On Saturday, October 12th, Hun students arrived on campus bright and early to take another step in their college preparation processes: the PSAT. The PSAT, also known as the Preliminary SAT, is a test that students take to prepare for the SAT, as well as qualify for the National Merit Scholarship Program.
Most students who take the PSAT do it to gain experience. Hun eleventh grader Joyce Xia stated, “I hope that the PSAT will be a good opportunity for me to further prepare myself for when I do need to take the actual SAT.”
College counselors also agree with this statement. Snce colleges are now beginning to go back to requiring standardized test scores, getting a good SAT score is becoming more important.
“It doesn’t hurt you at all, right?” Director of College Counseling Radha Mishra commented, “If anything, you get the experience of taking a digital adaptive test.”
Furthermore, at Hun, the test is available to take at no additional cost to students, which motivates more students to utilize the opportunity.
“It was offered, and it was very convenient and easy,” said David Pan ’26. Convenience was certainly a primary factor in the turnout of the PSAT.Not only was the registration process very simple, there were also two dates offered for the test.
Not only can the PSAT prepare students for the SAT, but it is also the way to apply for a National Merit Scholarship. Even if one doesn’t become a National Merit Scholar, there are still titles to be awarded.
“There’s three levels you can report to colleges,” Mrs. Mishra mentioned. “You could either be a National Merit Commended Scholar, you can be a National Merit Semifinalist, or, of course, you could be the finalist: a National Merit Scholar.”
However, New Jersey has one of the highest cutoffs in the United States, which may dissuade students from trying for the scholarship.
“[Qualifying for the National Merit Scholarship] is not one of my goals because I’ve heard that there’s a very high standard in New Jersey,” David Pan reported.
However, taking the PSAT is still worth it. Overall, it offers great practice and is a prime opportunity to experience digital standardized testing, something that almost all Hun students will encounter at some point in their Hun Upper School careers.
As Mrs. Mishra stated, “It’s a low-stakes, low-risk kind of a test. The only thing is yes, you have to take it on a Saturday morning.”
