The PSAT was held at d.tech on Wednesday, October 13th, and was available for all Sophomores and Juniors. The week of the PSAT, many students were cramming all of the information for the test. They explained that their form of studying mainly consisted of taking practice tests from PSAT books and answering commonly asked questions on online courses, including Khan Academy and College Board. Once the test had ended, a lot of people said that they thought they did much better than they initially thought they would.

The PSAT consists of three sections; reading, writing and language, and math. It is scored out of 1520 points and the minimum score one could receive is a 320. Though this test will not be looked at by colleges, Juniors who obtain a score of over 1480 will qualify as a semifinalist for a Merit Scholarship provided by NMSC; National Merit Scholarship Corporation. A Merit Scholarship is a variation of a gift that rewards students with financial assistance. In order to be considered as a finalist, a few requirements need to be met; having a GPA of 3.5 or above, taking the test before the end of Junior year, and meeting high academic standards. Although Sophomores cannot be considered for this scholarship, aiming for a qualifying score would be great practice. Aside from different scoring systems, the PSAT does not include an essay section, while the SAT does.

Seniors from last year weren’t able to take the PSAT because of the pandemic, and ended up taking the SAT during January of 2021. The SAT is a test that is fairly similar to the PSAT, but is longer by fifteen minutes and is thought to be somewhat harder. The SAT was also held at d.tech on October 28th and was taken by both Juniors and Seniors. Normally, the SAT is only taken by Juniors, but since it wasn’t available at school for current Seniors, there will be a portion of Seniors who will be taking it this year. Similar to the PSAT, the SAT consists of reading, writing and language, and math. Students who are planning on going to a UC school are not required to take the SAT, which means that they are not required to take the PSAT either, but taking these tests will expand one’s options. Most other colleges and universities still require the SAT, so even if an individual is planning on attending a UC, taking the SAT would provide them with the safety and security of applying to non-UC schools as well.

The PSAT Returns to d.tech

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