By Brady Bullington

Every fall, at the start of the school year, PSAT day takes place in schools across Loudoun county. The PSAT prepares students for the rigor of the real SAT which is a big factor of college applications. Although students are made aware of this, the PSAT seems to not be taken as seriously. Some students skip school on the day that their school is scheduled while others that have taken it poke fun at the idea of the PSAT with the memes that trend on social media such as Twitter. “The PSAT memes are the only reason I have Twitter,” said sophomore Emma Cotterill.

An opinion like what sophomore Ryan Skees who suggested that the test is a “huge waste of time and effort but it is important preparation for the real thing,” is implying that people don’t try as hard as they could on the PSAT because it’s practice. According to a survey taken of 19 high school students, around 37% don’t take it seriously, 21% only take it/plan to seriously junior year, and a 42% for those who do every year. The latest scores, recorded in 2014 from the College Board website, was varied according to section. The Critical Reading section for sophomores received a 42.1, Math was a 43.5, and the Writing Skills scored at 40.1. For juniors it it slightly higher for each section with a 46.9 in Critical Reading, 48.6 in Math, and a 45.3 in Writing Skills. “I think it’s important that we take the PSAT because if we didn’t we would be exposed to the SAT with no past experience of what it’d look like,” junior Lucy Blue said.

The PSAT displays an accurate representation of the SAT, and although students opinions of it vary, one thing that’ll stay the same is that the the real life test will arrive and what you did to prepare yourself will show