Sophomores and Juniors – PSAT’s Saturday October 18th

We will be administering the PSATs to Waynflete sophomores and juniors on Saturday, October 18th.  Students do not need to register for these tests ahead of time, but they should plan to arrive at school that morning between 8:00 and 8:15, bringing two or more #2 pencils and a calculator.   The exact test locations on campus will be announced later.  Most students will finish the tests and be excused between 11:00 and 11:30.  Those who have been approved by the College Board to receive extended time should finish between 12:30 and 1:00.

Students have been given a Bulletin that describes the test, gives many helpful hints, and includes a Practice Test.  Our strong recommendation is for students to read through the Bulletin carefully and then take the practice test.  While the results of these tests are not shared with colleges, students should do their best.

The PSAT is modeled after the SATs, standardized tests used by many colleges and universities in the college application process.  Its primary purpose is to give students practice taking this kind of standardized test.  For juniors, it is also used as the first step in the National Merit Scholarship competitions (information about that is also in the Bulletin).

Having sophomores take PSATs at this time is a departure from our previous practice of administering, in a very unofficial way, the tests to them in spring.  Doing it this way will give them a better sense of what they will experience later.  However, for sophomores these are still, in essence,  practice tests for the PSATs which themselves are primarily practice tests for the SATs.  Though the tests will be scored by the College Board, the results will not be shared with any colleges or other outside organizations.

Please contact Peter Hamblin (, ext. 1230) with any questions.