One Day Academy Summer Session 2023

Digital PSAT Prep

May 30 – August 3rd

Tuesdays 9:30-12:30

Live in-Person Instruction: ODA Georgetown Campus - Grace Bible Church
Online Homework: JupiterEd.com

Thursday 9:30-12:20

Live online Instruction: Zoom
Online Homework: JupiterEd.com

• The PSAT/NMSQT is practice for the real SAT, which most students will need to take in order to apply for college. This practice for the SAT is useful for both sophomores and juniors.
• The PSAT/NMSQT is used as the basis for qualification in the prestigious National Merit Scholarship Program in a student's junior year. Students who take the PSAT/NMSQT during their sophomore year will not be eligible for the National Merit Scholarship Program.
• To sign up for the test look at the schedule at www.collegeboard.com

What is the National Merit Scholarship Program all about? How do I qualify?

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic program to recognize the highest scoring and most academically strong high school juniors in the United States. To participate in the National Merit Scholarship Program a student must be enrolled as a full-time high school student, be a permanent resident or citizen of the United States, and take the PSAT/NMSQT no later than the third year of high school. Though sophomores are not eligible, it is great practice for the SAT. Of the approximately 1.5 million juniors who will take the PSAT/NMSQT and are eligible for the National Merit Scholarship Program, about 50,000 students with the high PSAT/NMSQT selection index (critical reading + math + writing score) will be selected for recognition.

There are two types of recognition in this first round: National Merit Commended and National Merit Semifinalist. The necessary selection index for semifinalist status varies from state to state, as students are measured against only students in their state. Often this means that highly competitive states such as Massachusetts and California will have much higher selection indices than other states. The selection index for Commended status is set nationally.

In April after the PSAT/NMSQT, the 50,000 highest scoring students in the country will be notified that they may qualify for an award. At this point, each notified student will be asked to name two colleges or universities to which they would like to be referred by the NMSC. If students are asked to do this, they must be very careful in this selection. In order to qualify for funding from a university, they must often list that university as their first choice on this list of two schools. Students must be careful to make sure that they list their safety school here to ensure that they get a scholarship from that school! Often this means the nearest major university or state school.

The following September (approximately one year after taking the PSAT/NMSQT in junior year) these high scorers will be notified through their school if they have qualified as either a National Merit Commended student or National Merit Semifinalist.

More than two-thirds or approximately 34,000 students of the 50,000 that were notified in April will receive Letters of Commendation for their outstanding academic performance on the PSAT/NMSQT. The Selection Index necessary to be commended varies from year to year but is set nationally. Usually a score of 205 or so is sufficient to be named a National Merit Commended Student. Commended Students do not continue in the National Merit Scholarship Competition, but some of these students do become candidates for special scholarships granted by other corporations and businesses.

The remaining one-third of students who were notified in April, but are not Commended, become National Merit Semifinalists. The Selection Index to become a Semifinalist varies from state to state anywhere from a 210 to over 225 in some states. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation will provide scholarship application materials to Semifinalists through their high schools. Of these 16,000 Semifinalists, 15,000 will be notified that they are Finalists to receive a scholarship from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. This is a very prestigious honor and will in many cases result in some sort of academic scholarship.

For more information about the criteria for receiving a scholarship and additional information, consult the National Merit Scholarship Web site at www.nationalmerit.org.

PSAT/NMSQT Structure

The new Digital format of the PSAT/NMSQT tests the same general areas as the Digital SAT:

• Critical Reading skills, as well as Vocabulary in Context will be tested in Literature, Poetry, Drama, Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, and History single and double passages with and without infographics. Writing passages and questions focus upon Rhetoric, Grammar, Usage, Mechanics, Note-Taking Synopses and Punctuation.
• Math – Problem Solving and Data Analysis, Heart of Algebra, and Passport to Advanced Math in 44 questions in 70 minutes.

