The false moon Essays

The false moon Essays The false moon Paper The false moon Paper The False Moon Any child needs stability and love from their parents while growing up. If this Is not the case the child will go out and find safe places elsewhere. The main character In the short story The False Moon, by Shirley Golden from 201 1 Is not met with stability and love. He Is almost forced out on his own trying to fit Into society. The main character is the first person narrator in the story. His name is Matt and describes himself in a rather bad way; People dont run from me; Im lanky and skinny Im told (lines 14-15, page 1). Matt tells the story of his teenage life. How his mother works all the time and is never there for him, and how he has trouble in school. The subjects are too difficult, and he doesnt like any of his classmates. When he gets the chance Matt always skips school and goes on adventures in town. He doesnt communicate with his mother or his teachers. When he is told to give his mother letters from school; he Just hides them away Instead. Because of the mothers behavior this Is not so difficult. She Is not Involved In her sons life. The mother Is described as a loud and messy woman. She comes home late, has bleached hair and bad nails. Some symbols also indicate that the mother has a problem with heavy drinking and are treated violently. This affects the relationship between the mother and Matt. He doesnt trust her, probably because of several years of disappointments and letdowns: Its probably bullwhip, with her you can never tell (line 12, page 1). Furthermore she is embarrassing, selfish and doesnt understand appropriate social behavior. It shows in the story when she hits on Mats best friend Mark, which results in Matt losing his friend who was his only safe haven. When Matt calls her a where she hits him with a bottle. She Is powerless, desperate and certainly not a good role model for Matt. Matt hides his problems, Just Like when his mother covers up her bruises. That Is why she Is unaware of her own sons difficulties, until she goes through his things one day. The signs of love or affection between the mother and the main character are very few. The main character takes care of his mother. He cleans up after her and makes tea. But she doesnt return the love and he notices it. For example when he helps her up from the floor and puts her to bed. He thinks, She doesnt reach for me (line 125, page 4). The sketch that Matt makes is a symbol of him wanting love from his mother. It shows the boys inner feelings of being trapped. The bottle is a hint at the mothers heavy drinking. He has a mother who doesnt pay attention to him and is busy looking for other men. The mall character wants and needs boundaries and he Is so desperate that he even tries to kid himself, l like to kid myself she would stop me If I didnt sneak out of the house (line 6, page 1). In the streets he finds a new safe place. The nightly ritual where he draws the lines and numbers and the girl fills in gaps he can actually count on. As he says: l didnt trust words. But lines were reliable. (lines 42-44, page 2). The lines are a symbol of the stability and the boundaries Matt is longing for. You can say that the girl isnt Just filling in the gaps in Mats drawings, but also the gaps inside of him. As the title of the short story, the nightly ritual becomes his false moon, like insects flocking around street lamps because they think it is the moon. Suddenly Matt has found something to navigate after and rely on. At the end he decides to end the disappointing life he has with his mother. From now on he will find the way on his own. He realizes that even though the guide may be wrong (the moon is false), it is better than no guide at all. The main theme in the short story The False Moon is about growing up, and finding your own guidelines in your life. In the darkest night, Matt finds his light. It gives him the courage to break free from his mother and find his own way. Shirley Golden is trying to tell us, that it is important to have guidelines and role models in your life especially as a child. It is the parents responsibility to give the child these guidelines, or else the child detaches itself from the family and is forced to grow up faster.

Assessing Young Learners Speaking Ability in the Fifth Grade of Three Elementary Schools in Padang Essay Example for Free

