do you have to write an essay in the psat

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PSAT Sections

Just like the SAT, the  PSAT includes two sections—Evidence-Based Reading & Writing and Math—comprised of three tests: Reading, Writing & Language, and Math. There is no Essay. Here's what you can expect on each test section.

Because the PSAT and SAT are almost identical tests, the most efficient way to prep for the PSAT is to prep for the SAT. Our SAT programs will help you prep for both the PSAT and the SAT, so you excel on both exams.

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PSAT Writing and Language - An Overview of the PSAT Writing and Language Section

The PSAT Writing section consists of a total of 44 multiple-choice questions to be answered in 35 minutes. The Writing section asks you to read passages, find mistakes and/or weaknesses, and fix them. Below you can find more detailed information about the specific skills these questions test.

To access sample Writing questions, visit the College Board website .

Related Topics

• For more information about the PSAT Reading sections, visit our PSAT Reading page.
• For more information about the PSAT Math sections, visit our PSAT Math page.
• To learn how the PSAT is scored, visit our PSAT Scores page.
• Looking for PSAT test dates? Visit our PSAT Test Dates page.
• Wondering how PSAT scores are calculated? Visit our PSAT Scores page to find out.
• Wondering how a student qualifies for the National Merit Scholarship? Visit our National Merit Scholarship Qualifications page.

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College Reality Check

What is the PSAT? Practice Test Included

The PSAT stands for Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test. Administered by the College Board, it’s a standardized test that helps high school students prepare for a major college entrance exam and a prestigious merit-based scholarship.

Created as a practice test for high schoolers who are planning on taking the SAT, the PSAT helps boost college admissions chances by improving SAT performance. In addition, the PSAT serves as a qualifying exam for college-bound teens who are interested in winning the National Merit Scholarship Program.

This post contains some of the most essential things you need to know about the PSAT.

Is the PSAT Important for College Admissions?

The PSAT is not an important standardized test for college admissions. That’s because it’s not considered as one of those college admissions tests such as the SAT and ACT that test-required and test-optional institutions take into account in the admissions process. As a matter of fact, the College Board does not send PSAT scores to colleges.

While the PSAT won’t have a direct impact on your chances of getting an acceptance letter from your top-choice school, it can, however, determine your eligibility for the National Merit Scholarship.

Do You Have to Take the PSAT?

Some high schools require students to take the PSAT, and most of them take care of the registration fee, too. Otherwise, it’s completely up to the high schooler to decide whether or not they will sit for the PSAT.

However, being the PSAT/NMSQT, those who wish to apply for the National Merit Scholarship Program should take the standardized test in the 11th grade.

It may be a practice test for the SAT alright, but the PSAT is not a prerequisite for taking the SAT.

Read Also: 13 College Entrance Exams And When To Take Them

Can Colleges See How Many Times You Took the PSAT?

Colleges cannot see how many times applicants took the PSAT. Other than not being an important part of the college admissions process, the College Board does not send PSAT scores to institutions of higher education. Throughout their high school careers, teens can only take the PSAT, which is administered only once a year, up to 3 times.

For high schoolers who like to boost their chances of winning the National Merit Scholarship, taking the PSAT 1 or 2 times before their junior year may be done. It can also help increase their SAT scores and, ultimately, college admissions chances.

What is on the PSAT?

The components of the PSAT are the very same components of the SAT. After all, it serves as a practice test for the SAT. While it’s made up of 3 tests, there are only 2 primary sections of the PSAT: the Evidence-Based Reading & Writing (EWRB) and Math sections. However, unlike in the SAT, test-takers will encounter a few write-in questions, too, in the PSAT.

According to the PSAT website itself, some of the math questions will require you to write an answer instead of choosing it.

How Many Sections are on the PSAT?

The 2 main sections of the PSAT are the EWRB section and the Math section. The EBRW section is made up of Reading and Writing & Language. The Math section, on the other hand, consists of 2 sub-sections: the no-calculator section and the calculator-optional section. There is no optional Essay section on the PSAT, such as the case with the SAT in the past.

Even though the PSAT is a slightly shorter and slightly easier version of the SAT, therefore making it a practice test, both standardized tests are pretty much similar. And that is why the PSAT can help prepare you better for the SAT.

How Many Questions is the PSAT?

The PSAT has a total of 139 questions — the vast majority of them are multiple-choice questions, while a few of them, which are found in the Math section of the PSAT, are write-in questions. Of all the sections, the Math section has the most number of questions. The Writing & Language component of the EWRB section, meanwhile, has the least number of questions.

Here’s a table showing the number of questions each section of the PSAT has:

What Kind of Math is on the PSAT?

The Math section of the PSAT focuses on various areas of mathematics that play the biggest role in numerous academic majors and minors. The College Board refers to the various types of math included in the PSAT as Heart of Algebra, Problem Solving and Data Analysis, Passport to Advanced Math and Additional Topics in Math.

Below is a description of the math kinds you will encounter when sitting for the PSAT:

• Heart of Algebra – knowledge of linear equations and systems
• Problem Solving and Data Analysis – problem analysis and obtaining information from data
• Passport to Advanced Math – questions involving the manipulation of equations
• Additional Topics in Math – college-relevant geometry and trigonometry

Is There Science on the PSAT?

Even though there is no section on the PSAT that’s dedicated to science, some passages are science-related. For instance, the Reading portion of the EBRW section has either 1 or 2 science passages as well as a set of paired science passages, all of which contain a lot of technical terms and jargon that set them apart from other passages.

Both the PSAT and SAT do not have any science sections. On the other hand, the ACT has a science section, which makes it more appealing to some high school teens who consider science as their strength.

Is There Writing on the PSAT?

The PSAT has a Writing section, which is a part of the Writing & Language component of the EBRW section. The Writing section requires test-takers to read passages and then find mistakes and/or weaknesses and correct them. Despite the name, the Writing section contains multiple-choice questions and does not require students to write something.

An argument, informative or explanatory text, or a nonfiction narrative — these are the kinds of passages you will have to carefully read to answer the questions in the PSAT’s Writing section.

How Does the PSAT Work?

In this part of the post, we will discuss various things related to taking the PSAT, including how your test will be scored and what score you should get to impress colleges and qualify for the National Merit Scholarship.

What Does the PSAT Measure?

The PSAT is structured very similarly to the SAT, for which it serves as a practice test. It goes without saying that the PSAT is designed to measure the same things that the SAT is meant to measure. They are reading, writing and math skills that high school students learn in the classroom, all of which are necessary for college and career success.

Because the PSAT can be taken in as early as the 9th grade, the PSAT cannot necessarily determine a student’s college readiness. However, it can help ascertain whether or not a teen is on the right track through grade-level benchmarks.

Is the PSAT Multiple Choice?

Most of the questions on the PSAT are multiple-choice kinds, and each multiple-choice question is accompanied by 4 answer choices. While there are multiple-choice questions in the Math section of the PSAT, some of them require test-takers to write in their answers rather than select them. All in all, there are 8 write-in questions on the PSAT.

Questions where students have to provide their responses are also referred to as grid-in questions or simply grid-ins as they need to enter their answers in the grids found on the answer sheet.

Is the PSAT a Standardized Test?

The PSAT is a standardized test because it is given to high schoolers in a consistent or standard fashion. This means that all the questions on the test are all the same for all students no matter which high school they are attending.

Also making the PSAT a standardized type of examination is the fact that it’s scored the same for all those who take it.

Being the PSAT/NMSQT, the PSAT is also a standardized eligibility exam for the National Merit Scholarship.

When Do You Take the PSAT Test?

Most high school students take the PSAT in the 11th grade. Other than giving them practice for the SAT, it also enables them to be considered for the National Merit Scholarship Program.

However, the PSAT can also be taken during the freshman and sophomore years of high school, but it won’t serve as a qualifying exam for the National Merit Scholarship.

There is no use for any high schooler to take the PSAT in the 12th grade.

How to Guess on the PSAT

The right way to guess on the PSAT is to eliminate at least 1 incorrect answer among the answer choices, which gives the test-taker 1 in 3 chances of making the right guess. On the other hand, eliminating 2 incorrect answers among the answer choices makes it possible for the student taking the PSAT to get the right answer on a 50/50 basis.

Because there is no wrong-answer penalty on the PSAT, it’s generally a good idea for high schoolers who don’t know the answer to make a guess instead of leaving a question unanswered.

How Long is the PSAT?

It takes 2 hours and 45 minutes (with breaks) to complete taking the PSAT. Test-takers are given 70 minutes to complete the Math section, which has a total of 48 questions — 31 questions for the calculator-optional section and 17 questions for the no-calculator section.

Meanwhile, students have up to 95 minutes to complete the EBRW section, which has a total of 91 questions.

Here’s a table showing the breakdown of the PSAT’s testing time:

How Does PSAT Scoring Work?

Each section of the PSAT is scored on a scale of as low as 160 to as high as 760. The scores test-takers get in both sections of the standardized test are added, resulting in their PSAT composite score. So, in other words, the overall PSAT score can range anywhere from 320 to 1520, which may help predict the SAT composite scores of a test-taker.

There is no such thing as a failing score on the PSAT.

What is a Good PSAT Score?

Generally speaking, a good PSAT score is a composite score of 1070 or higher, which puts the high school student in the top 25% of all test-takers. An excellent score, which is between 1210 and 1520, puts the teen in the top 10% of all test-takers. For eligibility for the National Merit Scholarship Program, a student must be in the top 1% of all test-takers.

Other than increasing your chances of getting an SAT composite score that can help you get into your top-choice college, getting a high PSAT score can also make it possible for you to win the National Merit Scholarship.

Facts About the PSAT

Let’s talk about some important matters you need to know about the PSAT, including its beginnings, how many high school students take it every year and whether or not it comes with an optional Essay section.

History of the PSAT

The PSAT, like the SAT, was created by the College Board. It was in 1959 when the PSAT was administered for the very first time.

In 1971, the National Merit Scholarship Program, which is a US academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships and is not related to the College Board, adopted the PSAT as its qualifying examination.

More than 30 years after the SAT came into being, the PSAT was administered to help high school students prepare for the SAT. In the past, some intellectual clubs used PSAT scores in admitting new members.

Who Created the PSAT?

It was the College Board that designed the PSAT, whose goal was to serve as a preliminary exam for the SAT. The non-profit organization decided to come up with the standardized test to provide high school students with the opportunity to prepare for the SAT and thus allow them to increase their chances of getting admitted to college.

Eventually, as mentioned earlier, it was used as a qualifying test for the National Merit Scholarship.

What is the College Board?

The College Board is an organization that designs and administers standardized tests as well as develops curricula for use by K-12 and institutions of higher education for the promotion of college readiness. The non-profit was established in 1900 by representatives of a total of 13 academic institutions at the University of Columbia.

Although it’s not an association of colleges, many postsecondary institutions are members of the College Board. As of this writing, there are more than 6,000 schools that are approved members.

How Many People Take the PSAT?

Around 3.5 million high school students take the PSAT. They consist of sophomore and junior high schoolers across the US. The College Board itself says that in the academic year 2021 to 2022, around 3.6 million students took the PSAT.

Meanwhile, over 1.5 million entrants for The National Merit Scholarship Program who meet other requirements take the PSAT.

More high schoolers take the SAT than the ACT. It’s therefore safe to assume that more students also take the PSAT than the PreACT, which is the counterpart of the PSAT.

What is the PSAT Designed to Predict?

The PSAT is designed to predict the SAT scores of high school students and, ultimately, their college readiness given that the SAT is primarily designed for such a purpose.

By taking the PSAT, test-takers know their strong points and, more importantly, their weak spots so that they can take the necessary steps to prepare for the SAT and get good scores.

Want to have an idea of how you may score on the SAT based on your PSAT scores? Online, you can easily access PSAT to SAT conversion tools and charts, most of which are free of charge.

Does the PSAT Have an Essay?

There is no Essay section of the PSAT. The standardized test has 2 main sections, the EBRW section and Math section, and nothing else. In the past, the SAT used to have an optional Essay section but the College Board decided to stop offering it altogether.

On the other hand, the PSAT never had an optional Essay section from the get-go.

Preparing for the Essay section on the SAT by means of an Essay section on the PSAT is completely pointless given that the said section of the SAT became optional in 2016 and unavailable in 2021.

Does the PSAT Provide Calculators?

The PSAT does not provide test-takers calculators. High school students who are sitting for the PSAT must bring their own approved calculators with them to their respective high schools, where the PSATs are administered. Similarly, test-takers are not allowed to share calculators and use them on the Math no-calculator portion and EBRW portion.

Here’s a list of all allowed calculator models from the College Board itself.

PSAT is Changing – Paper Based vs. Digital

The PSAT will be administered in digital format, and its paper and pencil format will cease to exist.

Since it was first taken by students preparing for the SAT back in 1959, it underwent 3 major changes in its format and content as well as how it’s scored. The said changes happened in 1997, 2005 and 2015.

In the fall of 2023, the PSAT will once again go through a significant change in that it will be administered in digital format.

The College Board chose the said date so that high school students who will be taking the digital SAT as juniors in the spring of 2024 will have the opportunity to experience what it’s like to take the standardized test in its entirely new format.

The National Merit Scholarship Program will still use the digital PSAT as its qualifying exam.

When Does the PSAT Go Digital?

As mentioned earlier, the PSAT will go digital in the fall of 2023. From that time onward, the paper and pencil format of the PSAT will no longer be made available by the College Board.

How to Study for the PSAT

According to the PSAT website itself, studying for the standardized test requires making a study plan, creating a realistic goal, taking practice tests and targeting areas that require improvement.

It’s a good thing that free PSAT test preps are available from the College Board and various sources, too.

Undergoing practice tests when preparing for the PSAT is an important step high school teeners should take. Not only will it allow them to become familiar with the PSAT exam experience but also enable them to determine areas that require more attention. This way, they can quit wasting time reviewing things they already know.

It’s recommended to start gearing up for the PSAT about 3 months before the test date. However, it’s a smart move to start preparing for it, which is administered every October of the year, at the start of the school year.

PSAT Practice Test

In this part of the post, I will give you a total of 10 sample PSAT questions — 5 of them are from the Writing & Language portion of the EWRB section, while the other 5 are from the Math section.

Let’s start with a short reading passage:

Vanishing Honeybees: A Threat to Global Agriculture

Honeybees play an important role in the agriculture industry by pollinating crops. An October 2006 study found that as much as one-third of global agriculture depends on animal pollination, including honeybee (12) pollination — to increase crop output. The importance of bees (13) highlights the potentially disastrous affects of an emerging, unexplained crisis: entire colonies of honeybees are dying off without warning.

(14) They know it as colony collapse disorder (CCD), this phenomenon will have a detrimental impact on global agriculture if its causes and solutions are not determined. Since the emergence of CCD around 2006, bee mortality rates have (15) exceeded 25 percent of the population each winter. There was one sign of hope: during the 2010–2012 winter seasons, bee mortality rates decreased slightly, and beekeepers speculated that the colonies would recover. Yet in the winter of 2012–2013, the (16) portion of the bee population lost fell nearly 10 percent in the United States, with a loss of 31 percent of the colonies that pollinate crops.

Q 4. Which choice offers the most accurate interpretation of the data in the chart?

Q 5. Which choice offers an accurate interpretation of the data in the chart?

Answer key:

The following, meanwhile, are 5 sample test questions for the PSAT’s Math portion:

1. A soda company is filling bottles of soda from a tank that contains 500 gallons of soda. At most, how many 20-ounce bottles can be filled from the tank? (1 gallon = 128 ounces)

2. A car traveled at an average speed of 80 miles per hour for 3 hours and consumed fuel at a rate of 34 miles per gallon. Approximately how many gallons of fuel did the car use for the entire 3-hour trip?

3. A high school basketball team won exactly 65 percent of the games it played during last season. Which of the following could be the total number of games the team played last season?

4. Janice puts a fence around her rectangular garden. The garden has a length that is 9 feet less than 3 times its width. What is the perimeter of Janice’s fence if the area of her garden is 5,670 square feet?

5. Tyra subscribes to an online gaming service that charges a monthly fee of $5.00 and $0.25 per hour for time spent playing premium games. Which of the following functions gives Tyra’s cost, in dollars, for a month in which she spends x hours playing premium games?

The sample questions above are from the following site: satsuite.collegeboard.org

Should I Take the PSAT?

In some instances, high schoolers have no choice but to take the PSAT, which costs $18, because the schools they are attending require it — most of the time, though, high schools take care of the registration cost.

Otherwise, it’s completely up to the students to decide whether or not to sit for the PSAT.

Taking the PSAT, however, comes with benefits. For instance, since it’s designed as a preliminary exam for the SAT, teens who undergo it can prepare much better for the SAT, thus allowing them to get good scores and increase their college admissions chances. High PSAT scores also allow high schoolers to qualify for the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Read Next: What is SAT?

Independent Education Consultant, Editor-in-chief. I have a graduate degree in Electrical Engineering and training in College Counseling. Member of American School Counselor Association (ASCA).

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, writing section on the psat: yay or nay.

Guys, is there a separate writing section on the PSAT? I've been practicing my essays, but I'm not sure if I even need to for this test. Can't seem to find a straight answer anywhere, help a junior out!

Hey there! It's great that you're practicing your essays, as strong writing skills are always beneficial. However, the PSAT does not have a separate, scored essay section. The test is divided into Evidence-Based Reading, Writing & Language, and Math sections. The Writing & Language section does test your ability to revise and edit texts for clarity, grammar, and punctuation, but it won't require you to write an essay from scratch. So, while your essay practice won't directly apply to the PSAT itself, it's still valuable practice for future standardized tests you might take, such as the SAT, which does have an optional Essay section. Keep honing those writing skills, and they'll come in handy for your college admissions essays down the line! For now, focus on getting comfortable with the multiple-choice questions you'll see on the Writing & Language section of the PSAT. You've got this!

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Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, should you prep for the psat 3 reasons why.

PSAT Info and Strategies

By contrast, PSAT scores are never seen by colleges. Even if you get a perfect score on the PSAT, it's really only useful for helping you qualify for a National Merit Scholarship —something that only US citizens and permanent residents are eligible for.

So why prep for the PSAT, and what do you need to know about PSAT prep if you're interested in trying it out? Keep reading to find out more about the pros and cons of focused PSAT prep (rather than joint PSAT/SAT prep) and what our PSAT prep recommendations are.

*exceptions include test-optional schools and Hampshire .

Why Take the PSAT?

While the SAT (or ACT) is far, far more helpful to college applications than the PSAT, there still are good reasons to take the PSAT. We'll start with the most important reason: if taking the PSAT is required by your high school.

If The PSAT Is Mandatory in Your School

In some high schools (particularly public high schools), the PSAT is mandatory for all students. Sometimes, this just means that you'll have to take the PSAT NMSQT the fall of your junior year. Depending on your school, however, you may also have to take the PSAT NMSQT or PSAT 10 sophomore year, and indeed some students start taking PSAT-like-exams (PSATLE?) as early as 8th grade with the PSAT 8/9.

Dealing with all these extra standardized tests is kind of a pain as a student, but from the high school's point of view, the PSAT is a good way to see if students are on track for college applications. No matter what point of view you look at it from, though, if it's mandatory to take the PSAT at your school, then you'll have to take the PSAT.

What if, though, you don't fall into this category? Perhaps you could take the PSAT but you'd have to go to a different school to take it, or your school offers the PSAT but doesn't require students take it—should you take it anyway? In these cases, the PSAT is still worth taking for the following two reasons.

Taking the PSAT Is Mandatory to Qualify for National Merit

You may know that another name for the PSAT students take in the fall of 11th (and sometimes 10th) grade is the PSAT NMSQT (or National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test). That's because the only way to qualify for a National Merit Scholarship is through taking the PSAT NMSQT as a high school junior. 

National Merit Scholarships are merit-based (rather than need-based) awards given to students who have (through testing and other factors) qualified as National Merit Finalists.

The competition for National Merit is open to high school students who:

• are enrolled and progressing normally towards graduation (basically, you plan to graduate high school in four years, not more or less)
• plan to enroll full time in college the fall after high school (no gap years!)
• are US citizens or US lawful permanent residents planning to become citizens

We'll discuss the different kinds of scholarships you can win by becoming a National Merit Finalist (and what steps beyond the PSAT you need to take to become one), but for now, just know that if you want to win a National Merit Scholarship, you must take the PSAT NMSQT in your junior year and do extremely well.

The PSAT Is Great Practice for the SAT

Taking the PSAT can be a great low-stakes way to see what taking a college entrance exam will be like. You can treat it as an extra chance to get used to standardized testing without having to worry about the scores affecting your college acceptance.

Learning how you react to extended periods of focus on a test, how stressed you feel doing a math test without a calculator, what the time pressure is like—you can gather tons of different data points for future SAT/ACT prep by taking the PSAT.

There are fewer and fewer schools these days, even among top-tier colleges and universities, that require all SAT scores sent (notable exceptions include Yale, Georgetown, UC Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon), so if you have the time and money, you can take the real SAT just to see what it's like and not worry about your scores. However, in most public high schools, taking the PSAT is free—or at least significantly cheaper than the SAT—and its administration is built into the school day (no need to waste half a Saturday).

Bottom line: the PSAT is a fine way to dip your toe into the waters of college entrance tests at low cost but under realistic conditions.

Dip your toe into the water of college entrance exams with the PSAT and the sands of standardized test experience will follow.

PSAT Prep vs. SAT Prep: What's the Difference?

While there's a lot that remains the same between the PSAT and the SAT (including the subject areas covered and test structure), there are a few major differences between the tests that lead to differences in PSAT prep compared to SAT prep.

The most important difference between the two tests is that PSAT scores are not looked at by colleges, whereas SAT scores are very much an important factor in college admissions . It's possible to argue that colleges might consider your being a National Merit Semi-Finalist when looking at your application, which indirectly relates to your PSAT score, but the SAT vastly outweighs the PSAT in importance when it comes to college admission. Because of this, PSAT prep is lower stakes than SAT prep.

Another key difference between the PSAT and SAT is that the PSAT has no essay section . While the SAT essay section is optional, and more and more schools are making it optional to send SAT essay scores, there are still a number of schools (mostly highly selective colleges) that do require you to take the SAT with the essay. Therefore, students prepping for the SAT and aiming for a high score to get into top-tier schools will need to spend some of that prep time learning how to write a high-scoring SAT essay . By contrast, students studying for the PSAT don't need to bother with essay prep.

Overall, the PSAT is also a little easier than the SAT, both in terms of timing and content covered. With the exception of the Writing and Language section (which has the same number of questions and is the same length on the PSAT as on the SAT), there are fewer questions per section on the PSAT than the SAT. While you have the same time per question on PSAT Reading as on SAT Reading, there are fewer questions on each passage; and both PSAT Math sections give you more time per question while asking fewer questions than the SAT Math sections do.

The cumulative result of these timing differences is that you need slightly less endurance to take the PSAT than the SAT —you only have to concentrate for an hour and 45 minutes instead of two full hours. Combined with having more time to answer each Math question, these timing differences between the PSAT and SAT mean that when prepping for the PSAT, you don't have to get as good at time management as you do for the SAT.

Finally, there are subtle differences between the content covered on the PSAT and SAT. As we mention in this article comparing the PSAT and SAT , there may be slightly fewer big picture and inference questions and more detail-finding questions on the PSAT than on the SAT.

In addition, the PSAT Math sections contain proportionally fewer questions that require geometric and trigonometric knowledge than do the SAT Math sections. Instead, PSAT Math includes more questions (compared to SAT Math questions) on the Passport to Advanced Math topic areas, like functions and linear and nonlinear systems of equations. Your PSAT prep will reflect this difference—instead of having to cover the SAT's harder topics (that you may not have yet learned in school as an 11th grader), you can spend more time perfecting a smaller number of skills.

Now that we've discussed why you should take the PSAT at all and the differences between prepping for the PSAT and the SAT, we'll move on to the debate of whether or not to prep for the PSAT.

Why Do PSAT Prep?

With the College Board offering free SAT prep through Khan Academy and ACT, Inc. offering paid ACT prep, it's become pretty clear that even the testing companies themselves admit that prepping for the SAT and ACT will help you get a higher score.

Because the PSAT is just a slightly easier, slightly shorter version of the SAT, it makes sense that you can prep for the PSAT and increase your score the same way you can with the SAT . Since PSAT scores aren't used in college applications, however, it can be harder to figure out whether or not it makes sense for you to prep for the PSAT.

To help you decide, we've laid out the arguments for the three most compelling reasons to spend time prepping for the PSAT: qualifying for National Merit, focusing on one thing at a time, and getting ready for SAT prep.

Reason 1: Qualifying for the National Merit Scholarship

The number one reason students take the PSAT is to qualify for the National Merit Scholarship. We have a more detailed breakdown of how the National Merit Scholarship process works in this article , but basically what happens is that you take the PSAT NMSQT in the fall of your junior year to see if you can score well enough to become a National Merit Semifinalist (which is the first step on the road to becoming a National Merit Finalist and getting a National Merit Scholarship).

As a National Merit Finalist, you can win a National Merit scholarship, a scholarship from your college, or a corporate scholarship. For more info on how to get each type of scholarships, read this article explaining how you can qualify for and win a National Merit scholarship .

Let's now go back to the first step of the process, which happens when you take the PSAT NMSQT in the fall (usually October or early November) of your junior year. Your PSAT score qualifies you for National Merit depending on whether your score passes the cutoff for your state.

The cutoff isn't announced officially by the College Board, but it can be inferred from students receiving notification that they have or haven't become a national merit semifinalist. You can find out what your state's National Merit cutoff score was last year here .

By taking an official PSAT practice test or by comparing your sophomore year score on the PSAT to the cutoff score for your state, you can get a good idea of how much prep you'll need to score high enough to pass your state's cutoff score and become a National Merit Semi-Finalist.

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To improve each skill, you’ll take focused lessons dedicated to each skill, with over 20 practice questions per skill. This will train you for your specific area weaknesses, so your time is always spent most effectively to raise your score.

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Reason 2: Focusing on One Test at a Time

Because PSAT prep and SAT prep are so similar, many students who are aiming for National Merit either go straight to studying for the SAT as prep for the PSAT or try to study for both tests at once. Whether or not this is effective really depends on the individual student.

Some students thrive by multitasking. Whether it's doing homework while listening to music and eating dinner or preparing to take multiple SAT subject tests on one day, these students get good results when they maximize their time by doing multiple things at once.

For other students, however, having to prep for multiple things at once (particularly if they're academic or test-related things like the PSAT and SAT) is so stressful that it leads to poorer performance on everything. As an example: during college, I had multiple assignments I had to hand in at the end of each finals period. Rather than work a little on each assignment each day, I found it more effective for me to focus on one project at a time and get it out of the way before going on to the next.

Similarly, depending on what kind of student you are, you may find that it's more helpful to start out by focusing just on the PSAT, getting that over and done with, and then moving on to study for the SAT. This "one thing at a time" strategy works well for students who have some time during sophomore year or the summer before junior year to set aside specifically for PSAT study.

CAUTION : If you're just starting to study the fall of your junior year and your prep time is limited, you're better off going straight to SAT prep. If you have to choose between PSAT prep and SAT prep, the clear choice is SAT prep. It's only if you have the time to do both that you should consider prepping for the PSAT and SAT separately.

Reason 3: Getting in Gear for SAT Prep

One other benefit to prepping for the PSAT is that it put you in a good place for SAT prep.

As we discuss in detail in this article comparing the PSAT and SAT , there are very few content differences between the PSAT and SAT (the main difference being in the math concepts covered and the increased length of the SAT). By prepping for the PSAT, you'll be more than 75% of the way there for the SAT. You won't be able to get away without doing any SAT-specific prep (particularly for those math topics that aren't on the PSAT), but the amount of work that you'll have to do is way less than those starting on SAT prep from scratch.

If the "doing more prep now means less hard prep later" argument isn't convincing, think about it in non-test prep terms. Imagine that you want to learn how to play the piano by the end of junior year of high school. You have the option of learning how to play an electric keyboard first or just starting straight on the piano. Also, for some reason there's an electric keyboard competition the fall of your junior year that could lead to you winning money; it's only open to people playing the electric keyboard, though (not people playing the piano).

Because the electric keyboard and piano are so similar, if you do start out by just teaching yourself to play the electric keyboard (what the notes are, how to read music, how to do different things with your right and left hands at once, etc), you'll be most of the way there to learning the piano; all you'll have to get used to is the bigger range and using the pedals. Or in test-prep terms, if you prep for the PSAT, you'll just need to learn any pre-calc math you hadn't learned when you took the PSAT and work on time management and endurance in order to prepare for the SAT.

What if you're already studying for the SAT, or don't have the time to first study for the PSAT and then for the SAT? Going back to the analogy, if you already know how to play the piano, then you don't need to do intensive prep to teach yourself how to play the electric keyboard—you just need to do a practice test to make sure you get used to playing on a simpler instrument. Or in the case of the PSAT/SAT, if you've already studied for the SAT, you just need to take a PSAT practice test to make sure you're all set for that.

Basically, if you prep for the PSAT, it'll help you prep for the SAT; if you're already prepping for the SAT, that will also prep you for the PSAT.

While we've gone over some of the reasons students might want to prep for the PSAT, there are also cases in which PSAT prep is unnecessary and pointless. We'll get into these cases in the next section.

When PSAT Prep is Unnecessary

As we mentioned above, the main reason to take the PSAT (other than your school forcing you to take it) is to qualify to apply for a National Merit Scholarship.

If you're not interested in qualifying (or are ineligible) for that National Merit Scholarship, then there is no point in doing pure PSAT prep. That doesn't mean you can't prep at all—you just should jump right into prepping for the SAT (or ACT)

You can still treat the PSAT as a chance to take an official standardized test and get used to what sitting and concentrating for that long at once feels like, but there's no need to prep for the PSAT in particular.

Another important point that we touched on earlier is that prepping for the SAT will help you with the PSAT . If you start to prep for the SAT before your junior year (when you'd take the PSAT NMSQT), any SAT prep you do will also prepare you for the PSAT.

Of course, if you're not prepping for the SAT effectively, then you won't prep for the PSAT any more effectively. But, assuming you're putting in time and effort in the right way, if you're already prepping for the SAT, there's no need to do additional PSAT prep.

Summary: Is PSAT Prep Right for You?

Whether or not it makes sense for you to prep for the PSAT specifically (instead of just prepping for the SAT) depends on a few different factors. We've put these factors into a checklist you can go through below to see if prepping for the PSAT is the right call for you.

Should You Study for the PSAT?

If you checked off all "No" answers, there's no need to do any PSAT-specific prep; instead, you should turn all your prep energies toward studying for the SAT (or ACT).

However, if you checked off any of the "Yes" reasons, then it's worth thinking about doing some prep for the PSAT in particular.

What's Next?

Doing well on the PSAT is just the first step to winning a National Merit Scholarship. Find out how the whole process works with our complete guide to becoming a National Merit Finalist and winning the scholarship .

The PSAT NMSQT is only offered once each year in the fall, but what date is it this year? We tell you when the PSAT is and when you'll get your scores in this article .

Curious what the PSAT looks like? Want to try your hand at a practice test? We have a complete list of all the free official practice tests the College Board has released here .

Want to improve your PSAT score by 150 points? We have the industry's leading PSAT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and SAT full scorers , the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so that you get the most effective prep possible.

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Laura graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with a BA in Music and Psychology, and earned a Master's degree in Composition from the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and GRE and loves advising students on how to excel in high school.

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What kinds of questions are on the Writing and Language test?

The Writing and Language test includes 44 questions that will be divided into four groups. Each group of questions will relate to a different passage, and will test your skills relating to grammar, sentence structure, word choice, and other conventions of the English language.

What is a good score on the PSAT Writing and Language test?

The Writing and Language test is scored with the writing section on a scale of 160 to 760. A good score on this test would be at least 535.

How many questions are on the PSAT Writing and Language test?

There are 44 multiple-choice questions on this test.

How long is the PSAT Writing and Language test?

The time limit for this test is 35 minutes.

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The SAT recently revamped itself to more accurately test what students learn in school. The new version is less deliberately tricky and confusing, but it’s still a challenging, exhausting test. Let’s say you’ve taken both the ACT and the SAT and you perform better on the SAT. Now that you’ve chosen it as your go-to test, how do you get through the essay portion, especially if you hate writing?

Fun fact: the SAT has plenty of new practice tests , which include essays. For the purposes of this post, I’ll be working from this practice essay , so it might be useful to have it open as you read. We’ll go through what’s expected, what scoring looks like, and how to go about writing the best essay you can.

Understand What You’re Being Asked to Do

The new SAT no longer asks you to make up ideas and references from scratch (which, honestly, is probably for the best). Instead, it provides you with an essay and asks you to analyze it, much in the same vein as an in-class analytical or an AP English Language essay.

The Assignment

The assignment reads as follows. At the top you’ll see a generic introduction for what to look for as you read:

As you read the passage below, consider how (the author of the passage) uses:

• evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.
• reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.
• stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.

Then, at the bottom, the instructions get specific. For this essay, they read like this:

Write an essay in which you explain how Bobby Braun builds an argument to persuade his audience that the US government must continue to invest in NASA. In your essay, analyze how Braun uses one or more of the features listed in the box above (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of his argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses on the most relevant features of the passage. Your essay should not explain whether you agree with Braun’s claims, but rather explain how Braun builds an argument to persuade his audience.

What does this mean? Essentially, as you read, pick out the techniques the author uses to make his or her point, then write a detailed essay that covers a couple of the main ones. Brush up on your knowledge of literary terms and devices well in advance of writing the SAT essay. You don’t have to know them all, but know the most commonly used ones really well (tone, diction, imagery, simile/metaphor, allusion, rhetorical question, anecdote, and symbolism, to name a few) so you can rely on those. In an argumentative essay, like this one, an author will always use tone, diction (choice of words), and some kind of persuasion technique (Logos? Pathos? Ethos? Anecdote? etc.).

How is the essay scored? Two testers will read your essay and will provide a score of 1-4 on three different benchmarks: reading, analysis, and writing.

Did the writer understand the content? Did they quickly summarize the argument/point and then move quickly into their interpretation of it? Did they paraphrase and directly quote?

Did the writer not only identify the right literary terms/devices but assess their uses effectively? In other words, did the writer understand why the author used those devices and say so? Did the analysis integrate into the rest of the essay?

Is there a strong thesis, body paragraphs for each device, and a quick conclusion? (More on organization below.) Is the writing “strong,” i.e., sentence variety, no unnecessary words or repetition, strong words, and sophisticated reasoning?

The testers’ scores are then added together for an aggregate final score. So, a top score would be 8/8/8.

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Final Thoughts

Unless you’re being given extra time, you have exactly 50 minutes to complete the essay. This sounds like a lot (and it’s more than it used to be), but don’t be fooled. You’ll use the time.

Students with special accommodations might be able to take the test on a computer, but otherwise it’s a written test. Your test booklet will be scanned into a computer. If you make a mistake, don’t erase your work, because it causes smudges and can make it hard for the tester to read. Simply cross out and rewrite. The testers are trained not to read crossed-out material. If you’ve been told your handwriting is impossible to read, write a little more slowly than you might otherwise. Choose the style that’s more legible for you: print or cursive. When you write practice tests, give it to someone and ask if they can read it.

You’ll take the SAT essay last, after every other section has been completed. So you’ll be exhausted. There’s no way around that, unfortunately, beyond bringing snacks and water on test day and walking around during breaks to take the focus off your brain for a couple minutes. Practice is key; you’ll want to be able to read an essay quickly, pull out devices, and write a straightforward essay with a minimum of confusion and anxiety. Only practice and memorization of the right information will get you there.

As you prepare to take the SAT, take a look at some example essays that scored highly. It won’t be the same subject matter, but the structure and language will be aspects you can emulate.

Read with the Assignment in Mind

Imagine that your proctor has told you to turn to the essay section. You already know the basic assignment, so you can actually skip the top introduction and dive right in to the essay. Don’t get bogged down with unfamiliar words or the most complex sentences. You don’t need to absorb every single word of the essay. Read to find devices you can use. Circle them and ID them as you go. Don’t be picky right away—just observe and note what you see.

Go ahead and skim the bottom instructions, but even then the first sentence is the only really important one. In this case, the gist is: how does Braun persuade his audience to invest in NASA? Then, go back to the devices you found, and pick out the three strongest and/or most used devices to structure your essay. Can’t find three? Remember, an author always uses tone (point of view) and diction (word choice) so those are two easy ones if you’re stuck.

The process of reading and pulling out devices should take no more than eight minutes.

Make a Quick Outline

I know this one sound counterintuitive, given what I said about time limits, but bear with me. Just starting to write without a clear path is hugely problematic for timed essays. Even the best writers make a mental note of their general direction. Without planning, you might change directions mid-essay, forget your thesis and end up arguing something else, or wander off completely without realizing it.

The outline can be short and sweet. For example, with this practice essay, it could look like this:

Intro: Braun argues that continuing to invest in space tech and research keeps us competitive in the world economy. Devices: logos, imagery, allusion

Body 1: Logos (logic): paragraph 3, 5, 7

Body 2: Imagery: paragraph 4, 6

Body 3: Allusion: paragraph 8

Don’t even bother to include your conclusion in your outline. It’s pretty much the same content as your intro. Also, remember that you don’t need to tackle every aspect or device in the essay. Highlight where your devices are, then focus your analysis to those sections. In the outline above, I’ve structured the devices so that you’re going through the essay in almost chronological fashion. You don’t have to do this, but it makes the essay-writing a bit easier.

The process of outlining should take no more than two minutes.

Write Quickly but Methodically

Don’t waste a lot of breath with a big, drawn out introduction. State the argument of the author in one sentence, then your thesis, which should be a list of the three devices you plan to use. Keep it simple and easy, then move on.

For each body paragraph, make a quick topic sentence explaining which device you’re analyzing. Spend one sentence (ONLY one) summarizing how the author is using the device. Begin to use quotes or paraphrase; after each example, analyze why the author uses the device and the effect it has. About three quotes or examples are usually standard. Then, at the end of the paragraph, use one sentence to sum up the effect the device has on the whole essay. Use sample essays for examples of this structure.

See the numbers at the side of each paragraph? When you quote directly or summarize directly, put the number of the paragraph in parenthesis afterwards to cite where you’re getting the information from.

For your conclusion, simply restate what you’ve said before. If you’re feeling extra-confident, feel free to add a key takeaway from the analysis, but it’s not necessary. So, your conclusion can be two sentences just like your intro.

What if your writing style isn’t advanced or similar to the example essays? Work with a teacher or tutor who can help you develop your skills if you have the time. If not, just write simply and clearly. Don’t use overly technical words. Don’t make really long sentences just for the sake of doing so. Even simple, forceful language can be effective so long as your argument is good. So focus your attention on ensuring that you know what good analysis is and how to replicate it.

You’ll have 35 minutes to write. Keep an eye on the clock, but mostly just focus on writing quickly and clearly.

Leave a Few Minutes for Proofreading

Again, I know you’ll be flying through this essay at lightning speed to get everything done effectively. But this one’s important too. When you write quickly, grammar and spelling can fall by the wayside. That’s totally normal, so don’t freak out. But you will be graded on such aspects in your final score, so leave 5 minutes max at the end to skim through your essay, pinpoint where you made mistakes, cross out the word or phrase, and write the correct word or phrase above it. Try to make corrections clearly so that the tester knows which version to read.

And that’s it! Easy, right? (Totally kidding.) As with everything else, practice will help. If you’re not already doing this kind of essay in class, do a few practice essays at home. Make sure you do the EXACT process start to finish: time yourself, write an outline, and so on. Part of success is building the muscle memory to go into the essay with a solid base of experience and confidence that you’ll succeed.

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PSAT Writing and Language

13 min read • december 22, 2021

What's poppin—thanks for checking out the Writing and Language guide! Let's get you prepped so you score the highest possible PSAT score you can when October arrives.

What are the PSAT sections?

On the PSAT, you'll work through four sections of the test. These four sections are:

• Reading Test 📚
• Writing and Language Test 📝
• Math Test - Calculator 🧮
• Math Test - No Calculator ➗

After working through the hour-long reading test, you'll start thinking 🤔 like a writer while taking on the 35 minute writing and language section! In this guide, you'll learn about the different elements of this section, analyze strategies to pursue, and get some practice at the end.

Breaking Down Writing and Language

Writing and Language is the only section on the PSAT that gives you less than a minute per question, but there's no need to worry, because there's not a lot of reading you'll need to do. In 35 minutes, you'll take on 44 questions split among four passages (eleven questions per passage) ⏲️

Passages will cover a variety of topics, so you might even find a pasage that interests you. The possible categories and topics of writing include:

• Nonfiction narratives
• Social Studies

While you won't be using a red pen on the PSAT, answering questions on the Writing and Language test is just like editing a classmate's paper. Image from Pixabay .

Types of Questions

On this section, you'll have a passage on the left side of the page with questions on the right side. Unlike the reading section, you don't need to flip back and forth between passages and questions to revise and edit! 😌

You'll see five categories of questions on the PSAT Writing and Language section. Let's break down each of these sections.

Command of Evidence

This is the core of the revision aspect of the Writing and Language section. When tested on command of evidence, you'll pick an answer choice that best improves a passage's communication of information and ideas. ⭐

For instance, you may answer questions that ask about the best way to enhance an argumentative claim or whether an added supporting detail is relevant.

Common questions in the command of evidence category include:

• Which choice best reflects the information from the graph?
• Which choice best completes the sentence and accurately represents the information in the table?
• Which choice would set up the information that follows?
• The writer is considering adding/deleting the underlined sentence . . . Should the sentence be kept or deleted?

Here's what that may look like on the PSAT:

This question exemplifies the command of evidence category. Courtesy of Khan Academy .

Words in Context

Questions that cover words in context want you to improve the word choice (or diction ) of a specific piece of text. Here is where the rule "shorter is better" often applies—you want to pick the most concise answer that isn't repetitive.

You could also be asked to use word choice that is more precise or improves style/tone. Here are ways you will apply words in context on the PSAT Writing and Language section:

• Finding a concise way of conveying an idea that does not change the meaning
• Not changing a linguistic pattern, such as the use of repitition for emphasis
• Using more formal language or informal language depending on the tone of the passage
• Combining two sentences or editing sentences for a less choppy paragraph

Analysis in History/Social Studies and in Science

You'll encounter at least one history/social studies and/or science passage. In this category of questions, you'll make edits to a passage in these areas.

These questions may also include tables/graphs/charts, but you will not need to do any math when applying those graphics to the passage. Here's an example of a question in this category:

Here's what a question about analysis in science looks like. Courtesy of Khan Academy .

Expression of Ideas

These questions are a catch-all for questions that don't really apply to any other section. Example questions in this category could discuss:

• Impact of the passages' organization and possible revisions
• Structural changes (like moving around paragraphs)
• How well sentences & paragraphs work together/transition

Here's an example of a question in this category:

Placement of sentences for organization is a core aspect of the expression of ideas category. Courtesy of Khan Academy .

Standard English Conventions

The standard English conventions section is fairly self-explanatory, and it covers the foundations of English: punctuation, usage, and sentence structure. You'll answer questions that ask you to change words, clauses, sentences, and punctuation, which include a variety of grammar topics:

• Parallel construction
• Subject-verb agreement
• Connecting sentences
• Proper use of commas, colons, dashes, and semicolons

Here's an example of a standard English conventions question:

Knowing how to effectively use commas and dashes is crucial to standard English conventions and scoring high on writing and language. Courtesy of Khan Academy .

Review of Conventions

Here's a useful table that will help you remember some common PSAT grammar rules!

PSAT Grammar Review

Writing and Language: Advice

With around 47 seconds per question, here are some pointers so you succeed!

• Don't read the passage! You won't have time to answer questions if you're trying to read for details. This isn't the reading section—make sure to just read context around questions.
• Annotate the text. Even though test-takers do most of their annotating on reading and math, annotating on this section allows you to figure out the answer to a question before you even look at the answer choices.
• Process of elimination is key. Oftentimes, picking the best answer means eliminating three answers that are worse. Make sure to cross out answer choices that you know won't work.
• Remember to substitute . For multiple writing & language questions, substituting sentences, words, or phrases will help you choose, in context, the correct answer.

Remember to bubble as you go as well; a nightmare scenario is finishing the test but not being able to bubble in time! Image from Unsplash .

Practice Passage & Questions

Want some quick practice? Here's an 11 question practice PSAT section that you should try to complete in about 9 minutes (in accordance with real timing). Note that this mostly tests your knowledge of standard English conventions! Test comes courtesy of CrackSAT .

More and more of our lives are mechanized, and at some point, we have to start wondering, what's the limit of that mechanization? Many factory workers in the 19th century thought their jobs were safe but we know (1)  now that they were wrong. Many people in today's world believe there jobs  (2) are safe, but how safe are those jobs really?

Studies abound that ask whether man or machine is better at particular tasks, and the results are not always so obvious. Sure, a machine is obviously better at say, welding  (3) huge pieces of steel together, but what would you say if someone told you people are more likely to open up to a machine than to a psychologist? Or that a machine could write a quicker, more efficient news story than an experienced reporter could?

These questions may seem overly pessimistic (or overly optimistic depending on your point of view); however, (4) some recent studies have been truly remarkable. Take Ellie, a computer program used primarily to diagnose patients with depression, PTSD and other mood disorders. (5) Many patients found it easier to talk to "Ellie" than to a real person: she (6) didn't react in some of those seemingly judgmental ways that a person would, and her voice never broke on top of that (7) she could help psychologists to diagnose mental illnesses better than human observation could. She could detect facial movements or voice tones that a person might have not heard or ignored.

Whether Ellie is the way of the future is yet to be determined. We can't know right now, but there is no question that she raises some interesting questions, not only about the work of psychologists, (8) but also about all of what we think are definitively human activities.

On the other side of the discussion, however, there's some evidence that humans may have the upper hand. In some of the more basic tasks those learned before the age of about 10 humans  (9) have a huge upper hand. Computers can do the complex thinking, but one thing with which they have a lot of trouble is, paradoxically, simplicity. Sure, a computer can tell your washer's and dryer's what  (10) a perfect washing and drying cycle is, but can it fold your laundry? Your GPS can tell you the fastest route to the next state, but can it tell you the prettiest way to go or the best restaurants along the way? Not without humans!

While the battle of man against machine rages on. The (11) questions will persist. No matter who wins, though, humans will almost assuredly find ways to adapt: that's something we've been doing for thousands of years, which is something that no computer can say.

A. NO CHANGE

B. were safe, but we know

C. were safe; but we know

D. were safe. But we know

B. in todays world believe their jobs

C. in todays world believe they're jobs

D. in today's world believe their jobs

B. better at, say welding

C. better at, say, welding

D. better at say welding

B. your point of view), however,

C. you're point of view), however,

D. you're point of view); however,

B. depression, PTSD, and other

C. depression, PTSD, and, other

D. depression, PTSD, and other,

B. to a real person, she

C. to a real person; but she

D. to a real person she

B. never broke, on top of that,

C. never broke. On top of that,

D. never broke; on top, of that,

B. psychologists work

C. the work of psychologists

D. the work of psychologist's

B. tasks those learned before the age of about 10, humans

C. tasks, those learned before the age of about 10 humans

D. tasks, those learned before the age of about 10, humans

B. can tell your washer and dryer what

C. can tell you're washers and dryers

D. can tell you're washer and dryer

Answers & Explanations

• 1. B — You'll want to use a comma to connect these two sentences in the presence of the conjunction 'but'. Answer choice A is a run-on, so it is incorrect. Answer choice C is incorrect because semicolons can connect two sentences, but not those with conjunctions. Answer choice D is incorrect, as you can't start a sentence with a conjunction.
• 2. D — This question tests your knowledge of possessive nouns/apostrophes and there vs their vs they're. In this sentence, only answer choice D correctly has "today's" and "their." Answer choice A is wrong because it states "there jobs," when 'their' is the correct possessive noun. Neither answer choice B nor answer choice C has an apostrophe for todays, which makes both wrong.
• 3. C — The word "say" can be deemed a non-essential phrase; therefore, it should be accompanied by a comma before and after. Answer choice A is incorrect, as the use of one comma before "welding" makes it seem like the clause before the comma is a dependent clause when it isn't. Answer choice B creates a fragment prior to the comma, and answer choice D lacks the clarity that C has with two commas.
• 4. A — This question tests two common rules that some students often forget! Only answer choice A has both a semicolon before however and "your" as the possessive noun. Since an independent clause (full sentence) follows the word "however," a semicolon should come before however. Therefore, answer choice B and C are wrong. Answer choice D incorrectly uses you're (you are) instead of your.
• 5. B — On the SAT, commas in lists should be placed between each item in addition to being placed before the conjunction and (also known as the Oxford comma). Thus, answer choice B correctly places commas after "depression," "PTSD," and the word "and." Answer choice A lacks the Oxford comma, answer choice C incorrectly places a comma after "and," and answer choice D places an unnecessary comma after the word "other."
• 6. A — The use of a colon as an explanation is correct, which is why no change is acceptable. Answer choice B creates a run-on with a comma separating two independent clauses (it should be a semicolon instead). Answer choice C is incorrect as it has a semicolon followed by a conjunction (it should be a comma instead), and answer choice D creates a run on.
• 7. C — Having the words "on top of that" to start a new sentence creates the clearest transition, which makes C the best answer. This question exemplifies process of elimination, as answer choices A and B create a run on and answer choice D has an unnecessary comma after the word "top."
• 8. C — Answer choice C correctly deletes the apostrophe present in answer choice A and D, as the word "of" basically serves as an indication that the work is possessed by the psychologists. Answer choice B lacks an apostrophe (it should be psychologists').
• 9. D — The clause 'those learned before the age of about 10' serves as a non-essential phrase and therefore needs a comma before and after. Answer choice A leads to a run-on with no commas. Answer choice B creates an awkward dependent clause with the word "those," and answer choice C has an awkward independent clause with the word "those." Therefore, D has the clearest and most precise answer.
• 10. B — Answer choice B has the correct use of "your" and the lack of possessive nouns. Answer choice A is incorrect as washer/dryer have unnecessary apostrophes. Answer choice C and D both use "you're" (you are) instead of your.
• 11. D — Since the clause before question 11 starts with "while," it is a dependent clause and needs a comma prior to the independent clause, making answer choice D the best answer. Answer choice A is incorrect as the first sentence is a fragment. Answers B and C are wrong as you cannot use a semicolon or an en dash to connect a dependent and independent clause.

Practice Resources

If you need help with PSAT Writing and Language, here are some resources and PSAT practice tests you can use to score high on test day:

• Khan Academy —While preparation is more geared towards the SAT on Khan Academy, the PSAT and SAT have lots of overlapping content. In addition, you'll get valuable practice for the SAT, which you may need to take for college admissions.
• Crack SAT —CrackSAT offers links to previously released PSAT and SAT tests that you can take for practice.
• Critical Reader —The Critical Reader offers great example sentences and further explains different grammar rules crucial for the PSAT Writing and Language section.

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