On Wednesday, October 12, juniors at Wayne Hills took the PSATs. For most of them, it was their second PSAT at Wayne Hills.

The PSATs help to find National Merit Scholars and award scholarships. Besides the fact that it is a good way to practice for the actual SAT and possibly help prepare for the ACT, this helps to provide extra incentive for students taking the test.

Nationwide, millions of students, mostly sophomores and juniors, take this multiple-choice test once every year. Since it was the second time for juniors taking the PSATs, they felt that there was a different vibe this time around.

Junior Matthew Thompson said, “The vibe was much more relaxed this time compared to last time”.

The test is comprised of four sections: two sections of evidence-based reading and writing and two sections of math. The entire test length is two hours and forty-five minutes, but the test took longer than expected. This left non-test takers with little to do until after 11 am.

Though the test was only taken by juniors, its impact extended throughout the entire school. Freshman Tyler Winston said he went to Sunrise Bagels with friends before school to help pass the time. Tyler said, “I really enjoyed it because I went with friends and it was good to hang out with them.”

The highest score possible on the PSAT is 1520, as opposed to the maximum score of 1600 on the actual SAT. The highest score on both evidence-based reading and writing and math is 760, which is 40 points less than on the actual SAT for both sections.

The scores for the test won’t be available for a little while. The juniors will have to wait until early December to find out how they did.

Though it has not been officially announced when the sophomores will be taking the PSAT, they can expect to take it sometime in the early spring. The scores for them will likely not be available for four to six weeks after.

There are a lot of different things that people should know about this test and it goes far beyond the letters SAT.