Assessing Young Learners’ Speaking Ability in the Fifth Grade of Three Elementary Schools in Padang Essay Learning (1721) , Learners (44) , Elementary school (34) company About StudyMoose Contact Careers Help Center Donate a Paper Legal Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Complaints A. Background of the Problem Communicative view development in English learning makes the focus on English teaching changed. What once became structurally focused, it now moves toward meaningful language-focused. Students are not asked to memorize structure-based dialogues without knowing the meaning anymore. There are no more grammatically controlled sentences for students’ meaningless repetition. Dialogues, if used, center around communicative functions and are not normally memorized (Richards & Rodgers, 1986). That makes the teaching of speaking becomes the core part of English teaching. Just like the adults, young learners today are also taught speaking meaningfully and communicatively. However, young learners have distinctive characteristics compared with adult learners. One of them is children are still developing cognitively, linguistically, socially, emotionally, and physically (Teaching Knowledge Test Young Learners: Handbook for Teachers, 2010). In other words, in teaching speaking to them, teachers need to consider children’s development of skills in the native language first. Young learners also enjoy rhythmic and repetitive language more than adults do. They are more likely to play with language than adults are, and they can be more effectively engaged through stories and games (Peck, 2009). The different techniques and approaches in teaching speaking to young learners lead to different ways in the speaking assessment. This is the problem faced by Indonesian young learners’ teachers nowadays. Most teachers do not know how they should assess their young learners’ speaking ability; some finally choose to skip the speaking assessment and focus on pencil-paper-tests. Thus, this research is conducted to discover and reveal ways of assessing young learners’ speaking ability. B. Identification of the Problem Based on the background above, the speaking assessment techniques used for young learners should be different from the adult. It should be suited with their cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical development. As we looked upon Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices by Brown (2010) and integrated it with curriculum standard in Indonesia, KTSP 2006, young learners will be better to be assessed in imitative and intensive speaking categories, such as imitating teachers’ saying, directed response tasks, read-aloud tasks, and dialogue completion tasks. Alternative assessments such as interviews and conferences can also be applied for them. C. Limitation of the Problem In this research, the problem will be focused on the speaking assessment techniques in the fifth grade of three selected elementary schools in Padang. D. Formulation of the Problem * What kind of speaking assessment technique used by elementary school English teachers? * Why do they use such techniques? E. Purpose of the Research The purpose of this research is to discover and reveal the technique used by English teachers to assess elementary school students’ speaking ability. F. Significance of the Research Theoretically, this research is aimed to give a description of how speaking assessment for young learners done in Indonesia. Practically, some techniques used by English teachers provided here can be a source of alternative speaking assessment. CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. The Nature of Assessment There has been various explanation of what assessment is. Brindley (as stated in Linse, 2005) refers assessment as â€Å"collecting information and making judgments on a learner’s knowledge†. It means that in assessing students, we need to find out what students know about the subject being taught and how far that understanding has reached the learning indicator. In the same line with Brindley but with an addition, Brown (2010) states assessment as â€Å"an ongoing process of collecting information about a given object of interest according to procedures that are systematic and substantively grounded.† In his statement above, Brown implies that the process of collecting and judging students’ understanding is not done orderly in one single time; it is done continuously. Harris and McCann (1994) also give an essential note that in doing assessment teachers have to measure the performance of their students and the progress they make, as well as diagnose the problems they have and provide useful feedback. In other words, collecting and judging students’ intelligence is not enough; finding out what becomes students’ problem and giving advice to them to overcome the problems is also important to create a more successful learning process. Based on the theories above, it can be seen that assessment involves collecting information about students’ knowledge and judging their understanding in order to diagnose the learning problems they have so that students can get useful feedback to be more-successful learners. B. The Nature of Speaking As stated in the previous chapter, today’s English teaching focuses more on communicative purpose of language learning than in the past. It leads to the more important consideration of speaking skills than in previous time. Just like assessment, there is also various definition of speaking. One of them is from Lingua Links (1998) that defines speaking as productive skill in the oral mode that involves more than just pronouncing words. Referring to today’s communicative view, of course speaking cannot be thought as just pronouncing words; it needs to be meaningful, and communicative. Furthermore, Noonan (2003) states that, if pronunciation included, speaking involves three areas: mechanics (pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary), functions (transaction and interaction), and social cultural norms and rules (turn-taking, rate of speech, etc). All of them are connected to each other and prove that speaking is not only about what is uttered, but also the meaning and social purpose. C. The Nature of Young Learners Young learner is a child who is in their first six year of formal education, from age 6 to 12 (Teaching Knowledge Test Young Learners: Handbook for Teachers, 2010). Many experts argue that it is beneficial to teach the children English since young age. TKT Young Learners (2010) notes one of the advantages that those children will have positive self-esteem toward English and it will help them to learn English more once they are adult. That is why teaching English to young learners considered important today. However, young learners have characteristics that make them different from the adults (Teaching Knowledge Test Young Learners: Handbook for Teachers, 2010). First, they are still morally, cognitively, psychologically developed. Based on Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, children in age 6-12 years old are still in concrete operational thought stage, they already have the ability to do logical reasoning and understand reversibility with the help of concrete objects (Santrock, 1998). It means that explaining theory will not do for them, we need to make them move, do games, sing, etc. Second, young learners often have no obvious reason for learning English. Unlike adults who want to do it because of the career-related reasons or teenagers that do it to pass an exam, young learners do not have concrete reason why they must learn English. However, it does not mean they are not motivated to learn English; their goodwill, energy, and curiosity to learning overcome that. Third, they may not always have well-developed literacy skills to support their learning of English. Many children in the age of 6-12 years old are just getting to know their first language. It means that as a teacher we need to not have too-high expectation and do more. Fourth, young learners often learn slowly and forget quickly. It is related to the first characteristic that young learners are still developed morally, socially, and cognitively. Their still-ongoing developments in those basic things make them forget easily and learn slowly. This is why songs, agmes, and chants do best for them. D. Principles of Assessing Young Learners According to METU Open Course Ware (2006), principles of assessing children’s language learning are: 1. Assessment should be seen from a learning-centered perspective. It means that we cannot get a true assessment by testing kids what they can do alone. It has been stated by many experts that the goal of learning English is to be able to communicate meaningfully in English. Testing students, let alone young children, as a tool to get true assessment will not congruent with the real goal of English learning and it will just be wasting time. 2. Assessment should support learning and teaching. This is something that is not also becomes a problem with young learners, but also with the adult. Before performance-based assessment is introduced, teachers chose paper-and-pencil tests as their source of assessing (Puppin, 2006). It becomes a problematic then since students do not see the connection between the learning and the test they are doing, ; they see them as two different incongruent things. If the assessment done is congruent with the learning they did, children will feel that what they have learned is useful. 3. Children and parents should understand assessment issues. Their understanding will make the assessment process more meaningful since they can participate and supports greatly on behave of children’s English development. On the other hand, if they do not understand why the teacher does this and that, there will be no good communication between these three subjects to help children’s development. E. Techniques of Speaking Assessment Brown (2010) states some techniques of speaking assessment based on students’ language development level: Imitative Speaking This kind of assessment is intended to see whether students can imitate saying in English correctly. Eventhough it focuses on the accuracy of repeating words, it does not mean that it cannot be communicative and meaningful. Besides, in recent years many experts have discovered that an overemphasis on fluency can sometimes lead to the decline of accuracy in speech. Intensive Speaking There are four tasks in this kind of assessing: directed response task, oral questionnaire, and picture-cued task. In oral questionnaires, students are first given time to read the dialogue to get its main idea and to think about the appropriate lines to fill in. Then, as the tape, teacher produces one part orally; the students respond. In directed response task, students elicit a particular grammatical form of a transformation of a sentence. Such tasks are clearly mechanical and not communicative, but they do require minimal processing of meaning in order to produce the correct grammatical output. Picture-cued task requires a description from the students. Pictures may be very simple, designed to elicit a word or a phrase, or composed of a series that tells a story or incident. This task is meaningful since sometime a little sense of humor is injected. Responsive Speaking Assessment of responsive tasks involves brief interactions with an interlocutor, differing from intensive tasks in increased creativity given to the student and from interactive tasks by somewhat limited length of utterances. The kinds of this assessment are question and answer, giving instructions and directions, and paraphrasing. Questions and answers involve oral interaction with teacher. Assessing Young Learners’ Speaking Ability in the Fifth Grade of Three Elementary Schools in Padang. (2016, Sep 10). ng-learners-speaking-ability-in-the-fifth-grade-of-three-elementary-schools-in-padang-essay We will write a custom sample essay on Assessing Young Learners’ Speaking Ability in the Fifth Grade of Three Elementary Schools in Padang specifically for you We have essays on the following topics that may be of interest to you

