Do I Qualify for a National Merit Scholarship?
The PSAT that high school juniors take every October offers more than just a glimpse at the actual SAT. This test may not directly impact college admissions, but top scorers can earn special recognition and even scholarship. That is why that 11th grade test (not the PSAT 10 or PSAT 8/9) is known as the PSAT/NMSQT. Students who take the PSAT/NMSQT are automatically screened for the National Merit® Scholarship Program, an academic competition for recognition and scholarships. All kinds of opportunity is on the table for students who score high enough. Thus, the obvious question is, “How high do I have to score for National Merit Scholarship recognition?” If only the answer was that easy. National Merit Scholarship recognition is based on a student’s Selection Index, which is based on a student’s PSAT score, which is similar but not the same as an SAT score. Simple, right? The SAT is…
Quick Points About The Digital SAT
If you’re interested in learning all the details about the digital SAT and PSAT, we’ve got you covered with our new Meet the Digital SAT series of articles. If, instead, you want two minutes of important points about the tests, we’ve got you covered with that as well! I was interviewed on the topic in early August 2023 by WBRC FOX6 News out of Birmingham, AL: Expert shares changes coming to new digital SAT format “The digital SAT that we’re going to be seeing, actually that’s being administered now overseas, is a section-adaptive test,” said Mike Bergin, the president of the National Test Prep Association and the founder of Chariot Learning. “The first reading-writing section sets your baseline and if you do well, you perform at a certain level on the first reading-writing, your next reading-writing section will be harder and you have the potential for a higher score. If you don’t do…
Meet The Digital SAT: MATH
Until 2015, the SAT was considered the test for students with strong reading ability, while the ACT catered to those with more of a math focus. The last revision, however, reversed the calculus by creating a math-forward assessment that emphasized more advanced topics, graphical literacy, and no-calculator math than ever. The revision was also intended to align the SAT with the Common Core philosophy of testing fewer topics in greater depth than prior assessments. To be fair, College Board ran from the politically unpalatable Common Core curriculum alignment not long after launch and never made good on the promise of fewer math topics anyway; on the contrary, the more recent version of the test required knowledge of more concepts and formulas than ever. Interestingly, the digital SAT appears, at least in its earliest days, to be making a more earnest commitment to mathematical depth rather than breadth: Interestingly, the content…
Meet The Digital SAT: READING AND WRITING
While the digital deployment and multistage adaptive aspects of the new SAT and PSAT certainly draw attention as the biggest changes to these tests, one other revision deserves just as much attention. The SAT has always tested reading, and the digital SAT continues to refine just what aspects of reading matter most in the current educational environment. As usual, this portion of the test looks very different from its most immediate predecessor. Gone is the emphasis on long reading passages, linked evidence questions, and the dreaded historical documents. To be fair, most test takers won’t be sorry to see those elements go. What does the digital SAT offer instead? Expect questions evaluating many of the same fundamental reading skills in some new ways: Questions focusing on the enduring themes of thesis, structure, and both close and inferential reading will be attached to reading passages of roughly 100 words each. Each…
Meet The Digital SAT: STRUCTURE
For nearly a century, the SAT has been revised on a regular basis to reflect educational priorities in reading, writing, and math. However, every version of the test has shared one fundamental trait–it was administered on paper. Not anymore! The newest version of the SAT has been rebuilt from the ground up to embody the first truly digital expression of this assessment, as opposed to current computer-based presentations of the paper-and-pencil SAT and ACT. Such a dramatic departure from the norm demands careful consideration of all the elements of testing we typically take for granted: 1. WHERE? The digital SAT and PSAT will still, at least for the near future, be administered at conventional test centers, which usually means high schools. 2. WHEN? Again, the immediate future of the digital SAT will follow the current practice of morning administrations on national test dates, along with various Sunday and school-day administrations.…
Meet The Digital SAT: INTRODUCTION
Every decade, it seems, gets its own version of the SAT. This exam–one of America’s most influential and controversial tests–has endeavored to reflect college readiness and the nation’s educational priorities since 1926. The newest revision charts a bold path to the future of standardized assessments while still channeling the reading, writing, and quantitative problem solving priorities that have been foundational to SAT success for nearly a century. The most visible and glaring change will be an entirely digital SAT and PSAT for just about every student. The dSAT, as the new version of the test is known, has been the only SAT available outside the United States since March 2023. Domestic students will experience the revised exam in two stages: October 2023: Students will take the digital PSAT. March 2024: Students will begin taking the digital SAT. At this time, College Board holds that the switch from the current version…