<p>I'm a sophomore and I'm getting worried, I know it's just a practice test and you don't take the real thing until your a junior. My mom just brought me the PSAT book for practice and I skimmed through it and I feel extremely stupid. I don't know like 98% of the vocab their using and the math problems seem difficult for me. What should I do?</p>
<p>Get the official collegeboard sat practice book or the Princeton review 11 practice test book and just do all the practice tests you can. Once you familiarize yourself with the format, you should be able to go thru it easier. </p>
<p>The PSAT is a bit easier than the real sat and without an essay.</p>
<p>just keep on practicing. it is hard for every1 in the beginning.</p>
<p>The PSAT (and any other standardized) test is daunting at first, but with practice it will seem easier. My advice is to actually take the test once through with the real time limits, so you can get a sense of where you are right now. Who know? You might do better than you think! *Make sure to go through the entire thing without any extra aids. The first time, it is always tempting to give up halfway or look up the words, but it’s really important to gauge yourself right now.</p>
<p>For the vocab, it might be a good idea to get an SAT vocab book like “Direct Hits”. For math, I find the best way is to just do lots of practice problems on old PSAT tests and work at them until I figure them out (that is, after I take the entire practice test).</p>
<p>If math is your current weakness, I’d spend your time studying geometry material. Since you’re only a sophomore it’s possible you haven’t taken geometry yet, so I wouldn’t stress too much. Taking it again as a junior will be much less overwhelming!</p>
<p>In addition to taking past PSAT exams, is the College Board SAT review book good enough to study for the PSAT? </p>
<p>I would think maybe the SAT is harder so it might not be as good, but I’d rather just end up buying an SAT book once.</p>
It should be the same difficulty as SAT, but for me it is harder.
Below, -#, # is in raw points, not questions wrong.
10th grade May SAT = 2140 (590R, 800M, 750W, 11 Essay)
11th grade PSAT = 2130 
(-11 = 620R, -0 = 800M, -2 = 710W)
11th grade SAT = 2250 (-10 = 690R, -0 = 800M, -4 + 12 Essay = 760W)
I feel so mad. ONE MORE GRAMMAR QUESTION RIGHT would qualify me as NMSF. PSAT Grammar is SO INSANELY CURVED!!!
If the PSAT had an Essay, I would surely qualify (It helps my writing score a lot). Why can’t NM use a full SAT test complete with an essay portion and 10 sections?
I think NM should make 2100 the cuttoff for NMSF, and ACTUALLY LOOK AT YOUR GRADES, SAT, EC, for you to continue on to Finalist.
There are some NMSF in my school who get really lucky on this test, and get lower than 2150 on real SAT. On the other hand, the Salutatorian last year got 2140 PSAT but 2330 SAT, good GPA, EC, got into UPENN.
In my school, about half of NMSF are legitimately smart students. The other half are either good test takers or just get lucky. (Some go down to like 2140 after studying after taking PSAT, how is that possible?)
It is sad that one grammar question can mean the difference between no scholarship and $20000 a year. 8-|
@agupte check the posting dates before resurrecting a three and a half year thread.