The PSAT, practice scholastic achievement test, is give twice a year on a Wednesday and Saturday only. It is given for juniors and under and prepares you for the SAT, which can be taken by juniors and seniors. The test takes a total of about 2 hours and 45 minutes and costs only $15.
The PSAT is scored like the ACT, where all the questions are weighted, given a certain amount of points. You can get up to 80 points on each section of the test. An average score on each section is 40-50 out of 80. There are three sections on the test, critical reading, writing skills, and math. All math, science, and english classes given at BHS help with taking this test, and also prep for taking the ACT.
This test does help a little bit with the ACT, but it is slightly different. The ACT is all multiple choice questions the whole way through, where as the PSAT and SAT is writing and figuring out math problems and some multiple choice questions.
Students take this test for practice on the SAT and for entry points for the national merit scholarship. There are a couple different ways students can prepare for this test. They can do a practice work book, watch a DVD, or take a practice test online. The DVD is given to you by the school.
“Its a very good practice for the ACT,” said Counselor Kristen Lane. “And there is a bonus to get possible scholarship money if you do really well.”
