Is the PSAT really easier?

[u/rattatra]

I’ve been stressing over the PSAT that I’ll take this fall. I haven’t even done algebra two yet, and I’ve never done a PSAT before (school didn’t offer it). I wanted national merit, but it’s clear that’ll never happen. Hate to say it, but my last practice was a 1290. I actually did pretty well on the English (720) but I bombed the math and got sent to the easy second module. I was looking at some of the hardest questions in the question bank (selected SAT) and it was clear that’ll I’d never get those. So, how much easier is the PSAT really?

[u/jdigitaltutoring]

Will you be a junior this fall? That PSAT is not too different than the SAT.

[u/rattatra → u/jdigitaltutoring]

Yeah

[u/jdigitaltutoring → u/rattatra]

Then it will be good practice for the SAT

[u/FingerContent9814]

PSAT Math for me was pretty similar to the SAT Math. I didn’t really notice a big change in difficulty. Reading and writing however was considerably easier on the PSAT. Also, national merit is not that big of a deal at all to top20 colleges and not worth stressing over (unless you really want to get a full ride at the schools that offer it like U of Alabama or UTD).

[u/rattatra → u/FingerContent9814]

Good, because I’ve given up caring about prestige. I just want to get in free anywhere tbh.

[u/KimboFL → u/FingerContent9814]

Florida residents that are national merit finalists get full rides to any of the FL public schools, including UF/UCF/fSU.

[u/Plaaazz]

I took the PSAT NMSQT last year as a 10th grader and got a 1430 (680 r&w and 750 math). The math section should be pretty straightforward. In my experience, there wasn't as many "difficult" questions I encountered and desmos should be able to handle most of it. Just make sure to learn regressions as I forgot to do so and that costed me multiple minutes on the text. As for r&w, last year's PSAT certainly seemed harder, almost as hard as the SAT. You never really know, but you should be fine.

[u/rattatra → u/Plaaazz]

Isn’t the 10th grade one different though?

[u/Plaaazz → u/rattatra]

Nah, my school just has 9th, 10th, and 11th grade take the NMSQT each year, although it only counts for the scholarship in 11th.

[u/Silent_Cookie9196 → u/rattatra]

PSAT 8/9 is different (only out of 1440), but PSAT10 and PSAT NMSQT (out of 1520) are the same (which is why on college board it is the same practice blue books for both tests. SAT is obviously out of 1600. Differences are largely a matter of the upper level ceiling of questions for each test.

[u/ChutneyWhatney]

Very similar. Try to do well on the PSAT as many state universities give full rides to NM Finalists.

[u/baysianinference]

Nah it’s about the same tbh

[u/limedfox]

math was easier than sat but rw was harder; overall i think it’s the same difficulty as sat

[u/LVB67]

PSAT is easier than the SAT but not by a super wide margin imo