Preliminary Scholastic
Assessment Test.
ETS, the Educational Testing Service, changed the name from "
aptitude", for unknown reasons. Also goes hand-in-hand with the
NMSQT, for scholarships.
Although not required to graduate/apply for college, a bunch of high schools offer it, some in New York make it mandatory. Part of it is to show off how smart the students in the district are "We have a mean score of 1100 for our students..."
The questions are identical to what you see on an SAT, only the test here is much shorter, about half as long. There are 4 sections, in this order: Verbal, math, verbal, math, Grammar.
Grammar is somewhat new, as it was discovered that women did poorer on the SAT's because of more math less verbal, so the Grammar section was reintroduced, but not on the regular SAT. Old-timers may remember the section as the TSWE where there's a sentence, and you find the error. It's now confined to the PSAT and SAT II subject test: Writing.
Instead of a verbal and math score, which is multiplied out to simulate a real SAT score, you also get a Writing skills score for the last section. Numerous scholarhips are awarded based on how you do, and a certain score qualifies for a National Merit Scholarship. The score makes you a semi-finalist, but it has to be high, something at least 1400 combined, AFAIK. Great to have on your transcript, as well as the scholarships.