Mangment 3000 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mangment 3000 - Research Paper Example What is even more interesting is the fact that EI has received its due place within different literature subjects and also been termed as an applicable entity in a number of domains and applications (Sala 2006). The first usage of the term EI is accredited on the shoulders of Wayne Payne as he brought the philosophy of emotional intelligence in front of everyone through his doctoral thesis. Indeed this formed the basis for eventual growth and development within this very field and thus many researchers and theorists started to work individually to find out more and more about the manner in which emotions brought about a significant change within people’s personalities. I have supported the basis of EI because it has been based on the earliest works of Darwin and hence there is solid evidence available which manifests its genuineness. The emotional intelligence domains suggest the emotional expression which are required for an individual’s survival and his adaptation with the environment of which he is a part. The non-cognitive concepts have been given significance with the passage of time under the aegis of EI and this is indeed a very important basis for comprehending where the success domains have cropped up from in the recent times. The three main models of EI include the ability EI models, the mixed models and lastly the trait EI models. The ability-based model is used to decipher the ability to consume the emotional basis as well as mix together the emotional side with the thought process, which in return makes the whole domain of emotions understandable and helps in growth and development of an individual over a period of time (Nelson 2007). The mixed models of EI take care of the emotional competencies (Goleman) model and the bar-on model of emotional-social intelligence (ESI). Similarly, the trait EI model is a combination of emotions which are boxed within self perceptions; however the same are situated within

