The PSAT (Pre-
SAT) is a test that is sponsored by
Collegeboard and the
National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Usually this test is taken in mid-October by
Juniors in high school, but
Sophomores are able to take it as well.
There are two main reasons to take the PSAT:
1. To practice for the
SAT, which has similar math, reading, and writing sections. It will also give you a rough estimate of what you could
potentially get on the
SAT.
2. To qualify for scholarships, especially the
National Merit Scholarship Program. *note, only Juniors taking the PSAT in their third year of high school are able to qualify for
National Merit scholarships.
The test is 2 hours and 10 minutes long and consists of 5 sections:
Sections 1 and 3 are
Critical Reading, have a 25 minute time limit, and consist of 13
sentence completion questions and 35
reading comprehension questions.
Sections 2 and 4 are
Math, again 25 minutes each, and consist of 28 regular
multiple choice math questions, and 10
grid-in questions.
Section 5 is
Writing, is 30 minutes long, and contains 14
identifying sentence errors, 20
improving sentences, and 5
improving paragraphs questions.
Scoring
1 pt for correct answers
0 pt for unanswered questions
0 pt for incorrect grid-in answers
-1/4 pt for incorrect answers
The math, reading, and writing sections are then converted into 3 separate raw scores ( # correct – (.25 x # incorrect)). These scores are then converted to
scaled scores between 20 and 80 (80 being a perfect score). *note, these scaled scores change from year to year, based on the performance of students taking the PSAT
The
index score is then the total of all 3
scaled scores. A perfect score is 240, but the
average selection index is roughly a 147.
With all of this in mind, it is important to mention that the PSAT can in no way hurt you.
I mean this is two ways. First of all, this is not a difficult test, and is certainly not something that anyone should stress out about. And second, PSAT scores are not sent to colleges, and so therefore a bad PSAT score will not have a negative affect on future
college admissions.