Yugi's_tough_chick
New Member
This saturday I'm taking a PSAT...and I am not thrilled! *complain* Has anyone on these boards taken this thing? if so, a few words of advice would help. Two days away...that's so scary.... 
PSATs this Saturday for me....Help!
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Maverick Hunter Zero
New Member
I have.
Best advice I can give? Eat well, and get to sleep early TWO nights before the test. Just getting to bed early the night before will NOT help.
And don't stress about it. You should do fine. (The only trouble I had taking it as a sophomore, was that I took Geometry that year, and the test had elements of Geometry we'd not learned yet.)
Best advice I can give? Eat well, and get to sleep early TWO nights before the test. Just getting to bed early the night before will NOT help.
And don't stress about it. You should do fine. (The only trouble I had taking it as a sophomore, was that I took Geometry that year, and the test had elements of Geometry we'd not learned yet.)
I have. I even managed to become a National Merit Commended Student. My tips? Make sure you don't let yourself think about doing badly. As long as you think you will do well, you won't get nervous. On the other hand, do check your work. You'd be surprised how often you will make a silly mistake if you don't take a second glance.
Orange Soda
New Member
If I remember correctly (It's been about 3-4 years since I took it), the way they score them is you get points for each correct answer, negative poiints for each wrong answer, and nothing for each unanswered question. As such, don't dwell on questions you don't know, but just skip it.
Baboon
New Member
Yeah, I'm taking it on Saturday too. I'm not worried about it. Remember, this PSAT doesn't hurt you if you don't do well. It can only help.
If you narrow it down to 2 answers, take your best shot.
If you narrow it down to 3 answers, you may or may not answer it, depending on how sure you are.
If you can't narrow it down at all, skip the question. Or, at least, that's what I plan on doing.
If you narrow it down to 2 answers, take your best shot.
If you narrow it down to 3 answers, you may or may not answer it, depending on how sure you are.
If you can't narrow it down at all, skip the question. Or, at least, that's what I plan on doing.
League Leader Terry
New Member
I took it my Freshman year and ended up becoming a National Achievement Scholar (for black folks who didn't score QUITE high enough for National Merit ). The biggest thing to remember about the PSAT (and the SAT for that matter) is that a lot of it is just a mind game. A lot of people psyche themselves out so badly before the test that they do a lot worse than they should have. The good night's sleep 2 days before is a very good idea. Also, don't spend a lot of time studying. It doesn't help. It's less of a test of what you know and more of a test of what you understand.
). The biggest thing to remember about the PSAT (and the SAT for that matter) is that a lot of it is just a mind game. A lot of people psyche themselves out so badly before the test that they do a lot worse than they should have. The good night's sleep 2 days before is a very good idea. Also, don't spend a lot of time studying. It doesn't help. It's less of a test of what you know and more of a test of what you understand.
Articjedi
Active Member
Don't worry about it too much, or you will do badly. But a general tip is actually to guess no matter what, because you can usually narrow down at least one of the answers. I took it myself a couple of years ago, I didn't do that badly, the only thing you really have to worry about is math, because you have to know the concepts. You really can't do anything about the english section, because some of the vocab is impossible, just look for context clues and you should be fine.
League Leader Terry
New Member
Actually guessing can be a bad thing since you lose points for wrong answers. Guess if you can narrow it down to 2 choices. If not, leave it blank.
Articjedi
Active Member
Okay, there are five answers in multiple choice, right. According to the test, they take off one-fifth of a point for each one you get wrong, and you get nothing if you leave it blank. If you can narrow it down merely by, the odds are in your favor if you guessed because you have a 1 out of four chance with only one fifth point loss if you get it wrong, over a series of four or five guessing questions, the probability of you getting more points than you lose is higher. At least, that's what most of the SAT books tell me.
Joe Monkey
New Member
Filpout and start running around the room saying: "I can't do this!!!" HAhaha... oh Just kidding I haven't taken it yet, but all the tips above good:wink:
Maverick Hunter Zero
New Member
Articjedi, I could be wrong, but I don't recall the PSATs being QUITE like that. What you just described is the SAT.