Mathlab Simulink Project Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mathlab Simulink Project - Lab Report Example Communication toolbox is the boundary of matlab simulink is a graphical building block, diagramming tool, improved to resemble set of slab libraries. The matlab environment associates itself with the matlab and the engaging patterns of the two offers a tight and integrated move with the rest of the matlab environment. Additionally, this establishes matlab and can either be driven from the matlab itself or be scripted from it. Moreover, simulink, majorly used in control theory and error correction digital gesture dispensation of multidomain model and model-based plan helps in improving the performance and ability of matlab usage in determining error correction and coding methods. In conclusion, matlab simulink integrates its functions in order to have its performance at the best productive level for correcting errors and improving coding methods within a communication toolbox (Cassandras, 22). The reference signal operates from the coding methods. It moves in a graph line from 1 time offset all through frequencies as shown above in a upward and downward movements to give a graph of the above nature, therefore, confirming the principle of error correction and coding methods of up and down movements based on the wavelength of the signal and frequency. The control signal also operates almost in the same design but the movement and frequency of the graph is much more different as shown in the diagram below. The control signal has an upward steady movement with the wavelength up to 2, then a steady movement across the time offset meaning it’s the control signal that manipulates and confirms the idea of error correction and the coding methods of the communication tool box. It corrects the signal by allowing for steady flow of the signal within the communication toolbox. The developers and instructors of matlab have made an improving through the knowledge of the product developers and other stakeholders of the engineering field

the life of Dorothy Day :: essays research papers

Dorothy was born in Brooklyn, New York on November 8 1897. In 1906 her family survived the San Francisco earthquake and her and her family took a drastic change in lifestyle conditions after Day’s father became unemployed and they were forced to move into a small flat in Chicago’s South Side. After seeing the shame her father felt with unemployment sparked her vocation to help the poor. Originally Day, in high school rejected organized religion because she claimed she never saw these â€Å"Religious people† helping the poor. Her religious development was a slow process but eventually she became a very devoted catholic. She Saw the Catholic Church as â€Å"the church of immigrants, the church of the poor† This calling and strong beliefs in the teaching of God encouraged Day to help those who were poor and unemployed. With this in mind and her experience, strong faith and family past Dorothy started a paper known as The Catholic Worker. She sold the paper for a penny a copy â€Å"So cheap anyone could afford it† she explained. And on May 1st the first copies were issued at Union Square and by December 100 000 copies were being printed each month. The paper’s purpose was to publicise catholic social teaching and promote steps to bring about the peaceful transformation of society. By the winter the paper had received so much success homeless people began to knock on her door. Eventually an apartment was rented with space for 10 women and soon after a place for poor men. Next came a house in Greenwich Village. Then in1936 this community moved to two buildings in China town. The charity became a national movement. There were 33 Catholic worker houses spread across the country because of the depression there were many people in need of these places. Day took these people in â€Å"As members of her family†. As a strong catholic she went to daily mass and weekly confession and regularly went on religious retreats and read the bible. Today the organisation is still running with 185 catholic worker communities which are committed to non-violence, voluntary poverty, p rayer and hospitality for the homeless, exiled, hungry and forsaken. They protest injustice, war, racism and all violence. Through Day’s protests, achievements, actions, words and writings of 8 books, 350 plus articles for journals and magazines and also over 1 000 articles for the Catholic Worker newspaper she proved to be an excellent role model for many people.

