Does My Child Really Need to Take the PSAT?

 Every October, I hear the same question from parents: Does my child really need to take the PSAT? It sounds simple, but the answer depends almost entirely on the grade. A freshman, sophomore, and junior are not taking the PSAT for the same reason, and one of the biggest mistakes families make is treating the test as though it carries the same weight for everyone.

As a parent, I understand why this gets confusing. High school already comes with enough noise. There are grades, activities, course selection, testing, college visits, and an endless stream of messages from schools, other parents, and social media telling you what your child “should” be doing next. The PSAT can easily become one more thing families either overreact to or ignore completely. Neither response is particularly useful. The better question is not simply whether your child should take the test. It is what the test is supposed to tell you at this stage of high school, and what you are going to do with that information afterward.

For freshmen, I see the PSAT 8/9 primarily as a baseline. If the school offers it and participation is easy, I generally think it is useful to take it. What I do not recommend is turning ninth grade into a test-prep campaign. A freshman does not need weeks of tutoring for a test that is designed to show where they are starting. I would much rather see parents use the score to understand how their child approaches standardized testing, whether Reading and Writing or Math appears stronger, and whether there are foundational skills that deserve attention. That is enough. At this stage, grades, study habits, course choices, time management, and learning how to ask for help matter far more than one PSAT score.

The danger comes when parents assign senior-year meaning to freshman-year data. I do not want a family looking at a 14-year-old’s score and asking whether it is “good enough” for a highly selective university. That is not what this test is for, and it creates anxiety without giving the student anything constructive to do with it. The freshman PSAT should help a family notice patterns, not make predictions.

Sophomore year is where I find the PSAT considerably more useful because now the student is getting closer to the decisions that will matter in junior year. A sophomore may take the PSAT 10 in the spring or the PSAT/NMSQT in the fall, depending on the school. For most students in a traditional four-year high school path, sophomore year is not the National Merit qualifying year, so this is not the moment to create scholarship pressure. It is the moment to gather better information.

This is where parents should resist the urge to ask only, “What did you get?” The more valuable questions are underneath the total score. Was there a significant difference between Math and Reading and Writing? Did your child struggle with pacing? Was the digital format uncomfortable? Does the result match what you are seeing in the classroom? Are there specific skills that can be strengthened before junior year? Those questions can begin to shape a testing strategy without creating unnecessary pressure.

I also encourage sophomore families to involve the school counselor at this stage. Ask which test the school offers, when scores will be available, whether the school provides SAT or ACT diagnostics, and when students are typically advised to begin formal preparation. Parents often rush to spend money because a score makes them nervous. Before you hire a tutor or sign up for months of prep, make sure you understand the problem you are trying to solve. A student with a content gap needs a different solution from a student with a pacing problem, and both need something different from a student who simply has not seen the format before.

Junior year is where the PSAT conversation changes most significantly because the PSAT/NMSQT can serve as the qualifying test for the National Merit Scholarship Program. If your child is already a very strong standardized test taker, that opportunity is worth taking seriously. But I also want parents to keep it in perspective. National Merit recognition is highly selective. Fewer than one percent of graduating seniors become Semifinalists, and qualification is not based on one simple national cutoff. The threshold varies by state, which means the same score can have different implications depending on where a student attends high school.

That is why I do not want National Merit to become the center of your family’s testing strategy. It can be a meaningful distinction and, in some cases, it can lead to scholarship opportunities. But it is not a verdict on whether your child is academically strong, and it is not a guarantee of a full-tuition scholarship. A student can be exceptional, attend a terrific college, and never come close to National Merit. Families should understand the opportunity without turning it into another source of pressure.

For most juniors, the bigger value of the PSAT is still what it can teach you about the testing road ahead. Junior year becomes crowded quickly with SAT or ACT dates, AP exams, sports, activities, college visits, and harder coursework. A thoughtful testing conversation in the fall is much more useful than a panicked one in the spring. I would rather see a family use PSAT results to decide whether SAT or ACT makes more sense, identify realistic test dates, build in a backup date, and coordinate prep around the student’s actual schedule than wait until March and suddenly realize there is no plan.

This is also where your school counselor can be particularly helpful. Ask whether your child is registered for the PSAT/NMSQT, how the school helps families interpret scores, whether National Merit appears realistic based on prior testing, when SAT or ACT preparation should begin, and how testing fits around the rest of junior year. Those are much better questions than simply asking, “What is a good PSAT score?”

So, does your child need the PSAT? For freshmen, not necessarily, but I like it as a low-pressure baseline when the school offers it. For sophomores, it is a valuable benchmark that can help shape junior-year planning. For juniors, I strongly encourage taking the PSAT/NMSQT if it is available because of the National Merit opportunity and, just as importantly, because the results can help families make smarter testing decisions before the calendar gets crowded.

The larger point is this: do not let the test become the strategy. The test is one piece of information. What matters is how your family interprets it, what questions you ask next, and whether you use that information to make better decisions.

That is what good preparation looks like. It is not doing everything early, and it is certainly not panicking because someone else’s child scored higher. It is understanding what matters at each stage, using the information available to you, and building a plan that fits your child.

That is the work.

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