PSAT Exam Review

Every year tens of thousands of high school juniors will take the Preliminary SAT exam, or PSAT. The PSAT test is given every October at high schools all around America. The purpose of the PSAT is two fold. First, it’s a practice run for students who are planning on attending college who will be taking the SAT test. Since the PSAT is produced by the same company that produces the SAT, the test is very similar, and by taking it, students can learn what to expect and get a feel for how they will do on the test. They can also identify their strengths and weaknesses prior to taking the all important SAT. Second, by doing extremely well on the PSAT, students can qualify for scholarships and other honors by being named a National Merit Scholar. For this reason, the PSAT is also known as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, or NMSQT. It takes a little over two hours to complete the PSAT, and there are three sections of the test-critical reading, math problem solving, and writing. On each portion of the test, a student can score anywhere from 20 to 80, which means a perfect score on the PSAT would be 240. The critical reading portion of the PSAT is broken down into two 25 minute long sections. The first is 13 questions on sentence completions. The second is 35 questions testing reading comprehension and related skills. The math portion is also broken up into two 25 minute sections. The first part is 28 questions on general math skills, all multiple choice. The second is 10 questions where the student will have to figure the solution for themselves, and write it in. It’s perfectly OK to use a calculator on the PSAT. The last portion of the exam is the writing skills part. 

There will be 39 multiple choice questions on this part, and you’ll have 30 minutes to complete it. You’ll be asked to identify errors in sentences, improve the way sentences have been written, and improve how paragraphs have been written and structured. The PSAT test is an excellent opportunity for all high school juniors to not only get practical experience preparing for the SAT, but also to win scholarship money as a National Merit Scholar. So don’t blow off the PSAT as just an “exhibition game”. You could qualify for thousands of dollars in scholarship money by doing well on the test. Get a good PSAT prep guide and get yourself a top score.

For additional information, we recommend you check out these free PSAT test resources:

PSAT Study Guide

PSAT Writing Practice

PSAT Reading Practice

PSAT Math Practice

PSAT Test Information

PSAT Practice Questions