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On October 19th, 2016, over 200 Avonworth students in grades 10-11 took a mandatory standardized test during 1st through 4th period–the PSAT. This test provides students with practice that is similar in formatting and question types of the SAT, which students take during Junior and Senior year. Class schedules were altered and over 20 staff members were not teaching their own classes, but rather proctoring and administering the exam for the students. In addition, both guidance counselors were proctoring tests rather than meeting students with emotional and mental health needs like they usually do.
For the class of 2017, taking the test in 2014 was a very different experience. The PSAT was optional, cost money ($20), and they had to come in early Saturday morning in order to best simulate the actual test environment. The test was out of 2400 points in 2014 with each section (Math, Reading, Writing) being worth 800 points and currently is out of 1600 points, because CollegeBoard got rid of the Writing section. The SAT has also been modified where the test takers are no longer penalized for getting an answer wrong. The old SAT penalized you for getting an answer wrong by taking away 0.25 points per wrong answer, while the new SAT does not.
As for ninth graders, their day didn’t change much. Freshmen classes typically don’t have many upperclassmen in them. For some, classes that were early in the day and had sophomores in it were cancelled, like third period IM2. Though other than that, the PSATs did not affect their schedule while the upperclassman schedule was adjusted to allow time for testing.
Its very interesting to see what the psat was like for older students… i cant believe that they made you pay and now it is a mandatory assignment…
I like that that this is very detail oriented and tells the simple facts of the situation.
It is interesting to read about how much the PSAT has changed since 2014.
This was a good informative article, and I think it is good that they offer the PSAT’s in school, instead of having to pay for them outside of school.
Good update/overview for the people who didn’t know what happened that day.
I like how the article compared the old SAT and PSAT with the newer ones. I never experienced the old versions of the standardized tests, but it is interesting to know the differences.
This article is very informative about how the PSAT and the SAT has changed over the years
Was still boring (the test not the article). Nice job.
I like the amount of information given. It showed the experience for all grades. I also appreciated the comparison between previous tests and this years.
It was nice to know some of the information about the old test, because I think most people didn’t know that before. Good job
Very interesting to hear how they did it for the class of 2017.
I think this article is helpful and it explains how these tests work
I wonder why they modified the SAT so much?
I wonder why they don’t have 9th graders take them?
I thought the psat tests were good to practice for the real thing.
So we know why the PSAT system was modified?
This article does a good job detailing previous SAT conditions.
Can there be a more beneficial setup made so that students and faculty are able to do what they usually do?
Interesting to learn how the old PSAT’s used to be taken.
very interesting to hear about the history of the PSAT, I still dont like taking it though :/