Skills Tested on the PSAT/NMSQT Sample PSAT/NMSQT Questions Scoring the PSAT/NMSQT

1. Prepare for the PSAT/NMSQT®: A Step to the Future • Skills Tested on the PSAT/NMSQT • Sample PSAT/NMSQT Questions • Scoring the PSAT/NMSQT • Test Preparation Strategies

2. What is the PSAT/NMSQT? • Measures academic skills you’ll need for college • Co-sponsored by the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation • Serves as an entry point to National Merit Scholarship Corporation competitions and practice for the SAT • Approximately 3.5 million students participate each year (44% eleventh-graders and 56% tenth-graders or younger)

3. Benefits of the PSAT/NMSQT • Preparation for the SAT® • Scholarship and recognition opportunities (11th grade) • College and career planning tools • Admissions and financial aid information from colleges • Feedback on academic skills

4. What Skills are tested on the PSAT/NMSQT? • The test assesses the academic skills that you’ve developed over the years, primarily through your course work. • These skills are considered essential for success in high school and college: • Critical Reading • Mathematics • Writing Skills

5. Critical Reading Questions • Use content from: • -humanities • -social studies • -natural sciences • -literature • 13 Sentence Completions: WORK ON THESE FIRST! • 35 Passage-Based Reading Questions • (100- to 800-word passages)

6. LET’S TRY ONE…… Before Karen Chin’s research, scientists assumed that the value of evidence preserved in the fossils called coprolites was too to warrant the effort of . unpredictable….transformation superlative….examination conventional…eradication relevant…synthesis dubious…analysis

7. A Tip….. TIP: Try answering two blank questions one blank at at time. If you can eliminate one word in an answer, the entire choice can be eliminated.

8. And the answer is…… Choice (E)! Choice E is the correct response because if scientists thought the value of the evidence was dubious or doubtful, then they probably would not think it worth the effort of analysis.

9. And the answer is…… Choice (A) is incorrect because…. Choice (B) is incorrect because…. Choice (C) is incorrect because…. Choice (D) is incorrect because….

10. LET’S TRY ANOTHER…… Greta praised the novel for its, claiming it depicted reality so vividly that it seemed more like fact than fiction. transcendence romanticism impenetrability loquacity verisimilitude

11. A Tip….. TIP: DO NOT choose a word because it “sounds” good in one part of the sentence. Pick the answer choice that best completes the logic of the entire sentence.

12. And the answer is…… Choice (E)! Choice E is the correct response because verisimilitude is the quality of appearing to be true or real. If Greta claims that the novel depicts reality “so vividly” that it seems “more like fact than fiction” than she would be praising the novel for its verisimilitude.

13. And the answer is…… Choice (A) is incorrect because…. Choice (B) is incorrect because…. Choice (C) is incorrect because…. Choice (D) is incorrect because….