Each year all grade 10 and 11 students (sophomores and juniors) at Island Pacific Academy are required to take the PSAT (PSAT/NMSQT), a national college readiness exam and qualifier for the National Merit Scholarship Program; this year the test is being administered on two Wednesdays in October. IPA sophomores and juniors will take the test today as part of the school day.
Since IPA students will take the PSAT here at their own school, they need bring only two No. 2 pencils and an approved calculator.
“There are two main reasons why we want our students to take the PSAT,” explains Dean of College Counseling, Kori Shlachter. “First, the PSAT, short for Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test, is a useful tool for students to preview the SAT and see which areas of the test they do well on and where they might want to strategize to improve. And second, just taking the exam adds the student into databases for potential financial aid in the future. Depending on a student’s score, they may qualify for the National Merit Scholarship Program as well.”
National Merit Scholarship winners (or those who received other private merit scholarships due to their NMS rankings) include several Nobel Prize winners, a United States Supreme Court Justice, a NASA astronaut, and some familiar names like Jerry Greenfield (co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s), Bill Gates (Microsoft), M. Night Shyamalan (movie director), and Stephanie Meyer (author of the Twilight series).
Today’s group of students is the first to take the newly redesigned PSAT/NMSQT. The new format of the test focuses “on the things that recent data show matter most for success in college and career” according to The College Board’s website. With the redesign of the SAT, the College Board aims to make the SAT more accessible and relevant to what is being taught in school. Some of the major changes include making the essay section optional, eliminating the guessing penalty, and asking students to analyze science and history/social science texts. In addition, the College Board has partnered with the Khan Academy to provide free test preparation materials for the PSAT and SAT. The redesigned SAT will make its debut in March 2016.
The College Board website has test sample questions and answer keys with explanations. Above a screen shot from a PSAT practice test math section question and possible answers.
Information about the PSAT/NMSQT, the SAT suite, test day advice, study strategies, the National Merit Scholarship Program, and schedules and registration for upcoming exams can all be found on The College Board website: https://www.collegeboard.org/. IPA families with more questions can contact Kori Shlachter at [email protected]
