<p>Hi!
I've been preparing for PSAT since last year. The first one I took in sophomore year I got a 181. I was enrolled in NMRP (National Merit Review Program) and I've been doing practice tests in TestMasters every week since the end of August. My avg. score on the practice PSATs that I took is around 217~230. </p>
<p>I have to make National Merit, to get the scholarship and stuff, and my NMRP instructor said the bar's probably going to be set at 220 in TX this year. I've been doing pretty well on my practice tests, but I'm afraid that on the real test, I might mess up :( or miss National Merit by a few points.</p>
<p>I'm really really nervous for my PSAT on Wednesday. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for me? I'd really appreciate it. </p>
<p>Are there any other juniors out there that feels the same way I do right now?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Hey! I’m also a junior in Texas, and I’m taking the PSAT this Wednesday. I totally know where you’re coming from–the PSAT can be really stressful because you really only have one shot to make National Merit. Like you, I really want/need to make NM, and have been doing a lot of prep. As a sophomore, I got a 208, but on recent practice tests I’ve only been consistantly scoring around 220ish range, so I’m right on the edge.</p>
<p>From what people have told me, it seems like the best advice is to relax, get a good night’s sleep, and have confidence going into the test. If you’re stressing out about how you might fail, then chances are you’ll be worrying/distracted the whole test and get a lower score than you should have.</p>
<p>This isn’t really the standard advice, but… I’m skipping school tomorrow to cram (My mom is cool with writing a note that I was “sick”). There are a lot of naysayers that say cramming will never work, but I think that if I spend the entire day reviewing the vocab, problems, strategies, etc. that I’ve been working on the past several months, then that could be just enough to push me over the edge and help me get maybe 2 more questions right and that could lead to National Merit. I don’t know if this skipping school strategy would work for you, but I just thought I’d share what I was doing in case it could possibly help anyone on this forum.</p>
<p>So, just be positive about the test and go into it knowing that you’ll do fantastic. It sounds like your practice test scores have been really good, and I’m sure that you have a great shot at National Merit. Good luck!</p>
<p>I’m so glad that I’m not the only one stressing over this. A lot of the people I know are not even nervous because they think the PSAT isn’t that important. You definitely have a high chance of making it if you made a 208 the first time :]
I see what you mean about the nervousness thing, but it just seems so hard to relax when you only have one shot at this thing.
and lol@ at you staying home to study. Hopefully I won’t have any more homework tomorrow so that I can actually have time to study, and I do believe that cramming will help, just as long as I don’t stay up until too late. My mom is freaking out about this, but I doubt she’ll let me skip school.</p>
<p>and thanks for everything, you definitely made me feel better.
Good luck to you too!</p>
<p>D: PSAT is a valid excuse to skip school? Lucky.</p>
<p>Texan here stressing out also. Our AP teachers are also unsympathetic about our homework load before the PSAT, lol. Also, the rising cutoff score for our state is another thing to worry about…</p>
<p>I only made a 193 in my sophomore year. 205s on the practice tests. I am probably not going to get in, but is it worth it to study when my scores are so low?</p>
<p>Relax. Although it is nice to have the distinction in your school of being a national merit finalist, plenty of top high school students succeed academically and go on to top tier universities without getting National Merit.</p>
<p>Advice:</p>
<p>Critical Reading: Vocab: Remember: Hard vocab questions have hard answers. If you think the answer to the last question in a set is an easy word, then it is MOST LIKELY wrong. If you have direct hits, memorize each word in the 2 books. When I took the PSAT, every one of the vocab answers came from direct hits. Passages: If the answer is NOT supported by the passage, then it is WRONG. Extreme answer choices are also wrong 99% of the time.</p>
<p>Math: Work fast and carefully. Double and triple check your work if you have time. Do each problem COMPLETELY over when you go over your answers. If you made a mistake, you don’t want to make the same mistake when checking your work.</p>
<p>Writing: Carefully note the tenses and subjects of each sentence. Identify the subject and verb to check for agreement. Watch out for diction too: When I took the PSAT, there was a diction error in one of the last sentences in the set. Also watch out for faulty comparisons and rhythm. READ SILVERTURTLES GUIDE.</p>
