By Betselot Wondimu ’15

Many freshmen and sophomores are probably thinking about what a joke the PSAT is. Half of an entire school day on October 16 will be consumed for another worthless standardized test, right? Wrong. Underclassmen tend to make the mistake of belittling the importance of the PSAT. It is a shortened version of the actual SAT, which has tremendous influence on what colleges students do or don’t get into. PSATs are an easy way for underclassmen to see where they need to improve within the SATs math, reading and writing sections; it wouldn’t hurt to put some effort into it. The exam costs $14 for freshmen and is free for sophomores. Underclassmen should take advantage of this opportunity to hone their skills and reduce stress during their socially and academically busy junior years – the whole point of it is to make students feel less threatened by the actual SAT. The “This test doesn’t even count” mentality needs to be thrown away; it won’t be written in the grade-book, but it will help in the long run.