The PSAT taking place on Oct. 13 at Amador is a standardized test given by the College Board that is offered to both sophomores and juniors. 

“So the PSAT is a practice for the SAT, so the SAT test its really similar. The format is really similar, the types of questions are similar. The SAT and PSAT are both put on by the College Board, so they are similar in that regard: testing instructions, [how] the wording is,” said Vice Principal Athena Duran. 

Because of COVID-19, several protocols have been put in place to make sure that students taking the PSAT are socially distanced and safe on school grounds.

“This year’s proctoring is not very different  from the past for the PSAT. There’s already spacing guidelines between tests and students and things like that. So we’re following the same protocols and procedures and outside of that there’s not a whole lot of change. Students don’t touch each other’s test, they’ve never have,” said Duran.

With resources provided by the office and other online resources that can be found on Google, students have begun to practice and prepare for the PSAT.

“I’m taking practice tests online, like on Khan Academy to prepare for the SAT and for the NMSQT,” said Armance Alexander (’24).

In addition, current seniors who have already taken both the PSAT and SAT have provided some advice and tips about the best ways to prepare for the test. 

“I don’t know if they still have this but the booklet from the office that had the practice tests in it, I did those and then I basically just went online, searched up a few practice problems and did that in my free time,” said Angelina Ma (’22).

Many sophomores and juniors may stress about the upcoming PSAT, but the test is not as hard as it seems. 

“The more you stress and the more you overthink on problems, the worse your score is probably going to be. It’s good to check back on your work but a lot of times what happens is that you change your answer when you had the right answer the first time. It’s not as hard as you think it is,” said Ma.