3 Reasons You Shouldn't Skip Preparing for the PSAT

With all the nice weather and long summer days, the inevitable return to a school routine falls easily to the back of the mind.

For parents and students alike, ​this usually means the beginning of the fall semester is characterized by a sense of unpreparedness. The PSAT is a two-hour test administered in October, giving students very little time to readjust to the early morning hours and homework grooves, much less adequately prepare for this crucial juncture in a high schooler’s four year stint.
     Many people focus on the ‘P’ in PSAT (which stands for practice) and thus view the test as merely a trial run leading up to the more important SAT, but here are three reasons the PSAT is more than just an exercise in standardized testing:

1. Students obtain detailed feedback on the very strengths and weaknesses necessary to and weaknesses necessary to college, as well as how they might compare to other students during the admission process.

2. Students who prepare and perform well on the PSAT are set up to do the same when it comes to the SAT, giving them an advantage over their peers and making them stand out in the eyes of the universities.

​3. Both sophomore and junior high schoolers take the PSAT, but all PSAT scores from juniors are automatically considered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation – a program which awards finalists a variety of corporate- and college-sponsored scholarships that help reduce the cost of college.