This Saturday, Feb. 25, Jesuit High School will be hosting a standardized test preparation event for Juniors. The event is Kaplan’s Practice SAT, or PSAT, which has proven to be an invaluable resource for students who wish to improve their SAT scores.

Kaplan’s PSAT can help students in a number of ways. One way is that it acclimates students to the types of questions found on the real SAT. Being used to the format of questions on the test allows students to spend more time figuring out the right answers and less time figuring out what the questions are asking.

“It’s the best way to study, the PSAT, because you’re taking the test before the test,” said Dominic Patrone ‘18. “It definitely helped me in knowing what I needed to study because the questions on the SAT are very similar.”

The PSAT also shows what subjects students are strong in as well as those that need work. After taking the test, students will receive a copy of the test, a score report detailing their answers, the correct answers, and an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses.

“It’s kind of like spring training,” said Jesuit Counselor Christopher Seibert. “You have a chance to work out your muscles a little bit, in this case your mental muscles, to kind of measure yourself against the competition, [to] see where your strengths are, and know how to continue to study and to refine your skills so that you can ultimately maximize your score.”

Students who take the PSAT, and thus have the ability to know what they need to study, often improve their scores on the SAT.  

“You will usually see maybe a leap of 50 to 100 points,” Mr. Seibert said .

Ultimately, the SAT is all about college admissions, and preparing for it can only help one’s chances at getting admitted the school which they desire to attend.

“[The PSAT] helps in the admissions process and you putting your best foot forward for colleges, which is what this is really about,” Mr. Seibert said.

The test begins at 8:30AM and runs until 1PM, however students should arrive on campus by 8:00 in order to check into their assigned classrooms.