<p>I feel your pain. I must score ~215 in Hawaii and I have made costly, careless mistakes on most of m practice tests. I hope it does not happen on the actual test.</p>
<p>@yellowochre: I know! My teachers are still giving out tests and quizzes -.-
and YES! You should definitely study, 205 isn’t that far off from 220! BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!</p>
<p>@cortana431: Thank you for your advice! If you don’t mind me asking, did your score on the PSAT differed a lot from your practice scores?</p>
<p>@Kieran0696: I know what you mean by the careless mistakes 
I’m scared one of them’s going to cost me National Merit. Hopefully we both don’t make any of those on test day. GOOD LUCK TO YOU!</p>
<p>@kittykat i didnt take any practice tests and i got a 201. 2 careless mistakes in math (watch out for those) and many mistakes in critical reading.</p>
<p>@cortana431: I always make them too Did you kind of know how you did after you finished? Thanks for replying to my Qs!</p>
<p>Here are my tips to help minimize the stress you are feeling. First, acknowledge that you are well prepared and trust yourself. Second, prepare the night before to take away as many stressors as possible. Lay out your clothes. Gather sharpened pencils and your photo ID. Change out the battery in your calculator. Set your alarm. Do something relaxing at least a 1/2 hour before going to bed and then go to bed early. In the morning, eat a good breakfast. At our house on test day, a small serving of oatmeal with fruit and scrambled eggs has always worked. (Do not load up on sugary, empty carbs!) Make sure you get to school on time or early. Stop yourself when you catch yourself saying or thinking negative things and instead say, “I’m prepared. It will be ok.” or something else which calms you and reminds you that you are indeed ready. Once the test starts, you won’t have time to worry. Just work diligently, just as you have practiced.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thank you for your advice NeedAVacation!</p>
<p>Think positively and get in the zone! This in itself can make all the difference. If you’ve been scoring sub-par on your practice tests, don’t change your strategy into something radically different when you’re actually taking the PSAT.</p>
<p>Critical Reading:
Vocab: If you absolutely do not know the answer to a hard vocabulary question, DO NOT answer it unless you can eliminate at least 2 answer choices. You don’t want to miss NMSF just because you made a blind guess.
Passages: Questions that ask about what you can infer and whatnot are ALWAYS supported in the text.</p>
<p>Writing:
In addition to what cortana has already stated, be on the lookout for that 1 or so inverted sentence. Make sure that you carefully isolate (the) subject(s) and verb(s) before making a hasty decision. The first 20 and last 6 questions are perhaps the easiest points you can make in the Writing section.</p>
<p>CantConcentrate: What is an inverted sentence??? What would be an example of one? Are all inverted sentences wrong?</p>
<p>@kittykat yeah i did, i expected a score from 190-205 and got 201. the fact that there are few questions means it will be very easy to remember the hard ones after the test and which ones you may have got wrong.</p>
<p>IMPORTANT ADVICE: This helped me tremendously for the ACT and helped me get a 35. On the morning of the test, read a book or newspaper or ANYTHING. You don’t want to walk into the PSAT without working your mind after waking up. Get your mind running to its full capacity. When we wake up, our minds are still slow and dont get to its full thinking until later in the day. Review vocab words the morning even. Just make sure your mind is in the best shape and you aren’t groggy or thinking slow.</p>
<p>@cortana: I hope I walk out feeling confident that I did well tomorrow ://
Thank you! I’ll probably review my prefixes and roots tomorrow morning!</p>
<p>Before you ever mark No Error on Find Error questions (in writing ofc), check the subject of every underlined verb. They get tricky near the end and put the subjects and verbs far apart in the sentence.</p>
<p>The basic stuff REALLY makes a difference. Get around 8 hours of sleep if you can. Don’t oversleep and don’t stay up late. Make sure you eat something before you go. I personally eat bananas. Finally, I would suggest casually reading an article on something to warm up your brain. Maybe an easy algebra problem or something too. Just to wake you up ;P</p>
<p>@OtherWindow: Thank you! I felt like the writing section was easier compared to the math this year.</p>
<p>@GammerAddict: Thank you! I actually had three or four bananas yesterday 
and I wasn’t feeling as nervous.</p>
<p>Ugh. I’m beyond stressed. I barely prepped for this test because this week, I had a whole string of tests and midterms.</p>
<p>The administration at my hs deserves a big fat facepalm.</p>