Presented by PVHS School Counselors 2013 PSAT Recap/Review Presented by PVHS School Counselors

What and Why? The PSAT is a standardized test that provides firsthand practice for the SAT – it measures reading skills, mathematics skills, and writing skills The PSAT helps you prepare for SATs by helping identify your strengths & weaknesses while exposing you to the testing environment and questions/directions found on the SATs

What does the PSAT consist of? Timing Question Type Content Scoring Critical Reading Two 25-minute sections *13 Sentence Completions *35 Critical Reading Questions *Vocabulary *Critical Reading 20-80 points Math *25 multiple choice questions *10 grid-in questions *Numbers/Operations *Algebra/Functions *Geometry *Measurement *Stats/Data Analysis Writing One 30-minute section *14 identifying sentence errors *20 improving sentences *5 improving paragraphs *Grammar *Usage *Word Choice Total 5 Sections – 2 hours & 10 minutes 60-240

How is it scored? *For every correct answer = + 1 point *For every incorrect answer = - ¼ point *For questions you skip = 0 points Guessing Strategically *If you eliminate even one answer choice, statistically you have won the right to guess *If you eliminate two answer choices, it is even better for you to guess *If you can eliminate three answer choices, you are making a strong educated guess The more choices you can eliminate the more reasonable your guess is – the SAT is a test of Reasoning Skills!! *If you can’t eliminate any answer choices – skip it!

PSAT Score Reports *students who took the exam in October should have received a score report in the mail Let’s break this down section by section to see what it all means… image from ashleydeal.com

Your Scores section *indicates the score you received for each section of the exam *indicates your percentile Percentiles allow you to compare your scores with the scores of other students at your grade level (nationwide) who have taken the PSAT (juniors with juniors… sophomores with sophomores) ex: a junior with a percentile of 55 has earned a higher score than 55% of other juniors who have taken the exam *to convert your PSAT scores to SAT scores, add a “0” to the end of the score you received for each section image from bellcurves.com

Your Skills section *breaks down each section of the exam by skill categories *shows you how many questions were asked for each category and how many you answered correctly *assists you in identifying your strengths and weaknesses within each section image from bellcurves.com

Your Answers section. indicates the correct answer for each question Your Answers section *indicates the correct answer for each question *the answer you selected (✓ = correct answer) *level of difficulty for each question image from bellcurves.com

How do I compare? 1,551,095 juniors nationwide took PSATs this October Mean Scores: Critical Reading = 47.7 Math = 48.6 Writing = 46.5 1,585,611 sophomores nationwide took the PSATs this October Mean Scores: Critical Reading = 43.1 Math = 43.6 Writing = 41.8

So… What now? *use your score report & test book to review questions you found difficult, answered incorrectly, or skipped entirely *continue to get familiar with exam instructions, # of questions per section, and order of difficulty (this will save you precious time on test day!) *juniors can begin registering for upcoming SAT or ACT exams

SAT vs ACT – what’s the difference? image from collegeconsensus.com

SAT vs ACT Scores ACTs SATs (M + CR) SATs (M + CR + W) FYI… Some colleges and universities still look at your SAT score out of 1600, others look at it out of 2400 (writing section included) image from docstoc.com

How do I register for ACTs or SATs? Registering for exams is simple: *SATs – go to www.collegeboard.org - create an account and follow prompts for registration *ACTs – go to www.actstudent.org - create an account and follow prompts for registration It is your responsibility, as the test taker, to register for exams through the appropriate testing agency!

Test Dates/Deadlines Reminder! … SATs Reminder! … use collegeboard.org to register for SATs & actstudent.org to register for ACTs ACTs Reminder!... Registering for exams by the deadline is the responsibility of the test taker images from dragpost.com & satblog.testive.com