Every school year in October, sophomores take the Pre-ACT and juniors take the PSAT/NMSQT in preparation for the real exams.  This year on Wednesday, October 8th, both grades were required to take the tests.  While many students saw this as an opportunity to practice, others felt as though it was not a productive use of time.

     The majority of sophomores thought that the test was helpful, serving as exposure to their first experience with the ACT and general standardized testing.  Since the scores do not count legitimately, many sophomores claimed that they were able to use their score as a baseline to see how they would perform on a formal version of the ACT. 

Arlind Saro (‘28) affirmed, “I found the pre-ACT useful. I knew it isn’t directly used for scholarships, so I took it mostly blind as a benchmark to find any weak spots. Taking it encouraged me to register for the real ACT and acclimated me to standardized testing longer than I’d experienced before.” Saro added, “I think the pre-ACT has a unique advantage to the PSAT in being less technically ‘important’ but more helpful as a benchmark because of that.”

     On the contrary, juniors disagreed.  Many juniors have already taken the real SAT or ACT for an official score to submit to colleges;  therefore, they did not see the need to take another practice test.  With the ability to take practice exams anytime on College Board’s Bluebook app, some students did not understand the purpose of having to take the practice exam at school.  However, strong PSAT performance allows students to be nominated for the National Merit Scholarship Program.  According to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, among the 1.3 million students who qualify for the program, only 50,000 high scorers are selected to receive college scholarships.  So, while some students do not see the value in taking the PSAT, their performance does impact whether they could be eligible to receive certain scholarships.

     In addition, there was an official SAT which many juniors took the Saturday prior to the PSAT.  As a result, students felt worn out and saw no purpose in having to test again for a score that would not count.  Junior Alexa Roehner (’27) said, “I took the real SAT a few days before the PSAT and I found the questions to be way easier on the PSAT by a large portion than the actual SAT.” 

     Other juniors who took the SAT on that same Saturday agreed with this point and highlighted that the PSAT was much easier compared to a real SAT, therefore questioning the effectiveness of PSAT.  Roehner went on to say, “I would say the pre-tests are helpful in giving a tester an idea of what to expect, but not an accurate representation of the material they will face.”