Alongside changes to the SAT for 2005 come changes to the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT).The new PSAT will debut for the October 2004 tests. While College Board has changed a few items on the test, the basic format remains the same. There are still two 25-minute critical reading sections, two 25-minute math sections and one 30-minute writing skills section.
What changes and what stays the same?
Critical reading
- Still the same:
- This section will test reading comprehension, vocabulary, relationships between words and sentence construction. Types of questions include sentence completion and short reading comprehension passages.
- What's new:
- The name of this section will change from "Verbal" to "Critical Reading." As this new name indicates, the focus of this section will be reading.
- Analogies will be eliminated.
- Additional short reading passages will be added.
Mathematics
- Still the same:
- This section will test ability in algebra, geometry, data analysis, statistics and probability. This section includes multiple-choice and "grid-ins" (word problem) questions.
- While content will be added and some areas broadened to include additional concepts, the general areas of algebra and functions, geometry and measurement, number and operations, data analysis, stats and probability will remain the same.
- What's new:
- Quantitative comparisons will be eliminated.
- Content in algebra and geometry will be added.
- Other math concepts will be strengthened and expanded.
Writing skills
- Still the same:
- This section will challenge you to pick out grammatical, spelling and language errors, such as asking you to improve sentence and paragraph structure.
- Although your writing skills will be tested in terms of identifying mistakes and phrasing ideas, like last year's PSAT test (and unlike the new 2005 SAT I test), there is no essay writing in this section. The reason is that waiting for essays to be evaluated would delay score reporting and take time away from reading essays for the SAT I.
- What's new:
- No major structural changes to this section.
You can see samples of each type of question here:
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/psat/about/ontest.html
Why is the PSAT changing?
The changes are based on the same principles for changing the SAT - that the test should better reflect what students actually study in high school and that the test should also better test skills that will be used in college.
Because of changes in the test, has the scoring changed?
No. The scoring on the PSAT remains the same. You receive one point for each correct answer and are deducted 1/4 of a point for each incorrect answer to a multiple choice question. There is no deduction for wrong answers to questions in which the student produces the response. Unanswered questions are not counted against you.
Similar to the previous PSAT, your final total will then be converted to a score range between 20 and 80. A score of 80 is a perfect score. For the 2000 PSAT, the average score for high school juniors was about 49.
Your score on the new PSAT will remain a good indicator of performance on the new 2005 SAT I.
Remember that how you score on the PSAT will not have any direct bearing on your final SAT score, nor does the test determine whether you will gain admission to college. However, your PSAT scores can help you gauge how you might do if you were to take the SAT right now.
As an added incentive, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation will continue to use PSAT scores to determine how to distribute their national merit-based scholarships, so a high score (along with meeting other academic requirements) could qualify you for scholarship money.
Learn more about the PSAT
Add to:
