On Oct. 11, freshmen and sophomores will take the PSAT free of charge, and juniors will take the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT) for a $20 fee. Those juniors who don’t take the NMSQT will take the ASVAB free of charge.
The major update to the PSAT is that students will test online. According to the College Board, this change from paper and pencil testing is “so that students who will be taking the SAT as juniors in the spring of 2024 have an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the digital testing experience before taking the digital SAT.”
The PSATs are considered the practice version of the SATs which students take as a college entrance exam. The subsections being taken for the PSAT are Evidence-Based Reading, Writing and Language, Math (with a calculator) and Math (without a calculator). The PSAT only has Reading/Writing and Math.
According to the College Board’s website, a nonprofit organization that provides the PSATs, juniors can also get a merit scholarship if they do well on the PSAT test. Merit scholarships go to students based on their academic performance and/or extracurricular performance. In this case, if you get it, it will be for your academic performance.
The ASVAB practice test may be taken by juniors interested in joining the military. It is made for the military to predict the academic capabilities of an applicant. Juniors interested will take this instead of the PSATs.
The seniors don’t have to take the PSATs though, they have their own activities planned: cap and gown ordering, voting for senior superlatives, senior hoodie distributing, counseling college tour, tech college admission meeting, senior brunch, senior pictures and a drama performance.
For more information on the PSAT, the NMSQT or the ASVAB, students can reach out to their school counselor.
