<p>Question - will SAT studying be sufficient for the PSAT (in other words, are the two tests highly correlated from a studying standpoint?) or are they completely different types of tests that take different types of studying? </p>
<p>Just trying to help my youngest create a game plan for these two tests. Thanks</p>
<p>They are more or less the same in terms of content and style, but the PSAT is more difficult. The PSAT is shorter, ranging only about 2-3 hours if I remember correctly, and does not have an essay. </p>
<p>The max score on a PSAT is 240, with each section taking up 80 points each, so you can see how it parallels the SAT, which is out of 2400 with each section being 800 points. </p>
<p>On another note, colleges do not care about PSAT scores, so the worst that can happen if your kid doesn’t break the cutoff for National Merit Scholarships is simply not breaking the cutoff and not getting a chance at the scholarship. If he/she is swamped with work junior year and money isn’t a huge issue, I’d suggest focusing more on classwork and maintaining a good GPA over stressing like crazy over the PSAT.</p>
<p>But yes, they are very highly correlated in terms of studying.</p>
<p>I agree with Apdenoatis; the test structures are pretty similar. You will see the same types of math problems and sentence completions and all those. But one big difference is that the PSAT does not include the essay section. If you’ve studied the essay portion more than the multiple choice grammar questions, then start studying the multiple choice ones now. Also, the curve is a lot worse on the PSAT, mainly because there are fewer questions. 3 wrong in writing is in the 600’s, from what I’ve heard. 
Good luck!</p>
<p>The question type and format are the same except for the writing without essay. You just need to try a couple sample PSAT test to get the feel of timing as it is much shorted than SAT. Also, any careless mistake would cost you more in PSAT just like imhkim said.</p>
<p>All - thanks for the feedback.</p>
<h1>2–Not sure why you say PSAT is harder?</h1>
<p>Types of questions and instructions are the same, but the SAT includes a few harder math questions, and an essay, and is twice as long. </p>
<p>I would say the PSAT is easier–except for the fact that each missed question costs more. (OTOH, there are fewer questions to miss!)</p>
<p>Many people use the Official Guide to the SAT to study for the PSAT. You can also get an official sample PSAT from your school, or find the sample tests from past years on-line. The College Board does not put out a book for the PSAT, but if you want to get more practice specifically for the PSAT to help with timing, etc., I recommend the Kaplan PSAT book.</p>
<p>@atomom in terms of the worse curve, and that the individual questions are more difficult (albeit not substantially.) Though the SAT is 5 hours long it’s easier to get away with getting answers wrong. Sort of depends on the way you look at it lol.</p>
<p>^ Not true. psat is just as spontaneous as the sat. It depends how one utilizes or wants to utilize their time. On sat writing section is 25 minutes for 35 questions
on psat its 39 questions for 30 minutes
other than that both math sections and both reading sections are all 25 minutes. the curriculum is the same. you also don’t get a brain cramp cause of a shorter length of time.
psat = sat and it does reflect on your real sat (ithink)</p>
<p>Individual questions aren’t more difficult. I think the SAT has a couple higher level math questions (like Algebra II level).
With the SAT, the longer test definitely requires a lot more stamina, and the essay adds a lot of stress, too.</p>
<p>The difficulty with the PSAT is for students trying to make NM cutoff–no re-takes!</p>
<p>Ah, okay. Maybe just my impression, then :P</p>