The PSATs and SATs are a time of stress that high school students go through – whether they plan on going to college or not. These standardized tests are taken in school, covering math ability, critical thinking, and writing/grammar skills, in a scoring range of 400-1600. The PSATs at WHS are taken by grades 9-11 and SATs are taken by 11th graders at school, and 11th and 12th graders have the opportunity to sign up to take it on a Saturday.

Ms. Sales is one of the four School Counselors at WHS and is also one of the staff members who play a significant role in making these test days run smoothly. The PSATs, held on October 12th, went smoothly at WHS, but as Ms. Sales remarked, it is “always hard to have big groups of students testing to go perfectly” since hundreds of students have to start this test at the same time.

Students tend to freak out when cramming in knowledge before the big test. Ms. Sales shared a great way to prepare for these tests, which is by “utilizing College Board’s and Khan Academy’s free practice tests.” Within some upcoming SSP sessions in school, students will have an opportunity to do some of these practice tests. College Board can even tell students which questions they got wrong on the PSAT and why it was incorrect. 

Starting in March of 2023, all PSAT and SAT school day testing will be digital. Weekend testing starts spring of 2024, instead of paper and pencil. Ms. Sales is worried that since next year is the first year PSATs will administer digital versions, there may be some hiccups. One challenge may be the school’s wifi since roughly over 500 students will be online at the same time and may experience major lagging. Another challenge about online testing may be the math section since most students are used to working out math problems on paper, and may experience difficulty when working out math problems online. Good luck to everyone testing this year!