The school will administer the SAT on Oct. 27, and the PSAT on Oct. 29. Test administrator Stacey Hemenway shared details on how the tests are being administered.

Both tests require testing students to be at school by 8 a.m. and in their testing rooms by 8:20 a.m., when the test will begin. All students must wear an ID, a mask and bring their own four function graphing calculator for both tests. Virtual and virtual-plus students will need to be picked up after the test at noon as there will be no bus services for these students. For the PSAT, In-person students not taking the test will have late arrival and can arrive at school in time for 3rd period. Students who can not arrive late will have study hall in the gym.

The PSAT is offered to all sophomores and any juniors who have signed up. While the SAT taking place on Oct. 27 is available strictly to seniors, there are other SAT dates that juniors can participate in: Nov. 7, Dec. 5, May 8 and June 5.

With the pressure of these tests upon them, some students have been preparing for months. Junior Alex Geer is taking the PSAT and began studying in March, at the beginning of isolation. Despite it being hard to study with school in session, she said online practice tests on College Board have helped her feel more prepared.

“I can recognize certain questions now after taking a lot of practice tests, so I can answer them quicker when they come up,” Geer said. “The more practice tests you do, the more you’ll get a feel for how the real test will be. Time them and put your phone away to make it feel like it’s the real test.”

Another factor Geer believes has prepared her for the coming test is taking Latin as her world language credit sophomore year. 

“Latin prefixes are used in a lot of words used in the grammar section of the PSAT,” Geer said. “So having learned those prefixes, it’s a lot easier to figure out the meaning of words I haven’t learned before while taking the test.”

Junior Olivia O’Brien is also taking the PSAT, along with the SATon Nov. 7. O’Brien started preparing her sophomore year after scoring high enough on her PSAT to be placed in a PSAT prep class, and uses scholarships as her motivation to score well.

“I think a lot about scholarships and things that could happen if I get a good enough score,” O’Brien said. “It could really help me in the future.”  

O’Brien said she feels most prepared when she uses a checklist and gets a good amount of sleep the night before. 

“You only have a certain amount of time to do [the PSAT] and that time runs out really fast, but if you have a lot of energy and focus it can really help your score,” O’Brien said. “I use a checklist the night before and it helps me prepare and make sure my calculator is charged and that I have pencils. It takes off a lot of stress.”                                               

Both students said they used the SAT book issued by the College Board as a resource to help them prepare. 

“I used the SAT book often,” Geer said. “[The] practice problems really helped me understand what problems would be like on the real test.”

With the test comes a lot of pressure for most students, including O’Brien, but she said is not going to let it affect her.

“I hope that I manage my time well and stay calm throughout the test so that I don’t stress myself out too much,” O’Brien said. “It’s important that I do well, but I don’t want that to stress me out, because staying calm will help me focus and get a good score.”