[Podcast] What Are Some Good PSAT Prep Tips?

Sheila Akbar 0:00
Treat it as data. Create your testing plan off of that. And then I would say compare it to an ACT. Hey folks, welcome back. We had a great question today about the PSAT. And as you have probably come to expect, we go down a little bit of a rabbit hole before I even start answering McKenzie’s question. But I think it’s really important contextualizing information that every student and every parent should know before you get all hyped up about the PSAT.

McKenzie Carver 0:37
Take a listen. I kind of want to start today by reminding our listeners that I am answering a burning question that people are asking the internet at this time. Sometimes that means the questions themselves might have some unpacking. And I think that might be the case with today’s question. This week’s burning question is: what are PSAT prep tips? Not SAT, not ACT. P-S-A-T prep.

Sheila Akbar 1:10
Okay. So I think we should start with some definitions. What is the PSAT? And more importantly — why is the PSAT? That’s the question I usually like to answer when someone asks me that.

The PSAT is a practice SAT made by the College Board, which is the company that makes the SAT. Many high schools give the PSAT to students in 11th grade — usually October of 11th grade, which is why this question is being asked right now. Sometimes they let 10th graders take it as well.

No college ever sees a PSAT score. This is not how colleges evaluate students for admission. At its heart, the PSAT is a marketing tool the College Board created to encourage students to lock into the SAT as opposed to considering the ACT — which is the other college admissions test that every four-year college in the United States accepts without bias. Colleges don’t care which one you submit. They’re just going to look at your higher score, even if you submit both.

So remember this: the PSAT is a marketing tool.

One of the ways people get hyped up about the PSAT is either they think a college is going to look at it, or they’re really invested in the scholarship competition aspect. There is a scholarship — the National Merit Scholarship — for which the PSAT is the qualifying score. There are other criteria they look at, but if you hit a certain score — and it varies by state, which is the subject of a totally separate episode — you’re entered into the next round of that scholarship competition. There’s an essay you have to write, and they look at other things. But if you win the scholarship, it’s actually not that big a deal — it’s not that much money. Sometimes colleges will use your National Merit status to award you additional merit aid. But they can also give you that merit aid based on your actual SAT or ACT score. It doesn’t have to be the PSAT. So let’s all calm down about the PSAT.

That said, it can be super useful. It is a realistic practice test — a little easier and a little shorter than the real SAT, but scored on the same scoring band. So you can say: if I got a 1320 on the PSAT, I would probably score around a 1320 on the SAT today. You can use it as a diagnostic tool to understand what you need to work on, what about the testing experience stressed you out, and how to prepare. You can use it to build a prep plan for the SAT, since the question types are the same.

We like to have students do a practice SAT — usually a real SAT, not a PSAT — in the summer before 11th grade. And then we have them do a practice ACT in that same time frame so we can compare scores and their experience all within the same mindset. That helps students decide: should you do the SAT, the ACT, or go test optional? Because over 90% of colleges are still test optional. There have been a lot of headlines this year trying to make it seem like colleges all want test scores again — but actually, while a few have changed their policy, still over 90% are test optional. Don’t believe the hype.

Now, to the question of how do you prep for the PSAT? I think it’s helpful for students to prep — but they don’t have to. If a student isn’t engaged or you already know they’re going test optional, they don’t have to. But I do think it’s helpful for students to look through a PSAT — you can find practice ones right on the College Board website — and just see what the questions look like. Maybe try a few of them. If you really want to maximize your score, do a practice test under realistic timed conditions to see what that feels like. That’s the minimum prep I’d recommend.

I never recommend getting a tutor for the PSAT. Get a tutor for the SAT or the ACT by all means — but not for the PSAT. It’s just not worth the bang for your buck. I’ll pause there and see what you’re curious about, McKenzie.

McKenzie Carver 7:28
You mentioned that a lot of schools offer the PSAT to their 11th graders, and sometimes 10th graders. If a student’s school does not offer the PSAT, should they seek one out — or just go without?

Sheila Akbar 7:46
Great question. I think every student should do a little diagnostic work to figure out their testing plan for college applications — even if they think they’re a terrible test taker. Sometimes that message has come from somewhere else and isn’t actually supported by data from how they perform on tests. So this can be a nice reality check.

You can get a practice test on the College Board website and a practice ACT on the ACT website — both for free. Nobody should be charging you for this. Take a practice test and see how you do. You might find it wasn’t so bad, or that you’re actually really good at one section — which might make it worth putting in effort to bring up the other. Or your worst fears might be confirmed. And that way, you’ve got evidence — you know for sure you’re going test optional and should only be looking at test optional schools.

I don’t think students need to go to great lengths to get into a PSAT administration at another school. Just download a practice SAT from the College Board website and do that. That’s plenty.

McKenzie Carver 9:12
Is there a reason why the PSAT is typically a little easier than the standard SAT?

