The PSAT might be way more important for your student than you think.

The PSAT is billed as a practice SAT, but if you’re the parent of a rising Junior it might be way more important.

You might be thinking, “Wait, didn’t they just take it last year as a sophomore? Why would they be taking it AGAIN?”

That’s true. Most sophomores do take the PSAT at their school and that test is used strictly as a practice opportunity. This past year that was especially important for 10th graders because getting a feel for the new Digital SAT format will be incredibly helpful as students move into their college application process.

Since you mentioned scores, let’s take a look at those. Go ahead and grab them.

Looking at their scores, you’ll notice that for each category – Reading and Math – they are given a numerical score out of 760 and their percentile. (Each section is out of 800 on the regular SAT.)  An easy way to explain percentile to your student is that it means how they scored relative to everyone else.  For example, if your student scored in the 75th percentile, this means that they scored better than 75% of the other students taking the test.

What I remind my potential clients is this – the college process is a competition.

There are of course arguments about how fair or not fair the process might be, but at the end of the day your student is competing for a place against the other students who are applying to the same college or major or special honors college program.  Of course, the higher their percentile, the more competitive they are relative to their peers. If you want to be more confident that your student is fully prepared for their upcoming PSAT, take my quiz "Is Your Student Test Prep Ready?" to assess their readiness and receive personalized recommendations for improvement.

How can your student use the PSAT to be more competitive?  By winning an award!

For juniors, the PSAT is also the NMSQT (yikes!), which is the National Merit Scholar Qualifying Test. If your student scores well enough, in competition with students from their state, they may be named a National Merit Scholar finalist and be eligible to continue the process for a National Merit Scholarship.

What does this mean for your student's preparation?

If your student has a strong academic background - mostly As and a few Bs - and their score is a 600+ for both the Reading and Math PSAT, then I would encourage them to start their intensive test preparation this summer.  Their goal should be 700+ on both the Reading and Math sections. This will put them in the ballpark for a strong National Merit score and make them competitive to be a National Merit scholar.

What if your student's score isn’t that strong?

That’s completely ok. Their goal for this summer should be to make sure they are comfortable with the test and do enough preparation and practice to have a good experience on their PSAT in October. For them, it will be just a practice, but the first practice of their college journey that can help them set a foundation for the ‘real’ test later.

Understanding the potential prize at stake for your student will help you both make good decisions about how to use their time this summer to be ready for the PSAT in October.