Dear MHS Student and Parent,

PSAT/NMSQT is administered every year and is free to 11th grade students. This year, the exam will be offered in the morning of Wednesday, October 15th. Your student is eligible to take this exam for free but there is limited amount of space.  Students who are interested in taking this exam should sign up immediately in the College Career Resource Center (CCRC) in the media center.

PSAT/NMSQT stands for Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. It's a standardized test that provides first hand practice for the SAT Reasoning Test™. It also gives students a chance to enter the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) scholarship programs.

The PSAT/NMSQT is a co-sponsored program by the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).

The PSAT/NMSQT measures:

• Critical reading questions assess students’ abilities to draw inferences, synthesize
  information, distinguish between main and supporting ideas, and understand vocabulary
  as it is used in context.
• Mathematics problem-solving questions deal with numbers and operations, algebra
  and functions, geometry and measurement, and data analysis, statistics, and probability.
• Writing skill questions measure the ability to identify appropriate expressions in
  standard English, detect faults in usage and structure, choose effective revisions to
  sentences and paragraphs, and recognize appropriate writing strategies.

You have developed these skills over many years, both in and out of school. This test doesn't require you to recall specific facts from your classes.

The most common reasons for taking the PSAT/NMSQT are:

• to receive information from colleges when you check "yes" to Student Search Service
• to see how your performance on an admissions test might compare with that of others
  applying to college.
• to enter the competition for scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship
  Corporation (grade 11).
• to help prepare for the SAT. You can become familiar with the kinds of questions and the
  exact directions you will see on the SAT.
• to receive feedback on your strengths and weaknesses on skills necessary for college study.
  You can then focus your preparation on those areas that could most benefit from
  additional study or practice.

This information is provided by The College Board and is found on the following website:
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/psat/about.html

If you have any further questions, please feel free to call me at 847-949-2200 ext 1326. 

Sincerely,

Anthony Kroll, Ed.D
Director of Curriculum & Instruction
Mundelein High School District 120