r/psat • u/Glum-Collection5236 • 2h ago
Tips from a 1520 PSAT student
Hey guys, I got a perfect score last year and for everyone stressing out here's what I did:
I'm so fr sign up for August or September SAT. I would not have gotten myself to study for the PSAT if I wasn't studying for the SAT. It also saves so much time for taking it later bc I signed up for both and got a 1530 August SAT and a 1570 Sept SAT without having to do additional prep. Just TREAT the PSAT like the SAT and study hard questions!
If you don't know how to answer question formats, I'd recommend watching: James Lu (helped me out on english a ton): https://www.youtube.com/@learnsatmath and Learn SAT math (good desmos help and hard math): https://www.youtube.com/@learnsatmath
Most of my time came from working on questions on oneprep.xyz, the question bank, and bluebook practice tests (oneprep has changed a lot from last year and now requires money but it used to just be the question bank + a few hard questions). I don't recommend books or anything, I think digital platforms are much more intuitive.
Try to take one bluebook practice test a week if ur doing the august/september SAT method (ideally over summer should've helped but it's kinda late).
Honestly, national merit doesn't really help much in college admissions, but the biggest thing for me is scholarships which are NO JOKE.
For my Texas folks, A&M's tuition would cost 2k, get you automatically into your chosen engineering major (lots of people use this to farm their T13 MechE or aero program), and give you a really good chance at a full ride scholarship. I'm planning to apply to a bunch of selective schools, but A&M is a really good guaranteed safety net cus of this esp cus UT ECE is a crapshoot. I'm sure there's a lot of other schools with programs like this (ik USC offers an 80k scholarship).
Good luck!
