On Wednesday, October 12, all sophomores and juniors completed the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) as a practice exam for the former and as the actual qualification exam for the latter.

Sponsored by College Board and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), the exam comprises of two critical reading and two mathematics sections, each 25 minutes long, and one 30-minute writing section.

This standardized test was designed for students as both practice for the SAT and as an opportunity to enter NMSC scholarship programs, where they are able to “gain access to college and career planning tools,” according to College Board’s website.

All sophomores are required to take the PSAT to familiarize themselves with the standardized testing process.

“[The practice test] lets kids get a feel for what they have to do when they take the real test, and it makes you think about the time restraints and all the factors that go into test-taking,” Arjun Goyal (10) said. “[Plus], practice is never a bad thing.”

He believes preparation for the exam is unnecessary as the exam is designed to test students’ skills that they have learned in the past years in general academic subjects, like math, reading, and writing.

Meanwhile, all juniors assembled in the gym to take the qualification exam for eligibility in the national merit scholarship.

For Anika Radiya-Dixit (11), preparation for the PSAT helped her alleviate stress.

“To reduce the pressure, I thought of the [PSAT] as another [practice] test that I was just taking instead of the actual thing,” she said.

Anika felt as though taking the exam her junior year “was more difficult in the sense that it actually counted for the national scholarship.”

Students in both the sophomore and junior class will receive their scores in mid-December.