The PSAT/NMSQT stands for the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. It is designed to help you practice for the SAT, qualify for scholarships, and stand out to colleges. The PSAT is offered every year in mid-October at your high school. Some schools allow sophomores to take the PSAT as practice, but others allow only juniors to test.

Taking the PSAT gives you a chance to qualify for several scholarship programs, including the National Merit Scholarship Program. The top 50,000 scorers on the PSAT are recognized by the National Merit program and sent letters of commendation. More than 10,000 of these students share more than $47 million in National Merit Scholarship money.

The test is predictable, so you should learn the structure and content and use that information to raise your score. Once you know the setup of the PSAT, you can develop a system for attacking the questions. Whether you use a book, a self-paced or teacher-guided class, or a private tutor, you should put in the work ahead of time so you can be confident and relaxed on test day.

The PSAT is 2 hours and 14 minutes long and is made up of mostly multiple-choice questions that test two subject areas: Math and Reading & Writing. When you take the PSAT, you’ll see two Reading and Writing modules and two Math modules. The Reading and Writing modules are each 32 minutes long, and the Math modules are each 35 minutes long.

The PSAT is scored from a range of 320-1520. Your Reading and Writing score will range from 160-720, and your Math score will also range from 160-720. The average PSAT score is about 920.

You’ll be able to access your PSAT scores online about 4 to 6 weeks after your test date. Students who qualify for the National Merit Scholarship Competition will be notified the following year.