Parents of Sophomores, your students will soon be receiving the following notice at their school e-mail addresses. It will include a Naviance log in code.
Hello Sophomores,
I am the ARHS college advisor. I will be meeting with you in groups and individually in your junior and senior years to discuss your post-high school planning. I am writing to you now to make you aware of two summer preparatory activities for the standardized tests you will need to take in the next year, in case you are interested. I am also including some advice for athletes who hope to play at the college level.
1. As you may know, we urge juniors to take the PSAT. This year’s date will be Saturday, October 16. The PSAT is a practice test for the SAT, which is required by many colleges. We urge students to take the SAT in the winter or spring of the junior year and again in the fall of the senior year if needed.
ARHS has subscribed to a test-preparation program called Method Test Prep. It is free to students and is pretty user-friendly. It consists of a series of about 45 fifteen-minute training modules and two practice SAT tests. It is useful as preparation for either the SAT or the PSAT. We are now making it available to sophomores. you can use it if you would like to prepare for the PSAT over the summer. Such preparation is strictly optional for the PSAT but highly recommended for the actual SAT.
The Method Test Prep program is part of Naviance, which you will use beginning in the winter of your junior year for your college search and application process. Feel free to look around the site, particularly at the information under “Careers” if you wish. Register for Naviance at the following address:
www.connection.naviance.com/amherst
Use the code below, individualized to you, to register for your account. Begin by registering, not by trying to log in. Use the e-mail address you check most as your log-in user name and select a password you will remember. Write both of these down somewhere you will remember in case you forget them. Although I am sending a copy of this note to your parents/guardians they will not have access to Method Test Prep. I will send them log-in codes before school is out so they will be able to use the Naviance features that we offer to parents.)
Once you are in Naviance you will find Method Test Prep under “Colleges/test preparation. We hope you find it useful. Most students say it is pretty good to use, considering that it is test prep!
2. Sophomores are now invited to register for an SAT prep class that we are offering during ARHS summer school (July 6-16) in conjunction with the Princeton Review. The cost is $399, far below their usual charge. This course is best for rising seniors who want some extra preparation for their senior year SAT, but rising juniors who generally test very well may wish to take the course as preparation for the PSAT. The top 1 % of PSAT scorers in Massachusetts become “National Merit semi-finalists” and are eligible to win some scholarship money. To sign up, call 1-800-2REVIEW.
3. If you are an athlete who is considering college athletics at either the Division 1 or Division 2 level, you should do two things: 1) Register with the NCAA (eligibilitycenter.org) early in your junior year, and 2) Plan to take your SATs in the fall or winter of your junior year. You may want to plan your test-preparation activities accordingly. Admission timelines for D1 and D2 athletes have accelerated in recent years. Timelines for Division 3 are not as critical and D3 athletes do not need to register with the NCAA at all. Of course students who are applying to schools in multiple divisions will need to register even if they ultimately choose a D3 school.
Please see your counselor or a Guidance secretary if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Myra Ross
ARHS College Advisor
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