ACT & SAT
ACT & SAT
Welcome back! As the College Readiness teacher, I wanted to let you all know that all 10th graders will take the PSAT on Thursday, October 16th after fall break. In College Readiness, students will start some practice with PSAT next week with warm up activities and then as we get closer to the test date, more practice will be increased. Students are encouraged to do prep on their own using Khan Academy, practice tests, and with the official Bluebook App when they have time. The PSAT is meant to be practice for our students this year in order to familiarize themselves with the test and get ready to take the SAT their junior and/or senior year for college admission. Below, please find resources for students to help them prepare for the test.
Common Math Formulas on the PSAT
Effortless Math website details the PSAT formulas you may need to know for math section
ONLINE PREP
Khan Academy PSAT Reading & Writing Prep
PRACTICE TESTS
PSAT Practice Tests
Full length paper tests are available on College Board’s website and have been linked below for easy access:
Google Drive
PSAT Practice Test #1 with Scoring Guide
PSAT Practice Test #2 with Scoring Guide
DOWNLOAD PDF of the 2 tests above
Official PSAT Practice Test 1 — Score Your Test — Answer Explanations
Official PSAT Practice Test 2 — Score Your Test — Answer Explanations
SAT Practice Tests
SAT Practice Test #4 with Scoring Guide
SAT Practice Test #5 with Scoring Guide
SAT Practice Test #6 with Scoring Guide
SAT Practice Test #7 with Scoring Guide
SAT Practice Test #8 with Scoring Guide
SAT Practice Test #9 with Scoring Guide
SAT Practice Test #10 with Scoring Guide
DOWNLOAD BLUEBOOK APP
Students will take the PSAT on the official Bluebook App through College Board and will have a digital ticket to login with their information. The week before the test, Mrs. MacFarland will have students login and do some practice to familiarize themselves with the digital platform. Please note students are able to do practice tests on their own if they have a PC or Macbook and can download the app. See link below.
Practice with Bluebook™ App (on PCs and Macbooks only)
The PSAT for 10th graders is a practice version of the SAT that tests students' skills in reading, writing, and math. For 10th grade, the PSAT is merely a practice test that will be recorded in their College Board account. Students are encouraged to create an account if they don't have one already. Students will also take the PSAT their 11th grade year, which could qualify them to receive a National merit Scholarship.
COLLEGE BOARD: https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/practice/full-length-practice-tests
https://www.cracksat.net/digital/math/
FREE ONLINE COURSE THROUGH LEARNING EXPRESS
(students should sign in with Meridian google email) https://www.learningexpresshub.com/productengine/LELIndex.html#/center/prepstephighschool/prepareforcollege/home/get-ready-for-the-act
MCGRAW-HILL PSAT PRACTICE
https://www.mhpracticeplus.com/psat.php
TEST PREP REVIEW
https://www.testprepreview.com/sat_practice.htm
VARSITY TUTORS
MATH HELP
Cue Math.com
Math.com
Magoosh.com
ACT Online Practice
https://www.act.org/content/act/en/new-act-options/online-testing/sample-questions.html
Online practice (have to create an account), https://my.act.org/account/signin?location=https://my.act.org
ACT Tests
ACT Practice Tests (PDF) 2023-2024 (answers only)
June 2020 ACT (answers only)
FREE ONLINE COURSE THROUGH LEARNING EXPRESS
(students should sign in with Meridian google email) https://www.learningexpresshub.com/productengine/LELIndex.html#/center/prepstephighschool/prepareforcollege/home/get-ready-for-the-act
More Than A Teacher
Princeton Review
Varsity Tutors
Kaplan
Advantage Testing
Online Programs
Fall – PSAT (one national test date in October): See Meridianś website for details
Spring - ACT Practice test (in College Readiness)
What is the difference between PSAT and SAT you may ask? They are almost identical except that the PSAT is 15 minutes shorter than the SAT and does not include an essay. Check out https://blog.collegeboard.org/difference-between-sat-and-psat for more information.
Fall – PSAT (one national test date in October)
Spring – ACT and SAT (multiple national test dates; students must register)
Meridian offers all 11th graders either the ACT or the SAT in the spring. Meridian usually rotates--one year, SAT, another year ACT.
Fall – ACT and/or SAT (repeat as needed)
ACT - (registration information at: https://my.act.org/account/signin?location=https)
College admissions exam, offered 7 times yearly, September through July, at ACT testing centers
Content includes English, Math, Reading, Science, and Writing (Writing may be “optional" on test day, but is required by many colleges)
SAT - (registration information at: http://sat.collegeboard.org/register)
College admissions exam, offered 7 times yearly, August through June, at SAT testing centers
Content includes Reading, Language, Math, and Writing (Writing may be “optional" on test day, but is required by many colleges)
ACT Practice test
Practice test for the ACT is administered in the College Readiness class.
PSAT
Practice test for SAT
Offered once each fall, on a single date determined by College Board.
The score earned in the fall of the Junior year is used to determine qualification for the National Merit Scholarship Program.
SAT Subject Tests
These are hour-long, content-based tests in specific subjects. There are 20 tests available in five general areas: English, history, languages, math, and science. Subject Tests are used in several different ways:
Admission – some selective colleges include Subject Tests as part of their admission requirements
Placement – some colleges use these test scores to determine placement in the appropriate courses
Credit – some colleges use these test scores to award credit for college courses
Note: Since all colleges do not use these tests, it is important for students to research their potential colleges to determine whether these are needed. Subject Tests are administered on all SAT testing dates, and are generally taken whenever a student completes the curriculum being tested.
The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships based on PSAT scores.
The top 50,000 scorers are identified for the PSAT. National Merit semifinalists are the top 16,000 in that group, and are chosen on a state-representative basis so there is no single score for qualifying. The other 34,000 are named as Commended Students. These numbers change each year depending on student performance nationwide.
Here's a good synopsis of the National Merit program:
https://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/interior.aspx?sid=1758&gid=2&pgid=424
ACT Warm Ups
Students will work through some ACT problems in class as Warm Ups before they take an actual practice test.
Practice Test for Warm Ups: 2018-19
https://www.piqosity.com/free-act-official-practice-test-pdfs-and-answer-explanations/