With the online form of the PSAT, students are adjusting to the new format. The College Board released scores Nov. 7 from the Oct. 4 test. Junior Abby Wang and sophomore Jack Grimison scored 1520s on the PSAT, the highest possible score.

“I improved a lot from last year when I got a 1350,” Wang said. “I thought the new format was easier because the reading passages were shorter, and we could use Desmos for the math sections. I did much better this year compared to last year with the paper format.”

Khan Academy stated that the PSAT will be offered in an adaptive format using the computer for students who will be taking the SAT as juniors, which will let them have time to familiarize themselves with the new testing format. 

“Thankfully, there were test prep options such as Khan Academy, and I was able to practice the new digital format and become familiar with it,” Wang said. “At first, I was worried that I would have to take the first digital PSAT and worried it would negatively impact my score, but on the actual test day, everything went smoothly, and I did not have any issues.”

The online version of the PSAT offers digital widgets for test takers, which the older version did not have.

“ I felt comfortable with the time because of the timer at the top of the online test,” sophomore Michael Carroll said. “It let me know how much time I had left, and it helped me pace myself. This is the best score that I’ve ever had taking the PSAT. I liked the online PSAT version better than the writing because I felt it was easier and it was better formatted. The math felt really easy, but the English became harder.”

Grimison scored a 1410 last year. 

“I think the PSAT being online this year really made the test taking experience more easy and streamlined for me,” Grimison said. “I wasn’t even able to bubble in all the answers for all the questions, and this year I was able to go online, and I think it really helped me work faster. But also, I thought it was a little bit easier in material, but I think that could just be having another year of knowledge gained going into this year’s PSAT.”

By Roshan Anil