Which one should you be practicing for during summer between sophomore and junior year?
Try a PSAT practice test and see if you’re close to qualifying for the National Merit Scholarship Program. If you are close to qualifying, I would practice for that. Otherwise just practice for the SAT. Really though, they go hand in hand so you can’t go wrong either way.
I’m a rising junior as well and I’m preparing for the SAT, but I have been doing a few PSAT practice tests and they’re pretty much the same as the SAT just with easier questions. So I think prepping for the SAT will have you prepared for the PSAT (possibly over prepared) without having to do any additional studying.
I’m a rising senior and I’d say SAT - I didn’t do any additional studying for the PSAT and I’m projected to qualify for National Merit Scholar. Plus, SAT is harder and hard prep is good prep. Also, the SAT is more important in the long run.
You can practice for both! PSAT and SAT are both going to be the new format, and they test pretty much the same concepts, with PSAT being just a bit easier. Any studying you do for one will most likely translate automatically into improvements in the other. With that being said, SAT is the harder one, so maybe focus more on that one.
Practice for SAT, forget about PSAT. When you start school again and the PSAT test date is approaching, then study only a little bit - your SAT studying should’ve prepped you enough for PSAT to get a good score and qualify for National Merit.
Prepping for one is the same as prepping for the other.
I’m just prepping for PSAT bc both tests are essentially the same thing. If you prep for one, you’ve prepped for the other as @suzyQ7 mentioned. It’s just personal preference for how you want to approach studying. If you are close to NM, practice for the PSAT a little and move on to the SAT, otherwise just focus on the SAT.