PSAT/NMSQT stands for Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. In addition to screening candidates for the National Merit Scholarship Program (for juniors), it's great practice for the SAT, which contains the same types of questions. Most students take the test during October of junior year, though some students elect to take a practice run during sophomore year. (Which makes it a practice, practice PSAT/NMSQT!)

Test topics include Critical Reading, Math, and Writing.

The Critical Reading sections include reading comprehension questions about full-length and paragraph-length passages. They also include sentence completions.

The Writing sections include multiple-choice questions on grammar, usage, word choice, and organization. Unlike on the SAT, there's no essay, but schools are provided with a practice essay to help you prepare.

The Math sections include multiple-choice questions and grid-in questions, which require you to generate a response. Topics include: numbers and operations; algebra and functions; geometry and measurement; and statistics, probability, and data analysis. Math topics that most first-semester juniors have not yet covered are excluded from the test.