Since school is back in person, PSAT testing has begun to start up again. Here at Downey High School,  PSAT testing will be Wednesday Oct. 13 and freshmen, sophomores, and selected juniors will be taking this test. Selected Juniors were offered to take the test and if they get over a certain score they will be offered a National Merit scholarship. 

The PSAT test has been seen as  a useful tool for students to gage where they are in their  education and what areas  they need to work on in order to improve their scores for the actual SAT.  Although due to  COVID-19, many colleges are not requiring the SAT anymore, at the moment this mostly applies to the class of 2022. 

With freshmen starting their first year of high school in person after a year and a half online there are many new activities and responsibilities transitioning into high school. Student, Chelsea Mata describes her feelings on the PSAT and how it will benefit study habits in the future.

“I don’t feel nervous about the PSATs since it’s just a practice test,” Mata stated. “I think this practice test will show me where I am and what I should get better on.”

Having their first year online, many sophomores like student Lauren Silva, 10 have a bit of a disadvantage with the PSAT taking, since they did not take the test last year. Lauren, like many other sophomores, are nervous about taking the test tomorrow having no prior experience with the test.

“I think online school did some damage to me, it will most likely hinder my score because we obviously didn’t cover as much content needed,” Silva stated. “ I feel pretty nervous! I didn’t take it last year because of online school and so on but I’m also pretty curious as well, it’s a first and I want to do good.”

The smallest group of students taking the PSATS would be juniors. Most juniors were offered the test by their counselors as an opportunity for a National Merit scholarship. If they are able to reach a score over a certain amount they will be placed in a competition for the scholarship. Student, Maximus Rodriguez, 11, was a junior who was offered this opportunity and gives insight on his feelings about the scholarship.

Q: Does the fact that there is a scholarship opportunity motivate you to do better ? 

“It does a little bit, but at the same time with there being little to no consequence if I do bad, they sort of balance out in making me not think about the test a lot,” stated Rodriguez. “I’m not nervous or excited, just ready to get it over with.”

In summary most students don’t look forward to taking a 4 hour test, but it is a tool we can use to practice and ready ourselves for college.