Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test, also known as the PSAT. Usually associated with freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, the PSAT is more than just a test for underclassmen. The PSAT, also called the NMSQT or the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, sounds like a tongue twister for some but to other students at Palmetto it sounds like a sealed deal into obtaining the perfect SAT score.

The PSAT is being offered at Palmetto on October 14 for all tenth graders to take. The test is optional for ninth and eleventh graders.

“My impression of the PSAT is that it helps you achieve a better score on the SAT, so its good but at the same time it has stuff that we never really learned before so its difficult,” junior Gabriel Caldera said.

Students at Palmetto are focused entirely on the examination that admission offices around the country are basing their acceptances on. However, what students don’t realize is that the PSAT is just as important, if not more, than the actual SAT.

Junior Taylor Manyou took the PSAT in 2009 and 2010 thinking that it was just “a practice SAT.” In fact, the PSAT is a standardized test that measures Critical Thinking, Writing Skills, and Math Problem Solving.

“I sort of studied for it but not really. It wasn’t really hard but some of the stuff I had to think about,” Manyou said.

Also offered to students in the ninth grade, the PSAT provides an accurate representation of the SAT for Palmetto students who are new to the critical exam.

“I took the PSAT in ninth grade. I’m going to take it this year, and I’m going to take it in eleventh grade too,” sophomore Andrew Castillo said, “It will help me get a better score on the SAT.”

The PSAT’s primary purpose is to receive feedback on how well a student would perform when taking the actual SAT, but some students are more interested in whether or not they will qualify for the National Merit Scholarship.

“When I took the PSAT, I was aware of the National Merit Scholarship. I care about it,” Manyou said.

The National Merit Scholarship is a prestigious recognition that only the highest-scoring students can acquire. Of the 1.5 million entrants nation-wide, 16,000 students became semi-finalists. Whether a student qualifies is based on their eleventh grade PSAT scores.

Palmetto is home to eight National Merit semi-finalists- Alyssa Rosenfeld, Joshua Ascherman, James Choi, Albert Liu, Ellora Sarkar, Olga Shestopalova, Yang Liu, and Nathan Harris.

“It took quite a bit of time, effort and persistence,” Choi said. “If you really don’t want it, you wont get it.”