Sheila Akbar 9:19
The SAT’s reasoning is that they expect students to take the SAT toward the end of junior year or sometime in senior year. So with the PSAT coming so early, there may just be some content gaps — maybe you haven’t encountered certain material yet. I’m sure someone who’s done more detailed analysis could tell you exactly where it’s easier, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you that off the top of my head. When they redesigned the SAT most recently, they rescaled the PSAT to match. Their psychometricians and test developers have written a lot of validation studies around this that you can look up if you’re interested.

McKenzie Carver 10:14
Do you have specific prep tips — even for the day of the PSAT?

Sheila Akbar 10:25
Yes, actually — and I think this is really smart for us to talk about. Because you know what you know, right? I don’t want you going around trying to learn everything for the PSAT. If it aligns with your SAT prep, then yes, absolutely do that. But there’s no need to teach yourself new math or memorize literary passages in case they come up on the reading section.

What you can do are the smart test-taking behaviors that apply to any test — the PSAT, the SAT, the ACT, or even a math test next week. Things like: getting good sleep, fueling your body with a protein-forward breakfast on the morning of the test, understanding the timing, bringing a snack for the break, drinking water.

Work on things that help you feel confident. The behavioral tips I give my students depend on the individual, but I always want them to do something fun the morning of the test. Nothing major — just something small that makes you laugh. If there’s a funny YouTube video you can’t watch without cracking up, go watch it while you eat breakfast. Laughter releases endorphins, and that’s what we want — you feeling your best when you sit down. If a small amount of exercise helps you, great. Just don’t do a full workout, because you might still be testing by the time the fatigue sets in.

Other things to keep in mind: don’t try a new medication right before the test if you don’t know how it’s going to affect you. Don’t do something adventurous in the week before — I had a student a couple of years ago who broke their wrist two days before their test. So keep it safe, stay within your comfort zone, don’t try new things. And if you can, keep things peaceful — don’t get into a fight with your best friend or your parents. I know you can’t always control that. But those kinds of stresses distract you and get in the way of demonstrating what you actually know. And to do well on these tests, you need focus, attention to detail, and confidence in what you know. Plan something fun for afterward too — having something to look forward to is really nice.

McKenzie Carver 13:47
When should students expect to receive their PSAT scores?

Sheila Akbar 13:57
Now that it’s all digital, usually sometime in November. There are sometimes scoring delays — that does happen unfortunately — but you should have it sometime in November.

McKenzie Carver 14:10
If a student scores wildly below what they were expecting, should they be disappointed or torn up about it?

Sheila Akbar 14:20
I’m glad we’re talking about this before the PSAT happens. This is just data. We don’t have to get emotionally attached to the results because it doesn’t matter for college admissions. We’re taking a temperature of where the student is right now so they can use that information to prepare for the test they’re actually going to take for college admissions — if they’re going to take one at all.

Let’s talk through the scenarios. If you scored far below what you expected — whether that expectation came from a practice test, or you’re a 4.0 student who assumed you’d ace it — try not to be too disappointed. You are so much more than a number, and colleges know that. Most colleges use a holistic process: essays, recommendations, all sorts of other things. It’s not all just a test score.

But let’s also learn what we can. If there’s a big difference between your practice test and your actual score, what changed? Was it something about the testing environment? Something happening that week? Did the questions feel much harder than the practice? Or did they feel easier — sometimes students get overconfident, rush, and don’t do things like writing out scratch work for math. The number of people who try to do everything in their head — I always say no, this is dangerous.

The more you can think about what changed, the more information you’ll have about what to try to control next time. If you didn’t eat breakfast on the morning of the real test but did on your practice test — eat breakfast. We want to prevent as many things from going wrong as we can. Weird things happen. When I went to take my GRE for grad school, my testing center was literally four blocks away. I was just going to walk. I was drinking my coffee and somehow dropped the mug straight onto my big toe — it shattered, my toe was bleeding, hot coffee everywhere. I bandaged up my foot and hobbled to the testing center. I didn’t do as well as I had been doing in practice. So: prepare your environment, plan ahead, control what you can.

But don’t be disappointed. It’s just information, and it’s early in junior year. You have time to learn from the experience, study what you need to study, do more practice tests, and perform your best on a later date.

McKenzie Carver 18:33
That reminded me — my little cousin took the enhanced ACT last spring and brought a computer with 25% battery to the test. It died on him in the middle of testing. So if you’re bringing your own device, make sure it’s charged.

Sheila Akbar 19:02
Yes — or bring a charger, for another layer of protection. Which reminds me of another tip. The PSAT, because it’s digital, has the Desmos calculator built in. That thing is powerful, but you have to know how to use it. So if you’re doing a little PSAT prep, learn how to use Desmos — it will really help you in the math section. There are tutorials online you can find easily.

And your instinct about what happens when you get your scores back is a great one to follow. Treat it as data. Create your testing plan from that. And then compare it to an ACT.

McKenzie Carver 19:42
Yeah.

Sheila Akbar 19:43
While you’re waiting for your PSAT scores, you could do a practice ACT.

McKenzie Carver 19:48
Right.