Critical Reading & Writing - integrated

• 2 sections:    One standard 27 Question, 32-minute section
  • • One adaptive 27 Question, 32-minute section

Math

• 2 sections:    One standard 22 Question, 35-minute section
  • • One adaptive 22 Question, 35-minute section

Calculators  can be used throughout the math sections

The multiple-choice and Grid-In questions on the PSAT/NMSQT math section

Scoring

Score reports will be delivered to your high school in December (or to your home address if you are a home schooled student) and online.

The PSAT Selection Index is just the sum of the three sections, for a maximum possible score of 240. The national average is approximately 49 on each section, for an average selection index of 147.

On Test Day

You should make sure to bring:

• At least two number two pencils
• An approved calculator. Any four function, scientific, or graphing calculator other than the TI-92 should be fine but you should confirm when you receive your registration materials (in which you will be sent a list of approved calculators).
• A picture ID - if you have a driver's license this will be fine, if not bring your school ID. Remember to make sure that the ID has your picture on it.
• A bottle of water and finger foods such as a bag of grapes to snack on during breaks between sections - water is the only thing you can drink during the test

• The PSAT/NMSQT is practice for the real SAT, which most students will need to take in order to apply for college. This practice for the SAT is useful for both sophomores and juniors.
• The PSAT/NMSQT is used as the basis for qualification in the prestigious National Merit Scholarship Program in a student's junior year. Students who take the PSAT/NMSQT during their sophomore year will not be eligible for the National Merit Scholarship Program.
• To sign up for the test look at the schedule at www.collegeboard.com

What is the National Merit Scholarship Program all about? How do I qualify?

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic program to recognize the highest scoring and most academically strong high school juniors in the United States. To participate in the National Merit Scholarship Program a student must be enrolled as a full-time high school student, be a permanent resident or citizen of the United States, and take the PSAT/NMSQT no later than the third year of high school. Though sophomores are not eligible, it is great practice for the SAT. Of the approximately 1.5 million juniors who will take the PSAT/NMSQT and are eligible for the National Merit Scholarship Program, about 50,000 students with the high PSAT/NMSQT selection index (critical reading + math + writing score) will be selected for recognition.

There are two types of recognition in this first round: National Merit Commended and National Merit Semifinalist. The necessary selection index for semifinalist status varies from state to state, as students are measured against only students in their state. Often this means that highly competitive states such as Massachusetts and California will have much higher selection indices than other states. The selection index for Commended status is set nationally.

In the April after the PSAT/NMSQT, the 50,000 highest scoring students in the country will be notified that they may qualify for an award. At this point, each notified student will be asked to name two colleges or universities to which they would like to be referred by the NMSC. If students are asked to do this, they must be very careful in this selection. In order to qualify for funding from a university, they must often list that university as their first choice on this list of two schools. Students must be careful to make sure that they list their safety school here to ensure that they get a scholarship from that school! Often this means the nearest major university or state school.

The following September (approximately one year after taking the PSAT/NMSQT in junior year) these high scorers will be notified through their school if they have qualified as either a National Merit Commended student or National Merit Semifinalist.

More than two-thirds or approximately 34,000 students of the 50,000 that were notified in April will receive Letters of Commendation for their outstanding academic performance on the PSAT/NMSQT. The Selection Index necessary to be commended varies from year to year but is set nationally. Usually a score of 205 or so is sufficient to be named a National Merit Commended Student. Commended Students do not continue in the National Merit Scholarship Competition, but some of these students do become candidates for special scholarships granted by other corporations and businesses.

The remaining one-third of students who were notified in April, but are not Commended, become National Merit Semifinalists. The Selection Index to become a Semifinalist varies from state to state anywhere from a 210 to over 225 in some states. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation will provide scholarship application materials to Semifinalists through their high schools. Of these 16,000 Semifinalists, 15,000 will be notified that they are Finalists to receive a scholarship from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. This is a very prestigious honor and will in many cases result in some sort of academic scholarship.

For more information about the criteria for receiving a scholarship and additional information, consult the National Merit Scholarship Web site at www.nationalmerit.org.

