Students who plan to enter college after high school may want to take college entrance exams; some schools require these tests. Some of the exam options are described below. Additional information is available in the High School Essentials course in Bridgeway Moodle. 


PSAT
The Preliminary SAT® / National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test is a co-sponsored program from the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). PSAT / NMSQT stands for Preliminary SAT® / National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. It is a standardized test that provides firsthand practice for the SAT Reasoning Test™. It also gives you a chance to enter National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) scholarship programs.
The PSAT / NMSQT measures:

  • critical reading skills
  • math problem-solving skills
  • writing skills

 

SAT and ACT
The ACT is an achievement test, measuring what a student has learned in school. The SAT is more of an aptitude test, testing reasoning and verbal abilities. The ACT has up to five components: English, mathematics, reading, science, and an optional writing test. The SAT has evidence-based reading, writing, and math sections. The College Board introduced a new version of the SAT in 2016, with updated scoring procedures. ACT continues to offer its well-established test plus an optional writing test. You take the ACT writing test only if required by the college(s) you are applying to. The SAT no longer penalizes a student for guessing. The ACT is scored based on the number of correct answers with no penalty for guessing. The ACT has an Interest Inventory that allows students to evaluate their interests in various career options. When a student reaches their junior or senior year of high school, they should consider taking the SAT or the ACT College Entrance Exam (even if they have no immediate plans to attend college). SAT and ACT information is updated yearly and can be found in the High School Essentials course within Moodle.