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Important news about participating in the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test
Attention sophomore and junior parents,
Your son or daughter will be taking the PSAT/NMSQT (Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test) at Island School on Thursday, October 23 at 8:00 a.m. The test takes approximately 2.5 hours. All sophomores and juniors will take the test in the morning, eat lunch, then attend their afternoon classes.
The PSAT/NMSQT measures:
- Critical reading, mathematical reasoning, and writing skills that are important for success in college;
- Knowledge and skills developed through years of study in a wide range of subjects;
- Ability to reason with facts and concepts rather than the ability to recall them.
The PSAT/NMSQT is excellent practice for the SAT. Taking the PSAT/NMSQT as a junior also qualifies students to enter the National Merit Scholarship Corporation competitions. All students will receive a detailed score report with personalized skills feedback for each section of the test.
The PSAT/NMSQT is now digital. Students will be using their own devices for the exam and will be given instructions during Kulia and in classes this week about how to download Bluebook, the College Board digital testing platform. Devices can be laptops, ipads, or tablets. Personal Chromebooks are not permitted, so if your student uses a Chromebook, Island School will provide them with a school-issued Chromebook instead. Once Bluebook is downloaded, students can access it at any time through their College Board accounts to familiarize themselves with the platform and even complete full practice tests online.
This week, students will be given instructions on downloading Bluebook and also receive a pre-administration session to verify that their device is ready and that they are oriented to the testing platform.
Students will be given their testing room assignments during Advisory on Monday, October 20.
On the morning of test day, Oct 23, you can help your children by reminding them to have the following:
-A FULLY CHARGED device with Bluebook downloaded
-Optional calculator (Bluebook has a calculator built in, but students might want to use the one they are already more familiar with)
-Writing utensil for scratch work
-Water and snacks
Feel free to reach out with any questions.
