The “Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test” commonly known as “ the PSAT” is a regulated test managed by the “College Board” and sponsored by the “National Merit Scholarship Corporation” in the US. The PSAT prepares you for readiness and it’s also a qualifying test for National Merit Scholarships. The exam takes around 3 hours to complete. If you’re a freshman you’re required to take the exam, but after freshman year it becomes optional, if you want to take the test you have to pay an $18 charge. But you’re not required to take it after freshman year. I interviewed a series of freshman, class of 2027, that have taken the PSAT 2023 this year. I asked them 3 questions about their personal experiences, being their first time taking the PSAT. I asked “How was your experience with the PSAT this year?”, “What did you expect going into the PSAT?”, and “In your opinion did you find the PSAT helpful or not?” Dra

yke Palazzi is a freshman as well as a varsity long snapper, JV center, and JV defensive tackle on both football teams at WSHS. He found the PSATs “boring an

d long and pretty difficult” but another student, freshman Aaron Paglia thought it was, “pretty easy, but, sitting in the same room for 4 hours is kinda a long time” The PSATs are kind of set up like an MCAS test, which is what a lot of students were expecting going into the exam. Freshman Lane Gibney, Volleyball JV B-team middle blocker, shares, “It was kinda like MCAS, like hard questions, like I wouldn’t know what the answer was” Drayke adds, “I expected it to be like MCAS, and it pretty much was, it was just a lot more boring”. A few common questions students have had about the PSAT are, “is it really helpful?”, “Why are freshman required to take the PSAT?”, “Does the PSAT affect us or reflect on our g

But, was this helpful? Let’s ask the freshman I interviewed. A lot of students like, Teddy Piacentini, reveals, “No”, Drayke continues, “No, definitely not”. But one other student thought the opposite, Lane shared, “I guess so, it’s like a practice for MCAS”. 

rade in any way?”, The first PSAT you take basically sets the stage for your eligibility for a National Merit Scholarship. You start the course of the PSAT your first year in high school, so that would be your freshman year. 

Although the PSAT may not affect your grade or your high school journey, you should still take it as seriously as any other test or even like MCAS, because it could qualify you for several scholarship programs, but your score becomes most important in your junior year because that score is what qualifies you.