Sheila Akbar 19:49
And if you Google “official concordance SAT ACT,” you’ll find it — it’s on both the College Board website and the ACT website. You can use it to see how your ACT score converts to an SAT score. If your ACT predicts you would have scored higher on the SAT than you actually did, the ACT may be a better fit. If your SAT scores are relatively stronger, stick with the SAT.

Since the SAT is only digital, doing a paper ACT also lets you figure out which medium works better for you — a computer screen or paper. That’s a really useful thing to know. And there are plenty of articles and webinars on our website about how to interpret these results and make a plan. Most testing companies will also do this analysis for free — give you a practice test of each and do a comparison. Just be aware that it often comes with a recommendation to do 40 hours of prep with them. So be prepared for that pitch, but they will give you the analysis.

McKenzie Carver 21:09
Do as many schools offer the PACT as they do the PSAT?

Sheila Akbar 21:16
Not as many — but many do. And they often offer the PACT at the end of 10th grade. The PACT is the pre-ACT. I actually think that’s the right timing. I wish the PSAT was at the end of 10th grade too, because then you could do all of this preparatory work over the summer and get your testing done in junior fall — then focus on junior year, which is going to be your hardest year yet. Don’t try to cram in SAT prep when you’re maybe leading clubs for the first time or taking your first APs and everything feels so hard. So if you’re younger than a junior, think about that. You don’t have to wait for the PSAT. You could just download a practice test and do it.

Now, the reason not as many schools offer the PACT is a business reason — not because colleges or high schools don’t like the ACT. Let me pull back the curtain a little.

The ACT and the College Board are competing for market share. Just like Coca-Cola and Pepsi. One of the ways they take this competition out of the hands of students is by going to the state level. When the College Board redesigned the SAT in 2016, it made an aggressive push to get more state contracts. This was the era of Common Core — a standardized curriculum being pushed across many school districts and states. The SAT wanted to be the capstone exam for Common Core. And it’s no coincidence that the architect of Common Core became the CEO of the College Board. He was like: here’s an opportunity. Using that logic, David Coleman and the College Board secured a lot of state contracts — meaning every school district in a given state was already paying the College Board for the PSAT, for school-day SAT administrations, for AP curriculum, for all the things that come with being a client of the College Board.

I’ll give you an example. I grew up in Michigan, which was an ACT state. Very few students were taking the SAT when I was growing up — it was all about the ACT. Talent competitions used the ACT to identify gifted students. And then in 2016, Michigan became an SAT state. It’s just a territory grab to get more students into their pipeline.

And here’s the real reason why, even though the College Board is technically a nonprofit. The CEO took home more than $2 or $3 million last year — it’s all in their public reporting. They make a lot of money — not just from exam registration fees, but from selling things like AP curriculum to school districts and selling student data to colleges, summer camps, and other educational programs. They won’t sell that information to a test prep company, but they will sell it to summer programs on college campuses, because those organizations want to recruit and market to students. They want names, score ranges, zip codes, parent occupations — it’s marketing data, and it’s very valuable. And the ACT does the same thing.

So just so you know what’s really motivating all of this: it’s not about finding the best assessment to measure college readiness. It’s a profitable hoop that families have been convinced is necessary. And most colleges — if you look at the research — will tell you that adding a test score to a holistic admissions evaluation doesn’t significantly increase its ability to predict whether a student will succeed in college. GPA does a very good job of that on its own. Family wealth also does a very good job of that. Test scores essentially just confirm what those factors are already saying. Because at the end of the day, SAT and ACT scores are largely a proxy for family wealth.

I like telling people about this. Number one, it’s kind of fascinating. But number two, it helps people see: I don’t have to fall for this. If you take the test, use it to your benefit — see how you’re doing and plan ahead. But don’t let it feel like it defines what’s possible for you, or that a poor score means college isn’t on the horizon. That’s not what that test score actually means.

Knowing that there are ulterior motives behind testing, state contracts, and even test redesigns helps put all of it in perspective. Even the recent changes to the ACT — it was acquired by a private equity firm, and the first thing they did was chop it down to match the SAT’s length, with very little intentionality. The rollout has been a mess. Students and families are caught in the crossfire of these testing wars.

McKenzie Carver 29:01
It’s all about the money. Wow. I do think it’s really important that listeners know this — it gives you some grounding in case you get caught up in the whirlpool of the score.

Sheila Akbar 29:14
Yeah. I know — that’s kind of a bummer to end on. Sorry, everyone. We live in late-stage capitalism. If you dig far enough under almost anything, you end up at this kind of story.

McKenzie Carver 29:29
Yeah.

Sheila Akbar 29:30
This is where it ends up.

McKenzie Carver 29:33
Yeah.

Sheila Akbar 29:34
But we don’t have to just accept it. There are organizations working on this. One of my favorites is FairTest.org — I know the people who work there well and have a lot of respect for what they do. It’s very data-driven. They keep a great list of test-optional schools, monitor policies, advocate for families and students, and work directly with institutions to use assessments fairly. Lots of people are talking about this, and there are many groups advocating for student rights in the face of these behemoth institutions. We can join them and hopefully help change all of this.