately three hours long
Composed of multiple-choice and free-response questions
Free-response questions are graded by college professors and AP teachers in June and scores are reported in July
AP exam grades range from 1 to 5

37. Penncrest High School Junior Parent Night 2014
Important Dates
PHS calendar
Guidance webpage
s sent through Naviance
Principal’ Weekly Update sent via and posted on PHS website