PSAT/NMSQT Structure

The PSAT/NMSQT tests the same general areas as the SAT:

• Critical Reading skills and Vocabulary in Context in five passages: literature, social sciences, science and history with in single and double passages with and without infographics.
• Math – Problem Solving and Data Analysis, Heart of Algebra, and Passport to Advanced Math
• Writing skills (Rhetoric, Grammar, Usage, Mechanics and Punctuation) in four passages with and without infographics

Critical Reading

• One 60-minute section
• 47 questions, all multiple choice

Math

• 2 sections:
  • Math Without Calculator – 17 Questions in 25 minutes
  • Math With Calculator – 30 Questions 45 minutes
• A calculator is allowed for the Math with Calculator Section (four function calculators, scientific calculators, and graphing calculators other than the TI-92 are acceptable)
• The PSAT/NMSQT math section will test:
  • Numbers and Operation
  • Algebra and Functions
  • Geometry and Measurement
  • Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability

Writing

• 1 section, 35 minutes
• 44 questions, all multiple choice

The multiple-choice questions on the PSAT/NMSQT writing section measure your ability to express ideas effectively and clearly in English. This includes understanding, finding grammatical errors, structural faults, and how to use language appropriately to express meaning and intention clearly.

Scoring

Score reports will be delivered to your high school in December (or to your home address if you are a home schooled student). Since PSAT/NMSQT score reports are not available via phone or the internet, you will have to wait till your school decides to distribute score reports.

To understand how the PSAT/NMSQT is scored, you must first understand how individual questions are scored. For each correct answer you will get 1 point, for each unanswered question you will receive 0 points, for each incorrect answer to a grid-in question you will receive 0 points, and for each incorrect answer to a multiple choice answer you will lose 1/4 of a point. The reason for this is that each question on the PSAT/NMSQT has 5 possible answers. If a student guesses randomly they have a 1 in 5 chance of guessing the correct answer. This means that if a student guesses randomly, for every 5 questions they will randomly guess 1 of these correct and will have guessed incorrectly on 4 of the 5. Thus their score will be +1 for the correct answer and 4*- 0.25 for the four incorrect answers, and thus the total score for this student will be +1 - (4*0.25) = 0, thus the student does not receive any points for just randomly guessing.

For each of the Math, Reading, and Writing sections the individual question answers are totaled to produce a raw score for each section. This raw score is then compared to all other students who took that same test and converted to a "scaled score" from 20 to 80. Think of this as grading on a curve.

Scaling is done to make sure that the same percentage of people on each test receive the same score to maintain consistency between PSAT/NMSQT tests. This process of taking a raw score and computing the equivalent scaled score based on all students' performance on that test is what makes the PSAT/NMSQT a standardized test.

For example, on one test date the test may be relatively easy so many students receiving a raw score of 20 (say 22 correct answers, 8 incorrect, and 9 blank) on the Writing section may be enough for a PSAT score of 45 in Writing, but on another test date the test may have been much more difficult and therefore the average student would have missed more questions. This means your raw score could be lower (say 18) but your scaled score would be the same, a 20.

In addition to a scaled score, each student receives a percentile rank. This percentile score is a comparison of your score to other students who took the test and represents the percent of students who scored the same or lower than you. Thus if your percentile rank is 75th percentile, this means 75 percent of students taking the PSAT/NMSQT scored no higher than you did. Scaled scores map to percentiles consistently from year to year, thus a 50 in one year is the same percentile as a 50 in another year.

The PSAT Selection Index is just the sum of the three sections, for a maximum possible score of 240. The national average is approximately a 49 on each section, for an average selection index of 147.

On Test Day

You should make sure to bring:

• At least two number two pencils
• An approved calculator. Any four function, scientific, or graphing calculator other than the TI-92 should be fine but you should confirm when you receive your registration materials (in which you will be sent a list of approved calculators).
• A picture ID - if you have a driver's license this will be fine, if not bring your school ID. Remember to make sure that the ID has your picture on it.
• A bottle of water and finger foods such as a bag of grapes to snack on during breaks between sections - water is the only thing you can drink during the test