New Caledonia

There are two primary facts about New Caledonia that are particularly interesting and unique.   The first is that it was formally colonized by the French in 1864, and for the next four decades following, it served as a Penal Colony.   The prison of ‘New Caledonia’, which housed thousands of French felons, would serve until 1897 when the penal nature of the island ended (World Infozone, New Caledonia). In addition to its use as a penal colony, New Caledonia is also unique for its natural resources.   For a stretch during the prominence of Nickel, New Caledonia as the world’s fourth largest exporter of Nickel, experienced great economic growth (Australian Radio ABC.net, New Caledonia). However, as the world demand for nickel has declined, the economy has struggled to regain its previous levels of prosperity. II. The Penal Colony New Caledonia was settled by both Britain and France during the first half of the 19th century.   Eventually, by 1853, it was officially colonized by France, and has remained in France’s possession ever since (Virtual New Caledonia).   â€Å"New Caledonia was founded as a penal colony, and the first shiploads of convicts were shipped from France to New Caledonia in 1864† (Logan, Leanna, p.16, 2001).   The conditions of the four-month sail from France to the new colony were horrible, and the few that did survive ended up living in small makeshift huts.   They were responsible for all of the colony’s public works; they built churches, and carved roads out of the landscape (Logan at p.16). The most terrible of the convicts sent over were kept in dungeons, and were put to extreme hard labor.   They were beaten, and within twenty years of the colonies formalization as a French colony, the guillotine made its way to the colony (Logan at p.16).   The guillotine would be used with regularity once arriving, and during its first 21 years 80 people felt its blade (Logan at. 16). New Caledonia, in all, would house more than 21,000-22,000 convicts from France.   This number would end, as in 1898, Le Governor Feillet decided to close the flow of â€Å"The dirty water spigot†, as he termed it.   He eventually ended the delivery of prisoners to the island (Croixdusud.info, New-Caledonia).   Although the flow of prisoners stopped, the actual camps continued until 1922, when 2310 prisoners were still held in camps (Croixdusud.info, New-Caledonia). The prison colony created several problems during its operation, including the fact that the population was almost exclusively male.   In addition, the large influx of various felons meant that eventually, many would be released, and the nation became a dangerous haven of ex-convicts. III. Nickel as Export The mineral industry of New Caledonia is dominated by Nickel (Lyday, Travis Q., 1999).   The French government, who earned 60% of the New Caledonia share, initially dominated nickel production in the area, while Japanese led companies (10%) and New Caledonia (30%) shared the balance (Lyday, Travis Q., 1999). Although large for a Pacific Island, New Caledonia’s only true export of immense value is Nickel.   As such, the economy is highly dependant upon the market economy for the mineral.   There are several uses for Nickel, and the market has shown major changes since the 1960’s (Cranfield, Peter, 2006, p.2). The peaks of usage rates for the United States were in the 1960’s, which were the golden age of post war growth.   During this time, the world had a growth rate of 7% for Nickel use, and the economy of New Caledonia felt the influx of this wealth of demand (Cranfield, Peter, 2006, p.2).   However, in each of the decades to follow, the demand growth has dwindled to 2%, and it does not appear to be increasing again any time soon. The products created from Nickel range from: stainless steel (62%), non-ferrous alloys (15%), batteries (4%), playing (7%), alloy steels and foundry (5% each)   (Cranfield, Peter, 2006, p.3).   It is very likely that the creation of new demand for nickel, much like the world has seen with stainless steel, will be instrumental in maintaining the economy of the island nation.   At the moment, China accounts for all increases in the demand for nickel worldwide.   Other exports like coffee and tourism assist New Caledonia’s economy, but nickel will remain its staple. IV.   Facts and Conclusions New Caledonia, as of 2006, has a population of 230,000 people (BBC News, 2006).   The major languages are French, Melanesian and Polynesian Dialects.   The major religion is Christianity, and the monetary unit is the Pacific Franc (BBC News, 2006).   The head of state is the French president, although there is a sovereign leader in New Caledonia, which has spurred inconsistent rumblings of an independence movement. (BBC News, 2006)   The representatives are freely elected, although are very polarized along country lines. The media is considered free, and there are various radio stations that are private in nature (BBC News, 2006).   The country is gaining some rights independent of France, as French citizens have been refused the right to vote in the nation subject to residency requirements. (BBC News, 2006)   There are rumors that the nation will vote for its independence between 2014 and 2019 in a referendum. The two most interesting facts about New Caledonia may be its nickel productions amazing level of world contribution, and the fact that it was colonized by the French for the sole purpose of housing its prisoners.   Although much of the impact of the penal camps are now gone, nickel remains the driving force of the economy. Bibliography ABC Radio Australia, ABC.net, New Caledonia, 2005, . BBC News, Regions and Territories, New Caledonia, December 20, 2006, . Cranfield, Peter, The Nickel Industry – Long Term Drivers of Nickel Supply and Demand, October 2, 2006, < http://www.insg.org/docs/Mr_Cranfield_Oct06.pdf >. Croixdusud.info, New-Caledonia, History, . Logan, Leanne, Cole, Geert, Lonely Planet New Caledonia, Lonely Planet Publications 2004, 4th edition. Lyday, Travis Q., The Mineral Industry of New Caledonia, 1999, . â€Å"New Caledonia,† CIA World Fact Book (2001), < http://www.cia.gov>. Nicol, David, The Fundamentals of New Caledonia, Luath Press Ltd. Publishing 2002, copyright 2002. Virtual New Caledonia, Information and Stats on New Caledonia, . World Info Zone, New Caledonia Facts, Copyright World Info Zone 1997-2007, .      

When Are PSAT Scores Released

If you took the PSAT in October, you can expect to get your scores on the College Board website in mid-December. The exact date depends on the state in which you attend high school. The table below presents the detailed schedule for score release. PSAT Score Release Schedule Although the PSAT Test takes place in October  (see here for the specific PSAT test dates  for the current year), PSAT scores arent released until mid-December.  For students who took the exam in October of 2017, the PSAT scores will be released on the following dates: Score Release Date State December 11, 2017 Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming December 12, 2017 Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas December 13, 2017 Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia 2017 PSAT/NMSQT Score Release Dates PSAT scores used to go directly to schools instead of being mailed to student. Now, you can access your score reports online with an access code provided by your school counselor. And its a great thing to access them online because there are a lot of bonus materials that you get if you do.Youll receive free, personalized study through The Khan Academy with your test results, so youll know how to hone your skills best for the SAT. In addition, youll get to partake in a personality profiler that suggests possible careers and majors that seem to fit you best. You can also search for careers and possible majors with BigFuture just by accessing your online scores.   If you dont really care, or dont want to bother with looking up your score, then you can wait until late January when your PSAT scores are mailed to your school, which is where you took the test. From there, your teachers or guidance counselors will distribute a paper score report to you. Your PSAT Score Report Once youve received your PSAT score report (heres a sample so youll know how it looks), youll see fifteen different scores. Of primary concern are these: Your Total score: (between 320 and 1520)Your Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Score: (between 160 and 760)Your Math Score: (between 160 and 760)Your NMSC Selection Index (SI) Score: Your Reading, Writing and Language, and Math scores added up and multipled by 2.   What To Do with Your PSAT Scores Now that you have received your scores, what should you do?  Since your PSAT scores are designed to show you how you may fare on the SAT, then its a great idea to use the PSAT as a diagnostic test and your PSAT score report as an indication of what you may earn on the SAT. Check out your overall scores. Are your percentiles in line with the scores of incoming freshmen for the colleges and universities youre interested in attending? If not, youll want to come up with a strategy for improving your scores. Pay attention to the smaller sub-scores provided on your test, too. If, for example, your overall score in Math is pretty good,  but your lowest score was in Problem-Solving and Data Analysis, one of the subscores available on your sheet, then youll know to study those types of questions even more for the SAT. Your PSAT score report can help guide you to your best score possible on the SAT exam if you use it well. If you have questions about anything related to your PSAT test, feel free to make an appointment with your counselor at school. He or she is skilled in helping you navigate the ins and outs of the test and your results.