Wednesday, October 16, will be a testing day for all PISD high school students. Our ninth graders will be taking the CogAT test, while our tenth graders will be taking the PSAT. If possible, please avoid scheduling appointments on this test day. Testing will occur in the morning, beginning at 9:00 a.m. and ending around 1:15 p.m. There are no make-up days for these tests, and regular attendance is expected for all students.

Students involved in off-campus P.E. or Plano Senior High athletics in the morning during 1st period should report directly to Clark by 8:55 a.m. that day. Plano Senior High coaches are aware that athletes from Clark will be on their home campus that morning when CogAT and PSAT are administered.

Both of these testing instruments provide important insights about your student relative to current classes, future classes, and post-secondary information pertinent to careers and colleges.

Students need to arrive Wednesday, October 16, on campus no later than 8:55 a.m. in order to be in their testing room by 9:00 a.m. Since these are timed tests, students arriving late may not be able to be tested. Many thanks in advance for your help to get all of our Cougars to school early on Wednesday, October 16, for testing.

CogAT Information:

The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT), to be taken by all ninth graders, measures students' learned reasoning abilities in the three areas most linked to academic success in school: Verbal, Quantitative and Nonverbal. For more information on CogAT, please visit http://www.riversidepublishing.com/products/cogAt/details.html

PSAT Information:

The PSAT, to be taken by all tenth graders, is a standardized test that provides firsthand practice for the SAT. PISD students take the PSAT in tenth grade and have the option of taking the test again in eleventh grade as part of the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). The tenth grade PSAT is not part of the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. For more information on PSAT, please visit the College Board website at www.collegeboard.com.

All tenth grade students will be receiving a PSAT student guide that will provide you with information about the test. Included in the student guide is an actual practice test.

Please note students taking the PSAT may bring a 4-function, scientific, or graphing calculator to the test. Students are not allowed to share calculators during the test. A calculator is not required by College Board for testing and will not be provided by the school for testing.