Don’t wait until the last minute to prepare for the PSAT/NMSQT®.
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PSAT stands for Preliminary SAT®. The PSAT/NMSQT®, at its heart, is a practice version of the SAT®, as the two tests are similar in structure and assessed content areas. The PSAT/NMSQT® is also known at the NMSQT (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test). The PSAT/NMSQT® has four sections for a total of 2 hours and 45 minutes, and the exam is scored on a 320-1520 point scale, with two subsections (combined Reading/ Writing and Language and Math) each receiving a score from 160 to 760. The PSAT/NMSQT® does not include an essay. For juniors, performance on the PSAT can qualify them for National Merit Scholarship consideration. For all students, the PSAT/NMSQT® is a great opportunity to gain practice for the summative assessments (SAT® and/or ACT®) that will appear on their college applications.
Register for the PSAT/NMSQT® by contacting your school counselor. Find out when your school is offering the test: PSAT/NMSQT® High School Search
Juniors hoping to gain testing experience and/or potentially qualify for a National Merit Scholarship. At many schools, sophomores (and possibly freshmen) will also be offered the opportunity to sit for the exam, but only juniors are eligible for scholarship consideration.
The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic scholarship competition open to high school juniors based upon their performance on the PSAT/NMSQT® and other academic and personal factors.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) uses the PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index score (double the sum of the Reading, Writing and Language, and Math test scores, a range of 48-228), as an initial screening of program entrants and to designate groups of students to receive recognition. The National Merit Scholarship program is open to all high school students who meet the entry requirements. Each year over 1.5 million high school students enter the competition:
There are three main academic areas that are assessed on the PSAT. In reading, students are measured in their ability to read for main ideas, understand tone, draw inferences, and define vocabulary in context. In math, students are assessed in their knowledge of concepts in arithmetic, geometry, and algebra I. In writing, students are tested in their understanding of standard grammar usage.
All students take the PSAT/NMSQT® on either the third Wednesday or Saturday in October.
Students register for the PSAT/NMSQT® through their high schools. Any questions about registration should thus be directed to a student’s guidance/college counselor. If a student’s school does not offer the PSAT, the student can use the College Board’s PSAT/NMSQT® High School Search Tool to find a school in the area that administers the PSAT/NMSQT®, and then contact that school to about registration procedures.
The regular registration fee for the PSAT/NMSQT® is $15.
There are several ways that a student can prepare for the PSAT/NMSQT®. Students should gain familiarity with the structure of the PSAT. The PSAT/NMSQT®, at over two hours, is the longest test most students will take to that point in time, and being aware of this unique challenge is important. Students should also work to further develop the academic skills being assessed by the PSAT/NMSQT®. Understanding main ideas in a reading passage, working with triangles, and understanding subject-verb agreement are just a sample of the cross-curricular skills that are covered on the exam. Students should learn the particular way in which questions are asked on the PSAT/NMSQT®. As opposed to much of the math students experience in high school, questions on the PSAT/NMSQT® are asked in a less-straightforward way, which means that students must be particularly adept at identifying the core concept being assessed in a given question. The easiest way for students to gain experience with the PSAT/NMSQT® is to complete a full-length practice exam under conditions similar to the actual test. This experience will provide results that can inform and focus student preparation.
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The main differences between the PSAT/NMSQT® and the SAT® are below:
Overall, the two tests are quite similar. Students will see much of the same of content on both, such as reading passages, writing passages, and multiple-choice math questions that are structured in a similar way.
As there is no guessing penalty on the PSAT/NMSQT®, students should not leave any questions blank at the conclusion of any section. Students should do all of the questions they know, then the questions on which they can eliminate some of the answers before guessing, and then randomly guess on any remaining questions.
There is no statistical advantage in one PSAT test date over another.
1900 – Formation of the College Entrance Examination Board. This organization was established by university presidents to standardize the admissionprocess across 12 leading universities. The following year, the first College Boards, essay-only exams, were administered.
1955 – The National Merit Scholarship Program begins as an academic scholarship program to reward scholastic achievement.
1971 – The National Merit Scholarship Corporation adopts the PSAT/NMSQT® as the qualifying test for scholarship consideration.
1997 – The College Board adds a writing section to the PSAT/NMSQT®.
2015 – Comprehensive PSAT/NMSQT® Redesign goes into effect.