Psycho_Lugia_X
New Member
hey im taking it for the first time tomorrow too. im a soph. i checked out the psat site and took the sample questions...the math and english were actually pretty easy. the only part of the english was the one where they give u like a snetence or two and u gotta fix the grammar...but the math was pretty easy. im in AlgII/Trig and EnglishIIA-P so i think i got this down.
Here are some good tips I always use with standardized tests (even though I always get 0wn3d by a piece a paper):
1. If the question involves the answers "All of the Above," "None of the Above," or "Both (_) and (_)," chances are that is the correct answer.
2. With any standardized test, if you have a Graphing Calculator, PUT IN FRESH BATTERIES BEFORE TAKING THE TEST. I cannot stress how crucial this is. I almost suffered from dead batteries during my math sections.
3. Take your time. Read each question carefully, but don't read it "too carefully" or else you will confuse yourself
4. If your school has some special breakfast that they offer before the test, BUY IT. My school serves stuff like scrambled eggs and tons of bagles and donuts on the day of tests.
5. Get plenty of rest. If your gonna have 2 days of nothing but testing, just take some naps during the day. This really helps calm the mind (unless your having a nightmare :lol: ).
1. If the question involves the answers "All of the Above," "None of the Above," or "Both (_) and (_)," chances are that is the correct answer.
2. With any standardized test, if you have a Graphing Calculator, PUT IN FRESH BATTERIES BEFORE TAKING THE TEST. I cannot stress how crucial this is. I almost suffered from dead batteries during my math sections.
3. Take your time. Read each question carefully, but don't read it "too carefully" or else you will confuse yourself
4. If your school has some special breakfast that they offer before the test, BUY IT. My school serves stuff like scrambled eggs and tons of bagles and donuts on the day of tests.
5. Get plenty of rest. If your gonna have 2 days of nothing but testing, just take some naps during the day. This really helps calm the mind (unless your having a nightmare :lol: ).
I just took the PSATs today, and wow, that was on of the hardest things i took in my life! Well not one of the hardest, but it was really challenging, and made me think. I think I did alright in the English parts, but I bombed on the Math parts...
Well not one of the hardest, but it was really challenging, and made me think. I think I did alright in the English parts, but I bombed on the Math parts... 
PSATs are a watered down version of the SATs and while I'm not even remotely sure, I think that the scoring difference may be different.PokePop said:
May one note in all of this is that if you don't do well on the SATs as you would like, take a shot at the ACTs. Had a friend who got an 1178 on the SATs but got a 34 (out of a 36) on the ACTs. He's currently attending Stanford.
Baboon
New Member
I took the PSATs today also, but really, I did not think they were that hard at all. Each section was limited to 25 min, except the last, and I took about 20 or so in each section. So the difficulty is mainly in finishing before time is called.
I made it a point of mine to not skip any questions of the 130 or so, and I accomplished that. Realize that you lose a quarter of a point for a wrong answer, but get 1 full point for a correct. SO, if you narrow it to just 3 answers, it's to your best advantage to guess. If you narrow it down to 2 answers, you're at a 50% chance of getting a full point, and a 50% of losing 0.25 points. Definitely why I didn't skip anything- I narrowed mostly all of them to 2 or 3, or 1 if I knew it.
*Waits until December for the results... I know I did well, so I want those bragging rights*
[Edit- Forgot to mention how much I hated the math section where "A if Column A is greater, B if Column B is greater, C if the 2 Columns are equal, or D if you can't tell." Math is like my strong point, but those particular problems took a lot more time than the regular pick an answer ones.]
I made it a point of mine to not skip any questions of the 130 or so, and I accomplished that. Realize that you lose a quarter of a point for a wrong answer, but get 1 full point for a correct. SO, if you narrow it to just 3 answers, it's to your best advantage to guess. If you narrow it down to 2 answers, you're at a 50% chance of getting a full point, and a 50% of losing 0.25 points. Definitely why I didn't skip anything- I narrowed mostly all of them to 2 or 3, or 1 if I knew it.
*Waits until December for the results... I know I did well, so I want those bragging rights
*[Edit- Forgot to mention how much I hated the math section where "A if Column A is greater, B if Column B is greater, C if the 2 Columns are equal, or D if you can't tell." Math is like my strong point, but those particular problems took a lot more time than the regular pick an answer ones.]
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