About the PSAT
The Preliminary SAT, also known as the PSAT/NMSQT® (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test), is a preparatory version of the SAT exam. You can only take the PSAT once per year, and most students take the test in both 10th and 11th grade. If you earn a high score on the PSAT your junior year, you could qualify to receive a National Merit Scholarship—$180 million dollars in merit scholarships are awarded to students each year! Testing your skills in reading, writing, and math, the PSAT is 2 hours and 45 minutes long. Unlike the SAT, the highest score possible on the PSAT is 1520.
About the PSAT 8/9
The PSAT 8/9 tests the same skills and knowledge as the SAT, PSAT/NMSQT, and PSAT 10—in a way that makes sense for eighth and ninth graders. It measures what they’re already learning, shows them whether they’re on track for college, and lets them know where they need the most improvement. That means students have time to tackle these areas long before they take the SAT.
Test Day
All 9th, 10th, and 11th grade students will take the PSAT or the PSAT 8/9 on October 25th, which is the National School Day test date for the exams. The exams will be graded and results will be available in mid December/early January. Students will be able to access their scores through their College Board account. If a student has not yet created a College Board account they can do that now. Simply go to collegeboard.org and create an account. Doing this will allow students to view their scores when they are available, allow students to register for future SAT exams, and will give them access to the KHAN Academy, which offers the students free test preparation for the PSAT and the SAT.
In Late January, Counselors at Coronado High School will be visiting the English classes to return individual score reports and exam booklets to the students. At that time the counselors will explain how to interpret the score reports and what students can do to improve scores the next time they take a College Board exam.
Khan Academy
For the first time ever, students have access to a free, personalized practice program for the SAT through an exclusive partnership between Khan Academy and the College Board. By making world-class SAT preparation available to anyone, anywhere, we hope to level the playing field so that every student has equal opportunity for college readiness.
With Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy, your students will:
- get a personalized plan tailored to their strengths and weaknesses based on their previous PSAT/NMSQT® or SAT results or our diagnostics;
- hone their skills with thousands of practice questions, hints, and video lessons;
- take up to eight official full-length practice tests online or on paper;
- receive instant feedback and adaptive recommendations for what to practice;
- set a personalized practice schedule to get reminders for when to practice; and
- review expert tips and strategies for the test.
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In 2017, Khan Academy and the College Board, the maker of the SAT, analyzed gains between the PSAT/NMSQT and the SAT and found a positive relationship between use of Official SAT Practice and score improvements on the SAT. Score gains are consistent across gender, family income, race, ethnicity and parental education level.
SAT and ACT Score Ranges for Popular Colleges and Universities
https://www.compassprep.com/college-profiles/