Last Wednesday, room C20 and the cafeteria were filled with with the clicking of fingers on calculator keys, the hunched over bodies of students, and the thick aroma of eraser shavings. These are all the elements that made up a day of PSAT testing.

The PSAT is practice for a much more important test that affects the way that colleges view the success of a student, the SAT
(Scholastic Aptitude Test).

“The PSAT is not as important as the SAT,” states Ms. Pam Tackett, one of the school’s counselors. “However, it’s very beneficial for students to have practice.”

Results have a different importance for sophomores and juniors. For sophomores, it is simply a “practice for the practice.” However for the juniors, the PSAT determines who becomes a National Merit Scholar, Semi-Finalist or Commended Student.

“National Merit Scholars are chosen by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation,” says Ms. Amanda Leszczuk, the counselor who keeps all the PSAT information on file. “The score needed to qualify fluctuates each year, but last year the total score needed to become a semi-finalist was 214.”

With the importance raised for juniors, Mara Coyan–a junior herself–took the PSAT very seriously this year.

“I started doing practice tests in the summer,” she states. “I used my brother’s old practice books to help me prepare. However, this was also to prepare for the SAT.”

Coyan believes that all of this hard work is worth it.

“The math section was tricky, but overall it wasn’t too bad,” Coyan stated about her PSAT experience.