Because juniors this year will be taking the official SAT in the spring, Prairie Ridge is having all students in the grade take the the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test this October, to serve as practice for the real thing.

There are two different PSATs that are administered throughout the year in high schools – there’s the PSAT/NMSQT in the fall, and there’s the more recently introduced PSAT 10 in the spring. The PSAT/NMSQT is designed specifically for juniors and used to decide National Merit Scholarship winners, while the PSAT 10 is designed for sophomores, featuring slightly easier content, and does not qualify students for the National Merit Scholarship. As its name implies, the Preliminary SAT is very similar to the SAT, although it can offer very different opportunities than the SAT.

The PSAT is also a bit different than the ACT college admission test that past D155 students have taken. It’s also very similar to the actual SAT, other than it’s slightly different scoring system and slightly easier content. It’s divided into two sections: Math and Evidence-based Reading and Writing. Unlike the ACT, the SAT has no portion devoted solely to science, although it does have questions that relate to science that can give students a subscore in the subject. Also unlike the ACT, there’s a no-calculator math portion, which can be a new challenge for some. At two hours and 45 minutes, the PSAT is a also bit shorter than the ACT.

For some students, it will be yet another test in preparation for the SAT, but for those who score well, this fall’s PSAT/NMSQT can mean a chance to qualify for the National Merit Scholarship program.  As a scholarship competition, this means that students can win money for college as well as academic recognition, although they’ll be competing with about 1.6 million other high school juniors.

Out of the 50,000 highest scorers, 34,000 will be recognized as Commended Scholars and 16,000 will be recognized as Semifinalists. Those students recognized as semifinalists can vie for the scholarship by submitting an application and then taking the SAT to confirm their high scores. Of those 16,000 Semifinalists, 15,000 will become Finalists, and finally, 7,500 of those Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship in 2018. Overall, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation estimates about $44 million will be awarded in 2018.

Last year, PR had its highest number of finalists, with five students qualifying: BreAnne Fleer, Robin Kim, John Murawski, Jacob Richeal, and Joshua Svehla. Spectacularly, two of them, Robin Kim and John Murawski, won the scholarship. This year, PR has four Commended Scholars: Seniors William Effinger, Matthew Grant, Annie Qiu, and Ethan Ticknor.

Next year Prairie Ridge will know if this year’s junior class will match the success of previous PR students.