PSAT
Guide
Your path to National Merit and beyond, for Her Climb scholars and families
What’s inside
Welcome!
Welcome to the Her Climb PSAT Guide! The PSAT can open big doors, including national honors, scholarships, and the attention of colleges across the country. This guide walks you through everything, year by year: how the test works, what scores to aim for, how to prepare, and how Her Climb will support you every step of the way. Please share it with your family, too.
Your Her Climb core team
Ms. Vanessa and Ms. Amanda are your main point of contact for the PSAT and National Merit.
Vanessa is an education professional with nearly a decade working in curriculum design, instructor training, and program coordination. She currently serves as a Curriculum Specialist at NY Sun Works, where she designs and iterates STEM curriculum for a multi-site hydroponics-based science program, coaches and certifies instructors across a portfolio of 350 partner schools, and leads professional development sessions. She previously spent six years as a Lead Science Educator across NYC charter schools, and taught as an Adjunct Lecturer at Brooklyn College, where she built and delivered a full college-level course from scratch. She holds an M.A. in Human Skeletal Biology from New York University and a B.S. in Anthropology from Central Michigan University, along with a certificate in Urban Environmental Education from Cornell University.
Amanda is a New York-based sales and account strategy professional currently serving as a Sales Capture Manager at Accenture, where she leads strategic planning and account development. Her background spans nearly a decade of experience across Accenture, Gap Inc., and Nestlé, where she built expertise in data-driven planning, cross-functional collaboration, and translating market analysis into actionable strategy, skills she now brings to Her Climb’s own growth. She holds a degree in Marketing from Saint Joseph’s University’s Erivan K. Haub School of Business. She serves in a volunteer consultancy capacity, in service of the program’s mission and the girls it serves.
The PSAT at a glance
There are three versions of the PSAT, and you’ll likely take all three during high school:
How the test works
The PSAT is taken on a laptop or tablet using the College Board’s Bluebook app. It has two sections:
Each section is split into two parts, called modules. The test is adaptive, which means how you do on the first module shapes how challenging the second one is. A calculator is allowed for the entire Math section, and the Bluebook app includes a built-in graphing calculator. The whole test takes a little over two hours, with a short break between sections.
What is National Merit?
The PSAT you take in October of junior year is officially called the PSAT/NMSQT, short for National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Every year, more than a million juniors take it, and the highest scorers are recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
The National Merit timeline
How your score works
National Merit doesn’t use your total score. Instead, it uses a Selection Index:
The highest possible Selection Index is 228. Because Reading and Writing counts twice, every point you gain there is worth double.
Find your Selection Index
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Cutoffs change a little each year and are announced after the test. Use this as a target, not a promise.
Scores to aim for
The cutoffs change a little each year and are announced after the test, but recent years give us a clear target:
These are big goals, and that’s exactly why we start early. Every point you gain before October of junior year counts.
More honors within reach
The College Board also runs National Recognition Programs that honor students who score in the top 10% in their state on the PSAT 10 or PSAT/NMSQT and earn a B+ average (about 3.3 GPA) or higher.
There are awards for:
Colleges use these awards to find and recruit talented students, and your sophomore-year PSAT 10 can count. Your school counselor can confirm the current requirements.
A few things to know
Your four-year roadmap
Build the foundation
Get ready and practice
The test that counts
Celebrate and apply
Your two diagnostic tests
During sophomore year, every Her Climb scholar has two chances to take a digital diagnostic, a full practice PSAT on a computer, just like the real thing. You’ll get a practice score, but it doesn’t count anywhere. It isn’t shared with colleges, it won’t affect your standing at Her Climb, and nobody expects a perfect score. It simply shows us where you are right now.
What to expect
The Princeton Review’s digital diagnostic is designed to match the real PSAT, so it’s about the same length and follows the same format:
All together, the test takes about 2 hours and 25 minutes, including the break. Plan for about 3 hours, so you have time to log in and settle in.
A few tips
How to use your Princeton Review book
Every Her Climb scholar receives the latest Princeton Review PSAT/NMSQT Prep book. It’s yours to keep, mark up, and use at your own pace.
Your mistake log
A mistake log is one of the most powerful study tools there is. Each time you miss a question, write down:
Review it before every practice test. You’ll start to see patterns, and fixing those patterns is how scores grow.
Your weekly study plan
Three 30-minute sessions you can do at home.
/Sun
How Her Climb supports you
Test-day checklist
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For families
How you can help
Frequently asked questions
One last thing
National Merit is a big goal, and you don’t have to reach it alone. Wherever your score lands, every hour you put in builds skills you’ll carry into the SAT, college, and beyond.
We believe in you, and we’ll be right beside you, every step of the way.
Created by Her Climb for Her Climb Scholars only.
Please don’t copy or reuse without permission.