The SAT and the PSAT, are tests offered by the College Board, a not-for-profit organization based out of the United States. The skill and knowledge tested on both these tests are more or less similar but they are not identical. Let us understand how these two tests are different.
When we say PSAT, there are different types of PSAT offered by the College Board. PSAT 8/9 is for students at 8th and 9th grade; PSAT 10 is for students at 10th grade; PSAT/NMSQT for students at 10th or 11th grade and as a preparatory for the SAT.
We are going to compare the SAT with PSAT/NMSQT which is the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. As you all know that the SAT is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States and a few other countries and this test is now transitioning to a completely test in March 2023 internationally and in the United States in 2024. The PSAT, currently a paper pencil test, will be administered digitally effective August of 2023.
PSAT prep will be a great primer for the SAT preparation.
THIS BLOG INCLUDES:
1.Differences Between the SAT & PSAT
2.The Purpose of taking the SAT and the PSAT is Different
3.Benefits of taking the PSAT
With the SAT now becoming a Digital test there are a lot of differences between the SAT and the PSAT.
| SAT | PSAT |
| Test goes digital from March 2023 internationally and in the US in 2024 | PSAT is currently a paper and pencil test but will be going digital in August 2023 |
| The test will continue to be administered at a test center or school | The test will continue to be administered at a test center or school |
| The duration of the test is 2 hrs and 14 minutes | The duration of the test is 2 hrs and 45 minutes |
| Students can use their own device for the test or the device provided by the college board | The test will continue to be a paper and pencil test till August 2023 |
| The test is a multistage adaptive test | The test is a linear test |
| There is no right or wrong answer as every question is weighted | There is a score for every right answer |
| The score range is from 400 to 1600 | The score range is from 320 to 1520 |
| Verbal section has Reading and Writing | The verbal Section has Evidence-based reading, writing and language |
| Reading section will have passages based on literature, social sciences, natural sciences and passages that students are familiar with in an academic set up | Reading section has passages based on literature, historical documents, social sciences, and natural sciences.
|
| Reading section will not have passages from old founding documents | Reading section will continue to test historical documents |
| The reading passages are shorter with up to 150-200 words | Reading passages will be long with up to 500-750 words |
| Every question will be discrete and unique to every short passage | Each passage will have more than 1 question |
| Reading and writing section will have multiple choice questions with 4 answer choices | Reading and writing section will have multiple choice questions with 4 answer choices |
| Math section tests Algebra, Arithmetic, Data analysis, Geometry and trigonometry | Math section tests Algebra, Arithmetic, Data analysis, Geometry and trigonometry |
| Math sections have multiple choice questions with 4 answer choices and a few Student-produced responses | Math sections have multiple choice questions with 4 answer choices and a few Grid ins questions |
| Student-produced responses will not allow negative numbers | Grid ins questions allow only positive numbers |
| The math section allows the use of a calculator throughout the section | The math section has a No calculator and No Calculator section |
| The structure of the score report is yet to be published | The PSAT has a composite score which is the sum of Evidence-based Reading and writing and the math section
The report has two section scores for Evidence-based Reading and Writing and in the Math section. Three test scores such as Reading, Writing & Language and Math test scores are reported. |
| The difficulty level of questions on the SAT are high | The difficult level of questions on the PSAT is not as high as the SAT |
Related Blog Post: How Long Does It Take to Send SAT Scores?
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Book your Free Counselling Session now!Yes, but normally this is considered 980 as the average score for the PSAT.
A range of 1360-1370 PSAT score is the 95th percentile.
The Practice SAT is given by beginners and the DSAT is a college-level entrance exam that is slightly more challenging than the PSAT. Thus, DSAT is harder than PSAT.
Yes, Harvard also considered the PSAT scores for the application and invited students from across the USA.
The average score is between 1000-1011 for the PSAT 11th graders.
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