(originally posted at ProgressiveU)
The digits on my desktop clock seem to hesitate for a split second before flashing to 11:00 pm. A shrill alarm sounds in my ear as I dejectedly put my pencil down. 25 minutes is up. Flipping nonchalantly to the back of the book to check my answers for the Critical Reading section of my PSAT practice booklet, I’m shocked to find out that I’ve answered 10 questions wrong in total. Ten out of 25 - yeah, that’ll go quite well with the 8 wrong out of 20 in my Mathematics section.
I, not unlike many other juniors throughout the nation, am suffering from exam anxiety. I’d taken the PSAT my sophomore year and received a 207. It’s now two days before my junior PSAT, and I decided to just let the practice tests fly. However, I’ve been getting more and more discouraged as I find that my practice tests this year are scoring much less than my previous score of 207. Anywhere from 40 to 20 points less, to be exact. What was I doing wrong? After all, my friend and I had got together on a Saturday that was already fully scheduled as it was to study for three hours. We had researched the scores necessary to get into our dream colleges, taken practice tests, and went over some key things together. I’d studied every tip and rule possible in print and in HTML. This was slowly and carefully eating away at my confidence…
Why do we suffer and toil away at our books for this test? After all, colleges do not see our PSAT scores, it doesn’t count in the calculation of our GPA… and it is, after all, only a “practice” SAT… right?
Wrong.
Some may claim that the PSAT is not worth stressing over for the reasons I’ve listed above. However, is “college” the only thing you’re aiming towards? How about summer programs? (MITES, a program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is one that my friend and I are aiming toward) What about scholarships? Your resume? Your portfolio? What about the second part of the acronym, “NMSQT” (National Merit Scholarship Qualification Test)?
National Merit Scholarship is one of the main reasons why many of my classmates are freaking out over the test. Everyone wants the chance to be able to put down on their resume or portfolio, “Finalist of National Merit Scholarship”. Even better, if you actually get a scholarship or award, no matter how small, that always adds a nice touch to your applications.
Now this isn’t really new stuff. PSAT/NMSQT has been around for a while. However, I feel as if we are now being more competitive about it. Nowadays, more than ever, there is more emphasis on getting into a great college, making great test scores, participating in every extracurricular activity and club that is humanly possible, applying for scholarships, and basically trying to steal the spot in your dream college from your fellow classmates and rivals across the nation.
It’s a tiring and gruesome process, but I suppose now’s not the time to overanalyze. With the PSAT coming up in less than 36 hours, I’d better get back to taking those practice tests…