During their high school lives, students may feel like they are drowning in standardized tests: the SAT, the ACT, the PSAT, Advanced Placement tests, and more. ACP’s College and Career Center is here to help! Mrs. Dalton, our College and Career Specialist, is committed to assisting students with the college admissions process and helping students determine the best career paths for them. Here are some updates from the College and Career Center:

Changes to Remind

This year, ACP staff changed the system for communicating with families through Remind. Read on for more information on how to sign up for Remind to receive college/career updates and school event reminders.

ACP-Erie utilizes an app called Remind to update families on future free dress days, spirit days, sports games, and other upcoming school events.  You can choose whether you would like to receive messages through Remind by text messaging, e-mail, or push notifications. Due to changes in the structure of the app, ACP parent and student codes are now categorized by class year followed by the first letter of your last name. If you would like to receive school updates by Remind, here’s a list of the corresponding class codes:

To join by text, text the @______ code to 81010. For more information on how to stay connected, you could visit the “Stay Connected” page of the College and Career website: https://sites.google.com/gse.cusd80.com/acpcollegeandcareercenter/stay-connected. Be sure to join the Remind to receive ACP’s latest updates!

Understanding the PSAT

On October 16th, ACP’s 9th through 11th graders will take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). This test takes a total of two hours and 45 minutes, broken into reading, writing, and math multiple-choice sections. High school students across the nation take this test, and eleventh graders have the special opportunity to win a scholarship from the National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSP) or the National Hispanic Recognition Program. As well, students who take the PSAT have the option to sign up for the College Board Student Search Service, which connects students with scholarships and colleges that match their interests.

Over 1.6 million students enter the NMSP each year, and about 50,000 of the highest scorers receive special recognition. The NMSP recognizes two-thirds of these 50,000 high scorers as Commended Students who receive Letters of Commendation. About one-third of the 50,000 top scorers qualify as semifinalists; selection is based on the top scores within each state. To qualify as a finalist, these individuals must submit additional information regarding their extracurricular activities, high school GPAs, and accomplishments. Winners may receive $2,500 National Merit scholarships as well as college-sponsored or corporate-sponsored scholarships.

Students may wonder how they could possibly prepare for this test. In reality, the best preparation is fully participating in school by doing your homework, asking questions, and studying for tests. It may help to learn about the format of the test so that you know what to expect on test day. To gain familiarity with this format, take a look at these official PSAT practice tests from College Board: https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/psat-nmsqt-psat-10/practice/full-length-practice-tests.

With so many tests, high schoolers may find themselves overwhelmed and confused. To help alleviate some of this stress, students should take time to learn more about these tests and how they can prepare. At the end of the day, one standardized test will not be the sole deciding factor in the college admissions process. There are a multitude of determining factors for college admissions and scholarship opportunities. The PSAT is just one of many chances for students to gain recognition and scholarships during their high school lives.