The Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) testing structure faced changes this year, as well as how students were supported in preparing. The Oct. 2023 PSAT was held online rather than a physical paper-and-pencil test.
“I don’t like digital testing that much,” freshman Audriele Dioneda said. “I prefer paperwork. Digital is less reliable, like if your Chromebook dies. You don’t know what to do. You’re just wasting your time at that point.”
Other students were indifferent to the online format of this year’s test.
“Honestly, I don’t really have a huge opinion on it,” sophomore Zachary Ashton said. “It just is what it is. But it’s definitely easier to get results quicker online, which is nice.”
This year is also the first time that a PSAT prep InKlein period has been available to a small pool of students, called InKlein+. Students have mixed reviews.
“I think it was very rushed, but I think it was manageable,” freshman Sophia Kim said. “I didn’t feel crazy prepared. I think I was under prepared for the score I wanted.”
Ashton chalks the difficulties of preparing to the timing of when the test was given.
“It’s really hard in the middle of school to [study] with all my other assignments, but I definitely will for the SAT itself,” Ashton said.
However, some PSAT takers had a different experience.
“I did feel prepared,” junior Reed Zimmerman said. “I didn’t do any individual skill practices, but I did a ton of full practice tests and the scores were all pretty good, even if I did a little worse on the actual one. I did use Khan Academy though, I’m glad [the instructors] suggested that.”
Although the experiences were mixed, it helped Dioneda understand how important preparing is for future tests.
“I heard that you can get scholarships if you do well,” Dioneda said. “I’m definitely gonna work hard on those.”
Regardless of where the preparation comes from, feeling more prepared seemed to yield better results.
“I got exactly 50 points higher than last year, which is really weird,” Zimmerman said. “Freshman year I got 1250, sophomore year I got 1300, and now I got 1350. Every year it goes up by 50 points.”
InKlein+ instructor and social studies teacher Thomas Allison said he enjoyed his experience running the class.
“It was great,” Allison said. “The students are great, studious students and rarely off task. Observing them, I think they went into [the PSAT] very confident. I’d absolutely want to host it again if the program continues.”
